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Winner of the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies' Reginald Zelnik Book Prize in History.

Through close study of Russian, Eurasian, and Central Asian ethnographic, administrative, literary, and missionary sources, this book shows how traditional Islamic education among the people of Tsarist Russia's Middle Volga region (today's Tatarstan) helped to Islamize the area's Turkic peoples, setting the stage for the development of modernist Islam in Russia.

"Agnes Nilufer Kefeli's thorough and imaginative use of sources is notable. She makes use of Russian official sources from the State Archives of Tatarstan and elsewhere, but she also consults a broad range of nonarchival Islamic sources, including Tatar-language Arabic-script popular literature. This makes the book highly original and important to both Russian history and Islamic studies."—Allen Frank

"This book investigates the policy of Russia on the Caspian and in the nearby territories from old times to the beginning of the present millennium, thus, spanning several centuries. The book also discusses the motivations of the rulers of Rus', Moscow State, Russian Empire, the USSR and later on, Russia that pursued active foreign policy targeted to extension of the geopolitical influence and strengthening of the economic presence in the near-Caspian territories and on the Caspian Sea proper. The main stages of formation of the Russian foreign policy are studied. The causes underlying the rivalry of Russia with Persia and Turkey, Central Asian Khanates and European states for the leading positions on the Caspian are analyzed. The authors describe the mechanisms used by Russia in its foreign policy with regard to the established political and economic conditions. Much attention is focused on the analysis of Russia's foreign policy in the Caspian region after disintegration of the USSR when the situation on the Caspian had changed drastically. Formerly there were two Caspian statesaUSSR and Iran, but now three new independent states appeared, i.e. Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan, which immediately became the focus of interest of non-regional states and leading oil and gas companies. This book describes how the policy of Russia has been changing in the face of a new geopolitical situation in the Caspian region. The approaches of Russia to addressing the regional problems, first of all, the international legal status of the Caspian Sea, hydrocarbon production and transportation, militarization and ecology, etc. are analyzed. All these factors urged Russia to develop new approaches towards the Caspian region. The book investigates the effect of the foreign policy of new Caspian states, the USA, EU and China on the Caspian policy of Russia. The complicated geopolitical situation on the Caspian and unceasing attention to its hydrocarbon resources force Russia to keep a close watch on the Caspian region that remains the main vector of the Russian foreign policy."--Preface

Cover -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- Introduction -- 1 Sources of Messianism and pragmatism -- 2 The rise and fall of Nikita S. Khrushchev -- 3 Up the down staircase: the era of Leonid Brezhnev -- The defeat that turned into success -- The Middle East in Soviet military strategy -- A semi-victory turned into defeat -- Sliding downhill -- Lost opportunities -- The human dimension -- 4 "Ardent revolutionaries, loyal friends" -- the USSR and the Communist movement -- 5 An exotic flower of Arabia -- 6 Through the looking glass, or the decision-making process -- Quadrangle: Ministry of Foreign Affairs – International Department of the Central Committee – State Security Committee – Ministry of Defence -- Personalities in big politics -- Diplomats: Their pluses, minuses, capabilities -- 7 Afghanistan: Russia's unhealed wound -- "Cannot lose Afghanistan" -- "History gives no answer" -- The logic of the fateful decision -- Seeking a solution -- 8 Messianism in decline: the time of Mikhail Gorbachev -- 9 Foreign policy and domestic policy: the USSR, Israel and the Palestinians -- 10 Storms in alien deserts -- 11 Cursed Nineties -- Ignore not interfere . . . -- The Madrid process and the fate of the "mother of all conflicts" -- Russia–Israel: "Friendship" with reservations -- The minefields of Iraq -- Turkey: a privileged trade partner -- Difficult movement towards each other -- A desirable partner -- 12 To return, but how? -- The attempts to keep Iraq as a partner -- The years and the fruit of real pragmatism: Russian-Turkish relations -- "A good neighbour, but neighbours are not chosen": the Russian Federation and Iran -- Afghanistan: far, but in some ways close -- Russia and the countries of the Arabian Peninsula: certain progress -- A partnership but not an alliance (Russia and Egypt in the 2000s)

Subnational political units are growing in influence in national and international affairs, drawing increasing scholarly attention to politics beyond national capitals. In this book, leading Russian and Western political scientists contribute to debates in comparative politics by examining Russia's subnational politics.Beginning with a chapter that reviews major debates in theory and method, this book continues to examine Russia's 83 regions, exploring a wide range of topics including the nature and stability of authoritarian regimes, federal politics, political parties, ethnic conflict, gover

"Imperial Russia's Muslims offers an exploration of social and cultural change among the Muslim communities of Central Eurasia from the late eighteenth century through to the outbreak of the First World War. Drawing from a wealth of Russian and Turkic sources, Mustafa Tuna surveys the roles of Islam, social networks, state interventions, infrastructural changes and the globalization of European modernity in transforming imperial Russia's oldest Muslim community: the Volga-Ural Muslims. Shifting between local, imperial and transregional frameworks, Tuna reveals how the Russian state sought to manage Muslim communities, the ways in which both the state and Muslim society were transformed by European modernity, and the extent to which the long nineteenth century either fused Russia's Muslims and the tsarist state or drew them apart. The book raises questions about imperial governance, diversity, minorities, and Islamic reform, and in doing so proposes a new theoretical model for the study of imperial situations"--

This study, written from the perspective of political sociology, represents the first comparative examination of Central Asian communal and political organisation before and after the tsarist conquest of the region. It covers Turkman, Kyrgyz, Kazakh and other tribal societies, analyses the patrimonial state structures of the Emirate of Bukhara and the Khanates of Khiva and Khokand, and discusses the impacts of the established tsarist civil military administration on communal and political orientations of the Muslim population.

The Military History of Tsarist Russia examines Russian military history from the rise of the Muscovite state to the present, even peeking briefly into the future. The volume covers Russia's land forces extensively, but also covers the development of the Russian Navy, and the creation and development of the Russian Air Force - parts of the Russian military machine that are frequently neglected in general writings. The historical analysis addresses the development and function of the Russian military whether in peace or in war, as well as the impact of war and changes in the military upon Russian society and politics. Questions of military organization, doctrine, and technique are paramount, as well as the critical question of the interface between the armed forces and society

This report deals with Russia's geopolitical objectives, policy and strategy, and their effects across the wider Baltic Region. The second part sums up NATO's response to this evolving strategic challenge, including the potential military threat posed by Russia.