Lilia Shevtsova co-chairs the Russian Domestic Politics and Political Institutions Project at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, dividing her time between the Carnegie office in Washington, D.C. and the Carnegie Moscow Center. She is author of Putin's Russia (2005) and Yeltsin's Russia: Myths and Reality (1999), and coeditor (with Archie Brown) of Gorbachev, Yeltsin, and Putin: Political Leadership in Russia's Transition (2001), all published by the Carnegie Endowment.
One of Russia's leading political analysts, Shevtsova (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; Yeltsin's Russia: Myths and Reality) has written an intriguing study of Vladimir Putin's rise to and consolidation of power in Russia. At first, as Shevtsova fiercely castigates the elites, oligarchs, Yeltsin hangers-on, society at large, and Putin himself, one suspects that she has an ax to grind; but in subsequent passages she explains or excuses their actions. Ultimately, Shevtsova has crafted an insightful, well-documented discussion of one of the world's big questions: What kind of a player will Russia turn out to be when it grows up? "The outcome will depend not only on the internal struggle between the conservatives and pro-Western modernizers. It will also depend on the debate with the Western community-the United States and Europe-on the future world order and its new threats and challenges." Of the three or four books published about Putin in the last two years, Richard Rose and Neil Munro's Elections Without Order: Russia's Challenge to Vladimir Putin comes the closest to Shevtsova's treatment of Putin's ruling style and explanation of the evolution of Russian democracy, though Shevtsova's book is more focused on Putin himself. Recommended for academic and public libraries.-Harry Willems, Southeast Kansas Lib. Syst., Iola Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
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