Armies of Arabia Early in the book, Armies of Arabia, Zoltan Barany writes, “Perhaps the most important and conspicuous attribute that all Arab armies in republics and monarchies share is their remarkable ineffectiveness on the battlefield.” This is where most of us need to start. Barany seeks to understand why the Gulf monarchies field ineffective... Continue Reading →
Elizabeth Perry and Grzegorz Ekiert join the podcast to discuss their new book Ruling by Other Means: State-Mobilized Movements (coedited with Xiaojun Yan). Elizabeth is the Henry Rosovsky Professor of Government at Harvard University and Director of the Harvard-Yenching Institute. Grzegorz is the Laurence A. Tisch Professor of Government at Harvard University and Director of... Continue Reading →
Personalism in Politics Timothy Frye in his recent book, Weak Strongman, describes Russia as a personalist autocracy. He distinguishes it from other forms of autocracy such as military dictatorships or single party states. Moreover, he emphasizes how different autocracies behave differently from one another. It can be a bit cliché to say institutions matter, but they... Continue Reading →
Timothy Frye joins the podcast to discuss Russia's personalist autocracy. Tim is a Professor of Post-Soviet Foreign Policy at Columbia University and a research director at the Higher School of Economics in Moscow. His new book is Weak Strongman: The Limits of Power in Putin's Russia. Putin in the past could claim to have won... Continue Reading →
Kathryn Stoner joins the podcast to discuss Russia's resurrection and its implications for international relations. Kathryn is a professor of political science at Stanford University. Her new book is Russia Resurrected: Its Power and Purpose in a New Global Order. Biden's current policy is, you know, we want Putin to calm down, be stable for... Continue Reading →
An Introduction to Russia Over the next two weeks the Democracy Paradox will explore the politics of Russia. A lot of conversations focus on Russia’s foreign policy. But like most countries, Russia’s domestic politics influences its relations with the world. As Kathryn Stoner succinctly puts it, “The regime still fears the potential instability that comes... Continue Reading →
Roger Lee Huang joins the podcast to explain the politics and history of Myanmar. He is he author of The Paradox of Myanmar’s Regime Change. I think this actually reflects why we've seen a coup now. Clearly, the coup has really brought serious economic devastation for the entire country and the military itself will... Continue Reading →
Potemkin Villages Catherine the Great had many lovers. Grigory Orlov led the coup d’état that brought Catherine to power. Stanisław Poniatowski became the last King of Poland. Prince Zubov, the last of her lovers, was forty years younger than her. Some of them played a part in the governance of Russia, while others merely amused... Continue Reading →
Tamanna Shah is the author of Kashmir in the Age of Modi: Democracy Delusions. Tamanna is in the PhD program at the University of Utah studying sociology. Her research has focused on conflict, war, and terrorism on the people of Kashmir. The photograph was provided by Tamanna from her field research in Jammu and Kashmir. This... Continue Reading →
Glenn Tiffert joins the Democracy Paradox to discuss the foreign manipulation of academia. He is a researcher fellow at the Hoover Institution and a historian of modern China. Over the past few years he has managed Hoover projects on China's Global Sharp Power, and on Taiwan in the Indo-Pacific Region. The Foreign Manipulation of... Continue Reading →
