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The Unexpected Rise of Putin
Why the Dreaded Dictator Came to Power
I wanted to start a brief (4–6 posts) about Russian politics for people who are interested as I believe that our focus on Russia and the developments in Ukraine, Georgia, and elsewhere are among the most important international developments of the century thus far. Make no mistake, Putin is one of the greatest threats to democracy today. Let’s not turn a blind eye.
Here is my first post about “The Unexpected Rise of Putin.” I have written more about Putin in the past and I briefly mention him and why Russia should be among our “global priorities” in my book. Now, unto the post.
The Fall of the Soviet Union
After the economic stagnation of the Brezhnev era in the Soviet Union, and the unsuccessful foreign relation policies of Yuri Andropov and Konstantin Chernenko, the subsequent leaders of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev aimed to improve the economic standings of the USSR.
Gorbachev proposed a number of policies to pursue this goal among which were ‘Perestroika’ (“Restructuring”), ‘Glasnost’ (“Openness”), and ‘Demokratizatsiya’ (“Democratization”).
These policies were largely meant to decentralize the government’s role in local elections. However, Gorbachev’s plan to reform the USSR…
