COVID-19 Update: NED is continuing to operate during this worldwide health emergency, and to make grants in support of democracy.
However, our office is closed to the public and all in-person events and meetings have been postponed, cancelled or are occurring virtually.

Gail W. Lapidus

Gail Warshofsky Lapidus is professor of political science at the University of California at Berkeley and directs the Berkeley-Stanford Program in Soviet Studies. She has written extensively on Soviet politics, society, and foreign policy and is currently working on a book entitled Eroding Empire: Nationalism and the Soviet Future. Her essay is adapted from a talk presented in February at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.