Author Description
Combining the approaches of three fields of scholarship - political science, law and Russian area- tudies - the author explores the foundations and future of the Russian Federation. Russia's political elite have struggled to build an extraordinarily complex federal system, one that incorporates eighty-nine different units and scores of different ethnic groups, which sometimes harbor long histories of resentment against Russian imperial and Soviet legacies. This book examines the public debates, official documents and political deals that built Russia's federal house on very unsteady foundations, often out of the ideological, conceptual and physical rubble of the ancien régime. One of the major goals of this book is, where appropriate, to bring together the insights of comparative law and comparative politics in the study of the development of Russia's attempts to create - as its constitution states in the very first article - a 'Democratic, federal, rule-of-law state'
Menrva's Summary
THE THESIS
This book investigates the structural and legal challenges inherent in Russia's attempt to establish a functional federal system that adheres to democratic principles and the rule of law. Jeffrey Kahn, an expert in law and Russian studies, synthesizes political science and comparative legal frameworks to analyze how the Russian Federation navigated the transition from the Soviet era. He argues that the construction of this federal state was hampered by historical legacies, ethnic tensions, and the necessity of building institutions from the remnants of the previous regime.
THE SCOPE MAP
What You Will Find
- Analysis of the Russian Federation's eighty-nine administrative units and their ethnic compositions
- Examination of constitutional development and the implementation of the rule of law
- Review of public debates, official documents, and political negotiations during the post-Soviet transition
Scope Limits
- The analysis focuses primarily on the formative years of the Russian Federation and does not cover subsequent political developments in the late 2010s or 2020s
- The text does not provide a comprehensive biography of individual political actors, focusing instead on institutional and systemic structures
THE AUTHORITY PERSPECTIVE
Scholars and political analysts frequently cite this work as a foundational text for understanding the intersection of comparative law and post-Soviet governance. Readers often note the academic density of the prose, which provides a rigorous examination of the structural obstacles facing the Russian state.
Page Count:
338
Publication Date:
2002-01-01
Publisher:
OUP Oxford
ISBN-10:
0191529966
ISBN-13:
9780191529962
History
International relations
Government
Law
Community Tags
Similar Books
