This week's guest editors
Our guest editors James Ron, Leslie Vinjamuri, Sophie Arie and Archana Pandya introduce this week's theme of:
Our guest editors James Ron, Leslie Vinjamuri, Sophie Arie and Archana Pandya introduce this week's theme of:
A Turkish Spring?

Russia’s
Byzantine system of government has long been a rich subject for study. Could it
change? Might it suddenly have to? Possibly, but there are so many vested
interests and the upheaval would be considerable. Sergei Guriev reviews the
most recent of Alena Ledeneva’s books on the subject
On
paper, Russia’s political system is an impressive reproduction of Western
representative democracy, while the Chinese system remains an unreconstructed
autocracy. The reality of the situation is much more complex, says Ivan
Krastev.
Celebrated Russian activist Valery Abramkin has died aged 66. Here we republish extracts from a lecture delivered in 2006, which contains many fascinating insights into the rules of behaviour, hierarchies and relationships within Soviet and Russian prisons. (With a foreword by Mary




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