Skip Putin. Talk to Russians

An appeal from Russian civil society

The Russian army under Vladimir Putin’s command is waging a brutal war against independent Ukraine. The Ukrainian army’s resistance is brave and strong. The worldwide support for the Ukrainian cause is unprecedented. But there’s one more thing to do. Skip Putin. Talk to Russians. Russians are still hesitant about protesting against this malicious ...
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Skip Putin. Talk to Russians

Performances of Democracy

An excerpt from Jessica Pisano’s Staging Democracy

This book is about performances of democratic politics in Russia and Ukraine: why people take part in such performances, how they are related to economic change, and how they affect the meanings that attach to political participation. ...

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Performances of Democracy

A Letter to the Western Left From Kyiv

Critique of liberal internationalism cannot add up to support for the ‘spheres of interest’ doctrine

A large part of the western Left, focused on NATO and the USA, failed to see Russian aggression. Of course, the war on terror needs to be brought into the discussion – but critique of liberal internationalism cannot add up to support for the ‘spheres of interest’ doctrine....

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A Letter to the Western Left From Kyiv

Authority and Freedom: A Defense of the Arts

What makes the arts an essential part of a society is their freestanding value—a value that cannot be described as radical, liberal, or conservative

While there have been many periods when the arts inspired some sort of controversy, different times have different troubles. In our data- and metrics-obsessed era, the central problem is that the imaginative ground without which art cannot exist is under threat....

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Authority and Freedom: A Defense of the Arts