Contemporary Russia Second Edition

by Bacon, Edwin

• ISBN13: 9780230223714
• ISBN10: 0230223710
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-03-15
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

This bookprovides a readable and accessible introduction to Russia's politics, economics, and society especially of the Putin legacy and Medvedev's presidency. Present developments are set in the historical context of the events and trends of Russia's first post-Soviet decade and of the country's changing place in the world.

Author Biography

EDWIN BACON is Reader in Comparative Politics and Head of the School of Politics and Sociology at Birkbeck College, University of London, UK.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations, Maps, Figures, Tables and Boxes	p. viii
Acknowledgements to the Second Edition	p. x
List of Abbreviations	p. xi
Introduction	p. 1
The Historical Context	p. 9
Russia before 1917	p. 10
The Soviet period, 1917-91	p. 15
From communism to contemporary Russia	p. 25
Land and People	p. 34
The physical setting	p. 39
The environment	p. 42
Geostrategic location	p. 45
The peoples of Russia	p. 48
The Chechen conflict	p. 51
Religion in Russia	p. 53
Who are the Russians? Culture and traditions	p. 57
Social Structure and Social Policy	p. 62
Standards of living	p. 64
Demographics and health policy	p. 72
Health policy and the national projects	p. 79
Judicial policy	p. 80
Education	p. 86
Politics and Government	p. 90
The 1993 Constitution	p. 94
President versus parliament, 1992-3	p. 95
Executive	p. 98
Legislature	p. 103
Power relations between president, prime minister and parliament	p. 104
Contemporary Russia and democracy	p. 107
Ideas in Russian politics - political forces in Russia today	p. 113
The Communists and the Agrarians	p. 116
The Nationalists	p. 118
The Liberals	p. 119
The Economy	p. 121
The Soviet planning system	p. 123
Economic decline	p. 124
Economic reform, 1992-8	p. 127
The crash of 1998	p. 133
Economic progress, 1999-2008	p. 135
Resource dependence and the need to diversify	p. 140
The legal environment and state intervention	p. 141
Engagement in the global economy	p. 143
Conclusion	p. 146
Rights, Freedoms and Civil Society	p. 148
The Soviet legacy	p. 149
Constitutional rights in contemporary Russia	p. 150
Freedom of information	p. 152
Freedom of worship	p. 160
Wider human rights and civil society issues	p. 163
A weak state and securitization	p. 166
Civil society in Russia	p. 168
Ideas and Culture	p. 171
The Russian Idea	p. 171
Death and martial culture	p. 174
Russian self-conceptualization-byt, sobornost and literary models	p. 177
Putin's political narrative and the use of history	p. 178
Ideology	p. 184
Culture and contemporary reality	p. 186
Literature	p. 188
Film	p. 191
Music	p. 192
Sport	p. 193
Russia and the World	p. 195
Geopolitics and echoes of empire	p. 197
Russia's 'sphere of influence' and the Commonwealth of Independent States	p. 199
Russia, the West and beyond	p. 204
Conclusion	p. 216
Conclusion	p. 217
Recommended Reading	p. 222
Russia Online in English	p. 225
Bibliography	p. 227
Index	p. 234
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