Analysis

This listing contains all the analytical materials posted on the Russia Matters website. These include: RM Exclusives, commissioned by Russia Matters exclusively for this website; Recommended Reads, deemed particularly noteworthy by our editorial team; Partner Posts, originally published by our partners elsewhere; and Future Policy Leaders, pieces by promising young scholars and policy thinkers. Content can be filtered by genre and subject-specific criteria and is updated often. Gradually we will be adding older Recommended Reads and Partner Posts dating back as far as 2011.
article

Belarus’s Protests Aren’t Particularly Anti-Putin

Rajan Menon August 19, 2020 Partner Posts
Although some Western experts have warned about a Russian military intervention in Belarus, Russia may sit largely on the sidelines in hopes that whatever government succeeds Lukashenko will be pro-Russian.
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Do Black Lives Matter in Russia?

Peter Rutland and Andrei Kazantsev July 13, 2020 Partner Posts
Studying the reactions to Black Lives Matter in Russia can teach us a lot about Russian society—just as Russians and others have learned a great deal about American society as the movement has unfolded.
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We Can Defense If We Want To

Foreign Policy Research Institute June 29, 2020 Partner Posts
In this episode of FPRI's Bear Market Brief, host and Eurasia expert Aaron Schwartzbaum speaks with Michael Kofman, director of the Russia Studies Program at CNA, on Russia's military.
article

A Farewell to the Open Skies Treaty, and an Era of Imaginative Thinking

Bonnie Jenkins June 16, 2020 Partner Posts
President Trump announced that the United States would withdraw from the 1992 Open Skies Treaty (OST). The OST allows for members to conduct unarmed surveillance flights in each others’ air space. The treaty was designed to enhance mutual understanding, build confidence and promote openness and transparency of military forces and activities.
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Video: Spheres of Influence Webinar

Center for the National Interest April 08, 2020 Partner Posts
When policymakers in the United States declared in the aftermath of the Cold War that the age of “spheres of influence” had ended, were they misdiagnosing the issue?
podcast

Off the Page: How to Enlarge NATO

International Security January 15, 2020 Partner Posts
Twenty-five years ago, supporters of a relatively swift conferral of full NATO membership to a narrow range of countries outmaneuvered proponents of a slower, phased conferral of limited membership to a wide range of states. How can the history of NATO enlargement help explain transatlantic politics, conflict in Ukraine and U.S.-Russia relations today?
podcast

Of Russian Prospects in the Middle East

Center for Strategic and International Studies December 17, 2019 Partner Posts
In this episode of Russian Roulette, Jeffrey Mankoff, senior fellow at CSIS's Russia and Eurasia Program, sits down with Alexey Khlebnikov to discuss Moscow’s successes and failures in Syria as well as the changes in the region that have taken place since Russia’s military intervention in Syria.

Don’t Let START Stop

James F. Collins, David Mathews, Vitaliy Naumkin and Yury Shafranik December 05, 2019 Partner Posts
The participants in the latest Dartmouth Conference urgently appeal to the U.S. and Russian governments to act immediately to extend the New START Treaty.
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It's Time to Rethink Russia's Foreign Policy Strategy

Dmitri Trenin April 25, 2019 Partner Posts
Russia's rapidly changing geopolitical situation necessitates a restructuring of its inconsistent foreign policy. Primarily, it must renounce any aspirations to military or political domination. The author describes the steps that the Russian government must instead take to promote stability and growth.
research paper

Envisioning Opportunities for US-Russia Cooperation in and With Central Asia

Marlene Laruelle and Andrey Kortunov April 01, 2019 Partner Posts
Central Asia stands out as a comparatively “nontoxic” region where there are limited, but not insignificant, opportunities for U.S.-Russia collaboration both bilaterally and within multilateral frameworks.
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Video: Trump’s Impact on the World—Timothy J. Colton on Russia

Weatherhead Center for International Affairs January 15, 2019 Partner Posts
Harvard professor of government and Russian studies Timothy Colton discusses the fraught relationship between the U.S. and Russia under the Trump administration.
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John Mearsheimer on International Relations, Great Power Politics and the Age of Trump

Michael Lind December 15, 2018 Partner Posts
John J. Mearsheimer’s "The Great Delusion: Liberal Dreams and International Realities" argues that the United States’ pursuit of a “liberal hegemony” has been a failure with sizeable costs.