Over the last hundred years, Russia has undergone a succession of failed projects of state construction - from Tsarist modernization to Soviet state socialism, to liberal democratic market capitalism. This new book introduces these vastly different projects, and explains their failure in order to illuminate the common problems of balancing social and economic transformation with political stability that Russia's rulers have faced during the twentieth century.
Russia: a state of uncertainty traces Russia's complex historical development in the last century, as well as its recent political troubles and economic misfortunes, and its place in the contemporary international system. Providing up-to-date information on Russian political developments. Including the elections of 1999 and 2000, Neil Robinson assesses the chances of success of future projects of political and economic reconstruction. Written in a clear and accessible way, this book will be an invaluable text for students learning about Russia for the first time, as well as anyone interested in the state and history of Russia.
1. Introduction: strong states, weak states and the Russian
problem
2. The Limits of absolutism: Tsarism and Soviet socialism
3. Russian politics under Boris Yeltsin: democratic hopes versus
political fragmentation
4. From planned economy to "virtual economy’: the failure of
economic transformation
5. The politics of faded grandeur: Russia's new international
relations
6. Conclusion: a state of uncertainty-Russia between the past
and the future