Cover; Contents; List of Illustrative Material; Preface and Acknowledgements; List of Abbreviations; Map of Russia and its Neighbouring States; 1 Introduction; 2 The Historical Context; Russia before 1917; The Soviet period, 1917-91; From communism to contemporary Russia; 3 Land and People; The physical setting; The environment; Geostrategic location; The peoples of Russia; War and terrorism in the North Caucasus; Religion in Russia; Who are the Russians? Culture and traditions; 4 Social Structure and Social Policy; Social policy before and after the Soviet collapse; Standards of living.

DemographyRussia's health system; Education; Judicial policy; 5 Politics and Government; The development of Russia's political system; Russia's Constitution; The executive; The legislature; Power relations between president, prime minister and parliament; Relations between the centre and the regions; Electoral politics; Informal and contentious politics; 6 The Economy; The Soviet planning system; From planning to the market, 1992-8; The crash of 1998; Economic progress, 1999-2008; Crisis and reform & again, 2008-13; 7 Rights, Freedoms and Civil Society; The Soviet legacy.

Constitutional rights in contemporary RussiaFreedom of worship; Freedom of speech and assembly; Rights in the military and in prisons; Chechnya and human rights; A weak state and securitization; Civil society in Russia; 8 Culture and Media; Russian national identity; Death and martial culture; Putin's political narrative and the use of history; Culture and contemporary reality; Literature; Film; Music, theatre and dance; Sport; Media; 9 Russia and the World; Russia's Foreign Policy Concepts, 1993-2013; A multi-vectored foreign policy in practice; Russia's near neighbours; 10 Conclusion.

Recommended ReadingRussia Online in English; Bibliography; Index.