In this first issue of the relaunched Yearbook we publish presentations made at a symposium devoted to Russia's membership in the WTO, a development of potentially great significance both to Russia and the rest of the world.

During the years 2003 - 2006 Uppsala University and WSH published the Uppsala Yearbook of East European Law. For a number of reasons publication of the Yearbook was discontinued after the 2006 issue. We are happy and proud to be able to resume publication of the Yearbook, now with a broadened perspective. As the title, Uppsala Yearbook of Eurasian Studies, indicates the Yearbook now covers also other disciplines than law, in particular political science and economics. Given recent developments in the Eurasian region this enlarged focus is increasingly relevant and important.

The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) faced various iterations of modernization throughout its history. This conflicted encounter continues in the ROC’s current resistance against—what it perceives as—Western modernity including liberal and secular values. This study examines the historical development of the ROC’s arguments against—and sometimes preferences for—modernization and analyzes which positions ended up influencing the official doctrine. The book’s systematic analysis of dogmatic treatises shows the ROC’s considerable ability of constructive engagement with various aspects of the modern world. Balancing between theological traditions of unity and plurality, the ROC’s today context of operating within an authoritarian state appears to tip the scale in favor of unity.

This book examines how Russia, the world’s most complicated country, is governed. As it resumes its place at the centre of global affairs, the book explores Russia’s overarching strategies, and how it organizes itself (or not) in policy areas ranging from foreign policy and national security to health care, education, immigration, science, sport, agriculture, the environment and criminal justice. The book also discusses the structures and institutions on which Russia relies in order to deliver its goals in these areas of national life, as well as what’s to be done, in policy terms, to improve the country’s performance in its first post-Soviet century. Edited by Irvin Studin, the book includes contributions from a tremendous list of Russia’s leading thinkers and specialists, including Alexei Kudrin, Vladimir Mau, Alexander Auzan, Simon Kordonsky, Fyodor Lukyanov, Natalia Zubarevich and Andrey Melville.