Russian Politics Today
Stability and Fragility

An accessible, nuanced introduction to contemporary Russian politics with the theme of stability vs. fragility as its overarching framework.

Susanne A. Wengle (Edited by)

9781009165914, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 27 October 2022

552 pages
25.2 x 19.3 x 2.8 cm, 1.33 kg

'This is an admirably comprehensive textbook that manages to convey the complexity of Russian politics while remaining highly accessible. If you're going to use a textbook in a course on Russia, this is the book to use! The volume brings together excellent authors, covers the most relevant topics, and will be useful to both beginning and more advanced students.' Masha Hedberg, Colgate University, New York

Russian Politics Today: Stability and Fragility provides an accessible and nuanced introduction to contemporary Russian politics at a time of increasing uncertainty. Using the theme of stability versus fragility as its overarching framework, this innovative textbook explores the forces that shape Russia's politics, economy, and society. The volume provides up-to-date coverage of core themes – Russia's strong presidency, its weak party system, the role of civil society, and its dependence on oil and gas revenues – alongside path-breaking chapters on the politics of race, class, gender, sexuality, and the environment. An international and diverse team of experts presents the most comprehensive available account of the evolution of Russian politics in the post-Soviet era, providing the tools for interpreting the past and the present while also offering a template for understanding future developments.

List of contributors
Preface Susanne Wengle
1. Stability and fragility in contemporary Russian politics Susanne Wengle
Part I. Political Institutions: 2. Russia's superpresidency Jody LaPorte
3. Party politics and voting in Russia John Ora Reuter and David Szakonyi
4. Law, legal enforcement, and the courts Lauren McCarthy
5. The pendulum of central-regional relations in Russia Evgenia Olimpieva
6. The politics of race, racism, and anti-racism Nikolay Zakharov
7. Politics of gender and sexuality Alexander Sasha Kondakov and Alexandra Novitskaya
8. The foreign policy of an aspiring great power Andrei P. Tsygankov
Part II. Political Economy: 9. Property rights: forging the institutional foundations for Russia's market economy Jordan Gans-Morse
10. Economic policies and Russia's global economic integration Laura Solanko
11. Russia's oil and gas industry: Soviet inheritance and post-Soviet evolution Mikhail Strokan and Rudra Sil
12. Russia's oligarchs Stanislav Markus
13. Inequality and social policy in Russia Ilya Matveev and Sarah Wilson-Sokhey
14. Russian labor: between stability and stagnation Stephen Crowley
15. Every-day economic life on Russia's margins Ann-Mari Sätre and Leo Granberg
Part III. State and Society: 16. Russia's conservative forces and the state: a dynamic balancing act Marlene Laruelle
17. The Russian media Scott Gehlbach, Tetyana Lokot, and Anton Shirikov
18. Civil society in Russia: compliance with and resistance to the state Natalia Forrat
19. Protest in Russia: discovering power Sam Greene
20. The politics of the environment in Russia: extraction, climate change, and indigenous rights in the Russian arctic Laura A. Henry
21. Ethnicity and religion in Russia ?ener Aktürk
Index.

Subject Areas: Political control & freedoms [JPV], Geopolitics [JPSL], International relations [JPS], Political structure & processes [JPH], Comparative politics [JPB], Development studies [GTF]