Rising Discontent in Russia: Is Vladimir Putin’s Regime Vulnerable?

Join the World Affairs Council Upstate for the 2nd in our monthly series, Beyond the Headlines: Critical Issues Impacting our World. Over the last 20 years, Vladimir Putin has used various methods to consolidate an authoritarian regime in Russia. Despite media coverage of opposition movements and opposition leader Alexei Navalny, Putin’s regime remains stable. This lecture will discuss the mechanisms of consolidation and control used by Vladimir Putin and his affiliated United Russia party. Further, it will discuss the attitudes of ordinary Russians toward the regime, and the prospects for change within it.

Matthew Placek is an Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of South Carolina Upstate. His research focuses on the influence of social media and the internet on political attitudes in new democracies and non-democratic regimes. His work has been published in Democratization, East European Politics, and The Washington Post’s Monkey Cage Blog.