Putin : Russia's choice / Richard Sakwa.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [370]-375) and index.

The path to power. The unlikely making of a leader ; Operation successor -- Ideas and choices. Who is Mister Putin? -- Normality, normalcy and normalisation ; Russia at the turn of the millennium ; Planning for the future ; The state of the nation speeches -- Putins path. ; Building the Putin Bloc ; Putin and the people ; Leadership and style ; National democracy and Russia's third way -- Parties, elections and the succession. ; Development of the party system ; Elections and electoral legislation ; Parliamentary realignment ; Putin, parties and government ; The Putin succession -- Regime, state and society. State and regime ; The liquidation of the oligarchs as a class ; Freedom of speech and the media ; Judicial reform and human rights -- Bureaucracy, incorporation and opposition. Bureaucracy and corruption ; Civil society and para-constitutional representation -- Regime and opposition -- Putin's new federalism. Segmented regionalism ; Features of the new federalism ; State reconstitution and federalism -- Reforging the nation. National images and state symbols ; Social aspects of national identity ; Chechnya: tombstone or crucible of Russian power? -- Russian capitalism. Entering the market ; Models of capitalism: state corporatism ; State, economy and society -- Putin's new realism in foreign policy. Towards a new realism ; Features of the new realism ; The new realism in practice -- Conclusion: the power of contradiction. Public politics ; Beyond transition ; The power of contradiction.