This timely book explores Russia's political development since the collapse of the USSR and how inextricably it has been bound up with economic change. Assessing the legacies of the Soviet period, leading scholars trace the evolution of Russia's political economy and how it may develop as bitter battles continue to be waged over property and state revenues, the development of private agriculture, and welfare. This book puts these domestic issues in international and comparative perspective by considering Russia's position in the global economy and its growing role as a major energy producer. Focusing especially on the nature and future of Russian capitalism, the contributors weigh the political problems that confront Russia in its ongoing struggle to modernize and develop its economy.

Chapter 1: Introduction: The Political Problems of Russian Capitalism
Neil Robinson
Chapter 2: The Contexts of Russia's Political Economy: Soviet Legacies and Post-Soviet Policies
Neil Robinson
Chapter 3: Revenue Imperatives: State over Market in Postcommunist Russia
Gerald M. Easter
Chapter 4: Systemic Stalemate: Reiderstvo and the Dual State
Richard Sakwa
Chapter 5: The Political Economy of Russia's Demographic Crisis: States and Markets, Mothers and Migrants
Linda J. Cook
Chapter 6: Change in Agriculture: The Development of Russia's Private Farming
Stephen K. Wegren
Chapter 7: Russia's Potential Role in the World Oil System: Reciprocal Dependency, Global Integration, and Positive Unintended Consequences
Andrew Barnes
Chapter 8: Russia as Semiperiphery: Political Economy, the State, and Society in the Contemporary World System
Paul T. Christensen
Chapter 9: Conclusion: The Political Dysfunctions of Russian Capitalism
Neil Robinson

Neil Robinson is senior lecturer in the Department of Politics and Public Administration at the University of Limerick, Ireland.