Author Description

This book provides a concise and accessible overview that places Russia in a global context while explaining its internal political development. Russian politics is powerfully shaped by large, impersonal forces such as geography and Russia's place in the international political and economic system. At the same time, its formal political institutions, such as the constitution and electoral procedures, are relatively weak and manipulable compared to those of stable, established democracies. Under these circumstances, powerful leaders such as Mikhail Gorbachev, Boris Yeltsin, and Vladimir Putin represent a source of potential dynamism and change. To make sense of Russian politics, Brian Taylor grounds his discussion in an appreciation of some enduring influences, such as the primacy of the state over society and the role of the so-called West, which has represented a source of inspiration, of threat, and of competition for generations of Russians. At the same time, most of the focus is on the period since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. That revolutionary event brought about dramatic change across multiple spheres, from the nature of the political and economic system to the country's borders and who counted as a citizen. More than three decades later, Russia is still working its way through the consequences of these transformations.