Demokratizatsiya

Meddling with Justice: Competitive Politics, Impunity, and Distrusted Courts in Post-Orange Ukraine

Contrary to the theories of judicial empowerment that argue that the presence of strong political opposition is necessary for the development of an independent judiciary, the increasing fragmentation of power in today's Ukraine goes hand-in-hand with judicial disempowerment-dependent courts regularly provide important benefits to rival elites.

The End of the Lithuanian Political 'Patriarch's' Era: From Rise to Decline and Legacies Left Behind

Top political leadership can and often does play a crucial role in countries that transition from one political system to another. As a former Lithuanian Communist Party leader, the first president of independent Lithuania, and the longest-serving prime minister, Algirdas Brazauskas is one of a few Lithuanian policymakers who has left a profound impact on the country. This article reviews Brazauskas' rise to the pinnacles of political power, evaluates his pursued policies, and assesses the le...

Open Borders, Closed Minds: Russia's Changing Migration Policies: Liberalization or Xenophobia?

Russia's choice to pursue restrictive immigration policies is counterintuitive, given the acute need for labor migrants. This analysis argues that in response to pervasive xenophobia, the state has embarked on a labor migration policy agenda that does not reflect the demographic reality of Russia's rapidly declining working age population. Institutional and societal manifestations of xenophobia work together to demand and justify restrictive immigration policies. The state provokes and reinfo...

The Molotov-Ribbentrop Commission and Claims of Post-Soviet Secessionist Territories to Sovereignty

At the end of Soviet era, pressed by the Popular Front forces of the Baltic republics, the first Congress of the USSR People's Deputies decided to set up the Molotov-Ribbentrop Commission. The Baltic representatives of the commission debated on how to make null and void the secret protocol of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, which was considered as one of the main causes of incorporation of the Baltic States in 1940. The heated dispute inevitably extended to the issue of reevaluating national his...

Semi-Presidentialism Outside Europe: A Comparative Study

In the post-Communist era, this traditional system of dual executives has been reinforced by presidents' instincts toward self-preservation (i.e. using the prime minister as scapegoat for unpopular policies, 162). [...] semi-presidentialism has allowed presidents to avoid the harsh challenges of parliamentary elections (which, for example, U.S. "full" presidents inevitably face) by using political tactics in the nomination of prime ministers (168).

Erratum