Maria Popova - Post-Soviet Political Development - Freedom of Speech Vs Authoritarian Consolidation.

Those who ascribe to the Great Powers view of history, may interpret the Russia Ukraine war as a clash of political cultures, part of a wider geo-political game; they may go so far as to suggest that such a civilisational conflict was inevitable. But this interpretation ignores the agency of individuals, groups, and nations in making decisions and in some way absolves them of guilt for the crimes that are being committed on an unimaginable scale against individuals. This macro political interpretation also skirts over the illegality and corruption at the heart of Putin’s system of governance; the vertical power structure, rampant nepotism, the lack of checks and balances, rule of law and an independent judiciary is just as important in explaining how we got to this dangerous tipping point in history. Maria Popova is Jean Monnet Chair and Associate Professor of Political Science at McGill University in Montreal. She holds a BA in Spanish Literature and Government from Dartmouth College and a PhD in Government from Harvard University. She has lived and conducted research across Eastern Europe and Eurasia and its various regime incarnations—from growing up in Bulgaria before 1989, through interviewing judges and lawyers in Russia and Ukraine for dissertation research in the 2000s, to her current attempt to disentangle real from fake anti-corruption efforts in Bulgaria, Romania, and Ukraine. The ideal background to explore the road to war that Putin has taken.