Wow! eBook
Change or Decay: Russia's Dilemma and the West's Response
Author(s): Lilia Shevtsova (Author), Andrew Wood (Author)
- Publisher: Brookings Institution Press
- Publication Date: 16 Jan. 2012
- Language: English
- Print length: 260 pages
- ISBN-10: 0870033468
- ISBN-13: 9780870033469
Book Description
Two decades after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the world is still coping with the consequences. The West has yet to fully adjust to the post-Soviet reality, and Russia has not settled on its relationship with the rest of the world. In “Change or Decay” two of the most respected scholars on Russia, Lilia Shevtsova and Andrew Wood, analyze how relations are shifting between Russia and the rest of the world. In a series of lively and candid conversations, the authors discuss how the Russia of Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev emerged from the ashes of the Soviet Union as well as the trajectory of Russia’s relations with the West. Contents include: Letter to the Reader; The Beginning: Where Have All the Flowers Gone; Enter Vladimir Putin 1999-2004: Consolidation of the New Regime; Russia Is Rising from Her Knees: 2004-2008; The Russian Tandem Changes Its Tactics: Modernization as a Way to Preserve the Status Quo from 2008; On The U.S.- Russian Reset: How Sustainable Is It; Europe and the Russian System: Acquiescence or Influence; Realpolitik versus Constructive Realism Myths: Why Do People Believe Them; Why Is the West Ready to Pretend; Why the West Won’t Poke the Bear What Can the West Do; Epilogue: Dream or Nightmare; and, A Concluding Letter to the Reader.
Editorial Reviews
Review
“This book attacks the widely held myths and illusions that have for so long governed both the evolution of Russia and the ideas of Russia held by the outside world. It’s a lively book made still better by flashes of humor. You may agree with it, or dispute it. You may like some of it, and hate the rest. But read it.” ―Mikhail Gorbachev, former president
of the Soviet Union, Nobel Peace Prize winner,
and president of the Gorbachev Foundation
About the Author
Lilia Shevtsova is a senior associate at the Carnegie Moscow Center, where she chairs the Russian Domestic Politics and Political Institutions Program. She is also an associate fellow at the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House). Shevtsova is the author of Yeltsin’s Russia: Myths and Reality; Putin’s Russia; Russia – Lost in Transition; and Lonely Power, all from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Andrew Wood is an associate fellow at Chatham House and a consultant to a number of companies with an interest in Russia. He was the British ambassador to Russia from 1995 to 2000.
