Season 2 Episode 6 - Rebel Russia: Dissent and Protest from the Tsars to Navalny with Anna Arutunyan

Today on Coffee & Conflict, Joshua Huminski is joined by Anna Arutunyan, author of Rebel Russia: Dissent and Protest from the Tsars to Navalny, to explore Russian history through the lens of rebellion and dissent. Arutunyan traces the recurring dance between rebels and rulers—from the Tsars to the Soviet era to the present—and explains why uprisings so often appear to fail, yet still leave lasting marks on the Russian state. Drawing on centuries of history and her own experience reporting on Russia’s descent into authoritarianism, she examines whether dissent is a crisis-driven phenomenon or a persistent undercurrent, and how individual leaders and entrenched systems together shape Russia’s cycles of repression and reform.

Are Russia’s authoritarian patterns driven more by personalities at the top or by the structures of the state itself? What moral, spiritual, or communal threads connect dissidents across eras—and why do certain opposition figures or movements periodically emerge that seem to cut across Russian society rather than remain siloed? And looking ahead, if Russia’s history is defined by cycles of rebellion and repression, what might come after Putin—and what conditions would shape whatever comes next?

You can learn more about Rebel Russia, and purchase a copy of the book, here: https://www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?book_slug=rebel-russia-dissent-and-protest-from-the-tsars-to-navalny--9781509552290. 

Check out today’s experts on Twitter:

@joshuachuminski 

@scrawnya

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*Note: This episode was recorded on December 8, 2025

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