RELEASE: Putin’s Russia: How it rose, how it is maintained, and how it might end

Even before the start of the war in Ukraine and associated international sanctions, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime was facing numerous systemic crises that threatened the survival of its political and economic systems. To date, however, he has responded only with domestic repression and foreign aggression — tacks that have distracted the Russian people from trouble at home, but left underlying problems.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Washington, DC (May 14, 2015) — In “Putin’s Russia: How it rose, how it is maintained, and how it might end,” editor Leon Aron outlines the domestic imperatives that drive Putin’s erratic behavior on the world stage.

In the ensuing chapters, nine Russian independent experts analyze the political, economic, and social crises facing Russia, and their effect on Putin’s regime. The authors and their associated topics are: Mikhail Dmitriev (evolution of values and political sentiment), Evgeny Gontmakher (Russian federalism), Lev Gudkov (Putin’s conservatism), Sergei Guriev (origins and implications of Russia’s economic crisis), Boris Makarenko (birth of civic culture), Alexey Malashenko (Russia’s Islamic challenges), Dmitry Oreshkin (rise of civil society), Kirill Rogov (Putin’s plebiscitary presidentialism), and Natalia Zubarevich (new political reality).

The authors’ key points include:

• Putin’s domestic policy is built on shaky ground.
• Russia’s economic weakness is failure to reform, not sanctions or oil prices.
• Islamic radicalism is on the rise in Russia – not just in the Caucasus.
• Centralization results in systemic economic crises and mismanagement in the provinces. This threatens governance in the long run and makes massive protest movements a possibility.
• Russian civil society is strengthening, despite challenges.
• A growing divide between rural and urban citizens complicates Russian governing.

Leon Aron is director of Russian studies at the American Enterprise Institute. To request an interview with him, or for a copy of the monograph, please contact Paige Tenkhoff at paige.tenkhoff@aei.org or 202.862.5904

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