Waiting for Reform Under Putin and Medvedev

In September 2009 Russia's Dmitrii Medvedev unveiled the term that was to become the defining objective of his presidency: 'modernization.' Leaving office in the spring of 2012 it was apparent that no serious changes of this kind had taken place, and popular resistance was mounting. Why so? And why has resistance to reform been so significant in postcommunist Russia, not just in this but in other cases as well? The various contributors to this book, drawn from a group of intellectuals who have shaped the discussion in Russia itself as well as leading scholars from other countries, focus on the contested nature of the concept of modernization and the obstacles that arose in attempting to carry it into practical effect – obstacles that leave a challenging agenda for a new Russian presidency in the years to come.

LENA JONSON is Senior Research Fellow, Associate Professor, and Head of the Russia Research Program at the Swedish Institute of International Affairs in Stockholm, Sweden. She was the Cultural Counsellor of the Swedish Embassy in Moscow 2005-2009. She is the author of several books on Russia and Central Asia, including Vladimir Putin and Central Asia. The Shaping of Russian Foreign Policy (2004) and Tajikistan in the New Central Asia (2006).
STEPHEN WHITE is James Bryce Professor of Politics at the University of Glasgow, UK, and Visiting Professor at the Institute of Applied Politics in Moscow, Russia. He is joint Chief Editor of the Journal of Eurasian Studies and the author of more than forty books, including Understanding Russian Politics (2011) and Russia's Authoritarian Elections (with others, 2011). He was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 2010.