The Challenges for Russia's Politicized Economic System
The Challenges for Russia's Politicized Economic System

Author: Susanne Oxenstierna

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2015-04-10

Total Pages: 267

ISBN-13: 1317634217

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During the early 2000s the market liberalization reforms to the Russian economy, begun in the 1990s, were consolidated. But since the mid 2000s economic policy has moved into a new phase, characterized by more state intervention with less efficiency and more structural problems. Corruption, weak competitiveness, heavy dependency on energy exports, an unbalanced labour market, and unequal regional development are trends that have arisen and which, this book argues, will worsen unless the government changes direction. The book provides an in-depth analysis of the current Russian economic system, highlighting especially structural and institutional defects, and areas where political considerations are causing distortions, and puts forward proposals on how the present situation could be remedied.

Russia's Policy Challenges
Russia's Policy Challenges

Author: Stephen K. Wegren

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-07-08

Total Pages: 326

ISBN-13: 131549843X

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Designed for use in courses on contemporary Russia, this volume explores Russia's policy dilemmas in three realms: international security, socio-political, and socio-economic. In each of these categories, Russia faces daunting problems, none of which is likely to be resolved quickly or easily. Yet, over the longer term, the extent to which policymakers are successful in dealing with these challenges will go far in determining Russia's future place in the world, how Russians will live, and what kind of country Russia becomes. Each expertly authored chapter outlines the nature of one major issue; traces it evolution and policy developments under the Yeltsin and Putin presidencies; and evaluates the effectiveness and prospects of efforts to come to grips with the challenge.

The Routledge Handbook of EU-Russia Relations
The Routledge Handbook of EU-Russia Relations

Author: Tatiana Romanova

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2021-07-25

Total Pages: 558

ISBN-13: 135100624X

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The Routledge Handbook of EU-Russia Relations offers a comprehensive overview of the changing dynamics in relations between the EU and Russia provided by leading experts in the field. Coherently organised into seven parts, the book provides a structure through which EU-Russia relations can be studied in a comprehensive yet manageable fashion. It provides readers with the tools to deliver critical analysis of this sometimes volatile and polarising relationship, so new events and facts can be conceptualised in an objective and critical manner. Informed by high-quality academic research and key bilateral data/statistics, it further brings scope, balance and depth, with chapters contributed by a range of experts from the EU, Russia and beyond. Chapters deal with a wide range of policy areas and issues that are highly topical and fundamental to understanding the continuing development of EU-Russia relations, such as political and security relations, economic relations, social relations and regional and global governance. The Routledge Handbook of EU-Russia Relations aims to promote dialogue between the different research agendas in EU-Russia relations, as well as between Russian and Western scholars and, hopefully, also between civil societies. As such, it will be an essential reference for scholars, students, researchers, policymakers and journalists interested and working in the fields of Russian politics/studies, EU studies/politics, European politics/studies, post-Communist/post-Soviet politics and international relations. The Routledge Handbook of EU-Russia Relations is part of a mini-series Europe in the World Handbooks examining EU-regional relations established by Professor Wei Shen.

Russia's Foreign Policy
Russia's Foreign Policy

Author: Andrei P. Tsygankov

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Published: 2010-03-16

Total Pages: 293

ISBN-13: 0742567540

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A third edition of this book is now available. Now fully updated and revised, this clear and comprehensive text explores the past thirty years of Soviet/Russian international relations, comparing foreign policy formation under Gorbachev, Yeltsin, Putin, and Medvedev. Drawing on an impressive mastery of both Russian and Western sources, Andrei P. Tsygankov shows how Moscow's policies have shifted with each leader's vision of Russia's national interests. He evaluates the successes and failures of Russia's foreign policies, explaining its many turns as Russia's identity and interaction with the West have evolved. The book concludes with reflections on the emergence of the post-Western world and the challenges it presents to Russia's enduring quest for great-power status along with its desire for a special relationship with Western nations.

Understanding Russia
Understanding Russia

Author: Marlene Laruelle

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2018-08-16

Total Pages: 179

ISBN-13: 1538114879

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This timely book provides a balanced and comprehensive overview of the geographical, historical, political, cultural, and geostrategic factors that drive Russia today. Russia has long inspired fear in the West, but as the authors argue, Russia is fearful as well. Three decades after the transformations launched by perestroika, multiple ghosts haunt both Russian elites and ordinary citizens, ranging from concerns about territorial challenges, societal transformations, and economic decline to worries about the country’s vulnerability to external intervention. Faced with a West that emerged victorious from the Cold War, a shockingly dynamic China, and former Soviet republics claiming their right to emancipate themselves from Moscow’s stranglehold, Russia is constantly questioning its identity, its development path, and its role on the international scene. The country hesitates between two strategies: take refuge in a new isolation and revive the old notion of being a “besieged fortress,” or replay the messianic myth of a Third Rome, the last bastion of Christian values in the face of a decadent West. Explaining Russia’s perspective, Marlene Laruelle and Jean Radvanyi offers a much-needed analysis that will help readers understand how the country deals with its domestic issues and how these influence Russian foreign policy.

Power and Legitimacy - Challenges from Russia
Power and Legitimacy - Challenges from Russia

Author: Per-Arne Bodin

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2012-08-21

Total Pages: 258

ISBN-13: 1136267301

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This book sheds new light on the continuing debate within political thought as to what constitutes power, and what distinguishes legitimate from illegitimate power. It does so by considering the experience of Russia, a polity where experiences of the legitimacy of power and the collapse of power offer a contrast to Western experiences on which most political theory, formulated in the West, is based. The book considers power in a range of contexts – philosophy and discourse; the rule of law and its importance for economic development; the use of culture and religion as means to legitimate power; and liberalism and the reasons for its weakness in Russia. The book concludes by arguing that the Russian experience provides a useful lens through which ideas of power and legitimacy can be re-evaluated and re-interpreted, and through which the idea of "the West" as the ideal model can be questioned.

Russian Foreign Policy
Russian Foreign Policy

Author: Jeffrey Mankoff

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2011

Total Pages: 358

ISBN-13: 1442208244

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Introduction: the guns of August -- Contours of Russian foreign policy -- Bulldogs fighting under the rug: the making of Russian foreign policy -- Resetting expectations: Russia and the United States -- Europe: between integration and confrontation -- Rising China and Russia's Asian vector -- Playing with home field advantage? Russia and its post-Soviet neighbors -- Conclusion: dealing with Russia's foreign policy reawakening.

Russia
Russia

Author: Dmitri Trenin

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2019-07-26

Total Pages: 140

ISBN-13: 1509527702

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Over the past century alone, Russia has lived through great achievements and deepest misery; mass heroism and mass crime; over-blown ambition and near-hopeless despair – always emerging with its sovereignty and its fiercely independent spirit intact. In this book, leading Russia scholar Dmitri Trenin accompanies readers on Russia’s rollercoaster journey from revolution to post-war devastation, perestroika to Putin’s stabilization of post-Communist Russia. Explaining the causes and the meaning of the numerous twists and turns in contemporary Russian history, he offers a vivid insider’s view of a country through one of its most trying and often tragic periods. Today, he cautions, Russia stands at a turning point – politically, economically and socially – its situation strikingly reminiscent of the Russian Empire in its final years. For the Russian Federation to avoid a similar demise, it must learn the lessons of its own history.

Putin's Predicament
Putin's Predicament

Author: Bo Petersson

Publisher: BoD – Books on Demand

Published: 2021-09-09

Total Pages: 231

ISBN-13: 3838210506

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Using the Russian president’s major public addresses as the main source, Bo Petersson analyzes the legitimization strategies employed during Vladimir Putin’s third and fourth terms in office. The argument is that these strategies have rested on Putin’s highly personalized blend of strongman-image projection and presentation as the embodiment of Russia’s great power myth. Putin appears as the only credible guarantor against renewed weakness, political chaos, and interference from abroad—in particular from the US. After a first deep crisis of legitimacy manifested itself by the massive protests in 2011–2012, the annexation of Crimea led to a lengthy boost in Putin’s popularity figures. The book discusses how the Crimea effect is, by 2021, trailing off and Putin’s charismatic authority is increasingly questioned by opposition from Alexei Navalny, the effects of unpopular reforms, and poor handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, Russia is bound to head for a succession crisis as the legitimacy of the political system continues to be built on Putin’s projected personal characteristics and—now apparently waning—charisma, and since no potential heir apparent has been allowed on center stage. The constitutional reform of summer 2020 made it possible in theory for Putin to continue as president until 2036. Yet, this change did not address the Russian political system’s fundamental future leadership dilemma.

Expanding Eurasia
Expanding Eurasia

Author: Janusz Bugajski

Publisher: CSIS

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 220

ISBN-13: 9780892065455

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"Moscow's overarching ambition toward Europe is to expand the "Eurasian space" in which Russia is the dominant political player. For Moscow, this means transforming Europe into an appendage of the Russian sphere of influence and debilitating Euro-Atlanticism by undercutting Europe's connections with the United States. The author explains that the most effective and realistic long-term Western strategy toward Russia needs to combine "practical engagement" with "strategic assertiveness.""--BOOK JACKET.