Tag: Politics of Russia

WASHINGTON — An activist who worked on Bernie Sanders' presidential campaign has set out to disrupt Russian politics by making it "as easy as an Uber ride" to stand against President Vladimir Putin. Vitali Shkliarov, 41, runs what he calls a “political incubator" that helps novice candidates run on independent tickets in local races. Shkliarov's playbook comes from years spent working on spirited political campaigns in the U.S. He also campaigned for President Barack Obama. In Russia’s recent presidential election, in which the most viable opposition figure was barred from running, Putin won nearly 77 percent of the vote. At his wife’s suggestion, he decided to volunteer for Obama at a field office in Washington. While other volunteers averaged 180 to 200 calls a day, Shkliarov managed no more than 10. American politics also taught him the importance of voter engagement. “You don’t have that in Russian politics.” Shkliarov described Russian campaigns as a “one-way street” with politicians speaking at voters from afar. Alongside two friends and fellow activists, he fielded opposition candidates — all of them novices without any links to the Kremlin — in district races across Russia.

The Russian Studies Program at Yale will host a conference titled “Regime Evolution, Institutional Change, and Social Transformation in Russia: Lessons for Political Science” on Friday-Saturday, April 27-28. The conference will feature Russian, European, and North American scholars who will discuss Russia’s political institutions and culture, the impact of Soviet legacies, and the future of global order. It will be held in Henry R. Luce Hall Auditorium, 34 Hillhouse Ave. The event is free and open to the public. The first day of the conference will focus on some of the most widely debated questions in current social scientific study of the Russian federation. The first panel will assess the current state of Russian studies in the political science discipline. The third panel will address the issue of social mobilization in Russia’s less-than-democratic regime. The first day will wrap up with the keynote panel on the future of U.S.-Russian relations featuring Celeste A. Wallander, who served as former special assistant to President Barack Obama and senior director for Russia and Eurasia on the National Security Council. The next two panels will look at institutional reforms in the post-Soviet context and Russia’s public opinion formation, respectively. Campus & Community International