Introduction; L. Jonson & S. White -- PART I: THE CHALLENGE OF MODERNIZATION IN RUSSIA -- Globalization and Discursive Resistance: Authoritarian Power Structures in Russia and the Challenges of Modernity; N. Hayoz -- Russian Modernization Doctrines under Debate; M. Urnov -- PART II: CHARACTERISTICS OF THE RUSSIAN SYSTEM -- The Nature and Function of 'Putinism'; L. Gudkov -- The Myth of the Russian 'Unique Path' and Public Opinion; B. Dubin -- Socio-Cultural Factors and Russian Modernization; E. Pain -- PART III: PIECEMEAL REFORM UNDER PUTIN AND MEDVEDEV -- The Policy-making Process in Putin's Prime Ministership; S. Fortescue -- Business Representation in the State Duma; P. Chaisty -- De-bureaucratizing the Small Business Sector; E. Huskey -- United Russia's Political Recruitment in the Russian Regions and 'the strengthening of the Power Vertical': The Case of Novgorod Region; C. Fauconnier -- PART IV: CHALLENGES AND RISKS OF MODERNIZATION -- Modernization and the Russian Regions; N. Petrov -- Benefits and Risks of Political Modernization in Russia; I. Busygina & MikhailFilippov -- PART V: REFLECTIONS IN EARLY 2012 -- Modernization and After; S. White & L. Jonson
Summary
In September 2009 Russia's Dmitrii Medvedev unveiled the term that was to become the defining objective of his presidency: 'modernization.' Leaving office in the spring of 2012 it was apparent that no serious changes of this kind had taken place, and popular resistance was mounting. Why so? And why has resistance to reform been so significant in postcommunist Russia, not just in this but in other cases as well? The various contributors to this book, drawn from a group of intellectuals who have shaped the discussion in Russia itself as well as leading scholars from other countries, focus on the contested nature of the concept of modernization and the obstacles that arose in attempting to carry it into practical effect ₆ obstacles that leave a challenging agenda for a new Russian presidency in the years to come
