Welcome to the RUCARR Distinguished Speaker Series November 10!

Marianne Kneuer: “Russian Autocracy Promotion: the Cases of Georgia and Moldova“

Speaker

Marianne Kneuer is Professor of Comparative Politics at TU Dresden and former President of the International Political Science Association (IPSA). Her research centers on democracy and autocracy, democratic erosion, regime change and digitalization in political processes.

Abstract

Russia is an extremely powerful external actor when it comes to influence its geopolitical neighbourhood including coercive military invasion. However, there is not a „one fits all“ approach of autocracy promotion by the Russian government. Basing on the concept by Kneuer and Demmelhuber (2021), I argue that Russia deploys different strategies depending on the regime state of the country: Strategies differ if they target an already existing and stable autocracy (Belarus), a liberal democracy (Estonia, Germany etc.) or hybrid regimes. This talk explores the cases of Georgia and Moldova, which qualify as electoral democracies and experienced an upward trend in the 2000s, and traces how Russia responded in terms of promoting autocracy. I will show that two strategies prevail: autocratic empowerment of autocratic actors, parties and groups in the target country and the delegitimation of democratic rule and principles (see also Kneuer et al. 2025).

Moderator: Prof. Bo Petersson, Malmö University

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