The curse of the «Black Spot»: the diffusion of «foreign agent» status in Russia and Kazakhstan

Vsevolod Bederson explains how the «foreign agent» status has become the main tool of repression against civil society for Russian NGOs, and why post-Soviet autocracies are keen on importing this practice

From fifth column to transmission belt, the evolution of the role of non-profit organisations in Putin’s Russia

Vsevolod Bederson on how Russia’s authoritarian regime has moved from alienating the non-profit sector to taking it over

The unquenchable light of Moscow windows: the grassroots life of politics in the capital

Vsevolod Bederson on the civil and political behaviour of Muscovites and the idiosyncracies of the capital’s districts

Not only the carrot and the stick: civil society management in Putin’s Russia

Vsevolod Bederson and Andrey Semyonov on the carrot-and-stick approach used by autocracies to manage civil society