Table of Contents

1. Putin and his times From kommunalka to the Kremlin; The many Putins; The post-Cold War context; The democracy paradox 2. State, society and regime The birth of the regime-state; The meta-factions of Russian society; The dual state and neo-patrimonialism; Reform, transition and beyond 3. Putin and politics The state of exception and regionalism; Putin and the past; Anti-revolution as a political practice; Putin’s statecraft; Stasis, or the developmental impasse 4. Politics and the third state Regime reset; The third state and meta-corruption; The third state and micro-factionalism 5. Managed capitalism State and market; Economic performance and plans; Powering Putinism; Sanctions and their effect 6. From partner to adversary: Russia and the West The clash of post-Cold War world orders; The logic of Russian foreign policy; A new era of confrontation 7. Recreating the heartland: Eurasian partnerships Eurasian integration in perspective; The post-Atlantic world;Putin’s Asian gambit: escape from confrontation? Global Russia 8. The winds of change Towards Putin’s fourth term;The return of politics; The 2018 presidential election; Challenges of Putin’s fourth term 9. The Putin phenomenon Putin’s people and power; Is Putin an ism?; Putin’s grand strategy 10. Paradoxes of Putinism When success means failure; Towards the succession; Russia without Putin Bibliography Index

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The essential personal and political portrait of Vladimir Putin

About the Author

Richard Sakwa is Professor of Russian and European Politics at the University of Kent, an associate fellow of the Russia and Eurasia programme at Chatham House, and a fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences. His main research interests are Russian domestic and international politics, European international relations and comparative democratization. His recent books include Putin and the Oligarch: The Khodorkovsky - Yukos Affair (I. B. Tauris), Putin Redux: Power and Contradiction in Contemporary Russia, Frontline Ukraine: Crisis in the Borderlands (I. B. Tauris), Russia against the Rest: The Post-Cold War Crisis of World Order, and Russia’s Futures.

Reviews

An original, up-to-date and comprehensive text on the phenomenon of Putinism in contemporary Russia.
*Edwin Bacon, University of Lincoln*

The Putin Paradox is the latest take on Russia under Putin by the leading international scholar of his rule. Sakwa’s trade mark incisiveness, nuance and innovation are ably demonstrated here. A must read for everyone interested in the fate of modern Russia and its role on the world stage.
*Graeme Gill, Professor Emeritus, University of Sydney*

Sakwa runs a forensic eye over Russian domestic and foreign policy, placing Putin's leadership in context and exploring the nuances of change and continuity in ideas, policy and strategy. Essential reading.
*Andrew Monaghan, Director of Research on Russia, Oxford Changing Character of War Centre.*