The Putin Paradox

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.

Richard Sakwa is Emeritus Professor of Russian and European Politics and Head of the School of Politics and International Relations at the University of Kent, UK. He is author of The Putin Paradox (2020), Putin and the Oligarch: The Khodorkovsky-Yukos Affair (2014), The Crisis of Russian Democracy (2010) and Russian Politics and Society (2008).

1. Putin and his times From kommunalka to the Kremlin; The many Putins; The post-Cold War context; The democracy paradox 2. State, society and regime The birth of the regime-state; The meta-factions of Russian society; The dual state and neo-patrimonialism; Reform, transition and beyond 3. Putin and politics The state of exception and regionalism; Putin and the past; Anti-revolution as a political practice; Putin's statecraft; Stasis, or the developmental impasse 4. Politics and the third state Regime reset; The third state and meta-corruption; The third state and micro-factionalism 5. Managed capitalism State and market; Economic performance and plans; Powering Putinism; Sanctions and their effect 6. From partner to adversary: Russia and the West The clash of post-Cold War world orders; The logic of Russian foreign policy; A new era of confrontation 7. Recreating the heartland: Eurasian partnerships Eurasian integration in perspective; The post-Atlantic world;Putin's Asian gambit: escape from confrontation? Global Russia 8. The winds of change Towards Putin's fourth term;The return of politics; The 2018 presidential election; Challenges of Putin's fourth term 9. The Putin phenomenon Putin's people and power; Is Putin an ism?; Putin's grand strategy 10. Paradoxes of Putinism When success means failure; Towards the succession; Russia without Putin Bibliography Index