Year of Russia: Russia’s Domestic Politics

Media often report that Vladimir Putin is highly popular as president of Russia, but why does this matter if he is a dictator, as media also often report? In fact, Russia’s political system is more complex than simple notions of “dictatorship” or “democracy” would have it, and public opinion is key to the regime’s stability. Survey research, including certain experimental methods, can be used to understand the sources of Putin’s support and the prospects for it to continue, including the surge that Putin reaped after Russia annexed Crimea.

Speaker: Henry Hale

Henry E. Hale is Professor of Political Science and International Affairs at George Washington University (GW) and the author of Patronal Politics: Eurasian Regime Dynamics in Comparative Perspective (Cambridge, 2015). Specializing on political regimes, ethnic politics, and post-Soviet politics, his previous work has won two awards from the American Political Science Association, including one for his book Why Not Parties in Russia (Cambridge, 2006). During 2009-12, he was director of the Institute for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies (IERES) at GW’s Elliott School of International Affairs, and he is currently editorial board chair of Demokratizatsiya: The Journal of Post-Soviet Democratization.