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Russian Politics and Society
Sakwa's Russian Politics and Society is the most comprehensive study of Russia's post-communist political development. For this third edition, Sakwa has updated the text throughout to include details of Yeltsin's second term and the impact on Russian politics of the rise of his successor, Vladimir Putin.
It has, since its first publication in 1993, become an indispensable guide for all those who need to know about the current political scene in Russia, about the country's political stability and about the future of democracy under its post-communist leadership.
Also contains a substantially expanded bibliography and appendices showing election results, chronology, social and demographic figures and recent census data.This is the ideal introductory textbook: it covers all the key issues; it is clearly written; and it includes the most up-to-date material available.
It has, since its first publication in 1993, become an indispensable guide for all those who need to know about the current political scene in Russia, about the country's political stability and about the future of democracy under its post-communist leadership.
Also contains a substantially expanded bibliography and appendices showing election results, chronology, social and demographic figures and recent census data.This is the ideal introductory textbook: it covers all the key issues; it is clearly written; and it includes the most up-to-date material available.
560 pages, Paperback
First published October 23, 1993
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131 people want to read
About the author
Richard Sakwa
56 books41 followersRichard Sakwa (born 1953) is Professor of Russian and European politics at the University of Kent. He writes books about Russian and Eastern European communist and post-communist politics.
Sakwa is currently Professor of Russian and European politics at the University of Kent. From 2001 to 2007 he was also the head of the University's Politics and International Relations department. He has published on Soviet, Russian and post-communist affairs, and has written and edited several books and articles on the subject.
Sakwa was also a participant of Valdai Discussion Club, an Associate Fellow of the Russia and Eurasia Programme at the Royal Institute of International Affairs, a member of the Advisory Boards of the Institute of Law and Public Policy in Moscow and a member of Academy of Learned Societies for the Social Sciences.
Sakwa is currently Professor of Russian and European politics at the University of Kent. From 2001 to 2007 he was also the head of the University's Politics and International Relations department. He has published on Soviet, Russian and post-communist affairs, and has written and edited several books and articles on the subject.
Sakwa was also a participant of Valdai Discussion Club, an Associate Fellow of the Russia and Eurasia Programme at the Royal Institute of International Affairs, a member of the Advisory Boards of the Institute of Law and Public Policy in Moscow and a member of Academy of Learned Societies for the Social Sciences.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 23, 2024
If you expect a simplistic villainisation of Russia, this book is not for you. If you are interested in the truth of things, it certainly is.
It is when you read profound, insightful, and true material such as this that you realise academic nation studies- which when conducted properly involves the fields of political theory, history, political science, sociology, anthropology, geography, and philosophy- are no frivolous academic pursuit. They can be deeply qualitatively useful and informative. Whether Russia is, however, a "nation" is a matter up for discussion, particularly within Russia itself, which Sakwa details. If prominent commentators internal and external to it are correct, it may indeed be a "civilisation".
Sakwa, at least by the fifth edition, meets all of those ideal criteria here. It feels that, regarding the Russian polity, he achieves the remarkable feat of simultaneously leaving no stone unturned, and yet presenting the vast quantity of information in such a challenging and aptly philosophical lens so as to not make it tedious.
I have not been to Russia, but after reading this book I feel I know it well. I had the fortune to have additionally conversed with the author who aptly described how when one provides a sufficiently comprehensive overview of a nation, he must decode the entire "matrix" which comprises it. It's true, and justifies the rich interdisciplinary academic reading found herein.
I can suffer vicariously with its tragedies and maladies (corruption, abortion, alcoholism, and a strained justice system), understand its context (a self-regarding 'Eurasianism', an exceptionalist lone-wolf consciousness- as apart from the West) due to the nine or so devastating foreign invasions it incurred in a mere millennium, and yet simultaneously understand its thought (which Sakwa details is simultaneously nostalgic and mistrusting) which, although the nation cannot be essentialised, is partially legitimately sceptical of Western liberalism.
Then, the micro-political dynamics of United Russia, the LDPR, the CPRF, Medvedev, Putin, Yeltsin before them and so on are given for greater clarity.
The contemporary and historical dynamics of the Russian 'dual-'state, in all their executive and legislative branches, are provided with highly apt qualitative and empirical detail. Sakwa meanwhile exhibits the underlying religious-cultural dynamics permeating its politics from top to bottom.
Sakwa, at the end, discusses the trajectory and possibilities for Russia's future with justified, grounded, and informed reading.
You will find a better overview of Russia in as many places likely nowhere else.
It is when you read profound, insightful, and true material such as this that you realise academic nation studies- which when conducted properly involves the fields of political theory, history, political science, sociology, anthropology, geography, and philosophy- are no frivolous academic pursuit. They can be deeply qualitatively useful and informative. Whether Russia is, however, a "nation" is a matter up for discussion, particularly within Russia itself, which Sakwa details. If prominent commentators internal and external to it are correct, it may indeed be a "civilisation".
Sakwa, at least by the fifth edition, meets all of those ideal criteria here. It feels that, regarding the Russian polity, he achieves the remarkable feat of simultaneously leaving no stone unturned, and yet presenting the vast quantity of information in such a challenging and aptly philosophical lens so as to not make it tedious.
I have not been to Russia, but after reading this book I feel I know it well. I had the fortune to have additionally conversed with the author who aptly described how when one provides a sufficiently comprehensive overview of a nation, he must decode the entire "matrix" which comprises it. It's true, and justifies the rich interdisciplinary academic reading found herein.
I can suffer vicariously with its tragedies and maladies (corruption, abortion, alcoholism, and a strained justice system), understand its context (a self-regarding 'Eurasianism', an exceptionalist lone-wolf consciousness- as apart from the West) due to the nine or so devastating foreign invasions it incurred in a mere millennium, and yet simultaneously understand its thought (which Sakwa details is simultaneously nostalgic and mistrusting) which, although the nation cannot be essentialised, is partially legitimately sceptical of Western liberalism.
Then, the micro-political dynamics of United Russia, the LDPR, the CPRF, Medvedev, Putin, Yeltsin before them and so on are given for greater clarity.
The contemporary and historical dynamics of the Russian 'dual-'state, in all their executive and legislative branches, are provided with highly apt qualitative and empirical detail. Sakwa meanwhile exhibits the underlying religious-cultural dynamics permeating its politics from top to bottom.
Sakwa, at the end, discusses the trajectory and possibilities for Russia's future with justified, grounded, and informed reading.
You will find a better overview of Russia in as many places likely nowhere else.
April 2, 2021
A monolith, brick of a book. But worth it.
September 15, 2010
This was a textbook that was assigned to me in my post Soviet studies. This is a lengthy book, which takes away a star, but it is very insightful and has a really good history of how Russia has acted in the past, and how it can act in the future. The study of Russian and eastern European politics fascinates me, partly because of the instructor who teaches it (Dr. Cichock at the University of Texas at Arlington). If you want to learn more about how Russia is today, read this book. Just remember, it is a lot to choke down.
March 5, 2013
Amazing
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews