Why Alexei Navalny Mattered in Life and Still Matters in Death
Vladimir Putin may have imprisoned, tortured, and killed the brilliant opposition leader, but even now Navalny is a threat to the corrupt autocracy he has built.
This Is Not the End of Putin’s Troubles
Yevgeny Prigozhin’s rebellion has exposed the fundamental instability of Putinism.
April 2023, Volume 34, Issue 2
The Putin Myth
Vladimir Putin’s reputation as a skillful leader was buoyed by years of economic good fortune. But when his regime faltered, his rule quickly descended into the fearful, repressive, and paranoid state we see today.
July 2022, Volume 33, Issue 3
How Putin’s War in Ukraine Has Ruined Russia
The first two months of the war alone turned the Russian clock back decades, undoing thirty years of post-Soviet economic gains and reducing the country to an international pariah state.
How Putin’s War in Ukraine Has Ruined Russia
In a matter of weeks, the Russian autocrat has erased his country’s prosperity in a feckless attempt to rebuild a doomed empire.
January 2011, Volume 22, Issue 1
A Russian Liberal’s Lament
A review of Lonely Power: Why Russia Has Failed to Become the West and the West Is Weary of Russia by Lilia Shevtsova.
January 2006, Volume 17, Issue 1
Russia: Authoritarianism Without Authority
Vladimir Putin has pulled the plug on democracy in Russia in an effort to strengthen the authority of the central state. But a look at Russian federal relations shows that the state is growing weaker rather than stronger.