Edited by Europa Publications

The introduction examines the Russian Federation as a whole, and consists of an essay written by an acknowledged expert focusing on the evolution of the relationship between the central state and the regions, followed by a chronology, demographic and economic statistics, and a review of the Federal Government. The second section comprises territorial surveys, with a chapter on each of Russia’s federal subjects, each of which includes a current map. The third and fourth parts comprise a select bibliography of books and indexes, listing the territories alphabetically, with a gazetteer of alternative names, and by both Federal Okrug and Economic Area.

Key features include:

• comprehensive overview of the Russian Federation
• offers an analysis and understanding of the country’s regional dimension
• invaluable directories of important territorial contacts
• detailed and accurate political, economic and statistical information
• some eighty-five current maps
• extensive information from a wide variety of sources, many of which are otherwise unavailable in English.

ISBN: 9781857435559

Published February 22 2010 by Routledge.

Institutions and Uncertainty

By Edward Morgan-Jones

The years 1990-93 were a critical moment in Russia’s political development. This book provides a systematic explanation of outcomes of constitutional bargaining processes in Russia, which radically reshaped the institutions of the Russian state: removing Russia from constitutional subordination to the Soviet Union in 1990; creating a presidency and a constitutional court in 1991; and restructuring the relationship between the central state and its component federal units with the passage of three Federal Treaties in 1992. The book explores the reasons for these outcomes and identifies why there were consistent delays to the passage of a new Russian constitution as well as why negotiations eventually broke down.

The book assesses the plausibility of different theoretical approaches to constitutional choice and argues that the role of uncertainty (and politician's strategic responses to uncertainty) in shaping constitutional outcomes has been under-explored by rational choices approaches to constitutional bargaining. Using a rich set of source materials - including roll call votes, parliamentary records, unpublished parliamentary and constitution commission documents, Russian newspapers - the book provides a detailed study of Russian politician's decision making about constitutional choices. It is a valuable resource to those interested in Russia and post-communist politics, the origins of political institutions, comparative government, democratisation and development studies.

ISBN: 9780415499910

Published February 01 2010 by Routledge.

Edited by Dimitrios Triantaphyllou

This book on the security context in the Black Sea region is a timely endeavour and substantive contribution to understanding the state of play in the region and its linkages to the rest of the world. With contributions from analysts from Europe, the United States, Russia, Ukraine and Turkey, the book provides a holistic perspective. Post-Cold War developments have increased interest in the Black Sea region and the role of the regional and extra-regional actors in its security issues: this volume examines the position of the United States; NATO’s involvement; the EU’s engagement; Russia and Turkey’s aspirations alongside the policies of the other states in the region as they seek a role for themselves. It illustrates and investigates key concerns such as security, energy and energy security, regionalism and good governance; and questions why a cooperative security framework (or other regional schemes which could accommodate the needs of all stakeholders) has to date never become a reality.

This book adds to the growing body of research on the region, presenting the facts of the current situation and asking what can be done in the Black Sea region for it to survive given its precarious security environment.

This book was published as a special issue of Southeast European and Black Sea Studies.

ISBN: 9780415560887

Published February 01 2010 by Routledge.

Old Intellectuals in the New Russia

By Inna Kochetkova

Russia is one of the few countries in the world where intellectuals existed as a social group and shared a unique social identity. This book focuses on one of the most important and influential groups of Russian intellectuals - the 1960s generation of shestidesyatniki - often considered the last embodiment of the classical tradition of the intelligentsia. They devoted their lives to defending 'socialism with a human face', authored Perestroika, and were subsequently demonised when the reforms failed. It investigates how these intellectuals were affected by the transition to the new post-Soviet Russia, and how they responded to the criticism.

Unlike other studies on this subject, which view the Russian intelligentsia as simply an objectively existing group, this book portrays the intelligentsia as a cultural story or myth, revealing that the intelligentsia's existence is a function of the intellectuals' abilities to construct moral arguments. Drawing from extensive original empirical research, including life-story interviews with the Russian intellectuals, it shows how the shestidesyatniki creatively mobilised the myth as they attempted to repair their damaged public image.

ISBN: 9780415441131

Published December 21 2009 by Routledge.

Edited by Galina M. Yemelianova

This is the first comprehensive and comparative examination of Islamic radicalisation in the Muslim regions of the former Soviet Union since the end of Communism. Since the 1990s, the ex-Soviet Muslim Volga-Urals, Caucasus and Central Asia have been among the most volatile and dynamic zones of Islamic radicalisation in the Islamic East. Although partially driven by a wider Islamic resurgence which began in the late 1970s in the Middle East, the book argues that radicalisation is a post-Soviet phenomenon triggered by the collapse of Communism, and the break-up of the de facto unitary Soviet empire. The book considers the considerable differences in perceptions and manifestations of radical Islam in the republics, as well as the level of its doctrinal and political impact. It demonstrates how the particular histories of the regions’ Muslim peoples - especially the length and depth of their Islamisation - have influenced the nature and scope of their radicalisation. Other significant factors include the mobilising power of the global jihadist network, and most significantly the level of social and economic hardship. Based on extensive empirical research including interviews with leading members of the political and religious elite, the Islamist opposition as well as ordinary muslims, the book reveals how unofficial radical Islam has turned into a potent ideology of social mobilisation. It identifies the different dynamics at work and how these relate to each other, assesses the level of foreign involvement and evaluates the implications of the rise of Islamic radicalism for particular post-Soviet states, post-Soviet Eurasia and the wider international community.

ISBN: 9780415421744

Published December 15 2009 by Routledge.

Edited by Marie Mendras

Globalisation is accepted in the West as an inevitable process that may challenge national policies, has to be adapted to and cannot be stopped. In Russia, the phenomenon is seen as challenging, even threatening and hostile to the national interest and the future of the country. The leading political elite build their domestic rhetoric on the illegitimate and dangerous pursuit of those processes.

In the global arena, Russia is falling behind, it is dragging its feet on accession to the WTO and it is a protectionist and inward-looking country. Russia does not stand up as the leading partner or mediator in any major international issue with no significant ally outside the Community of Independent States (CIS). Vladimir Putin is seeking to boost his country’s international standing and geopolitical role. This volume has the ambition of offering an original analysis of Russia’s national interest and foreign policy in interaction with European, American and Asian partners. The book discusses Russian perceptions and policies from inside the system, with authors who have a deep insight into the Russian political, social and economic environment. It also features two chapters on Russia’s relations with US and Europe and further analyses European approaches and policies toward Russia.

Providing a detailed examination of Russia’s complex foreign relations, this book will be of interest to students and researchers of Russia, foreign policy, political science and international relations.

ISBN: 9780415448192

Published December 07 2009 by Routledge.

By Steven Rosefielde

Twentieth and twenty-first century communism is a failed experiment in social engineering that needlessly killed approximately 60 million people and perhaps tens of millions more. These high crimes against humanity constitute a Red Holocaust that exceeds the combined carnage of the French Reign of Terror, Ha Shoah, Showa Japan's Asian holocaust, and all combat deaths in World War I and II. This fascinating book investigates high crimes against humanity in the Soviet Union, eastern and central Europe, North Korea, China, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia 1929-2009, and compares the results with Ha Shoah and the Japanese Asian Holocaust.

As in other studies, blame is ascribed to political, ideological and personal causes, but special emphasis is given to internal contradictions in Marx's utopian model as well as Stalinist and post-Stalinist transition systems concocted to realize communist ends. This faulty economic engineering forms a bridge to the larger issue of communism's historical failure.

The book includes:

- a comprehensive study of the transcommunist holocaust

- a judicial assessment of holocaust culpability and special pleadings

- an obituary for Stalinism everywhere except North Korea, and a death watch for contemporary communism in China, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, North Korea, Cuba and Nepal

- a comparative assessment of totalitarian high crimes against humanity

- a call for memory as a defense against recurrent economic, racial and ethnic holocausts

The book will be useful to undergraduate and higher level students interested in Russian history, Stalism, communism, North and South Korean economic performance and international affairs.

Steven Rosefielde is a Professor of Economics at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and a member of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences.

ISBN: 9780415777568

Published December 04 2009 by Routledge.

Edited by Adrian Dellecker, Thomas Gomart

This book provides an original and thoroughly academic analysis of the link between Russian energy and foreign policies in Eurasia, as well as offering an interpretation of Russia’s coherence on the international stage, seeking to understand Russia and explain its behaviour.

The authors analyse both energy and foreign policies together, in order to better grasp their correlation and gain deeper understanding of broader geopolitical issues in Eurasia at a time when things could go either way—towards producers or towards consumers. Developing the concept of ‘energy deterrence’ which aims to fuel uncertainty in Russia’s relations with its partners, as well as projecting its overall power on the international scene, this provocative volume seeks to stimulate debate on this very important issue.

Assessing the weight that energy has in Russia’s foreign policy and in its pursuit of power on the international stage, this book will be of interest to students and scholars of international relations, energy politics, geopolitics and Russian and Central Asian Studies.

ISBN: 9780415547338

Published December 01 2009 by Routledge.

Putin's Reforms and Management of the Regions

By Elena Chebankova

The development of centre-regional relations has been at the forefront of Russian politics since the formation of the Russian state and numerous efforts have been made by the country’s subsequent rulers to create a political model that would be suitable for the effective management of its vast territory and multiple nationalities. This book examines the origins, underlying foundations, and dynamics of the federal reforms conducted by President Putin throughout the eight years of his presidency. It offers a comprehensive analysis of the nature of Russia’s federal relations during this period, as well as an examination of factors that led to the development of the extant model of centre-regional dialogue. It discusses how and why the outcomes of most domestic reforms and policies significantly vary from the initial intentions envisaged by the federal centre, and argues that despite a range of positive developments the reforms resulted mainly in a redistribution of powers between the two levels of government and not in a fundamental rethinking of centre-regional relations towards genuine federalism.

ISBN: 9780415559614

Published November 24 2009 by Routledge.

Edited by Alastair Renfrew, Galin Tihanov

The traditional view that the rise of Western theoretical thought in the 1960s and 1970s could be traced back to the Soviet 1920s, once accepted in Russia and the West alike because it directly associated the academic prestige of contemporary Western theory with the intellectual climate of post-revolutionary Russia, is increasingly challenged today. With the gradual retreat in recent years of theory from the high ground of the Western humanities, new work has emerged to suggest unexpected parallels and to undermine others.

This book, with contributions from some of the most visible specialists in the field, re-examines the significant transfers, cross-fertilisations and synergies of cultural and literary theory between Russia and the West, from the 1920s through to the present day. It focuses primarily on those tendencies which have made the most significant contribution to critical theory over the last century, and looks ahead at the theoretical paradigms that are most likely to shape the future dialogue between Russia and the West in the humanities.

ISBN: 9780415374750

Published November 09 2009 by Routledge.