Tag Archives: authoritarianism

Introducing the Journalism Security Index (JSI)

Posted on January 30, 2012 by AK

The Press Freedom Index issues by Reporters Without Borders is a good starting point for assessing journalistic freedoms in global comparative perspective. However, much like all attempts to measure democracy or Transparency International’s assessment of corruption perception, their methodology relies on tallying … Continue reading →

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Karlin Freedom Index 2012

Posted on January 24, 2012 by AK

This is the Karlin Freedom Index for 2012, a political classification system I formulated more than a year ago in response to systemic bias on the part of traditional “freedom indices” such as Freedom House and The Economist Democracy Index … Continue reading →

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Is The US Still A Liberal Democracy?

Posted on January 23, 2012 by AK

In the years since 9/11, the US has built a mosaic of national security powers that undermine its claim to be the “land of the free.” According to this useful summary by Jonathan Turley, these include: Assassination of its own … Continue reading →

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Measuring Churov’s Beard: The Mathematics Of Russian Election Fraud

Posted on December 26, 2011 by AK

In the aftermath of the 2011 Duma elections, the Russian blogosphere was abuzz with allegations of electoral fraud. Many of these were anecdotal or purely rhetorical in nature; some were more concrete, but variegated or ambiguous. A prime example of … Continue reading →

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What They Say After: The Post-Elections Polls

Posted on December 22, 2011 by AK

Citing evidence revolving around pre-elections opinion polls and exit polls, in my Al Jazeera article on the Russian Duma elections I made the argument that “the aggregate level of falsifications is probably at around five per cent, and almost certainly … Continue reading →

Posted in Da Russophile | Tagged , , , , , , | 49 Comments

My Article On The Russian Elections At Al Jazeera

Posted on December 11, 2011 by AK

The long-promised post is out, but not here but at Al Jazeera: Truth and falsifications in Russia. It has also been translated into Russian at Inosmi.ru (Правда и фальсификации в России). In the spirit of democracy, I am adopting Alexander … Continue reading →

Posted in Da Russophile | Tagged , , , , , | 57 Comments

All Opinion Polls Relevant To Russia’s 2011 Duma Elections

Posted on December 8, 2011 by AK

For now I’m just making the data available without commentary. Make of it what you will. Levada (18-21 Nov), VCIOM (19-20 Nov), and ISI (4-10 Nov) predictions of election results based on polls. Election results as of Dec 9th 2011, … Continue reading →

Posted in Da Russophile | Tagged , , , , , | 86 Comments

A Quick Note On Russia’s Duma Elections 2011

Posted on December 3, 2011 by AK

On reading Western commentary on the upcoming Russian Duma elections, I realized that they can’t decide between two narratives: either the popularity of United Russia is sinking faster than Herman Cain’s following his sex abuse scandals, thus meaning that it … Continue reading →

Posted in Da Russophile | Tagged , , , , , , , | 187 Comments

Unraveling The Tandem Switch

Posted on October 8, 2011 by AK

Now that my initial triumphalism over Putin’s return has faded a bit, it’s time for a more analytical look. One of the main reasons I thought Medvedev would be the more likely person to be United Russia’s Presidential candidate is that … Continue reading →

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In Which I Opine On Various Matters Of Great Importance

Posted on August 19, 2011 by AK

A collection of news stories and my take on them from the past month or so. 1. Bribes are growing quickly in Russia. Their average sizes, that is. It was reported by the MVD that they increased by 5x from … Continue reading →

Posted in Coffee House, Da Russophile | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 33 Comments