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Fear and loathing in Ukraine: a very “European” protest
A new type of mass mobilisation on the streets of Ukraine shows how society is being divided along lines all too familiar to EU citizens.Discussing the far right in Ukraine is an uneasy, or should we...
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From Panama, via London, with love
The Panama Papers implicate more than just a few select international leaders. They demonstrate how offshore finance and corrupt leaders in the post-Soviet space thrive off each other.This much is...
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Moldova’s political tourists
In Moldova, party allegiances are for sale. MPs are increasingly crossing the floor, and over a quarter of the electorate are now misrepresented by their current parliament.It took only 32 minutes. On...
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“EU or bust?” is the wrong question for Ukraine
What was missing in the Dutch referendum on the EU Association Agreement with Ukraine? On 6 April in the Netherlands, just over 30% of potential voters took part in a referendum on the Ukraine-European...
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In Armenia, gender is geopolitical
A wave of homophobia in Armenia is playing on pro-Russian and pro-European sympathies. Gender has become geopolitical, and the LGBT community is fearful. On 15 February, a group of unknown men beat up...
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“Karabakh rules Armenia”
Shots have been fired over Nagorno-Karabakh, and leaders in Baku and Yerevan demand national unity. But behind the patriotic hysteria is a cry for social justice.A couple of years ago, a friend and I...
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Russia’s regions: federalism and its discontents
Creating the appearance of stability is the Russian political elite’s primary goal. Yet colonial-like rule over the country’s regions, combined with a lack of civic activity, harms the Kremlin’s...
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Atomic energy and political power in Russia
In Russia, the space for environmental activism and advocacy is changing under increasing state pressure. An interview with one of Russia’s leading ecological organisations about the prospects for...
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Georgia: the exiles’ election
Twenty five years after the separatist wars that shook Georgia, 265,000 displaced people still struggle to make ends meet — and their voices heard. Less than six months are left before Georgia’s...
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Counting down to Russia’s 2016 Duma Elections
As Russia gears up for a parliamentary elections this autumn, how can the country's embattled opposition and civil society offer a real contest to the Kremlin's "imitation democracy"?March 2016:...
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Is neoliberalism applicable to Russia? A response to Ilya Matveev
Attempts to call the Putin regime “neoliberal” get one fundamental thing wrong: capitalism doesn’t exist in Russia. РусскийMoscow city. СС BY-SA 4.0 GURken / WikiMediaCommons. Some rights reserved.oDR...
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The “Moscow Consensus”: Constructing autocracy in post-Soviet Eurasia
Across the former Soviet Union, a new type of authoritarianism has become the default — with commerce, parliaments, military, media and civil society used to consolidate elite economic and political...
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Depoliticising protests in Armenia
Years of social and environmental protests in Armenia have proven one thing — our demands must be political in nature. РусскийJuly 2014: police officers block activists from "Stand up, Armenia!" from...
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Ukraine’s rulers are backing themselves into a corner
As Europe's sanctions resolve against Russia evaporates, Ukraine's domestic political contest is heating up — Kyiv is turning its sights on the constitutional court. 14 April 2016: Ukraine's president...
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Neoliberalism, mining and Armenia's politics of plunder
The resurgence of fighting with Azerbaijan could hinder progressive mobilisation in Armenia, but recent environmental initiatives reveal the appetite for resistance to the economy of extraction.23...
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Putin’s incredible shrinking circle
Ivanov’s departure leaves few voices able to speak truth to Putin. June 2015: Russian president Vladimir Putin shakes hands with his chief of staff Sergei Ivanov. Pavel Golovkin / AP/Press Association...
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Who do I call if I want to speak to "pro-Russian forces" in Georgia?
In Georgia, whether you're in opposition or in power, you can always call your opponent an agent of the Kremlin.In recent years, Georgia's political discourse has been reoriented around the figure of...
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Goodbye Karimov
We don't know whether Uzbekistan's leader is alive or dead. But the system he created will live on.29 August: Municipal workers clean Tashkent's Independence Square ahead of Independence Day in...
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The green shoots of Russian grassroots activism
What do two Moscow parks and a truck drivers’ trade union have in common? They have been the focus of protests that have shown that the Russian public may be losing its traditional passivity.Over the...
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The green shoots of Russian grassroots activism (part 2)
Our story on Russia’s grassroots activism continues. From Moscow’s parks to federal highways, ordinary citizens learn the power of protest – and of solidarity.In this series of drawings, Russian artist...
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