Increasingly, Russian experts believe that economic reform in Russia is impossible without the implementation of large-scale political modernization.
The launch of U.S. and European military operations against Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi could have unexpected consequences and encourage some regimes to step up their efforts to develop a weapons arsenal in order to prevent the possibility of outside attack.
In advance of Russian regional elections on March 13, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin had to campaign personally for United Russia candidates in order to overcome voter disappointment and push for a strong regional showing for United Russia.
In 2010, the overall security situation in the North Caucasus was worse than in 2009, although statistics show an improvement in Chechnya and Ingushetia.
The unrest that has swept through Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya resulted in large part from the inability or unwillingness of the ruling regimes to make significant improvements in the lives of the general public. The departure of the heads of these regimes, however, does not necessarily signal an end to the revolutionary process.
Both the electoral system and the party system in Russia are in deep crisis; the political parties are not ready for a change in the relationship between the government and its people and are unable to position themselves to aid cooperation between the authorities and Russian citizens.
Putin’s Russia—which raised living standards, increased political apathy, and led to sovereign democracy—is over. As parliamentary and presidential elections approach, long-simmering social, economic, and political disputes are spilling into the open, and public politics are returning to the fore.
The choice of Sochi as the host city for the 2014 Winter Olympics has prompted debate over the “Cherkessian issue,” sparking an upsurge in activity and division among Cherkessian public organizations.
The Kremlin’s reliance on ethnic clan structures to govern the North Caucasus has only maintained and intensified the deep inequalities plaguing the society in the region.
As ethnic tensions over immigration increase worldwide and the European models of multiculturalism and assimilation prove problematic, countries must find a comprehensive approach to coexistence that is acceptable both to immigrants and their new host countries.