St Antony’s Governing Body Fellow co-authors new book

St Antony’s Governing Body Fellow Professor Paul Chaisty has co-authored a new book with Professor Stephen Whitefield, How Russians Understand the New Russia: Consolidation and Contestation, published by Princeton University Press.

The book explores the new Russia that was created from the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. The hybrid political economy that emerged incorporated commitments to markets and democracy that were undermined by the state’s economic interventions and authoritarian restrictions. Drawing on almost thirty years of original public opinion research in Russia, Professors Chaisty and Professor Whitefield argue that the hybridity of the post-Soviet system provided a strong basis for the consolidation of Russian public opinion—and for the management of contestation so that it did not threaten the system itself.