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** Russia Outlook: Changes and Challenges After The Presidential Election*

*Date:* Friday, March 16, 2012 *Time:* 7:00p.m. (Talk will start at 7:30p.m.)
*Venue:*
Temple University, Japan Campus, Azabu Hall 212/213
(access:
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)
*Speaker: *
Nobuo Shimotomai, Professor, Faculty of Law, Hosei University
*Moderator:*
Tina Burrett, Assistant Professor of International Affairs, TUJ
*Admission:* Free (Open to general public) *RSVP:* icas@tuj.ac.jp **If you RSVP you are automatically registered. If possible, we ask you to RSVP but we always welcome participants even you do not RSVP.*

*Overview*

On 4 March 2012, Russia will hold presidential
elections, in which Vladimir Putin is almost guaranteed
to return to the Kremlin. In the aftermath of the
election, Russian politics expert Nobuo Shimotomai will
examine what we can expect from Russia going forward,
its domestic and foreign policies, and in particular
its relation with Japan and other Asian nations.
Professor Shimotomai will examine the political and
economic challenges for Russia in the coming decade.

After parliamentary elections in December 2011, which
many Russians consider fraudulent, can Putin survive
another full six-year-term as president? There have
been indications in recent months that Putin's
popularity is in decline; in November he was booed by
the audience at a martial arts contest in Moscow.
According to the Russia-based Public Opinion
Foundation, Putin's personal rating fell to an all-time
low of 44 per cent in December. Just a last summer,
Russia's political system seemed monolithic and
predictable; suddenly the future seems much less
certain.

*Speaker *

Dr. Nobuo Shimotomai holds a LLD in Law and Government.
Based at Hosei University, he specializes in
comparative politics, Russia/CIS politics and the
political history of Soviet Union. He has conducted
research in the former Soviet Union, United Kingdom,
and the United States and has held fellowships from the
Ministry of Education, Harvard University and the
Fulbright Program. Prof. Shimotomai has also held
prominent positions outside academia, including as
visiting editorialist at the Asahi Shimbun and as
chairman of the Japan Association of International
Relations.

His books include *Roshia hendo no kouzu―Eritsin kara
Puchin e* [The Structure of Russia in Transition―From
Yeltsin to Putin] (ed. Hosei University Press, 2001),
*Ajia reisen shi* [The History of the Asian Cold
War](Chuokoron-Shinsha, 2004; Special Award of the
Asian Pacific Awards), and *Mosukuwa to Kimu
Iru-son―reisen no naka no Kita Chosen 1945-1961*[Moscow
and Kim Il-Sung―North Korea during the Cold War,
1945-1961] (Iwanami Shoten, Publishers, 2006) and*
Nihon Reisennshi* [History of Cold War in Japan
1945-1956] (Iwanami shotenn 2011)

*Moderator*

Dr. Tina Burrett is Assistant Professor of
International Affairs at Temple University, Japan. Her
research focuses on the politics of the former Soviet
Union, with special reference to Russian domestic
politics. She also works on comparative politics and
transition theory. She has a keen interest in
parliamentary politics and reform, and has worked in
legislatures in Britain, Canada, Japan and the EU. Her
op-eds regularly appear in the Japan Times, The New
Internationalist and The New Statesman.
She holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge.

Professor Burrett's publications include *Television
and Presidential Power in Putin's Russia* (Routledge
2011).
------------------------------
*Robert Dujarric*
Director* *
*Kyle Cleveland*
Associate Director
*Eriko Kawaguchi*
Coordinator

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