Politics in the Former Soviet Union: A Personal View from an American born of Russian Immigrants
On December 3, 2007 I awoke with a hangover, even though I had not imbibed the night before. The evening of December 2 was my…
Read MorePolicy
Policy is a state’s plan to achieve a specific goal. The following articles discuss policy trajectories or outcomes. This includes diplomatic, economic, or security policies as well the theories that guide such policies. GeoHistory is particularly interested in investigating policy affecting demographics and infrastructure.
The Medvedev Economy
The Russian economy is due for a major shift. Much of the rapid growth from the past eight years has come from something called “unused…
Catholic and Protestant: Two Religious Periodicals and US-Soviet Relations, 1930-1950
From the time of the October Revolution in 1917, the United States had a tense relationship with the Soviet Union. The United States was, after…
From the Silk Road to Chevron: The Geopolitics of Oil Pipelines in Central Asia
Kazakhstan has received much press recently as a result of the success of the comic film Borat. However, that movie got everything wrong in its depiction…
Why This Cold Peace?
After almost a decade of living and working in Russian villages, there are three questions that haunt us. First, how was the enormity of good…
Putin and the “Problem of 2008”
An Annotated Overview of Quotes about Putin’s Decision to Head United Russia’s Party List in the Coming Elections As political analysts endlessly mulled the “Problem…
Kyrgyzstan’s Energy Alternatives: Between Scylla and Charybdis
Russia has often been accused recently of “energy blackmail,” using its large hydrocarbon reserves to gain political influence in countries which are dependent on energy…
Russia’s Shrunken Air Defense Perimeter
In recent months political disputes between Russia and the United States have grown to include sharp differences over Washington’s expanding plans for ballistic missile defense…
The Rise of Economic Nationalism under Globalization and the Case of Post-Communist Russia
Across the globe, trends of nationalization and economic nationalism have crept into the policies of nation-states recently. Fueled by popular nationalist sentiment, state elites from…
Empire, Nationalities, and the Collapse of the Soviet Union
Michael Doyle defines empires as follows: “Empires are relationships of political control imposed by some political societies over the effective sovereignty of other political societies.”[1]…
Languages in Conflict: The Case of Russia and Estonia
On a park bench in Moscow, I befriended a lively group of young actors from Tallinn, Estonia. They had come to Russia three years earlier…
Military Learning Between the Chechen Wars
The downward spiral of the Russian military that began with Afghanistan is often compared to the U.S. army’s experience in Vietnam. However, unlike the American…
US-Russian Energy Security in the Caucasus: The Prospects for Conflict in the National Interest
It has taken energy (namely coal and oil) to produce the industrialized and economically prosperous nations of today. That is certain to change in the…
Russian Political Culture Since 1985
The traditional view of Russian political culture has been that, due to historical experience, Russians have favored strong autocratic rule. After nearly seventy years of…
Deconstructing the Millennium Manifesto: The Yeltsin-Putin Transition and the Rebirth of Ideology
1. Introduction: The Dearth of Ideology On the 12th July 1996, following a closely fought election victory, Boris Yeltsin called his advisors to him. ‘In…
The Bear and the Dragon
The relationship that has existed between Russia and China has historically been one of mistrust spotted with anger, fear and resentment. Despite their communist ties…
The Effects of the Mongol Empire on Russia
The history of Russia has always been a relatively sad and tumultuous one wrought with wars, power struggles, and abrupt changes. These changes have often…
Russian MiniLessons: Armed Forces – Вооружённые силы
Note, the following excerpt was written by Dr. Lawerence Mansour, West Point. It was originally published in The Russian Context: The Culture behind the Language, edited…
US-Russia Relations After September 11, 2001: A Game Theory Analysis
Forward from the editors: While the following is highly informative without understanding such finer subtleties as the difference between realism and neorealism, etc. we recommend…
Privately Enforced Capitalism: The Rise (and Fall?) of Russia’s Oligarchs
Today in Russia, a small group of men called the oligarchs control a disproportionate portion of the Russian economy. In a capitalist environment, a large…