Today's Russia, also known as the Russian Federation, is often viewed as less powerful than the Soviet Union of the past. When stacked against other major nations in the present, however, the new Russia is a formidable if flawed player. Russia: What Everyone Needs to Know® provides fundamental information about the origins, evolution, and current affairs of the Russian state and society. The story begins with Russia's geographic endowment, proceeds through its experiences as a kingdom and empire, and continues through the USSR's three-quarters of a century, and finally the shocking breakup of that regime a generation ago. Chapters on the failed attempt to reform Communism under Mikhail Gorbachev, the halting steps toward democratization under Boris Yeltsin, and the entrenchment of central controls under Vladimir Putin bring the reader into the contemporary scene and to headline-grabbing events such as Russia's annexation of the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine and its military intervention in Syria. Drawing on trends within Russia and on ratings and rankings compiled by international organizations, Colton discusses the challenges facing the country—ranging from economic recession to demographic stress, political stagnation, and overextension in foreign policy—and to the realistic options for coping with them. The book shows that, although Russia is not imprisoned by its history, it is heavily influenced by it. Colton illustrates Russia's greatest strength and, ironically, its greatest weakness: the ability of its people to adapt themselves to difficult circumstances beyond their immediate control. Russia, as Putin has asserted, will not soon be a second edition of the United States or Britain. But, Colton shows, there are ways in which it could become a better version of itself.
Introduction : governance and post-communist politics / Timothy J. Colton -- Building fiscal capacity / Gerald Easter -- The transformation of state statistics / Yoshiko M. Herrera -- Resistance to the central state in the periphery / Kathryn Stoner-Weiss -- State capacity and pension provision / Linda J. Cook -- Governing the banking sector / Timothy Frye -- Evaluating exchange rate management / Daniel Treisman -- The paradox of energy sector reform / Erika Weinthal and Pauline Jones Luong -- Democratization, separation of powers and state capacity / Thomas F. Remington -- Conclusion : the state of the state in Putin's Russia / Stephen Holmes
Subjects obey. Citizens choose. Transitional Citizens looks at the newly empowered citizens of Russia's protodemocracy facing choices at the ballot box that just a few years ago, under dictatorial rule, they could not have dreamt of. The stakes in post-Soviet elections are extraordinary. While in the West politicians argue over refinements to social systems in basically good working order, in the Russian Federation they address graver concerns--dysfunctional institutions, individual freedom, nationhood, property rights, provision of the basic necessities of life in an unparalleled economic downswing. The idiom of Russian campaigns is that of apocalypse and mutual demonization. This might give an impression of political chaos. However, as Timothy Colton finds, voting in transitional Russia is highly patterned. Despite their unfamiliarity with democracy, subjects-turned-citizens learn about their electoral options from peers and the mass media and make choices that manifest a purposiveness that will surprise many readers. Colton reveals that post-Communist voting is not driven by a single explanatory factor such as ethnicity, charismatic leadership, or financial concerns, but rather by multiple causes interacting in complex ways. He gives us the most sophisticated and insightful account yet of the citizens of the new Russia.
To embrace curbs on his own power, Putin would need to act as much out of character as Medvedev would need to act against instinct in order to confront his benefactor.
This article begins by relating the 2010 presidential election to preceding presidential elections in Ukraine. It demonstrates that this is the first time in Ukraine's two decades of national independence that strong continuity has been present across successive elections in the territorially aggregated basis of support for the same leading candidate, or between such a candidate and a political mentor. From this perspective, the 2010 election is the country's first aligning election. The article investigates the social and economic correlates of regional voting patterns in 2010, finding that identity-based variables based on section (macro-region) and language are the strongest predictors, although economics is also of some relevance. It goes on to compare the 2010 contest in this respect with the elections of 1994, 1999, and 2004, showing that identity politics lost in salience as of the late 1990s and then resurged. The reasons for this reversal have to do with the elite's habit of relying on identity messages to compete for high office and the penetration of the Ukrainian political space by international actors, Russia in particular.
