This book assesses the crises in Russia's transitional institutions. It focuses on the growth of organized crime, the decay of the military, the precariousness of the Russian Federation, the weakness of the labor movement, and the authoritarianism of the super-presidential political system.

Preface -- Introduction: The Domestic and International Obstacles to State-Building in Russia -- The Elite: Ruling in Whose Interests? -- The "Use and Abuse" of Russia's Energy Resources: Implications for State-Society Relations -- Do the People Rule? The Use of Referenda in Russia -- The Divided Russian Elite: How Russia's Transition Produced a Counter-Elite -- The State: Weak Institutions and Crumbling Capacity -- Is the Russian State Coping with Organized Crime and Corruption? -- State Dysfunctionality, Institutional Decay, and the Russian Military -- Is the Center Too Weak or Too Strong in the Russian Federation? -- Liberal Transformation: Labor and the Russian State -- The Executive Deception: Superpresidentialism and the Degradation of Russian Politics -- Russian Courts: Enforcing the Rule of Law? -- Stability from Without? International Donors and "Good Governance" Strategies in Russia*