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Mitchell A. Orenstein

Mitchell A. Orenstein

12 commentaries

Mitchell A. Orenstein, Professor of Russian and East European Studies and Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania, is a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute and author of The Lands in Between: Russia vs. the West and the New Politics of Hybrid War (Oxford University Press, 2019.

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  1. Why Orbán Won Again
    szikra2_FERENC ISZAAFP via Getty Images_orban voting FERENC ISZA/AFP via Getty Images

    Why Orbán Won Again

    Apr 5, 2022 Dorottya Szikra & Mitchell A. Orenstein say that Hungary’s strongman can rely on more than media control and a rigged electoral system.

  2. Why Won't Eastern Europeans Get Vaccinated?
    ghodsee3_NIKOLAY DOYCHINOVAFP via Getty Images_bulgairavaccineprotest Nikolay Doychinov/AFP via Getty Images

    Why Won't Eastern Europeans Get Vaccinated?

    Nov 8, 2021 Kristen Ghodsee & Mitchell A. Orenstein argue that low inoculation rates reflect not the legacy of communism, but rather the legacy of its collapse.

  3. Will Women Overthrow Europe’s Last Dictator?
    orenstein9_Natalia FedosenkoTASS via Getty Images_belaruselectiontsikhanouskaya Natalia Fedosenko/TASS via Getty Images

    Will Women Overthrow Europe’s Last Dictator?

    Aug 4, 2020 Mitchell A. Orenstein & Valery Yakubovich ask whether Aleksandr Lukashenko, Belarus’s first and only president since 1994, has finally met his match.

  4. Revolutions for Whom?
    ghodsee2_Spencer PlattGetty Images_romaniapovertydadchild Spencer Platt/Getty Images

    Revolutions for Whom?

    Nov 1, 2019 Kristen Ghodsee & Mitchell A. Orenstein note that in many post-communist countries, GDP per capita remains below its level 30 years ago.

  5. The Russians Are Coming
    op_orenstein_2_GettyImages490751590 Getty Images

    The Russians Are Coming

    May 24, 2019 Mitchell A. Orenstein reviews three recent books on the origins and conduct of the Kremlin’s political war against the West.

  1. aslund80_Natalia KolesnikovaGettyImages_russia_inflation Natalia Kolesnikova/Getty Images

    Putin’s War Is Fueling Russian Stagflation

    Anders Åslund thinks a weakening economy will soon become a serious constraint on Vladimir Putin’s war machine.
  2. aghion10_Laurence DuttonGettyImages_ai_jobs Laurence Dutton/Getty Images

    What AI Means for Growth and Jobs

    Philippe Aghion, et al. think the technology has great potential to boost productivity without harming employment.
  3. elerian176_Dan KitwoodGetty Images_bankofengland Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

    Shock-Proofing the UK Economy

    Mohamed A. El-Erian

    No country wants external developments to drive up its borrowing costs and weaken its currency, which is what the UK is facing today, together with serious cyclical and structural challenges. But if the British government responds appropriately, recent market volatility might turn out to have a silver lining.

    urges the government to communicate better what it is doing to boost resilient growth – and to do more.
  4. drchowdhury3_Shen HongXinhua via Getty Images_modixi Shen Hong/Xinhua via Getty Images

    As Trump Returns, Sino-Indian Relations Are Changing

    Debasish Roy Chowdhury explains why one of America’s key allies is hedging its bets amid escalating global tensions.
  5. GettyImages-1275420781

    Ricardo Hausmann on immigration, climate finance, economic complexity, and more

    Ricardo Hausmann urges the US to issue more H1-B visas, argues that Europe must become a military superpower in its own right, applies the “growth diagnostics” framework to Venezuela, and more.
  6. chellaney183_Hector RetmalGettyImages_wuhan_institute_of_virology Hector Retmal/Getty Images

    Will Trump Crack the Mystery of COVID’s Origin?

    Brahma Chellaney urges the incoming US administration to tighten rules governing risky “gain-of-function” research.
  7. berjon1_NurPhotoGettyImages_bluesky

    Social Media as It Should Be

    Robin Berjon explains how the Bluesky model could restore the original promise of the internet.
  8. bildt131_EMIL STACHRitzau ScanpixAFP via Getty Images_trumpgreenland Emil Stach/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP via Getty Images

    Trump’s Greenland Grab

    Carl Bildt

    Now that Donald Trump is returning to the White House, he believes that it is an “absolute necessity” for the United States to have “ownership and control” of Greenland. But as an autonomous Danish territory where the US military already operates, Greenland has no reason to abandon its current political arrangement.

    explains why the US president-elect's threats to seize the Danish territory are so dangerous.
  9. haass176_ Brandon BellGetty Images_biden Brandon Bell/Getty Images

    Joe Biden’s Disappearing Legacy

    Richard Haass thinks the outgoing US president got some big things mostly right and some big things mostly wrong.

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