Reference no: EM133649828
Assignment:
1. Do Color Revolutions Produce Rotten Transitions?
This week saw us examining the phenomenon of "color revolutions" that characterize occasional social discontent in various countries that are strong on producing collective protest against a regime, but chronically weak and incapable of replacing the system of government. Whether it was the Rose Revolution of Georgia, the Orange Revolution of Ukraine, the Tulip Revolution of Kyrgyzstan, or a number of other like-titled revolutions in the Middle East, the number of states undergoing challenges to hybrid regime produce, in the words of Lucan Way, "rotten transitions" that do little more than replacing one group of kleptocrats in power with another group.
What do you think are the problems with these "revolutions"? Why do they tend to simply change leadership instead of changing the system of government and move the country in question towards greater degrees of democracy and good governance?
2. The Russian - Ukrainian War
Three questions, gives you three opportunities to post, and three additional opportunities to respond!
1. Was Russia's intervention in Ukraine justified?
2. Is the war in Ukraine really a proxy way between Russia and NATO?
3. What do you think will be the most likely outcome of the war?
3. The Former Soviet Union: Thirty Years Later
What are your thoughts on the former Soviet Union? Obviously, you were born well after is dissolution, but it's nearly impossible to escape from its legacies, enduring behaviors, and from your grandparents' memories of it. As this is the first discussion forum for the second half, I want to make it more open-ended for you to share your own thoughts and ideas before heading into the specifics of the course.
4. The Leadership and Personality of Vladimir Putin
Open forum related to the leadership, personality, and popular charisma of Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin.