CERC Public Seminar: 'Roundtable: The Russian Presidential Election: Orchestration, Facade or Choice?'

Tuesday 4 March, 1:00-2:00pm
Room 212, 234 Queensberry Street, The University of Melbourne
Room 421

Speakers:

Tony Phillips

(CERC Fellow)

Prof Leslie Holmes

(Deputy Director CERC, Professor School of Political Science, Criminology and Sociology, University of Melbourne)

Dr Robert Horvath

(Charles La Trobe Research Fellow, School of Social Sciences, La Trobe University/CERC Fellow, University of Melbourne)

Abstract

Russia's presidential elections are taking place on Sunday 2 March. President Putin who has been in the position since 2000 is not contesting this election, as per the two term rule in the Russian constitution. However, his nominated successor, Dmitry Medvedev, first deputy PM and head of the large government energy monopoly and media owner Gazprom, seems almost certain to succeed him. The roundtable will look at the Russian election in terms of its status and meaning within the Russian polity, examine where Russia has gone under Putin, and look ahead to the future under a new President.

Profiles

Tony Phillips has taught and published on political, social and economic aspects of contemporary Russia, from Gorabchev to Putin. His most recent research production was "Limits to political space – A defining logic of Russia’s transition?" a paper given at the AACPCS Conference in January 2007.

Leslie Holmes has been a Professor of Political Science at the University of Melbourne since 1988, and is Deputy Director of CERC. He was President of the International Council for Central and East European Studies (ICCEES) 2000-2005, and President of the Australasian Association for Communist and Post-Communist Studies 2005-2007. His most recent books are Rotten States? Corruption, Post-Communism and Neoliberalism (Duke University Press, 2006), and the edited collection, Terrorism, Organised Crime and Corruption: Networks and Linkages (Edward Elgar, 2007).

Robert Horvath has written and taught on aspects of Russia and Soviet history for many years. He is a specialist on the history of human rights in the Soviet Union and has taken a keen interest in contemporary Russia's political developments. His contributions on the subjects have been both academic and in the popular press.

This seminar is presented in conjunction with the School of Political Science, Criminology and Sociology and the Innovative Universities European Union Centre, La Trobe University

Back to CERC seminars