Analysis

This listing contains all the analytical materials posted on the Russia Matters website. These include: RM Exclusives, commissioned by Russia Matters exclusively for this website; Recommended Reads, deemed particularly noteworthy by our editorial team; Partner Posts, originally published by our partners elsewhere; and Future Policy Leaders, pieces by promising young scholars and policy thinkers. Content can be filtered by genre and subject-specific criteria and is updated often. Gradually we will be adding older Recommended Reads and Partner Posts dating back as far as 2011.
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How to Reinvent Democracy Promotion

Melinda Haring December 24, 2020 Recommended Reads
The United States cannot credibly promote democracy abroad any longer, and the Biden administration must act swiftly to eliminate this obvious hypocrisy.
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The US Should Stop Underestimating Russian Power

Kathryn E. Stoner December 23, 2020 Recommended Reads
Conventional wisdom says Vladimir Putin has a weak hand in international politics, but plays it well. The problem with this idea is that it seriously underestimates the value of the cards in Putin’s hand.
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With Hacking, the United States Needs to Stop Playing the Victim

Paul Kolbe December 23, 2020 Recommended Reads
Instead of acting surprised after a cyberattack, the United States must better defend its digital homeland and learn how to better operate in a state of constant cyberconflict.
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What Is the Purpose of American Foreign Policy?

Jacob Heilbrunn December 20, 2020 Partner Posts
Several experts debate American interests and the goal of U.S. foreign policy.
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A Look at the Military Lessons of the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict

Michael Kofman December 14, 2020 RM Exclusives
The implications of the conflict continue to reverberate well outside the region given its potential significance for regional and great powers alike, while further spurring debates on the character of modern warfare.
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A Biden Administration Poses Few Benefits for Russia

Nikolas K. Gvosdev November 24, 2020 RM Exclusives
Joe Biden will take office not as an idealistic newcomer to foreign affairs, but rather as a veteran with a well-developed sense of priorities and perspectives—including a healthy dose of disillusionment with the Obama era attempt to reset relations with Russia.
book review

Robert Gates’ Insights on How to Employ Instruments of US National Power

Simon Saradzhyan November 18, 2020 RM Exclusives
Robert Gates’ new book constitutes the most coherent of recent attempts to catalogue the key instruments of modern America’s national power and then discern how their use has evolved following the end of the Cold War and to what effect.
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Trump’s Loss Not Necessarily Russia’s

Steven Pifer November 09, 2020 Recommended Reads
Trump’s loss thus may seem a defeat for Russia. But a Biden presidency can offer a silver lining for the Kremlin. 
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Emulation and Military Change in Russia

Emmanuel Dreyfus October 23, 2020 RM Exclusives
Western models have inspired the creation of Russia's Special Operation Command, Military Police and the development of private military companies, as have centuries-old Russian military traditions.
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The Second Nagorno-Karabakh War, Two Weeks In

Michael Kofman and Leonid Nersisyan October 14, 2020 Recommended Reads
Azerbaijan and Armenia have now spent more than two weeks at war. Initial Azerbaijani tactical successes have failed to lead to an operational breakthrough and the conflict may settle into a war of attrition.
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Time For Russia and Other Great Powers to Move From Words to Actions to End Karabakh War

Simon Saradzhyan October 08, 2020 Partner Posts
Russia remains the only country capable of single-handedly compelling Armenia and Azerbaijan to end the conflict in Karabakh. Yet, it has so far been unwilling to back its calls with the deeds needed to compel both sides to lay down arms, even if only temporarily.
book review

The Honest Spy

William Tobey October 07, 2020 RM Exclusives
Rolf Mowatt-Larssen’s “A State of Mind: Faith and the CIA” offers an engaging, if eccentric, memoir from a man who battled some of America’s greatest post-World War II enemies, from the Soviet Union to al-Qaida.
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