Interview with Gideon Maltz, an associate of the international law firm Hogan & Hartson, author of “The Case for Presidential Term Limits” published in the Journal of Democracy, Vol. 18, No. 1. “Every single consolidated democracy in the world has term limits. Strong democracies are always going to have it because it is pretty entrenched. The issue is what happens to these semi-democratic countries? They are much more malleable. If they feel like term limits are a core part of what it means to be called a democracy, then there is a good chance that some of them will go along. If they feel, however, that it’s not necessarily part of the definition, then it’s just another constraint that they might be willing to break.”

-- 12/01/2008 >>>

Featured Topic in this Issue: Presidential Debates

Third round of the presidential debates

History of Presidential Debates. Fact check

View on Presidential Debates

Defining Debates

Expert Analysis: Russia’s Role in the World

-- 10/17/2008 >>>

Meredith Roman, professor at New York State University, specializing on racism: “Most of white people do not want to be called racist and do not classify themselves as such. The major challenge is to first get them to see just how much they really are benefiting from being “white” and how much those who are not “white” are placed at a disadvantage.  Only then will they be able to see just how much our society is suffering by the continued oppression of groups not identified as “white.”  -- 10/02/2008 >>>

Jerry F. Hough, political scientist at Duke University, offers a comparative perspective on the democratic development of Russia and the United States. 

-- 05/12/2008 >>>

Nikolai Petrov, scholar-in-residence at the Carnegie Moscow Center, discusses the transition from Putin to Medvedev and its implications for the governing of Russia. -- 02/28/2008 >>>

Armenian authorities should look into alleged violence against election observers and journalists during the February 19, 2008 presidential elections. -- 02/26/2008 >>>

It will be some time before Azerbaijan will be able to comply with the Council of Europe obligations concerning the protection of ethnic and national minority rights. -- 02/26/2008 >>>

The U.S. human rights organization Freedom House listed Belarus as one of the least free states in terms of economic and political rights in its annual Freedom in the World report.  -- 01/31/2008 >>>

Steven Pifer, senior adviser with CSIS and former ambassador to Ukraine, offers his views on the country's past and present political development.

-- 12/19/2007 >>>

Nikolay Petrov, scholar-in-residence and chair of the Carnegie Moscow Center Russian Domestic Politics and Political Institutions Program, offers his views on the upcoming State Duma elections. -- 11/26/2007 >>>