EVENT: WCED Lecture: “The Russo-Georgian War and the Prospects for Democratization in Postcommunist Space”

The Weiser Center for Emerging Democracies ends the academic year with a lecture by M. Steven Fish on the recent war between the Republic of Georgia and Russia. Dr. Fish will examine how conflicts on Russia's periphery are affecting the prospects for democratization in Russia and her neighbors, and will pose key questions about the region. Is Russia's increasing assertiveness a sign of genuine resurgence--or weakness and vulnerability? What lessons have leaders and publics in Russia, the Caucasus, and other parts of the postcommunist world gleaned from recent experiences, and what role has the United States played in recent developments in Eurasia and East Europe?

M. Steven Fish is a professor in the Charles and Louise Travers Department of Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley. His research and teaching interests include post-Soviet politics, democratization and regime change, and general comparative politics. He is the author of Democracy Derailed in Russia: The Failure of Open Politics (Cambridge University Press, 2005), Democracy from Scratch: Opposition and Regime in the New Russian Revolution (Princeton University Press, 1995), and a co-author of Postcommunism and the Theory of Democracy (Princeton University Press, 2001).

PLACE: 1636 International Institute, 1080 S. University, Ann Arbor

SPONSORS: Weiser Center for Emerging Democracies and the Center for Russian and East European Studies, affiliates of the Weiser Center for Europe and Eurasia.