Russian Politics and Society

by Richard Sakwa

Having been fully revised and updated to reflect the considerable changes in Russia over the last decade, the fourth edition of this classic text builds on the strengths of the previous editions to provide a comprehensive and sophisticated analysis on Russian politics and society. New to this edition:


extended coverage of electoral laws, party development and regional politics new chapter on the phoney democracy period, 1991-93 historical evaluation of Yeltsin s leadership full coverage of Putin s presidency discussion of the development of civil society and the problems of democratic consolidation latest developments in the Chechnya conflict more on foreign policy issues the re-introduction of the Russian Constitution as an appendix an updated Select Bibliography more focus on the challenges facing Russia in the twenty-first century.
Written in an accessible and lively style, this book is packed with detailed information on the central debates and issues in Russia s difficult transformation. This makes it the best available textbook on the subject and is essential reading for all those concerned with the fate of Russia, and with the future of international society.

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Genres: Politics, Russia, Nonfiction, Reference

606 pages, Paperback

First published October 23, 1993

About the author

Richard 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.

Reviews

[Thomas Colsy · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[GreyAtlas · Rating 4 out of 5]

A monolith, brick of a book. But worth it.

[Brent · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Pavel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing