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2151. An Anchor in the Mud

Author:
Leon Aron
Publication Date:
09-2001
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
Abstract:
For almost two centuries—since Alexander Pushkin's masterpieces laid the foundation—Russian literature has persisted in addressing the core issues and dilemmas of human existence, taking humanity's measure, and explaining Russia and Russians to themselves and the world. Even during the Soviet era, when virtually all of Russia's finest writers and poets were exiled, killed, imprisoned, savagely censored, or forbidden to publish, the tradition lived in underground samizdat, manuscripts smuggled abroad, and in the state-run literary magazines of the “liberal” persuasion, especially during political thaws.
Topic:
Democratization, Economics, and Emerging Markets
Political Geography:
Russia, Europe, Asia, and Soviet Union

2152. Structure and Context in the Study of Post-Soviet Russia

Author:
Leon Aron
Publication Date:
01-2001
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
Abstract:
The Berlin Wall fell eleven years ago, and nine years have passed since Boris Yeltsin launched the Russian economic revolution by abolishing state control over prices. Although minuscule in historic terms, the time elapsed still furnishes a wealth of data for a provisional analysis of the key factors that shaped the political, economic, and social character of post-Communist nations. The same structural variables may help gauge the future—at least in the short to medium term.
Topic:
Democratization, Economics, and Emerging Markets
Political Geography:
Russia, Europe, Asia, and Berlin

2153. Thinking Beyond the Stalemate in U.S. - Iranian Relations, Volume I - Policy Review

Author:
Brent Scowcroft, C. Richard Nelson, Lee H. Hamilton, and James Shlesinger
Publication Date:
05-2001
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Atlantic Council
Abstract:
The current stalemate between the United States and Iran, while emotionally satisfying to many Americans, does not serve overall U.S. interests well. It hinders the achievement of several key U.S. geopolitical interests, especially over the longer term. These interests include, but are not limited to, regional stability, energy security, and the broader and evolving geopolitical relationships between the United States and China and Russia in the Persian Gulf and Caspian basin. Furthermore, the leading industrial countries are moving to improve relations with Iran.
Topic:
International Relations and Foreign Policy
Political Geography:
Russia, United States, China, and Middle East

2154. The Defense Monitor: Letter from the President

Author:
Rachel Stohl, Michael Donovan, Tomas Valasek, and Bruce.G Blair
Publication Date:
11-2001
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Center for Defense Information
Abstract:
In the immediate wake of the terrorist atrocities, the entire CDI staff devoted itself to providing timely information and insight into the U.S. and world response to the crisis. Since then, we have channeled most of our effort into addressing the terrorist threat and its alleviation. Over 100 articles and updates have been posted on our web site on a daily basis, attracting heavy traffic to the site by an appreciative audience. Numerous other projects have been launched as part of this urgent new agenda - for instance, a joint project on nuclear terrorism involving Russian officials from the Ministry of Atomic Energy and CDI staff from Washington and Moscow (home of a new CDI office).
Topic:
Security, Foreign Policy, and International Organization
Political Geography:
Russia, Washington, and Moscow

2155. Potential Sources of Financing for U.S. Ventures in Russia

Author:
Askar Askarov, Katharine Reed, and Linn E. Schulte-Sasse
Publication Date:
12-2001
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for International Security and Cooperation
Abstract:
Following the end of the Cold War, the United States and its allies recognized that it was in their vital security interests to promote stable transitions in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and the New Independent States (NIS) of the former Soviet Union. For the most part, such transitions would depend on the efforts of the states in transition themselves, including many that had been newly formed. However, one way in which the Western nations could help was by economic assistance -- both financial and technical.
Topic:
International Trade and Finance and Political Economy
Political Geography:
Russia, United States, Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia, and Soviet Union

2156. The Russian Press in the Post-Soviet Era: A Case Study of Izvestia

Author:
Adam Jones
Publication Date:
07-2001
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
The progress of the Russian press in the late Soviet and post-Soviet eras can be described (with apologies to Vladimir Lenin) as "two steps forward, on step back." The flowering of glasnost (openness) under Mikhail Gorbachev le to a "golden age" of Soviet journalism, including an explosion of new publications and a lifting of nearly all state restrictions on journalists' professional activities. However, the collapse of the USSR and the onset of material crisis in 1991-92 quickly produced a winnowing of the press and a retrenchment on the part of surviving publications. At the same time, powerful new forces - especially oligarchs and regional and leaders - arose to vie with the state for influence over post-Soviet media. This paper explores the trajectory of one of the leading newspapers of the Soviet and post-Soviet period, Izvestia, in the light of those broader trends. While Izvestia emerged from the ashes of Soviet communism with formal control over its material plant and journalistic collective, it was soon subjected to a tug-of-war between powerful actors determined to control its destiny - first the Communist-dominated Duma (parliament), and then large corporations and business oligarchs. The struggle led, in 1997, to the dismissal of the paper's editor. Oleg Golembiovsky, and the departure of many staff to form Novye Izvestia (New Izvestia) - though this publication too, was also unwilling or unable to avoid the temptations of a close alliance with one of the leading oligarchs, Boris Berezovsky. The findings are place in the broader comparative context of the press in transition, based on the author's research into process of media liberalization and transition worldwide.
Topic:
Cold War, Development, and Government
Political Geography:
Russia, Europe, and Asia

2157. Toward the Common Good: Building a New U.S.-Russian Relationship

Publication Date:
07-2001
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
EastWest Institute
Abstract:
The Bush administration faces a Russia that is at a critical and perhaps defining juncture in its history. The country's leadership has launched a reform agenda that, if carried through, will take Russia further down the path toward becoming a modern, market-oriented democracy. The resistance to change in Russia is significant, and the ultimate success of these reforms is far from assured. Yet the reform initiative gives the United States and Russia an opportunity to set their relationship on a new foundation that will enhance international peace, stability, freedom and prosperity in an increasingly interdependent world.
Topic:
Security, NATO, and Diplomacy
Political Geography:
Russia, United States, Europe, and Asia

2158. Ratifying The Kyoto Protocol: The Case For Japanese­Russian Joint Implementation

Author:
Benito Müller
Publication Date:
05-2001
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Chatham House
Abstract:
In direct reaction to President Bush's speedy reneging on a campaign pledge to set 'mandatory reduction targets' for carbon dioxide emissions from power generation (a mere 53 days into his presidency), Rainer Hinrichs-Rahlwes, Director General of the German Environment Ministry, admitted that 'maybe it will be necessary to ratify the Protocol without the US and to instead pave the way for them to join later'. Since then, this sentiment has been rapidly gaining ground internationally, in particular after President Bush unilaterally declared the failure of the Kyoto Protocol. Indeed, at a meeting in Kiruna (Sweden) on 31 March 2001, EU environment ministers pledged to pursue ratification of the treaty with or without the United States. Environment minister Kjell Larsson, for the Swedish Presidency, stated that 'the Kyoto Protocol is alive, contrary to what has been said from the other side of the Atlantic. No individual country has the right to declare a multilateral agreement dead.'
Topic:
Environment, International Law, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
Russia, Japan, and Israel

2159. A Recruiting Tape of Osama bin Laden: Excerpts and Analyses

Author:
Richard W. Bulliet and Fawaz A. Gerges
Publication Date:
10-2001
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Columbia International Affairs Online
Abstract:
For several months prior to the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, a videotape calling Muslims to a holy war against forces described as Crusaders and Jews circulated underground in the Arab world. Produced on behalf of Osama bin Laden and prominently featuring his image, words, and ideas, the tape is designed to recruit young Arab men to journey to Afghanistan and train for a war in defense of Islam.
Topic:
Defense Policy, Diplomacy, Ethnic Conflict, Government, International Cooperation, International Law, and Terrorism
Political Geography:
Russia, United States, United Kingdom, Middle East, and Arabia

2160. The Construction of Europe in the Northern Dimension

Author:
Christopher S. Browning
Publication Date:
12-2001
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
This article focuses on the construction of Europe at the turn of the millennium. Unlike most approaches to this issue that tend to focus analysis on debate in Brussels, the most powerful member states, or on the various IGCs, this paper looks at this question through the lens of the discourses surrounding a regional initiative. The initiative in question is that of the Northern Dimension with the argument being that it is on the EU's borders and in the regional peripheries that the debates constructing the EU can be most clearly identified. In this respect the article contributes to a growing constructivist/poststructuralist literature that places boundary producing practices at the heart of the constitution of subjectivity.
Topic:
Globalization and International Political Economy
Political Geography:
Russia, Europe, and Asia