 When the Soviet Union collapsed, many observers hoped that Russia would slowly but surely move toward something resembling U.S.-style liberal democracy. “By the late 1990s, it was clear that such an outcome was not on the horizon,” Fiona Hill writes in a new essay. “And in more recent years, quite the opposite has happened.”
Vladimir Putin recognized the shift. The Russian president “realized that despite the lofty rhetoric that flowed from Washington about democratic values and liberal norms, beneath the surface, the United States was beginning to resemble his own country,” with “populism, cronyism, and corruption [sapping] the strength of American democracy,” notes Hill, who served on the National Security Council in the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump. Because the two countries have grown so similar, traditional methods cannot remove the threat Russia poses to the United States. Rather than trying to change Putin, “Americans will have to change themselves.”
Read more from Foreign Affairs on the United States and Russia:
“Russia’s Weak Strongman” by Timothy Frye © 2021 Council on Foreign Relations | 58 East 68 Street, New York NY | 10065 Reset your password here. |