Putinism: The Ideology, American Academy, February 26, 2008
The American Academy in Berlin
George Herbert Walker Bush/Axel Springer Lecture
February 26, 2008 – 8:00 pm
Anne Applebaum, Columnist and Member of the Editorial Board,
The Washington Post
Moderated by Wolfram Eilenberger, America Correspondent,
Cicero
Too often, the ascent of Vladimir Putin is described as if it were an accident, or the result of an age-old Russian affinity for authoritarianism. In fact, the Russian president promotes a very specific set of ideas and a very particular vision of Russia and Russian history. This "ideology" of Putinism needs to be better understood, both because it helps explain contemporary Russia, and because it is increasingly acquiring admirers and imitators around the world.
Anne Applebaum, a columnist and former member of the editorial board at The Washington Post, is one of America’s outstanding young journalists. Her 2002 book Gulag: A History (Doubleday, 2003) received the Pulitzer Prize and the Duff Cooper History Prize, and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and the National Book Award. Ms. Applebaum has worked at The Economist, Spectator, The Daily Telegraph, and Slate, and has published widely in such periodicals as Foreign Affairs and The New York Review of Books.
After spending Fall 2006 in residence at the Academy, Ms. Applebaum returns in 2008 to take up the second semester of her year-long fellowship. She will continue her research for a book project that interrogates how communist regimes successfully gained a foothold in postwar Central Europe; focusing on the individual stories of people struggling with radical shifts in political systems and the dilemma of whether to flee, fight, or join the new regime.
Wolfram Eilenberger is the America correspondent for Cicero, a magazine about political culture. He was formerly its philosophy correspondent, and wrote numerous articles about contemporary life and politics from a sharp and philosophical perspective. He is also a long-time journalist for the Tagesspiegel. A former player for the Finnish Kupittaan Allinssi football team, Mr. Eilenberger has also written books on both philosophy and football, including Philosophie für alle (Berlin Verlag, 2005), and Lob des Tores. 40 Flanken in Fußballphilosophie (Berliner Taschenbuch Verlag, 2006).
Registration required by February 21
fax: (030) 804 83-444 or e-mail:
program@americanacademy.de
Limited seating available.
The American Academy in Berlin
Am Sandwerder 17-19
14109 Berlin
Tel. +49-30-804 83-0
www.americanacademy.de
Samantha Ferrell
