Around 20 years since the end of the Cold War, social, political and economic turmoil appears to have been replaced by a period of stability within Russia. The broader shift from a bi-polar world to one of multi-polarity in which rising powers and former Great Powers vie for representation has, however, not been without considerable instability as Russia has sought to re-define her status in the post-Communist period. These relations have, of course, been further complicated by a series of conflicts in post-Soviet space, ethnic wars within Russia and on her borders, and broader political and social changes associated with national and Islamic revivalism, as well as the war on terror. Debates both within and on the politics of post-Soviet relations continue, as complex regional dynamics in Central Asia, the Greater Middle East and Eastern Europe shape foreign relations. Equally, the end of Communism, the ensuing political liberalism and economic 'shock' therapy have led to significant changes within the social make-up of Russia. These themes have been used not only to offer insight into the changing social, economic and political relations in the Yeltsin and Putin eras, but this has also led to considerable debates about exactly what post-Communism and Post-Sovietism actually mean. This context affords a much needed opportunity to revisit post-Soviet politics in order to collate seminal pieces on the historical trends, political changes and international dynamics which continue to evolve, and which have framed the post-Communist period. The central aim of these four volumes is to capture this diversity so as offer a timely collection of seminal excerpts on post-Soviet politics, thereby giving insight into how we understand Russia today.

VOLUME ONE: FROM THE USSR TO A POST-COMMUNIST RUSSIA
Causes of the Collapse of the USSR - Alexander Dallin
The Soviet Union - Vladimir Shlapentokh
A Normal Totalitarian Society
Was the Soviet System Reformable? - Stephen Cohen
The Soviet Union - Archie Brown
Reform of the System or Systematic Transformation?
The Reform of the Soviet System and the Demise of the Soviet State - Mark Kramer
The Question of Questions - Karen Dawisha
Was the Soviet Union Worth Saving?
Reform and Revolution in the Late Soviet Context - Stephen Hanson
Alternative Pasts, Future Alternatives? - Georgi Derluguian
A Reply - Stephen Cohen
Gorbachev and the Reform of the Soviet System - Archie Brown
Gorbachev¿s Socialism in Historical Perspective - R. Davies
Society Transformed? Rethinking the Social Roots of Perestroika - Donna Bahry
The Ravages of ¿Market Bolshevism¿ - Dmitri Glinski and Peter Reddaway
Evaluating Yeltsin as Leader - George Breslauer
The End of the Transition Paradigm - Thomas Carothers
The Rise of Competitive Authoritarianism - Steven Levitsky and Lucan Way
The Myth of the Authoritarian Model - Michael McFaul and Kathryn Stoner-Weiss
How Putin¿s Crackdown Holds Russia back
Passive Revolution, Perestroika and the Emergence of the New Russia - Rick Simon
The Dual State in Russia - Richard Sakwa
The Uncertain Future of Russiäs Weak State Authoritarianism - Stephen Hanson
Rethinking Post-Communist Transition - Stephen White
VOLUME TWO: CITIZENS AND POLITICS
December 1993 as a Replication of Late-Soviet Electoral Practices - Michael Urban
Elections Russian-Style - Stephen White
¿It¿s the Economy, Comrade!¿ - Ian McAllister and Stephen White
Parties and Voters in the 2007 Russian Duma Election
Voting ¿against All¿ in Post-Communist Russia - Ian McAllister and Stephen White
Political Disengagement in Post-Communist Russia - Stephen White
A Qualitative Study
Explaining the Emergence and Persistence of Class Voting for Presidential Candidates in Post-Soviet Russia, 1993-2001 - Geoffrey Evans and Stephen Whitefield
The Putin Vote - Timothy Colton and Henry Hale
Presidential Electorates in a Hybrid Regime
How Do Electors Respond to an ¿Unfair¿ Election? The Experience of Russians - Richard Rose and William Mishler
Party-System Development under Putin - Kenneth Wilson
Party Politics in Russia - Vladimir Gel¿man
From Competition to Hierarchy
Engineering Victory - Regina Smyth, Anna Lowry and Brandon Wilkening
Institutional Reform, Informal Institutions and the Formation of a Hegemonic Party Regime in the Russian Federation
Dominant Party Regimes and the Commitment Problem - Ora John Reuter and Thomas Remington
The Case of United Russia
Power and Opposition in the Former Soviet Union - Luke March
The Communist Parties of Moldova and Russia
The Putin Phenomenon - Stephen White and Ian McAllister
The Executive Deception - M. Steven Fish
Super-Presidentialism and the Degradation of Russian Politics
Russia - Petra Schleiter and Edward Morgan-Jones
The Benefits and Perils of Presidential
Putin, Putiniana and the Question of a Post-Soviet Cult of Personality - Julie Cassiday and Emily Johnson
Putin¿s Militocracy - Olga Kryshtanovskaya and Stephen White
Russiäs New Nobility - Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan
The Rise of the Security Services in Putin¿s Kremlin
Russia on the Eve of the Millennium - Vladimir Putin
VOLUME THREE: POLITY, ECONOMY AND SOCIETY
Does Russia Have a ¿Market Economy¿? - Richard Ericson
Russiäs Asymmetric Capitalism in Comparative Perspective - David Lane
Labour, Exploitation and Capitalism in Russia before and after 1991 - Michael Haynes
Whither Reform? Ten Years of the Transition - Joseph Stiglitz
Big Business and the State in Russia - Philip Hanson and Elizabeth Teague
Talking about Health and Well-Being in Post-Soviet Ukraine and Russia - Pamela Abbott and Claire Wallace
Coping with the Social Costs of ¿Transition¿ - John Round and Colin Williams
Everyday Life in Post-Soviet Russia and Ukraine
Managing Society - Graeme Robertson
Protest, Civil Society and Regime in Putin¿s Russia
Civic Activity - Feminine Activity? Gender, Civil Society and Citizenship in Post-Soviet Russia - Suvi Salmenniemi
Political Empowerment of Women in Soviet Union and Russia - K.B. Usha
Ideology and Implementation
Corruption and Organized Crime in Putin¿s Russia - Leslie Holmes
Crime in Contemporary Russia - Yakov Gilinskiy
The Shift of Environmental Debates in Russia - Oleg Yanitsky
Spinning the Market - Jennifer Patico
The Moral Alchemy of Everyday Talk in Post-Socialist Russia
A Neo-Soviet Model of the Media - Sarah Oates
Selling Civil Society - Sarah Henderson
Western Aid and the Non-Governmental Organization Sector in Russia
Civil Society in Russia - Sarah Henderson
State-Society Relations in the Post-Yeltsin Era
VOLUME FOUR: FOREIGN RELATIONS
Post-Soviet Russian Foreign Policy - Margot Light
The First Decade
Persistent Factors in Russian Foreign Policy - Alfred Rieber
An Interpretive Essay
The Legacy of the Color Revolutions for Russian Politics and Foreign Policy - Jeanne Wilson
Russian Foreign Policy and Security in Central Asia and the Caucasus - Mohiaddin Mesbahi
Assessing Unholy Alliances in Chechnya - Cerwyn Moore and Paul Tumelty
From Communism and Nationalism to Islamism and Salafism
Russian Policy towards the Commonwealth of Independent States - Mark Kramer
Recent Trends and Future Prospects
Do Russians See Their Future in Europe or the CIS? - Richard Rose and Neil Munro
Slavophiles and Westernizers Redux - William Zimmerman
Contemporary Russian Elite Perspectives
2009 National Security Strategy for the Period to 2020 (Strategiya natsional¿noi bezopasnosti Rossiiskoi Federatsii do 2020 goda)
2010 Military Doctrine (Voennaya doktrina Rossiiskoi Federatsii)
The 2008 Foreign Policy Concept (Kontseptsiya vneshnei politiki Rossiiskoi Federatsii)
Elite Opinion and Foreign Policy in Post-Communist - Stephen White
Russia Resurgent? Moscow¿s Campaign to Coerce Georgia to Peace - Roy Allison
Russia and the CSFP - Dov Lynch
Russia - Vladimir Baranovsky
A Part of Europe or apart from Europe?
Vladimir Putin¿s Vision of Russia as a Normal Country - Andrei Tsygankov
The Realism of Russiäs Foreign Policy - Allen Lynch
Russia and the Emerging Security Environment in Northeast Asia - Dmitri Trenin
Russian Foreign Policy and the Global Political Environment - Derek Averre