Russia on the World Stage • Are We Reading Russia Right?

A quarter century after the collapse of the USSR, Cold War patterns of thinking about Russia show few signs of weakening. To avoid repeating the mistakes of the past, Dr. Nikolai Petro is suggesting we look at Russian society in a fundamentally different light. His lecture will examine Russia as a struggling democracy that shares similarities, as well as differences, with the West.

Nicolai N. Petro is Professor of Political Science and Silvia-Chandley Professor of Peace Studies and Nonviolence at the University of Rhode Island. He has served as an International Affairs Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and as a special assistant for policy in the U.S. Department of State. He is the author of numerous monographs and articles on Russia’s foreign policy and political culture broadly. His writing has appeared in The American Interest, Boston Globe, The New York Times, and The National Interest.

This talk is part of the CSEEES Russia on the World Stage series.