SPRING 2004 LECTURE SERIES
Thursday, April 29th, 2004, 6:00-7:30 p.m.

The World Policy Institute at New School University presents

Archived Webcast (You will need Real Player to view this.) Courtesy of New School Online University special events.

RUSSIA’S PRESENT CONDITION:
WHY PUTIN COULDN’T LOSE

a panel discussion with

GIDEON LICHFIELD
Russia correspondent of The Economist, Great Britain

MARIA LIPMAN
Russian journalist and contributor to The Washington Post and The New York Review of Books

ADAM MICHNIK
editor in chief of Gazeta Wyborcza, Poland

and

DAVID REMNICK
editor in chief of The New Yorker

Moderated by

NINA L. KHRUSHCHEVA
WPI Senior Fellow

Russia has recently chosen her President for the next four years. The unsurprising results of the March presidential elections—72 % support for Vladimir Putin—have given way to much speculation over the current state of political affairs in Russia. Since first taking office in 2000, Putin has introduced extensive reforms in such areas as pensions, taxation, agriculture, among others. Moreover, he has taken the oligarchs to task. Is Putin’s decisive victory in 2004 a sign that his agenda and promise for a "stable Russia" resonate with the average voter, or is it a result of a state-monopolized media, voting irregularities and the lack of viable opposition? As of 1991, Russia has been undergoing two kinds of transition: from communism to capitalism and from autocracy to democracy. While there is no reason to believe that the first movement will be reversed, the second is far less certain. The enthusiasm for democratic participation palpable in the early 90’s has abated, leaving behind a sense of apathy and disillusionment. The standard defense of Russia’s current semi-autocratic condition is that democracy needs order to develop over time. But what if democracy postponed becomes democracy defeated?

Thursday, April 29, 2004, 6:00-7:30 p.m. Swayduck Auditorium, First Floor, 65 Fifth Avenue (between East 13-14^th). Admission is free. Visit www.dialnsa.edu for a live webcast and online discussion.

RSVP 212-229-5808 ext. 4272 to reserve seating or Email: wpi@newschool.edu

If you need special accommodations, please call at least five days in advance.

Online webcast and discussion:

Enter the www.dialnsa.edu website and click on the event you wish to view which will be listed under Special Events. Be sure on the day of the event that it is between 6:00 - 7.30 pm EST to view the live webcast. Archived realplayer files will be available from this page in the following week.

After attending the panel discussion or viewing the webcast you can join the online discussion offered during the following 2 weeks after the date of the event. At the www.dialnsa.edu website you will need to "request guest access" and obtain a login and password to participate. Signing up for this is simple and takes less than a minute to do.

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