.... The second, scapegoating, came alongside Russia’s political reformulation in the late 1990s and early 2000s, driven by the authoritarian vision articulated by Vladimir Putin. The third is nullification. This accompanied the consolidation of the hybrid semi-authoritarian Russian state, and refers...

... Report, 3:21 (July 18, 2001), 2 . 57 Ibid., 3. 58 B. Berezovskii, ‘Open letter to President Putin’, Transitions (June 5, 2000), p. 1 . 59 V. Putin, First Person: An Astonishingly Frank Self-Portrait by Russia's President Vladimir Putin...

... observers have remarked on the ‘two faces’ of Vladimir Putin — is he a democratic or an authoritarian leader? Legitimate though this question undoubtedly is, this chapter argues that its inherent duality arises partly from the dominant analytical frameworks of the post-Soviet era, and militates against...

...This chapter explores the role of the siloviki (that is, personnel from the ‘force structures’ or ‘power ministries’, chiefly the security services, the armed forces, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs) in Russian political life. It analyses the degree to which Vladimir Putin's...

... period of peace and de facto self-rule lasting for three years between 1996 and 1999. The existence of conflicting discourses in relation to the situation in Chechnya illuminates well the way in which Vladimir Putin's government, and particularly in this case Putin himself, have consciously used...

...Fears about the deterioration of press freedom in Russia during the presidency of Vladimir Putin have been widely discussed since his election in March 2000. Concerns with regards to adverse developments of press freedom under Putin have been voiced particularly about the closure of independent...

... contextualises the securitisation debate in relation to the economy, focusing on the question: Is the economic policy of contemporary Russia being securitised? It also examines the renewed interest in economic security under Vladimir Putin; looks at the scandal involving Aleksei Pichugin, head of the department...

...In contemporary Russia, official discourse on migration has focused on the portrayal of illegal migrant labour as an existential threat to the national economy. Speaking about the impact of illegal migrant labour on unemployment figures, President Vladimir Putin pointed to migration as one...

... concerns have played in the creation and implementation of policy. This concluding chapter brings together these mezo-level analyses into a macro-level assessment of contemporary Russia. In essence, it asks how accurate it is to portray Russia under Vladimir Putin as a country where policy-making...

...This book shows the impact of twenty-first-century security concerns on the way Russia is ruled. It demonstrates how President Vladimir Putin has wrestled with terrorism, immigration, media freedom, religious pluralism, and economic globalism, and argues that fears of a return to old-style...