Putin : Russia's choice / Richard Sakwa.

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 -- Putin's 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 -- Appendix : Russia at the turn of the millennium.