Russia and Eurasia
October 1997

October Article Abstracts

Title: The United States and the New Russia: The First Five Years
Author: Raymond L. Garthoff
"In 1997 there is renewed talk of a 'partnership' [between the United States and Russia,] but it will be harder to realize in the wake of the mockery that nato enlargement has made of the post-cold war partnership with Russia proclaimed earlier by the Bush and Clinton administrations. . . Managing the impact of that decision is probably the principal task for United States policy for the next five years."

Title: Russia's Reform Effort: Is There Growth at the End of the Tunnel?
Author: Marshall I. Goldman
"After more than five years it is necessary to acknowledge that the economic reforms in Russia have not been the success that so many insisted they were for so long. . . Given the enormity of the cynicism and the warped, dysfunctional patterns of behavior that earlier reforms have generated. . .redress will not come easily."

Title: Democracy Unfolds in Russia
Author: Michael McFaul
"Superpresidentialism, ambiguous federalism, the weakness of political parties and labor and civic organizations, the inordinate strength of big business, and the virtual absence of the rule of law represent major blemishes on Russia's nascent democracy. . . [But] in bemoaning Russia's slow start in consolidating a liberal democracy, we must not forget the important progress made in establishing an electoral democracy in Russia."

Title: The Pitfalls of Russian Superpresidentialism
Author: M. Steven Fish
Russia's "superpresidentialism-despite the strength it ostensibly derives from its powers of command, its enormous bureaucratic machinery, and the pomp and glitter that adorn it-lives in constant danger of destruction and replacement or, at best, slow degeneration and decline."

Title: "Normal" Russia
Author: Vladimir Shlapentokh
"Russians are adapting quickly to the new rules of the market economy and democratic freedoms. This development can only be greeted positively by Russians and the world. When, however, they accept as 'normal' many negative and dangerous phenomena in their lives associated with these changes. . ."

Title: Tajikistan's Civil War
Author: Muriel Atkin
"The end of the conflict between Dushanbe and the Opposition-if the 1997 peace accord has really achieved that-will not solve all of Tajikistan's problems. At best it is the first stage of a long process of recovery from a man-made disaster."

Title: The Unruly Caucasus
Author: Svante E. Cornell
"Russia's policy in the Caucasus is confused, sometimes contradictory, and often destabilizing. It has failed to dampen ethnic tensions [and] has contributed to anti-Russian feelings. . ."