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182. The Emptying of Russia
- Author:
- Nicholas Eberstadt
- Publication Date:
- 02-2004
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
- Abstract:
- Russia, whose birth rates have declined and whose mortality rates have dramatically increased in the last several decades, faces a demographic crisis. Thus far, Russian political leaders have focused on trying to increase birth rates, but a greater sense of urgency must be applied to diminish mortality rates and to respond to health threats, including HIV/AIDS.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Foreign Policy, Democratization, and Economics
- Political Geography:
- Russia, Europe, and Asia
183. The Decline of the Communists
- Author:
- Leon Aron
- Publication Date:
- 10-2004
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
- Abstract:
- Overlooked in the victory of the pro-Kremlin party, United Russia, in the Duma election last December and President Vladimir Putin's overwhelming victory in the presidential election three months later was a milestone in Russia's post-Soviet political history: the precipitous decline of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (KPRF). The single largest faction in the Duma between 1995 and 2003, the KPRF was reduced to 12 percent of the party-list vote in the Duma poll while the Communist candidate for the presidency, who received 40 percent in the 1996 election and 24 percent in 2000, ended up with 14 percent.
- Topic:
- Economics, International Organization, and International Trade and Finance
- Political Geography:
- Russia, Europe, and Asia
184. Privatizing Pensions
- Author:
- Leon Aron
- Publication Date:
- 07-2004
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
- Abstract:
- Perhaps more than any other structural market reform unfolding today in Russia, pension privatization epitomizes both the enormous progress achieved over the past decade and the equally huge obstacles still ahead on the road to "civilized" liberal capitalism. The reform highlights and tests the quality of key institutions and instruments central to such a system: transparency and liquidity of banks and mutual funds, probity and competence of state regulatory agencies, and stability of equity and bond markets.
- Topic:
- Economics, International Organization, and International Trade and Finance
- Political Geography:
- Russia, Europe, and Asia
185. The Putin Restoration
- Author:
- Leon Aron
- Publication Date:
- 03-2004
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
- Abstract:
- The Revolution had, indeed, two distinct phases: one in which the sole aim of the French nation seemed to be to make a clean sweep of the past; and a second, in which attempts were made to salvage fragments from the wreckage of the old order. For many of the laws and administrative methods which were suppressed in 1789 reappeared a few years later, much as some rivers after going underground re-emerge at another point, in new surroundings.
- Topic:
- Democratization, Economics, and Emerging Markets
- Political Geography:
- Russia, Europe, Asia, and France
186. The Duma Election
- Author:
- Leon Aron
- Publication Date:
- 01-2004
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
- Abstract:
- The December 7, 2003, election to the Russian parliament, the State Duma, has been portrayed in the U.S. media as mostly a product of the Kremlin's machinations. Its "administrative resources"--most importantly, its control of national television channels--are said to be almost entirely responsible for the winning performance of the "party of power," United Russia, which garnered 37 percent of the party-list vote among twenty-three parties and blocs on the ballot.
- Topic:
- Democratization, Economics, and Emerging Markets
- Political Geography:
- Russia, Europe, and Asia
187. The Language of Democracy: Vernacular Or Esperanto? A Comparison between the Multiculturalist and Cosmopolitan Perspectives
- Author:
- Daniele Archibugi
- Publication Date:
- 12-2004
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University
- Abstract:
- Will Kymlicka has argued “democratic politics is politics in the vernacular.” Does it imply that democratic politics is impossible in a multilingual community, whether at the local, national, regional or global level? This paper discusses this assumption and maintains that democratic politics should imply the willingness of all players to make an effort to understand each other. Democratic politics imply the willingness to overcome the barriers to mutual understanding, including the linguistic ones. Any time that there is a community of fate, a democrat should search for methods that allow deliberation according to the two key conditions of political equality and participation. If linguistic diversity is an obstacle to equality and participation, some methods should be found to overcome it, as exemplified by the Esperanto metaphor. The paper illustrates the argument with four cases of multi-linguistic political communities: a) a school in California with English-speaking and Spanish-speaking students; b) the city of Byelostok in the second half of the nineteenth century, where four different linguistic communities (Polish, Russian, German and Yiddish) coexisted. This led Markus Zamenhof to invent Esperanto; c) the linguistic problems of the Indian state, and the role played by English – a language unspoken by the majority of the Indian population in 1947 – in developing Indian democracy; and d) the case of the European Parliament, with twenty languages and a wealth of interpreters and translators.
- Topic:
- Democratization, Economics, and Politics
- Political Geography:
- Russia, Europe, India, California, and Germany
188. The Choice for Russia: Compete or Fail
- Publication Date:
- 06-2004
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- EastWest Institute
- Abstract:
- Russia is at a crossroads. Current levels of national economic growth cannot be sustained without significantly restructuring the country's economic system. If economic growth is not sustained, financing for important social reforms will face serious strains, and expectations that have been built up among the Russian population over the past five years will go unrealized. As a result, the political system and the population's long - term well being will be put at risk. To counter this danger, Russia needs to change its national consciousness away from social paternalism and towards competitiveness. This needs to be implemented in a way that Russian citizens, politicians and business people can understand and support. Russia can only meet its expectations of long - term growth and a higher overall standard of living by increasing levels of competitiveness across sectors and delivering tangible and positive results to its citizens.
- Topic:
- Development, Economics, Population, and Reform
- Political Geography:
- Russia, Europe, and Asia
189. India's energy needs
- Author:
- Nick Hordern
- Publication Date:
- 12-2004
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Lowy Institute for International Policy
- Abstract:
- India's exploding demand for energy is confronting New Delhi with two important dilemmas, one internal and one external. India's internal dilemma is that to satisfy its energy needs, India must not only expand but also renovate its energy sector, a huge task. Moreover, New Delhi must balance accelerating the necessary reform of this sector with the need to avoid alienating important domestic constituencies. The external dilemma derives from the fact that India will only be able to meet part of its increased energy demand from its own domestic resources, and therefore will be increasingly forced to rely on energy imports. India is trying to secure its energy supplies in a hostile geo-political climate, since New Delhi's parlous relations with its neighbours make energy cooperation difficult. The resultant fears regarding the vulnerability of India's external sources of energy chime with a core principle of New Delhi's political culture, swadeshi (self-sufficiency), whose influence, while waning, retains its potency. Concerns regarding energy security are particularly prevalent in the case of oil, where India's dependence on imports is becoming acute. The proximity of the Persian Gulf to India's industrialised northwest makes it the main source of growing oil imports. But this in turn increases India's reliance on the unstable Gulf. In order to reduce this risk New Delhi will seek out oil from new energy provinces in the Atlantic Basin, Sudan, Russia and South East Asia. It will also turn to a new energy source - gas - and more imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) will be one result. India's energy needs have implications for Australia. India's growing demand for energy will see coal continue to dominate the energy mix, and as a result India's demand for imported coking coal, including from Australia, is also set to grow. At the same time, India's quest for diversity of supply means that at least some of India's increased LNG imports are likely to be Australian.
- Topic:
- Economics, Energy Policy, and International Cooperation
- Political Geography:
- Russia, Sudan, India, Asia, New Delhi, Australia, and Southeast Asia
190. A Jobless Recovery?
- Author:
- Allan H. Meltzer
- Publication Date:
- 11-2003
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
- Abstract:
- While Alan Greenspan and most analysts continue to discuss the loss of millions of manufacturing jobs since the Bush administration took office, the Labor Department Household Survey shows such claims to be either wrong or greatly exaggerated.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Foreign Policy, Democratization, and Economics
- Political Geography:
- Russia, Europe, and Asia