Russia Under Putin: The Feudal Analogy

Despite huge changes, the events of the last ten years raise doubts about the notion of “democratic transition” itself.

The regime in Moscow mixes key features of a capitalist economy with a political system wherein power is monopolized by a close-knit professional and age cohort whose members often have…

At the end of the Cold War, semipresidentialism became the modal constitution of the postcommunist world. In Russia and other post-Soviet states, however, this system of government has impeded consolidation.