Margot Light

Margot Light is Professor Emeritus of International Relations at the Department of International Relations of the London School of Economics and Political Science. She is an expert on post-Soviet poli

Russia at home and abroad: past successes, future challenges

2013 produced several foreign policy successes for President Putin, increasing Russia’s prominence on the international stage. At home, the Volgograd suicide attacks brought the year to a sad and worrying conclusion. Margot Light reflects on 2013 and wonders about Russia’s 2014, including the G8 p

By Margot Light

/ 5 Jan 2014

Lines in shifting sands: Russia’s response to the Syrian uprising

Russian policy in the Middle East has been largely driven by pragmatic calculations of trade and geopolitical influence, in direct opposition to notions of liberal interventionalism and the ‘Arab Spring’. This week’s shocking massacre by Syrian forces in Houla, however, has fundamentally challenge

By Margot Light

/ 29 May 2012