Knowledge Base

Terms You May Have Heard

Disinformation: False information that is spread for the express purpose of misleading others.

The Kremlin: Shorthand reference to the Russian government in the same way that “the Pentagon” refers to the US Department of Defense or “the White House” refers to the Executive Office of the President.

Liberal Democracy: A form of representative democracy with free and fair elections, characterized by a competitive political process. All adult citizens are given the right to vote regardless of race, gender, or property ownership. A liberal democracy may take various constitutional forms such as constitutional republic, a federal republic, a constitutional monarchy, a presidential system, a parliamentary system, or a hybrid semipresidential system. For example, the United States, India, Germany, and Brazil each take the form of a constitutional republic.

Strategic Narcissism: The tendency to define problems as we would like them to be and only in relation to ourselves. Strategic narcissism assumes, for example, that others have no aspirations or agency except in reaction to US policies and actions. It leads a country to pursue strategies that are based on what it prefers to do rather than what the situation demands.

Vladimir Putin: A Russian politician and the current president of Russia. Vladimir Putin has been at the head of Russian politics since he first assumed the presidency in 1999. Putin remained president from 1999 until 2008. He was re-elected to the presidency in 2012 after serving as prime minister of Russia from 2008 to 2012.