“No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those others that have been tried from time to time.” 

Welcome to Democratist; as featured on The Economist, Financial Times, Radio Free Europe, Kyiv Post and inoSMI websites, and read by Foreign Ministers, Diplomats, Academics, Pulitzer Prize Winning Journalists, non-Pulitzer Prize Winning Journalists, other bloggers - and assorted innocent bystanders…

About me: I have been interested in democratization, Russia and the CIS for about 15 years and have a MA in Political Science from UCL (University of London). I also studied at the LSE (where I studied with the late, great Fred Halliday). I have worked extensively in the region for various international organizations.

I blog from a somewhat (although by no means unreservedly) economically liberal, and pro-democracy perspective. I’m also generally pro-EU and pro-NATO. I don’t like authoritarianism or its attendant inefficiencies and corruption. My analytical framework draws strongly on aspects of historical sociology. In terms of foreign policy I’m for a pragmatic mix of realism and liberalism.

You can contact me at democratistcontact@gmail.com if you like, or follow me on twitter; MrDemocratist.

Recent articles are listed below;

You have been weighed, and found wanting: RT and the 1st Anniversary of the Egyptian Revolution.

http://democratist.wordpress.com/2012/01/25/weighed-and-wanting/

CSTO: What ya gonna do when they come for you?

http://democratist.wordpress.com/2011/08/16/csto-summit/

Revolution, democracy and the West.

http://democratist.wordpress.com/2011/07/28/revolution-democracy-west/

Lviv: Nationalist Overreaction in Galicia.

http://democratist.wordpress.com/2011/06/25/lviv-nationalist-overreaction/

The Crimean Tatars: Future Opportunities, lingering threats.

http://democratist.wordpress.com/2011/06/11/tatars-opportunities-and-threats/

Whispers of Change in Tiraspol.

http://democratist.wordpress.com/2011/05/31/whispers-of-change-in-tiraspol/

Moldova’s 2011 local elections will confirm its European Orientation.

http://democratist.wordpress.com/2011/05/27/moldovas-2011-local-elections-will-confirm-its-european-orientation/

Ukraine: The other 2012.

http://democratist.wordpress.com/2011/05/24/ukraine-the-other-2012/

Ukraine may be turning towards the EU, but integration remains a distant prospect.

http://democratist.wordpress.com/2011/05/18/ukraine-eu-prospects/

Ukraine under Yanukovich.

http://democratist.wordpress.com/2011/05/14/ukraine-domestic-situation/

Alexander Lukashenko: Free Speech Advocate.

http://democratist.wordpress.com/2011/05/08/alexander-lukashenko-free-speech-advocate/

Russia 2012: Mr. Kudrin Takes a (Semi) Stand.

http://democratist.wordpress.com/2011/04/23/kudrin-semi-stand/

Mr Putin’s Very Very Large White Elephant.

http://democratist.wordpress.com/2011/04/21/putins-white-elephant/

In the bag: Putin 2012.

http://democratist.wordpress.com/2011/04/20/in-the-bag-putin-2012/

Going Postal: Press Freedom Under Fire In Kiev.

http://democratist.wordpress.com/2011/04/16/going-postal/

Bunga Bunga! Russia Today lends an old friend a hand.

http://democratist.wordpress.com/2011/04/15/bunga-bunga/

Nomenklatura has little interest in Russia’s WTO accession.

http://democratist.wordpress.com/2011/04/12/nomenklatura-wto/

The FSB and the Web: Out-innovated, yet again.

http://democratist.wordpress.com/2011/04/08/out-innovated-yet-again/

The Arab Spring, Susan Strange, and Western “Structural Power”.

http://democratist.wordpress.com/2011/03/31/arab-spring-structural-power/ 

The Great “Arab Spring” of 2011: Causes and Consequences.

http://democratist.wordpress.com/2011/03/28/great-arab-spring/

The Enduring Relevance of NATO in “an Asian Age.”

http://democratist.wordpress.com/2011/03/21/nato-asian-age/

 Dimitry Medvedev and the autonomous power of lies.

http://democratist.wordpress.com/2011/02/27/dimitry-medvedev-and-the-power-of-lies/February

 Anna Chapman and United Russia: Inevitable Bedfellows.

http://democratist.wordpress.com/2011/02/23/anna-chapman-and-united-russia-inevitable-bedfellows/

 Wikileaks and the Broader Foreign Policy Context.

http://democratist.wordpress.com/2011/02/22/wikileaks-and-the-broader-foreign-policy-context/

 FDI into Russia and the Forthcoming Elections

http://democratist.wordpress.com/2011/02/18/russia.-fdi-and-the-forthcoming-elections/

 The Egyptian Revolution and the Precariousness of Modern Autocracy.

http://democratist.wordpress.com/2011/01/29/the-egyptian-revolution-and-the-precariousness-of-modern-autocracy/

 Tunisia – A new Opportunity for Democracy and Western Policy in the Maghreb.

http://democratist.wordpress.com/2011/01/18/tunisia-a-new-opportunity-for-democracy-and-western-policy-in-the-maghreb/

 Needed: An Alternative to the Anna Chapman Show.

http://democratist.wordpress.com/2011/01/13/needed-an-alternative-to-the-anna-chapman-show/

 Moldova 2011: A New Opportunity for EU diplomacy.

http://democratist.wordpress.com/2011/01/07/moldova-2011-a-renewed-opportunity-for-eu-diplomacy/

 Eric Kraus and the Khordokovsky Trial.

http://democratist.wordpress.com/2010/12/31/khordokovsky-trial-mafia-state/

 Russia: Counter Espionage as Foreign Policy.

http://democratist.wordpress.com/2010/12/29/russia-counter-espionage-as-foreign-policy/

 Belarus 2010: “An Internal Matter”.

http://democratist.wordpress.com/2010/12/20/belarus-2010-an-internal-matter/

 Belarus 2010: Electoral Coercion and Fraud Techniques.

http://democratist.wordpress.com/2010/12/11/belarus-2012-electoral-coercion-and-fraud-techniques/

Democratist is currently working on a series of articles about the relationship between democracy and innovation;

i) Democracy and Innovation: Martin Wolf Makes the Liberal Case.

http://democratist.wordpress.com/2011/03/08/democracy-innovation-liberal-case/

 ii) Democracy and Innovation: A Cold War Case Study.

http://democratist.wordpress.com/2011/03/09/democracy-innovation-cold-war/

 iii) Democracy and Innovation: Dimitry Medvedev’s Skolkovo Illusion.

http://democratist.wordpress.com/2011/03/10/democracy-and-innovation-the-skolkovo-illusion/

iv) Crane and Usmanov: A more detailed overview of current policy and innovation.

http://democratist.wordpress.com/2011/03/14/policy-innovation-detailed-view/

The Russian Military Industrial Complex: An Unresolvable Discrepancy .

http://democratist.wordpress.com/2011/03/15/unresolvable-discrepancy/

The FSB and the Web: Out-innovated, yet again.

http://democratist.wordpress.com/2011/04/08/out-innovated-yet-again/

NB – this an ongoing “project” and the articles we write here are liable to change/revision over time.