Classic reruns: Potemkin villages
While the reality of their existence is lost in the span of history, I've found the metaphor of Potemkin Villages useful in explaining some of the internal contradictions of Russian government and politics. For example, look at Putin's explanations for why he's reversing some of Medvedev's reforms. And sometimes it's possible to stretch the idea to explain things in other regimes. (A couple of these examples are out of date, but you can come up with your own examples.)Potemkin "villages"
All five of these things may be trivia, but they were interesting to me. The examples come from the UK, Russia, and China. It is possible that some of these examples will be more than trivia and more substantial than "Potemkin" events in the future. Keep your eyes open for developments.
- Potemkin crisis
- Potemkin reform
- Potemkin Square
- Potemkin Democracy
- Potemkin reform (again)
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Labels: concepts, methodology, Russia, theory
posted by Ken Wedding @ 6:00 AM
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