The nature of the system that has been established in postcommunist Russia is still a puzzle for specialists as well as a broader public. It is hardly a 'democracy' in the Western sense - but neither is it a society in which Communists are still in power. The contributors to this volume, a group of leading international specialists who draw throughout on a wealth of primary data, focus on the issues that are central to any judgment of this kind: whether there is a Russian 'civil society'; how autonomous are its media; what kinds of policies does it pursue; and how can the system as a whole best be characterised. These are issues that in turn are central to our understanding of the kind of system that has been established in the world's largest country after a period of far-reaching change from late communism to a form of society we still find it difficult to label.
Introduction; S.White
PART 1: CIVIL SOCIETY IN RUSSIA
Civil Society and the Reconstitution of Russian Political Space; I.Liikanen
What Kind of Civil Society in Russia?; D.Schmidt
Russian and Estonian Civil Society Discourses Compared; R.Alapuro
PART 2: MEDIA AND SOCIETY
Journalistic Source Practices in Russian Business Dailies; K.Koikkalainen
Journalists in the Russian Regions; S.Pasti & J.Pietiläinen
Debate in Russia over Ratifying the Kyoto Protocol; M-H.Mandrillon
Political Capitalism and the Russian Media; M.Soldner
PART 3: ECONOMY, CULTURE AND SOCIETY
Russia's Asymmetric Capitalism in Comparative Perspective; D.Lane
Killers and Gangsters: The Heroes of Russian Blockbusters of the Putin Era; B.Beumers
Drug Abuse and HIV/AIDS in Russia; J.M.Kramer
STEPHEN WHITE is Professor of International Politics at the University of Glasgow, UK, and a Senior Research Associate of its School of Slavonic and East European Studies. He is the chief editor of the Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics, and author or co-author of more than thirty books including Developments in Central and East European Politics 4, Developments in Russian Politics 6, Putin's Russia and the Enlarged Europe, and Party Politics in New Democracies.