The Impact of Russia's State Failure with Mr. Janusz Bugajski

Mr. Janusz Bugajski will discuss the state of Russia today and the consequences a failed Russian state may have on the world.

About the Lecture: The Russian Federation is a failed state. It has proved unable to transform itself into a nation-state, a civic state, or a stable imperial state. Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has accelerated the process of state rupture through economic decline, falling revenues, elite conflicts, military incompetence, and regional and ethnic disquiet. Russia confronts an existential paradox. Without economic reform and regional autonomy, the federal structure will become increasingly unmanageable. But even if democratic reforms are undertaken by a weakening central state several regions can exploit the opportunity to secede. The prospects for violent internal conflicts substantially increase if reforms are indefinitely blocked. Growing fractures in the Russian Federation will also have a major impact on all neighboring countries for which Western policymakers are not prepared.

About the Speaker: Mr. Janusz Bugajski is a Senior Fellow at the Jamestown Foundation in Washington DC and host of television shows broadcast in the Balkans. Bugajski has authored 21 books on Europe, Russia, and trans-Atlantic relations. His recent books include Failed State: A Guide to Russia’s Rupture (2022), Eurasian Disunion: Russia’s Vulnerable Flanks (with Margarita Assenova) (2016); and Conflict Zones: North Caucasus and Western Balkans Compared(2014). His forthcoming book is titled Pivotal Poland: Europe’s Rising Strategic Player. He is a contributor to several media outlets in the US and Europe and has testified before a number of US congressional committees including: the Helsinki Commission, Senate Foreign Relations, Senate Armed Services, House Foreign Affairs, and House Defense Appropriations.

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