This book builds on the strengths of the previous volumes by the same author to provide the most detailed and nuanced account of the man, his politics and his profound influence on Russian politics, foreign policy and society. However, this is not a new edition of the earlier books but is an entirely new work. The focus now is on the dilemmas of power since 2008. There is a brief biographical sketch of Vladimir Putin and much analysis of his ideas and policies, but the book now focuses on the systemic contradictions that have created a blockage on modernisation and a stalemate in politics, Putin's role as Prime Minister since 2008 and his political successes and failures, analysis of the implications of Putin's third term as President and the 2011-12 electoral cycle and the ensuing crisis which led to thousands protesting on the streets This work assesses the achievements and failing of Putin’s rule, but above all tries to make sense of contemporary developments. This is the definitive account of Putin and is essential reading for all scholars and students of Russian politics.

A look at the Russian leader’s successful use of hard military and economic power and soft psychological power through information warfare, or “fake news.” Vladimir Putin has tightly ruled Russia since 31 December 1999, and will firmly assert power from the Kremlin for the foreseeable future. Many fear and loath him for his brutality, for ordering opponents imprisoned on trumped up charges and even murdered. Yet most Russians adore him for rebuilding the economy, state authority, and national pride. Putin has mastered the art of power. Depending on what is at stake, that involves the deft wielding of appropriate or “smart” ingredients of “hard” physical power like armored divisions, multinational corporations, and assassins, and “soft” psychological power like diplomats, honey-traps, cyber-trolls, and fake news factories to defeat threats and seize opportunities. Russian hackers penetrated the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and Hillary Clinton’s campaign organization, extracted tens of thousands of potentially embarrassing emails, and posted them on WikiLeaks. As the Kremlin’s latest ruler, Putin, like most of his predecessors, is as realistic as he is ruthless. He knows the limits of Russian hard and soft power while constantly trying to expand them. He is doing whatever he can to advance Russian national interests as he interprets them. In Putin’s mind, Russia can rise only as far as the West can fall. And on multiple fronts he is methodically advancing to those ends. Putin’s Virtual War reveals just how and why he does so, and the dire consequences for America, Europe, and the world beyond. “The author has set out the dangers that Putin has brought to the world in a must-read book.” —Firetrench

Vladimir Putin has emerged as one of the key leaders of the twenty-first century. However, he is also recognized as one of the most divisive. Abroad, his assertion of Russia's interests and critique of the western-dominated international system has brought him into conflict with Atlantic powers. Within Russia, he has balanced various factions within the elite intelligentsia alongside the wider support of Russian society. So what is the 'Putin paradox?' Richard Sakwa grapples with Putin's personal and political development on both the international political scene and within the domestic political landscape of Russia. This study historicizes the Putin paradox, through theoretical, historical and political analysis and in light of wider developments in Russian society. Richard Sakwa presents the Putin paradox as a unique regime type - balancing numerous contradictions - in order to adapt to its material environment while maintaining sufficient authority with which to shape it.

Now in a thoroughly revised and expanded edition, this text provides the most authoritative and current analysis available of the challenges facing Putin. Leading scholars consider a comprehensive array of economic, political, foreign policy, and social issues, offering an indispensable guide for anyone needing to understand contemporary Russia.

Russian Politics and Presidential Power takes an in-depth look at the Russian presidency and uses it as a key to understanding Russian politics. Donald R. Kelley looks at presidents from Gorbachev to Putin as authoritarian, transformational leaders who set out to build the future, while sometimes rejecting and reinterpreting the work of past modernizers. Placing the presidency in this context helps readers understand both the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the nature of the Russian Federation that rose in its place. And by setting the presidency within a longer historical context, Kelley shows how the future of the presidency is dependent on other features of the political system.

This book examines the evolution of Russia’s security policy under Putin in the 21st century, using a critical security studies approach. Drawing on critical approaches to security the book investigates the interrelationship between the internal-external nexus and the politics of (in)security and regime-building in Putin’s Russia. In so doing, it evaluates the way that this evolving relationship between state identities and security discourses framed the construction of individual security policies, and how, in turn, individual issues can impact on the meta-discourses of state and security agendas. To this end, the (de)securitisation discourses and practices towards the issue of Chechnya are examined as a case study. In so doing, this study has wider implications for how we read Russia as a security actor through an approach that emphasises the importance of taking into account its security culture, the interconnection between internal/external security priorities and the dramatic changes that have taken place in Russia’s conceptions of itself, national and security priorities and conceptualisation of key security issues, in this case Chechnya. These aspects of Russia’s security agenda remain somewhat of a neglected area of research, but, as argued in this book, offer structuring and framing implications for how we understand Russia’s position towards security issues, and perhaps those of rising powers more broadly. This book will be of much interest to students of Russian security, critical security studies and IR.

"The epic tale of the rise to power of Russia's current president-- of his emergence from shrouded obscurity and deprivation to become one of the most consequential and complicated leaders in modern history." --