State Building in Putin's Russia

ISBN-13: 9780521760881 / Angielski / Twarda / 2011 / 392 str.

Brian D. Taylor

Opis

Building a strong Russian state was the central goal of Vladimir Putin's presidency. This book argues that Putin's strategy for rebuilding the state was fundamentally flawed. Taylor demonstrates that a disregard for the way state officials behave toward citizens state quality had a negative impact on what the state could do state capacity. Focusing on those organizations that control state coercion, what Russians call the power ministries, Taylor shows that many of the weaknesses of the Russian state that existed under Boris Yeltsin persisted under Putin. Drawing on extensive field research and interviews, as well as a wide range of comparative data, the book reveals the practices and norms that guide the behavior of Russian power ministry officials (the so-called siloviki), especially law enforcement personnel. By examining siloviki behavior from the Kremlin down to the street level, State Building in Putin's Russia uncovers the who, where, and how of Russian state building after communism."

Recenzje

"It may be pointless to say that had Vladimir Putin read this book he would have done a better job of building the strong state he desired while serving the broader public good. Yet it is not too much to suggest that readers would be hard-pressed to find a more subtle and lucid account of why his effort to strengthen the state's coercive arm failed to dent corruption, protect property rights, or advance the rule of law. This is by far the most thorough and systematic study of Russia's so-called power ministries, charged with administering the state's monopoly over the legitimate use of force."
—Foreign Affairs

Spis treści

1. Bringing the gun back in: coercion and the state; 2. The power ministries and the siloviki; 3. Coercion and capacity: political order and the central state; 4. Coercion and capacity: centralization and federalism; 5. Coercion and quality: power ministry practices and personnel; 6. Coercion and quality: the state and society; 7. Coercion in the North Caucasus; 8. State capacity and quality reconsidered.