This volume analyzes the changing power relations in the Russian regions and in their relationship with the centre. Some papers analyze Russian federalism and the significant changes to it that Putin has introduced, both at the broad systemic level and in the case of individual regions. Others look at the distribution of power at the regional level, in particular the role of business in regional politics. The result is a rich survey of the state of federal relations in Russia.

The Origins of the Stalinist Political System offers new and challenging perspectives on Soviet political development from October 1917 until the outbreak of war in June 1941. Explanations of the emergence of a Stalinist political system have hitherto concentrated upon either impersonal factors, such as economic backwardness and the process of bureaucratisation, or Stalin the political actor and the intricacies of elite conflict. Graeme Gill examines the relationship between institutional structures and the conventions, which are created to shape the activities of individuals and considers...

Argues that post-Soviet Russia was never on a democratic trajectory because dominant elites always fostered the building of an authoritarian polity.

Argues that post-Soviet Russia was never on a democratic trajectory because dominant elites always fostered the building of an authoritarian polity.

The fall of the Communist regime in the USSR and Russia's search for a democratic and prosperous market-based future is one of the most compelling episodes of the end of the twentieth century. A central part in this drama is being played by political elites. These essays, written by some of the leading scholars in the field, analyse various aspects of the role being played by elites and leaders in Russian politics. Among the issues dealt with are: the origins of the Russian elites, including the issue of continuity with the Soviet past; the relationship between political and economic elites;...

This edited volume seeks to understand and explain the pattern of varying national and regional success in post-communist political and economic transition across the post-communist world.

This book studies the way in which the top leadership in the Soviet Union changed over time from 1917 until the collapse of the country in 1991. The book will appeal to students and scholars interested in the fields of political leadership, Soviet politics and Soviet history.