Russia after the Global Economic Crisis

Russia after the Global Economic Crisis examines this important country after the financial crisis of 2007-09. The second book from The Russia Balance Sheet Project, a collaboration of two of the world's preeminent research institutions, the Peterson Institute for International Economics and the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), not only assesses Russia's international and domestic policy challenges but also provides an all-encompassing review of this important country's foreign and domestic issues. The authors consider foreign policy, Russia and it neighbors, climate change, Russia's role in the world, domestic politics, and corruption.

Russia Balance Sheet, The

Russia has been on a wild roller-coaster ride for the past three decades with no end in sight. Just in the past year as the global financial crisis deepened, the conventional perception of Russia has changed from a "safe haven" from the economic tsunami to one of the hardest hit larger markets in the world. The Russia Balance Sheet provides comprehensive, balanced, and accurate information on all key aspects of Russia's developments and their implications for the United States and other nations. The book argues that, after the strained Bush-Putin years, the Obama administration must seize the initiative to define both its policy toward Russia and the agenda for the many multilateral meetings already planned. * The book offers policy prescriptions for both the United States and Russia. It is imperative that the Obama administration establish an explicit Russia policy rather than subordinating it to other issues in order to enable the administration to make necessary tradeoffs and follow up on promises. An interagency group for Russia has been created under the leadership of the National Security Council's senior director for Russia; this group should determine the Russia policy and issue an NSC directive. As a new Russia policy is crafted and an NSC directive on Russia adopted, President Obama should make a public statement on his Russia policy. * Ideally, President Obama would declare his determination to finally persuade the US Congress to graduate Russia from the Jackson-Vanik Amendment to the Trade Act of 1974. As for Russia, it should accede to the World Trade Organization (WTO) to secure its successful international integration and an improvement of its legal standards. The Kremlin needs to introduce transparent procurement procedures for major investments to relieve infrastructure bottlenecks. Property rights must be reinforced and renationalization stopped to ease the problems in banking and energy production. Finally, with the first full-scale summit between Presidents Obama and Medvedev to take place in Italy in July 2009, the authors argue that the two presidents should recommit to fulfilling the April 2008 Sochi Declaration and to reestablishing a broader organized cooperation mechanism between the two countries, like that of the Gore-Chernomyrdin Commission, to promote action and accountability.

Panel discussion: US-Russian relations in the new global context

This is the archive of a panel discussion given by Andrew Kuchins, Senior Associate and Director, Russian and Eurasian Program, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; Lilia Shevtsova, Senior Associate, Carnegie Moscow Center, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

The key to success in Afghanistan: a modern silk road strategy

S. Frederick Starr; Andrew C. Kuchin

Lack of rule of law as a push factor leading to violent radicalization in the North Caucasus (2002–2015)

Following the collapse of the USSR, a violent jihadist organization called the Caucasus Emirate emerged in Russia, before subsequently splitting up in 2015 when most of its members swore allegiance to the Islamic State. The root causes of violent radicalization are complex but, according to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), there are certain universal “push factors”: perceptions of injustice, human rights violations, lack of rule of law, social-political exclusion and widespread corruption. Since all the factors coincide in the North Caucasus, the hypothesis of this study is that the lack of rule of law has been one of the main push factors leading to violent extremism in the specific case of the Republic of Ingushetia.Tras el colapso de la URSS, surgió en Rusia una organización yihadista violenta llamada Emirato del Cáucaso, antes de dividirse posteriormente en 2015 cuando la mayoría de sus miembros juraron lealtad al Estado Islámico. Las causas fundamentales de la radicalización violenta son complejas, pero según el Programa de las Naciones Unidas para el Desarrollo (PNUD), existen ciertos "factores de empuje" universales: percepciones de injusticia, violaciones de derechos humanos, falta de estado de derecho, exclusión social y política, y corrupción generalizada. Dado que todos estos factores coinciden en el norte del Cáucaso, la hipótesis de este estudio es que la falta de estado de derecho ha sido uno de los principales factores de empuje que llevan al extremismo violento en el caso específico de la República de Ingushetia