Russian, East European & Eurasian Studies

2024, Maria Pevchikh and Alexei Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation released Traitors, a provocative documentary series asking how Russia’s democratic opening of the 1990s ended in Vladimir Putin’s authoritarian regime. The film places much of the blame on the political and economic elites surrounding Boris Yeltsin, focusing on corruption, privatization and the rise of the oligarchs, the controversial 1996 presidential election, and ultimately the choice of Putin as Yeltsin’s successor.

How has geography become the central infrastructure of political authority in Putin’s Russia? Dr. Sofia Gavrilova (Fung Global Fellow, Princeton and Senior Researcher at the Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography), argues that that propaganda in Russia operates less through persuasion than through participation — by enrolling ordinary people in the everyday work of imperial reproduction. At the heart of the project is the concept of the “Volunteer Empire”: an empire reproduced through organized presence, care, and curated experience.

Research on law in authoritarian countries has revealed that authoritarian leaders are masters at creatively and pragmatically using law and courts to achieve their political goals.  Putin’s Russia is a stark example.

Why did Russia invade Ukraine, how is the war (un)likely to end, and why?

As the war in Ukraine enters its fourth year, Ukrainians remain more determined than ever to resist the Russian invasion. The defense of their country is happening beyond the front lines: ordinary people are going to extraordinary lengths to support the military, enrich democracy in their country, learn and practice emergency medicine, and preserve national culture. There is a sophisticated civic resistance that is largely female, tech savvy, decentralized, nonhierarchical, multilingual, and highly innovative. This is the new Ukraine.