Russia & CIS Book Review December 2020

Russia & Eurasia Relevant Books 2020 + Recommended Reading

“Tacitus did not write a most dangerous book. His Readers made it so” Christopher Krebs (Professor of Classics, Stanford)

Most useful & interesting books published in 2020. This review lists the most useful books for investors and business managers/planners about Russia and the broader Eurasia region which have been published in 2020. They are chosen because they offer some insight into either the economy and politics or simply how Russia and the other Eurasia states work. Specifically excluded from this list are most of the “tabloid” books focusing on, e.g., the impending doom of war or simply ranting about why Russia/Eurasia is either so bad or so wonderful. None add anything useful for those looking to better understand how the region works or to better understand the business and investment climate.

Eurasia and Eurasianism. Interest in Central Asia, and the topic of Eurasianism is increasing. This was a noteworthy trend last year and, again this year. There have been several very useful books looking at economic and social developments across the region and, separately, in several countries. The Eurasianism theme has been important in Russia for a long time but, as the region starts to become more integrated (in terms of trade and with the expanding BRI) but also more independent politically (e.g. current events in Belarus) and also more fractious (Caucasus and Kyrgyzstan) the discussion about Eurasianism is gaining more prominence.

Environment and carbon targeting is also an emerging theme. We are starting to see more books published looking at expected trends in the Russian hydrocarbon sector, but especially concerning gas, both the economics and politics of gas. This is also linked with the increasingly important discussion about carbon management and environment themes and renewable investment opportunities. Several books have emerged this year and many more are expected in 2021.

Economic coverage is a noticeable gap. There have been no books published in the English language this year which focus on the economy in Russia or across Eurasia. There were none last year either. The main themes of interest to authors are social, political and environment.

Recommended reading list. Also included in this report is the updated recommended list covering Russia and the Eurasia region. These are books we believe give the best overview for those that wish to understand modern Russia and the fast-developing Eurasia states. This is not a list of best literature or books about abstract themes. These are books that: A) help place the development of the countries in a relevant context; B) explain how the various economies are emerging; C) consider the changing political landscape in the region and in individual countries; and D) show how Russia and its Eurasia neighbors interact with the rest of the world and also how the major powers in the world today view the region.

No warranties, promises, and/or representations of any kind, expressed or implied are given as to the nature, standard, accuracy, or likewise of the information provided in this material nor to the suitability or otherwise of the information to your particular circumstances. Macro-Advisory Limited does not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, completeness, legality, or reliability of the content contained in this note. © Copyright Macro-Advisory Limited Russia & CIS Book Review

The books reviewed this year are listed in no particular order other than within these categories:

Section I: Russia

▪ Domestic politics (Page 3)

▪ Russia and the world (Page 10)

▪ General Russia topics (Page 13)

Section II: Oil, Carbon, and the Environment (Page 16)

Section III: BRI-Russia and China in Eurasia (Page 20)

Section IV: Eurasia and Eurasianism (Page 22)

Section V: Eurasia country specific books – new books in 2020 (Page 27)

Section VI: Russia recommended reading List (Page 31)

▪ How the government works & decisions are made

▪ Vladimir Putin

▪ Economy

▪ Oligarchs, Siloviki, Elites

▪ Russia and the world

▪ Russia-Eurasia energy

▪ History

▪ Transition from Soviet Union to Russia

Section VII: Energy, Carbon management, the Environment recommended books (Page 34)

Section VIII: China, Russia & BRI recommended books (Page 35)

Section VIII: Eurasia Region recommended books (Page 36)

Section IX: Eurasia country specific recommended books (Page 37)

Reviews in Macro-Monthly reports. We highlight all new and relevant books published about Russia or the other countries of the CIS-Eurasia region in our flagship Macro-Monthly publication. A more detailed review of these books can be found in these reports. In some instances, we offer our own opinion about the books listed but, in other cases, we resort to the Amazon blurb for convenience.

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Section I: Russia

❖ Domestic Politics

Title: Political Ideologies in Contemporary Russia Author: Elena Chebankova

Elena Chebankova is a research fellow at the Centre for Governance and Public Management, Carleton University.

There is a distinct gap in understanding between Russia and the West. To an outsider, the ideas that animate the actions of Russia's ruling elite, opposition, and civil society - from the motivations driving Russia's political actors to the class structure and international and domestic constraints that shape Russia's political thinking - remain shrouded in mystery. Contrary to the view that a bleak discursive uniformity reigns in Russia, Political Ideologies in Contemporary Russia shows that the country is engaging in serious theoretical debates across a wide spectrum of modern ideologies including liberalism, nationalism, feminism, and multiculturalism.

Elena Chebankova argues that the nation is fragmented, and the state seeks to balance the various ideological movements to ensure that none dominates. She shows that each of the main ideological trends is far from uniform, but the major opposition is between liberalism and traditionalism. The pluralistic picture she describes contests many current portrayals of Russia as an authoritarian or even totalitarian state. Offering an alternative to the Western lens through which to view global politics, Political Ideologies in Contemporary Russia is a major contribution to our understanding of this world power.

Title: Politics for Profit: Business, Elections, and Policymaking in Russia Author: David Szakonyi

David Szakonyi is assistant Professor of Political Science at George Washington University.

Businesspeople run for and win elected office around the world, with roughly one-third of members of parliament and numerous heads of states coming directly from the private sector. Yet we know little about why these politicians choose to leave the private sector and what they do while in government. In Politics for Profit, David Szakonyi brings to bear sweeping quantitative and qualitative evidence from Putin-era Russia to shed light on why businesspeople contest elections and what the consequences are for their firms and for society when they win. The book develops an original theory of businessperson candidacy as a type of corporate political activity undertaken in response to both economic competition and weak political parties. Szakonyi's evidence then shows that businesspeople help their firms reap huge gains in revenue and profitability while prioritizing investments in public infrastructure over human capital.

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Title: Putin’s People: How the KGB Took Back Russia and then Took on the West Author: Catherine Belton

Catherine Belton is the former long-serving Moscow Correspondent for the Financial Times. She has previously reported on Russia for Moscow Times and Business Week. In 2008, she was shortlisted for Business Journalist of the year at the British Press Awards.

The sleeve notes describe this a “chilling and revelatory expose of the KGB’s renaissance, Putin’s rise to power, and how Russian black cash is subverting the world”. In Putin’s People, Catherine Belton reveals the untold story of how Vladimir Putin and his entourage of KGB men seized power in Russia and built a new league of oligarchs. Through exclusive interviews with key inside players, she tells how Putin’s people conducted their relentless seizure of private companies, took over the economy, siphoned billions, blurred the lines between organized crime and political powers, shut down opponents, and then used their riches and power to extend influence in the West.

Title: The Use of History in Putin's Russia Author: James Pearce

James C. Pearce completed his PhD in 2018 at Anglia Ruskin University. Pearce has conducted research in the Russian Federation since 2015 on matters related to historical memory in the public space and education, the discipline of history as well as Russian foreign policy in the twenty-first century.

‘The Use of History in Putin’s Russia’ examines how the past is perceived in contemporary Russia and analyses the ways in which the Russian state uses history to create a broad coalition of consensus and forge a new national identity. Central to issues of governance and national identity, the Russian state utilizes history for the purpose of state-building and reviving Russia’s national consciousness in the twenty-first century. Assessing how history mediates the complex relationship between state and population, this book analyses the selection process of constructing and recycling a preferred historical narrative to create loyal, patriotic citizens, ultimately aiding its modernization. Different historical spheres of Russian life are analyzed in-depth including areas of culture, politics, education, and anniversaries. The past is not just a state matter, a socio-political issue linked to the modernization process, containing many paradoxes.

Title: Russia's Public Diplomacy: Evolution and Practice Editors: Anna A. Velikaya, Greg Simons

Anna Velikaya works at the Gorchakov Public Diplomacy Foundation, Russia, and is a member of the Expert Council of Rossotrudnichestvo Federal Agency. Her research interests include public diplomacy, humanitarian cooperation, nation branding, track II diplomacy and US politics in Central Asia. Greg Simons is a researcher and Associate Professor at the Institute for Russian and Eurasian

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Studies at Uppsala University, Sweden and a lecturer at the Department of Communication Sciences at Turiba University, Latvia.

Russian public diplomacy attracts growing attention in the current global climate of tension and competition. However, it is often not understood or is misunderstood. Although some articles and book chapters exist, there are almost no books on Russian public diplomacy neither in Russian, nor in English. This edited collection is an in-depth and broad analysis of Russian public diplomacy in its conceptual understanding and its pragmatic aims and practice.

Title: Russian Government and Politics Author: Eric Shiraev

Eric Shiraev is a professor and head of a research lab at George Mason University, USA. Eric has published on topics as diverse as Russian Politics and Foreign Policy, International Relations, and Cross-Cultural Psychology.

Few countries have been transformed as rapidly and dramatically as Russia since the end of the Communist regime. Yet the more that certain things change in Russia, the more others remain the same. The result is a political and social system of which almost every aspect is a work in progress, marked by sudden accelerations, slowdowns, turnarounds, and conundrums. A distinctive feature throughout this work is its emphasis on outlining basic facts and developments and setting these in historical contexts before moving on to critical analysis.

Title: Russian Politics and Society Author: Richard Sakwa

Richard Sakwa is Professor of Russian and European Politics at the University of Kent, UK.

Fully revised and updated to reflect the considerable changes in Russia over the last decade, the fifth edition of this text provides a comprehensive and sophisticated analysis of Russian politics and society. The new edition incorporates the latest debates about Russian politics, analyzing recent institutional and political developments, and examines the electoral cycle and prospects of the president elected at the end of the process.

Title: Russia and the Media: The Makings of a New Cold War Author: Greg McLaughlin

Greg McLaughlin lives in Northern Ireland. He is an independent author and Associate of the Centre for Media Research (CMR) at Ulster University. He has written widely on the role of the media in reporting war and peace, locally and internationally; and on the political economy of the local news media in Northern Ireland. Greg is now starting work on a new project, looking at media perceptions of Russia as Western attitudes harden towards this country.

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President Vladimir Putin is a figure of both fear and fascination in the Western imagination. In the minds of media pundits and commentators, he personifies Russia itself - a country riven with contradictions, enthralling and yet a threat to world peace. But recent propaganda images that define public debate around growing tensions with Russia are not new or arbitrary. Russia and the Media asks what is the role of Western journalism in constructing a new kind of Cold War with Russia?

Title: Putin's Russia: Economy, Defence and Foreign Policy Author: Steven Rosefielde

Steven R. Rosefielde is Professor of Comparative Economic Systems at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is also a member of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences.

This volume seeks to fill the vacuum created by the Joint Economic Committee of Congress's decision to cease publishing comprehensive assessments of Russia's performance and potential. It provides readers with descriptions of Russia's economy, military prowess, and international ambitions. The volume does not settle controversies but aims to provide readers with an objective basis for assessing Russia's prospects without the distortions caused by fake news and disinformation wars.

Title: The Territories of the Russian Federation 2020 Editors: Europe Publications

The introduction examines the Russian Federation as a whole, followed by a chronology, demographic and economic statistics, and a review of the Federal Government.

The second section comprises territorial surveys, each of which includes a current map. This edition includes surveys covering the annexed (and disputed) territories of Crimea and Sevastopol, as well as updated surveys of each of the other 83 federal subjects.

The third section comprises a select bibliography of books.

The fourth section features a series of indexes, listing the territories alphabetically, by Federal Okrug and Economic Area. Users will also find a gazetteer of selected alternative and historic names, a list of the territories abolished, created or reconstituted in the post-Soviet period, and an index of more than 100 principal cities, detailing the territory in which each is located.

Title: The Russian Understanding of War: Blurring the Lines between War Peace Author: Oscar Jonsson

Oscar Jonsson is Director of the Stockholm Free World Forum (Frivärld), a Swedish foreign and security policy think tank, and associated researcher at the Swedish Defence University.

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This book analyses the evolution of Russian military thought and how Russia's current thinking about war is reflected in recent crises. He provides the long view to show how Russian military strategic thinking has developed from the Bolshevik Revolution to the present. He uses Russian primary sources including security doctrines and the writings and statements of Russian military theorists and political elites. He asserts that Russia's conception of the very nature of war is now changing, where the old lines between a state of war and a state of peace are blurring. Information warfare and political subversion have become both tools and threats below the traditional threshold of armed violence. Jonsson also finds that Russia has considered itself to be at "war" with the United States and its allies since at least 2014, when the Russians believe the United States engineered a revolution in Ukraine to overthrow pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych.

Title: Russia's Empires: Their Rise and Fall from Prehistory to Putin Author: Philip Longworth

Philip Longworth is the author of seven books including The Cossacks and The Making of Eastern Europe. He was educated by the army and at the University of Oxford and was Professor of History at McGill University for nearly twenty years.

Through the centuries, Russia has swung between successful expansionism, collapse and spectacular recovery. This book traces these cycles from the late Neolithic age to Ivan the Terrible, and from the height of Communism to the truncated Russian Federation of today. The author explores the patterns of Russia’s past, from the nameless adventurers who first penetrated it to dynamic characters including Ivan the Terrible, Catherine the Great and Stalin.

Title: A Short History of Russia: How the World's Largest Country Invented Itself, from the Pagans to Putin Author: Mark Galeotti

Russia's epic and dramatic history told in an accessible, lively, and short form, from Ivan the Terrible to Vladimir Putin via Catherine the Great, the Russian Revolution and the fall of the USSR. Russia is a country with no natural borders, no single ethnic group, no true central identity. At the crossroads of Europe and Asia, it has been subject to invasion by outsiders, from Vikings to Mongols, from Napoleon's French to Hitler's Germans. To forge an identity, it has mythologized its past to unite its people and to signal strength to outsiders. In A Short History of Russia, Mark Galeotti explores the history of this fascinating, glorious, desperate and exasperating country through two intertwined issues: the way successive influences from beyond its borders have shaped Russia, and the way Russians came to terms with this influence, writing and rewriting their past to understand their present and try to influence their future. In turn, this self-invented history has come to affect not just their constant nation-building project but also their relations with the world.

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Title: Agriculture and Rural Development in Russia Since the 2000s: Focusing on Human Capital Authors: Andrey Baldanov, Lily Kiminaami, Shinichi Furuzawa

Andrey Baldanov is part of the Faculty of Agriculture at Niigata University in Japan. Lily Kiminami is part of the Faculty of Agriculture at Niigata University. Shinichi Furuzawa is part of the Faculty of Agriculture at Niigata University.

This book clarifies the status quo and mechanisms of agricultural and rural development in today’s Russia, especially focusing on human capital and human development. It provides reader insights into agricultural and rural development from the perspectives of agricultural economics, developmental economics, and regional–spatial science. Further, it addresses key research questions such as whether agricultural development in Russia has made significant strides, whether it has improved the nation’s food security and rural development, and whether structural changes in the agricultural sector as well as human capital have had impacts on agricultural development since the 2000s. In terms of analytical methods, structural equation modelling and stochastic frontier analysis are employed to capture the relationship between agriculture and rural development in regional Russia. In closing, policy challenges are identified to promote social innovation for rural development by enhancing the human capital of rural youth, including entrepreneurship.

Title: The Russian Far East: Strategic Development of the Workforce Author: Irina V. Novikova

Irina V. Novikova, Dr. Sc. (Economics), is a professor of the Economic and Financial Strategy Department at Lomonosov Moscow State University’s Moscow School of Economics and leading researcher at the Center for Strategic Studies at the Institute of Mathematical Research of Complex Systems under Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia.

This monograph presents an integrated concept of workforce development strategy for the Far Eastern Federal District of Russia. This concept is based on the strategizing methodology developed by Vladimir L. Kvint. The concept considers contemporary global, national, and regional development trends in workforce, employment, and labor market issues, including the active influence of information and communication technologies and the appearance of numerous novel forms of employment.

The Russian Far East is a region of geostrategic importance for the whole world, rich in minerals that can be extracted provided that the region has the necessary―and correctly applied―workforce. This volume shows the uniqueness of the region’s workforce and factors that impact workforce development. The author identifies strategic factors influencing workforce development, namely, migration, education system, income sources, and business climate. The monograph identifies, with allowance made for global trends, the main components of workforce development strategy for the

Far East: mission, vision, strategic advantages, and priorities.

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The measures proposed are evaluated in terms of public and economic efficiency. The conclusions and proposals in this work are built on the analysis of this wide range of analytical data. Workforce development programs, from the Czarist era until the present, are analyzed in this work, and creative approaches to the workforce provision problems of the Russian Far East and appraisal criteria for the strategy’s public and economic efficiency are proposed. Applying the information provided in this book will help to improve efficiency of investments in the economy of the Russian Far East using its labor potential.

Title: Transforming Russia: From a Military to a Peace Economy Author: Tarja Cronberg

Tarja Cronberg is a researcher at COPRI (Copenhagen Peace Research Institute.

Based on an empirical examination of all aspects of the Soviet military-technical establishment, this study examines the de-tooling and conversion of the vast Soviet defense industry, following the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union, that was a big part of Russian political, economic and social regeneration and stability, and had huge implications for international relations and the world economy.

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❖ Russia and the World

Title: The View from Moscow: Understanding Russia & U.S.-Russia Relations Author: Natylie Baldwin

Natylie Baldwin is described as a free-lance author and experienced writer on foreign policy issues with a demonstrated history of working in the alternative media. Her focus is on Russia and US- Russia relations. She lives in California.

With Russia and the US currently having 1,700 nuclear weapons pointed at each other on hair trigger alert, the US relationship with Russia is one of the most critical, requiring a rational policy. In order to conduct a rational foreign policy, the US must understand the other country's point of view. That doesn't mean one must agree with it, but must know how Russia perceives its own interests so we can determine what they may be willing to risk or sacrifice on behalf of those perceived interests. It's also essential to determine areas of common cause and cooperation.

Understanding the Russian viewpoint means understanding Russia's history, geography and culture. The Western corporate media – and even some of Western alternative media – has a very poor track record in providing this crucial service with respect to many of the nations with whom the US has already gone to war. The so-called experts they consult often have conflicts of interest, nefarious agendas, and lack an objective understanding of the nation they are speaking about. This has certainly been the case when it comes to reporting on Russia, a country with which the stakes are potentially much higher for the entire world.

Title: Russia in a Changing World Editors: Alexander Lukin, Glenn Diesen

Glenn Diesen is a Professor at the National Research University - Higher School of Economics in Moscow, and an editor at the Russia in Global Affairs journal.

Alexander Lukin is Director of the Centre for East Asian and Shanghai Cooperation Organization Studies, at Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO-University), and Chair Professor in the School of Public Affairs of Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.

This book explores Russia’s efforts towards both adapting to and shaping a world in transformation. Russia has been largely marginalized in the post-Cold War era and has struggled to find its place in the world, which means that the chaotic changes in the world present Russia with both threats and opportunities. The rapid shift in the international distribution of power and emergence of a multipolar world disrupts the existing order, although it also enables Russia to diversify its partnerships and restore balance. Adapting to these changes involves restructuring its economy and evolving the foreign policy. The crises in liberalism, environmental degradation, and challenge to state sovereignty undermine political and economic stability while also widening Russia’s room for diplomatic maneuvering. This book analyses how the authors consider Russia interprets these developments and its ability to implement the appropriate responses.

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Title: Strategic Communication in EU-Russia Relations: Tensions, Challenges and Opportunities Author: Evgeny Pashentsev

Evgeny Pashentsev is Professor and a leading researcher at the Diplomatic Academy of the MFA of the Russian Federation. He is a member of the Advisory Board of Comunicar, Spain, and the editorial board of the Journal of Political Marketing, the US.

This book is a reminder of the ties that join Russia and the European Union and the opportunities that still exist to improve a troubled relationship. The book covers not only the difficulties that the relationship currently faces but seeks to find opportunities in these obstacles that could lead to improvements.

Title: Russia's Interventions in Ethnic Conflicts: The Case of Armenia and Azerbaijan Author: James Coyle

This is a very timely book. It explores the thirty-year border conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, specifically around the former autonomous republic of Nagorno Karabakh, and shows how Russia is (has been until recently) the only winner in this conflict: fighting on both sides, supplying arms to both sides, and acting as the arbiter between the two sides. The author looks at Armenia, Azerbaijan and the separatists from military, political, economic, and diplomatic perspectives, and offers insights on how the fighting has influenced society, and vice versa.

The book provides an update to the history of the war to include major fighting in 2020 and examines how Russia obtained three military bases and most economic assets in Armenia, while becoming Azerbaijan's major weapons supplier to the tune of six billion dollars. The author claims that Moscow has tried to side-line the Minsk negotiations in favor of it assuming the sole role of arbiter and argues that even though Russia has submitted several ceasefire proposals, it does little to encourage the sides to implement them.

The book includes a discussion of international law, United Nations Resolutions, and rulings by the European Court of Human Rights.

Title: Russia's Turkey Policy during the Putin Era Author: Vefa Kurban

Vefa Kurban is currently an Associate Professor at the Institute of Turkish World Studies of Ege University in 2019. Several of her articles on Turkey-Soviet relations and Turkey-Russia relations have appeared in various journals, and she has published several books, including Russian-Turkish Relations from the First World War to the Present, History of USSR, and The Nobel Family, Nobel Prizes and Baku Petroleum, among others.

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Russia-Turkey relations have a long-standing history dating back many years. Having been shaped sometimes by competition and sometimes by cooperation, these relations gained different dimensions when Vladimir Putin's star rose in the political world in the new millennium. This book discusses the history of the relations between the two countries, before analyzing the situation of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Turkey in the first 20 years of the 21st century.

Title: European Identities and Foreign Policy Discourses on Russia: From the Ukraine to the Syrian Crisis Author: Marco Siddi

Marco Siddi is Senior Research Fellow in the European Union Program at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs (FIIA), Finland.

This book examines the relationship between national identity construction and current foreign policy discourses on Russia in selected European Union member states in 2014–18.

It shows that divergent national discourses on Russia derive from the different ways in which the country was constructed in national identity. The book develops an interpretive theoretical framework and argues that policy makers’ agency can profoundly influence the contestation between different identity narratives. It includes case studies in policy areas that are of primary importance for EU–Russia relations, such as energy security (the Nord Stream-2 controversy), the Ukraine crisis and Russia’s military intervention in Syria. Focusing on EU member states that have traditionally taken different stances vis-à-vis Russia (Germany, Poland, and Finland), it shows that at the peak of the Ukraine crisis national discourses converged towards a pragmatic, but critical narrative. As the Ukraine crisis subsided and new events took center stage in foreign policy discussions (i.e. the Syrian civil war, international terrorism), long-standing and identity-based divergences partly re-emerged in the discourses of policy makers.

This became particularly evident during the Nord Stream-2 controversy. Deep-rooted and different perceptions of the Russian Other in EU member states are still influential and lead to divergent national agendas for foreign policy towards Russia.

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❖ Russia – General Coverage

Title: Life and Work in Post-Soviet Russia Author: Chris Cheang

Chris Cheang is a Senior Fellow in the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore. His work revolves around Eurasia, with Russia as the focus. A former career diplomat, Chris served in the Singapore Embassies in Bonn, Germany, as First Secretary from 1983–87, and subsequently in Moscow in the capacity of First Secretary from 1994– 97. He later assumed the position of Counsellor and Deputy Chief of Mission between 1999 and 2013 in the Embassy in Moscow.

This book revolves around the professional and personal experience of living and working in Moscow of a Singapore diplomat, beginning in the aftermath of the USSR's collapse, and ending in the first decade-and-a-half of this century. It aims to provide readers with glimpses of life in Moscow and Russia in the mid-1990s, as well as in the early years of this century. It deals with not only the socio- political and economic challenges of Russia's post-Soviet leaders, but also those facing the person- in-the-street. That the person-in-the-street had to personally bear the brunt of the momentous changes in post-Soviet Russia's rush to reforms is made plain in the book, and not so much the trials and tribulations of his leaders.

This book also gives readers some insight into Singapore's relations with Russia, deals with issues from a personal standpoint without any attempt to inject political science theories into its analyses, and concludes with some thoughts on its future role in the world.

Title: Between Two Fires Author: Joshua Yaffa

Joshua Yaffa is a correspondent for The New Yorker in Moscow, where he has lived for the last eight years.

Between Two Fires chronicles the lives of eight ambitious Russians - from politicians and entrepreneurs to artists and historians - who have built their careers and constructed their identities in the shadow of the Putin system.

Torn between their own ambitions and the omnipresent demands of the state, some muster cunning and cynicism to extract privileges from those in power while others are broken or demoralized. For each, the question of compromise - where to bend, how much, and in the service of what goal - is ever-present. The result is an intimate portrait of the way citizens shape their lives around the demands of the state.

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Title: Present at the Transition: An Inside Look at the Role of History, Politics, and Personalities in Post-Communist Countries Author: Oleh Hayrylyshyn

Oleh Havrylyshyn is a research professor at the Institute of European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies at Carleton University, Ottawa.

Nearly thirty years after the fall of the Soviet Union, debates over paths to market liberalization have produced numerous studies across the social sciences. Havrylyshyn, a former official in the post- independence Ukrainian government, provides a source account of the people and problems at the heart of economic transitions. Grounded in three decades of data, along with experiential research gleaned from nearly thirty countries, this book contains an assessment of economic transitions in post-communist regions. It examines questions of gradual versus radical reforms, the relationship between democracy and market liberalization, and how history, individual personalities, and foreign influence determined political choices.

Title: The Lenin Plot: The Untold Story of America’s Midnight War Against Russia Author: Barnes Carr

Barnes Carr was for many years a journalist for major newspapers in the US. His first book was Operation Whisper was about the capture of the Soviet spies Morris and Lona Cohen. Barnes lives in Houston, Texas.

It remains one of the most audacious spy plots in history – a bold and extremely dangerous operation to invade Russia, defeat the Red Army, and mount a coup in Moscow against Soviet dictator Vladimir Ilich Lenin. After that, leaders in Washington, Paris, and London aimed to install their own Allied-friendly dictator in Moscow to get Russia back into the war effort against Germany. The Lenin Plot had the ‘entire approval’ of President Woodrow Wilson. As he ordered a military invasion of Russia, he gave the American ambassador, the US Consul General in Moscow, and other State Department operatives a free hand to pursue their covert action against Lenin. The result was thousands of deaths, both military and civilian, on both sides.

Title: Assignment Moscow: Reporting on Russia from Lenin to Putin Author: James Rodgers

James Rodgers was a foreign correspondent based in Moscow in the periods 1991-93; 1998-2000 and 2006-09. He now lectures in International Journalism at City, University of London. He still works as a journalist, too--contributing work to the BBC, NBC Think, Forbes.com, Monocle Radio, and others.

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James Rodgers witnessed Russia’s transformation from the Soviet Union to today’s State. He argues that each of those periods, from the 1980s until today, saw significantly different conditions for Western journalists working in Russia: their treatment by the Russian authorities symptomatic of the Kremlin’s relations with the West at any given time. Assignment Moscow analyses the news coverage of Russia throughout history, from the revolutionary year of 1917 to Russia under Stalin, World War Two, the Cold War and modern Russia.

Title: God, Tsar, and People (NIU Series in Slavic, and Eurasian Studies) Authors: Daniel B. Rowland and Russell E. Martin

God, Tsar, and People brings together in one volume essays written over a period of fifty years, using a wide variety of evidence-texts, icons, architecture, and ritual-to reveal how early modern Russians (1450-1700) imagined their rapidly changing political world. This volume presents a more nuanced picture of Russian political thought during the two centuries before Peter the Great came to power than is typically available. The state was expanding at a dizzying rate, and atop Russia's traditional political structure sat a ruler who supposedly reflected God's will.

The problem facing Russians was that actual rulers seldom-or never-exhibited the required perfection. Daniel Rowland argues that this contradictory set of ideas was far less autocratic in both theory and practice than modern stereotypes would have us believe. In comparing and contrasting Russian history with that of Western European states, Rowland is also questioning the notion that Russia has always been, and always viewed itself as, an authoritarian country. God, Tsar, and People explores how the Russian state in this period kept its vast lands and diverse subjects united in a common view of a Christian polity, defending its long frontier against powerful enemies from the East and from the West.

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Section II: Oil, Carbon, and the Environment

Title The New Map: Energy, Climate, and the Clash of Nations Author: Daniel Yergin

Daniel Yergin is an American author, speaker, energy expert, and economic historian. Yergin is vice chairman of IHS Markit. He is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money & Power.

A new type of Cold War is emerging between China and the West. The global order is being simultaneously shaken by climate change and the shale revolution in oil and gas - and now by the coronavirus. Controversial fracking technology has given America unprecedented leverage as the world's leading energy powerhouse, ahead of Saudi Arabia and Russia, upending the chessboard of global politics and changing the psychology of the global economy.

Despite being weighed down by sanctions, Russia is pivoting east toward China as Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping unite to challenge America and lay claim to almost all of the South China Sea, one of the world's most critical trade routes. Elsewhere, the map of the Middle East created after World War I is being attacked by ISIS and Iran's Revolutionary Guards as the region struggles to come to grips with the recent oil price collapse caused by the rise of shale. Oil producers, from the Middle East and Moscow to corporate boardrooms around the world, now fear that peak demand for oil is coming as renewable energy vies with fossil fuels.

The New Map tells a sweeping story about how the role of energy in climate change is shaping geopolitical discussions, challenging our industries and our lifestyles, and accelerating a second energy revolution - the quest for renewables. It also brings realism to the debates over the energy transition.

Title: Informal Institutions in Policy Implementation: Comparing Low Carbon Policies in China and Russia Authors: Anna Karpoo, Iselin Stensdal and Marius Korsnes

Anna Korppoo, Research Professor, Iselin Stensdal, Research Fellow, Fridtjof Nansen Institute and Marius Korsnes, Research Scientist, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway.

This book examines the prospects for implementing low-carbon policies in the two global superpowers of China and Russia, focusing on the role of informal institutions in achieving reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. Chapters shed light on how informal institutions function and work in practice, how and why they take shape and how they influence formal low-carbon policies. Forensically examining five critical cases relating to Chinese and Russian institutions, this book demonstrates how informal institutions can both support and obstruct the achievement of formal policy goals. Through comparisons within and between each country, it shows how these dynamics differ and offers key hypotheses on the role of these institutions in policy implementation.

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Title: The Bridge: Natural Gas in a redivided Europe Author: Thane Gustafson

In this publication, the author argues that despite Europe's geopolitical rivalries, natural gas and deals based on it unite Europe's nations in mutual self-interest. Three decades after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the breakup of the Soviet empire, the West faces a new era of East-West tensions. Any vision of a modern Russia integrated into the world economy and aligned in peaceful partnership with a reunited Europe has abruptly vanished. Two opposing narratives vie to explain the strategic future of Europe, one geopolitical and one economic, and both center on the same resource: natural gas.

In The Bridge, Thane Gustafson, an expert on Russian oil and gas, argues that the political rivalries that capture the lion's share of media attention must be viewed alongside multiple business interests and differences in economic ideologies. With a dense network of pipelines linking Europe and Russia, natural gas serves as a bridge that unites the region through common interests. Tracking the economic and political role of gas through several countries-Russia and Ukraine, the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, and Norway -- The Bridge details both its history and its likely future. As Gustafson suggests, there are reasons for optimism, but whether the "gas bridge" can ultimately survive mounting geopolitical tensions and environmental challenges remains to be seen.

Title: The Globalization of Russian Gas: Political and Commercial Catalysts Author: James Henderson and Arild Moe

James Henderson, Director, Natural Gas Research Program, Oxford Institute for Energy Studies (OIES), UK. Arild Moe is Research Professor at Fridtjof Nansen Institute (FNI), Norway.

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Gazprom has dominated the Russian gas industry. However, the markets in which it operates have changed dramatically, with the company increasingly being challenged at home and abroad. At this critical moment, this book analyses the involvement of the Russian gas industry in the changing international gas market and the dramatic implications for Russia's role as a global supplier of gas in the future.

James Henderson and Arild Moe explore the link between changes in Russia's domestic market, where new players have recently emerged, and the development of Russia's gas export business. In particular, they assess the growing importance of LNG exports and the role of Novatek in developing this new business area for Russia. They also review changes in European gas trade and the development of new EU regulations, analyzing the ambiguities in Europe's position on gas exports from Russia and showing why efforts to limit expansion of Russian gas exports have been unsuccessful. Timely and comprehensive, this book is critical reading for academics and researchers interested in the development of the global gas market. Policymakers and economists, particularly Russian specialists, will benefit from this book's key insights into the economic and political consequences of Russia's changing role in the global gas market.

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Title: Russian Oil Companies in an Evolving World: The Challenge of Change Authors: Indra Overland and Nina Poussenkova

Indra Overland is Research Professor and Head of the Centre for Energy Research at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI), Oslo.

Nina Poussenkova is Senior Researcher, Primakov Institute of World Economy, and International Relations (IMEMO), Russian Academy of Sciences and Researcher, ENERPO Research Centre, European University in St Petersburg, Russia.

This book examines Russia's capacity to respond to a changing world through the lens of the country's oil industry. Against a backdrop of social, political, and climatic change, the authors present a systematic analysis of how modern energy developments in the form of shale oil, offshore oil and the global energy transition are handled. The book profiles Russia's five largest oil companies – Rosneft, Lukoil, Gazprom Neft, Surgutneftegaz and Tatneft – which are vital channels for much of Russia's income and constitute the backbone of the Russian economy.

It explores the importance of the petroleum sector to Russian society, the place of Russian oil and gas in the world's energy supply and the rapid pace of change in the global energy industry. In doing so, it offers insights into internationalization, oil price fluctuations, corporate social responsibility, and the impact of Western sanctions against Russia.

Title: Pollution and Atmosphere in Post-Soviet Russia: The Arctic and the Environment Author: by Lars Rowe

Lars Rowe is Senior Research Fellow at the Fridtjof Nansen Institute and Lecturer in Russian History at the University of Oslo.

This study addresses the many initiatives to decrease industrial pollution emitting from the Pechenganikel plant in the north-western corner of Russia during the final years of the Soviet Union, and examines the wider implications for the state of pollution control in the Arctic today. By examining the efforts of Soviet industry and government agencies, Finnish and Swedish officials, and Norwegian environmental authorities to curb industrial pollution in the region, this book offers an environmental history of the Arctic as well as a transnational, geopolitical history.

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Title: MBS: The Rise to Power of Mohammed Bin Salman Author: Ben Hubbard

Ben Hubbard has spent more than a dozen years reporting in the Middle East, where he is the Beirut Bureau Chief for The New York Times.

When his elderly father took the throne in 2015, Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) got his chance. As the hands-on-ruler, he made seismic changes, working doggedly to overhaul the kingdom's economy, loosen its strict Islamic social codes and confront nearby enemies, especially Iran. His vision initially won fans at home and abroad as he convinced other nations that the moment had come to bet big on Saudi Arabia. Over time, however, the sheen of the visionary young reformer has tarnished, leaving many wondering whether MBS is actually an aspiring dictator whose lack of experience and rash decisions are destabilizing the world's most volatile region.

Based on years of reporting and hundreds of covert interviews, MBS provides new insights into Saudi Arabia’s catastrophic military intervention in Yemen, the bizarre detention of the Lebanese prime minister, the surprise arrest of hundreds of princes and businessmen, and the greatest scandal of the young prince's rise: the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Title: Geopolitics of the Global Energy Transition Authors: Manfred Hafner, Simone Tagliapietra

Manfred Hafner is an Adjunct Professor of International Energy Economics and Geopolitics at The Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS Europe), Bologna BO, Italy, and at the SciencesPo Paris School of International Affairs (PSIA), France.

Simone Tagliapietra is an Adjunct Professor of Global Energy Fundamentals at The Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS Europe), Bologna BO, Italy. He also is a Senior Researcher at the Future Energy Programme of the Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei, Milan.

Note: The section related to Russia is written by James Henderson and Tatiana Mitrova.

The world is currently undergoing an historic energy transition, driven by increasingly stringent decarbonization policies and rapid advances in low-carbon technologies. The large-scale shift to low- carbon energy is disrupting the global energy system, impacting whole economies, and changing the political dynamics within and between countries. This open access book examines the economic and geopolitical implications of the global energy transition, from both regional and thematic perspectives. The first part of the book addresses the geopolitical implications in the world’s main energy-producing and energy-consuming regions, while the second presents in-depth case studies on selected issues, ranging from the geopolitics of renewable energy, to the mineral foundations of the global energy transformation, to governance issues in connection with the changing global energy order.

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Section III: BRI

Title: The "Roads" and "Belts" of Eurasia Editor: Alexander Lukin

Alexander Lukin is Director of the Centre for East Asian and Shanghai Cooperation Organization Studies at Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO-University) and Chair Professor at the School of Public Affairs of Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.

This book addresses the challenges and opportunities of contemporary and future development of Eurasia. The main theme of the first part of the book is examining the reaction evoked in different countries by the Chinese “Belt and Road Initiative.” The second part analyses other national and international integration and infrastructure projects in Eurasia. This publication brings together in one volume works by leading researchers from different countries, united by their common interest in the political and economic processes unfolding in the Eurasian continent. By offering various points of view from experts from all over the world, this book provides a multi-dimensional analysis of the Eurasian future.

Title: The Prequel to China's New Silk Road: Preparing the Ground in Central Asia Author: Tilman Pradt

Tilman Pradt is a geopolitical analyst based in Berlin. His research focus is on China's foreign policy.

This book offers the prequel to China's successful implementation of its New Silk Road, the so-called Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The preconditions for the establishment of especially the land route between China and Western Europe have been set decades ago in Central Asia. In the political, security, and economic realms, China had to find arrangements with Russia as well as the Central Asian states. Border disputes had to be resolved, a security architecture and political cooperation was lacking. The key to BRI's success today lies in China's successful diplomacy of the 1990s and 2000s.

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Title: Financing China’s Belt and Road Initiative: Investments and Infrastructure Editor: XIAO Gang

XIAO Gang previously served as Chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission and Chairman of the Bank of China. He has engaged in monetary policy making and financial supervision for years.

Centering on the investment and financing infrastructure of China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), this book puts forth the basic principles and general objectives of constructing a new investment and financing system of this magnitude. Beginning with a succinct analysis of the practical issues faced while developing the BRI's investment and financing system, the authors put forward several approaches to optimizing and re-establishing the system for the further advancement of investment and financing among and beyond the Belt and Road countries. Topics include credit rules, management and control systems, investment protection, dispute settlement and risk assessment while establishing a new mechanism that helps resolve debt defaults, checks for potential corruption and bribery, fosters new growth, and enhances information transparency.

Title: Regions in the Belt and Road Initiative (Rethinking Asia and International Relations) Editor: Jonathan Fulton

Jonathan Fulton is an Assistant Professor of Political Science in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Zayed University, in Abu Dhabi, UAE, and a senior non-resident fellow at The Atlantic Council.

Introduced in 2013, China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has had a significant impact within Asia and across other regions. This book provides empirical case studies examining the relations between China and the states in specific regional groupings, including South-East Asia, Central Asia, South Asia, the Persian Gulf, the Horn of Africa, and Central/Eastern Europe.

At the theoretical level, the articles on regional security complexes are used to develop a framework for analyzing the current impact of the BRI and its potential future effects within these regions, while the case studies explore the extent to which different International Relations and International Political Economy theories explain change in these relationships as the regional security environment shifts. The contributors address questions as diverse as the domestic political and economic drivers impacting the level of BRI cooperation; the effects of cooperation with the US; as well as the historical political and economic risk considerations for China in pursuing BRI cooperation; and the motivations of regional responses to the BRI and rivalries and variations in those responses.

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Section IV: Eurasia and Eurasianism

Title: Foundations of Eurasianism: Volume I Editors: Jafe Arnold, John Stachelski, Leonid Savin

A century ago, between the uneasy aftermath of the First World War and the chaos of the Russian Revolution, an elite group of Russian intellectuals announced the discovery of a new continent they called "Eurasia", a sprawling landmass wedged between Europe and Asia fated to upend mainstream Eurocentric narratives on history and civilization. The intellectual trend these diverse thinkers initiated came to be called "Eurasianism".

The first two decades of the twenty-first century have seen an explosion in the interest and relevance of Eurasianism in its classical and contemporary forms across diverse fields, from the pages of scholarship to the flashpoints of geopolitics. While a growing number of scholars and analysts have increasingly emphasized the importance of understanding Eurasianism for deciphering current global trends, accessible translations of the Eurasianists in their own words have remained absent, until now.

Title: Russian Foreign Policy in Eurasia: National Interests and Regional Integration Author: Lilia Arakelyan

Lilia A. Arakelyan has worked on numerous academic and policy-oriented projects and taught International Studies courses at the University of Miami. Her articles and books chapters focus on Russian foreign policy in the post-Soviet space, different aspects of nationalism, ethno-national conflicts in the South Caucasus.

Employing a case-centric research design this book answers these questions: How has Russia increased its strength and power over the last 15 years? By what means did the Kremlin bring Armenia back into its orbit? Why did Azerbaijan and Georgia try to avoid antagonizing Moscow? Can we conclude that Russia has restored its sphere of influence in Eurasia?

Title: Russia and Central Asia: Coexistance, Conquest, Convergence Author: Shoshana Keller

Shoshana Keller is a professor in the Department of History at Hamilton College.

Russia and Central Asia provides an overview of the relationship between these two dynamic regions, highlighting the ways in which they have influenced and been influenced by Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. This readable synthesis, covering early coexistence in the seventeenth century to the present day, seeks to encourage new ways of thinking about how the modern world developed.

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Shoshana Keller focuses on the five major "Stans": Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan. Cultural and social history is interwoven with the military narrative to provide a sense of the people, their religion, and their practices - all of which were severely tested under Stalin. The text includes a glossary as well as images and maps that help to highlight 500 years of changes, bringing Central Asia into the general narrative of Russian and world history and introducing a fresh perspective on colonialism and modernity.

Title: Eurasianism: An Ideology for the Multipolar World (Russian, Eurasian, and Eastern European Politics) Author: Paolo Pizzolo

Paolo Pizzolo is research fellow in international relations at the University LUISS Guido Carlo of Rome.

Eurasianism: An Ideology for the Multipolar World investigates the ideology of Eurasianism, a political doctrine that founds its principles on geopolitics and conservatism. Specifically, the book examines neo-Eurasianist thought and its implications for the international system. After collocating Eurasianism in the spectrum of conservative theories, the research analyses its historical evolution from the early 20th century to its contemporary manifestations. Pizzolo describes the liaison between Eurasianism and geopolitics, describing the nature of geopolitics and the main theories that highlight the relevance of the Eurasian landmass, including Mackinder's "Heartland theory", Spykman's "Rimland theory", and Haushofer's "Kontinentalblock" project. The book also focuses on the central elements of the neo-Eurasianist ideology, including the key features of the so-called "Fourth Political Theory", arguing that Eurasianism could represent a theoretical contribution for the advent of the multipolar world.

Title: The Eurasian Economic Union and Integration Theory Author: Mikhail Mukhametdinov

Mikhail Mukhametdinov is adjunct professor at the Samara College for the Humanities, Russia. He is formerly head of applied linguistics and foreign languages at this school and visiting scholar at Stanford University’s Department of Iberian and Latin American Cultures.

This book evaluates the utility of the Eurasian Economic Union in economic, political, cultural and geostrategic dimensions. It does so through a systematic comparison of the bloc with aspects of the European Union along a number of criteria derived from integration theory. The book concludes that the EAEU is a useless undertaking, at least for Russia, in any of the integration dimensions discussed. This is so because of the inherent properties of the region, and also because of the behavior of the member states in the context of Russia’s resistance to the West. Besides, the principles of liberal economics, endorsed by the union, contribute to asymmetries in development among its member states. In addition to a symbolic event spotlighting Russia’s regional leadership, the union appears mainly as a shop where gas is sold below market prices, and as an import base of unskilled labor for Russia in conditions of Russia’s high unemployment and underemployment.

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Concurrently, the book discusses Russia’s grievances with the West, which have been inducing and constraining Eurasian integration at the same time.

Title: China's Western Horizon: Beijing and the New Geopolitics of Eurasia

Author: Daniel Markey

Daniel S. Markey, is a scholar of international relations and former member of the US State Department's policy planning staff.

The book is a practical reference for researchers interested in the Belt and Road Initiative and world investment and finance, as well as policymakers, financial institutions, and enterprises relevant to the BRI.

The author previews how China's efforts are likely to play out across the swath of Eurasia that includes South Asia, Central Asia, and the Middle East.

Drawing from extensive interviews, travels, and historical research, Markey describes how perceptions of China vary widely within states such as Pakistan, Kazakhstan, and Iran. Powerful and privileged groups across the region often expect to profit from their connections to China, while others fear commercial and political losses. Similarly, Eurasian statesmen are scrambling to harness China's energy purchases, arms sales, and infrastructure investment. These leaders are working with China in order to outdo their strategic competitors, including India and Saudi Arabia, and simultaneously negotiating relations with Russia and America.

Title: Eurasian Economies Author: Selahattin Sar

This volume explores the economies of countries in Asia, as well as the former Soviet socialist bloc countries of Central Asia and the Balkans. It analyses the region from the perspective of globalization and regional economic integration, economic growth and sustainable development, international trade and finance, money market and banking systems, labor market and external migration, energy and agricultural sectors.

Title: The Caucasus Policy of Russia in the Early 21st Century Author: Vefa Kurban

Vefa Kurban is an Associate Professor who has worked as a Lecturer at Ege University, Turkey.

This book discusses the Caucasus, analyzing its strategic aspects and the policies of Russia towards the region throughout history and especially during the Putin administration. It also considers Russia's relations with both Azerbaijan and Georgia after they gained their independence, and sheds light on the Chechen-Russian conflict and Russo-Georgian Wars that took place following the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

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Title: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan: Life and Politics during the Soviet Era (Politics and History in Central Asia) Editors: Timur Dababaev, Hisao Konatsu

Timur Dadabaev is Associate Professor of International Relations at the University of Tsukuba, Japan, and Director of the combined MA and Ph.D. Program in Central Eurasian Studies. Hisao Komatsu is Professor at Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, Japan.

This volume offers perspectives from the public in post-Soviet Central Asia and reconsiders the meaning and the legacy of Soviet administration in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. This study emphasizes that the way in which people in Central Asia reconcile their Soviet past to a great extent refers to the three-fold process of recollecting their everyday experiences, reflecting on their past from the perspective of their post-Soviet present, and re-imagining. These three elements influence memories and lead to selectivity in memory construction. This process also emphasizes the aspects of the Soviet era people choose to recall in positive and negative lights. Ultimately, this book demonstrates how Soviet life has influenced the identity and understanding of self among the population in post-Soviet Central Asian states.

Title: Eurasian Economic Perspectives: Proceedings of the 26th and 27th Eurasia Business and Economics Society Conferences: 14/1 Editors: Nehmet Huseyin Bilgin, Hakan Danis, Ender Demir

Mehmet Huseyin Bilgin is a Professor at Istanbul Medeniyet University (Turkey). Prof. Bilgin is the Associate Editor of the Eurasian Economic Review (Springer). He is the founder and current Chairman of the Istanbul Economic Research Association, and the founder and current Vice President of the Eurasia Business and Economics Society (EBES, Turkey). Hakan Danis is an Assistant Professor of Economics at Istanbul Sehir University (Turkey), Vice President of the Eurasia Business and Economics Society (EBES), and a Director in the Credit Strategies Group at the Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) (USA). Ender Demir is an Associate Professor of Finance at the Istanbul Medeniyet University (Turkey).

This book presents selected papers from the 26th and 27th Eurasia Business and Economics Society (EBES) Conferences, held in Prague, Czech Republic, and Bali, Indonesia. While the theoretical and empirical papers gathered here cover diverse areas of economics and finance in various geographic regions, the main focus is on the latest research concerning banking and finance, as well as empirical studies on emerging economies and public economics. The book also includes studies on political economy and regional studies.

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Title: Sovietistan: Travels in Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan Author: Erika Fatland

Erika Fatland studied Social Anthropology at the University of Oslo.

Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan became free of the Soviet Union in 1991. But though they are new to modern statehood, this is a region rich in ancient history, culture, and landscapes unlike anywhere else in the world. In Sovietistan, the author takes the reader on a compassionate and insightful journey to explore how their Soviet heritage has influenced these countries, with governments experimenting with both democracy and dictatorships.

In Kyrgyzstani villages, she meets victims of the tradition of bride snatching; she visits the huge and desolate Polygon in Kazakhstan where the Soviet Union tested explosions of nuclear bombs; she meets shrimp gatherers on the banks of the dried-out Aral Sea; she witnesses the fall of a dictator. She travels incognito through Turkmenistan, a country that is closed to journalists. She meets exhausted human rights activists in Kazakhstan, survivors from the massacre in Osh in 2010, and German Mennonites that found paradise on the Kyrgyzstani plains 200 years ago. We learn how ancient customs clash with gas production and witness the underlying conflicts between ethnic Russians and the majority in a country that is slowly building its future in nationalist colors.

Title: Routledge Handbook of the Caucasus Editors: Galine Yemelianova and Laurence Broers

Galina Yemelianova is a Research Associate at the Centre of Contemporary Central Asia & the Caucasus in the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London. Laurence Broers is Caucasus Program Director at Conciliation Resources, UK. He is the author of Armenia and Azerbaijan: Anatomy of a Rivalry (2019), and the co-founder and co-chief editor of the Caucasus Survey.

The Routledge Handbook of the Caucasus offers an integrated, multidisciplinary overview of the historical, ethno-linguistic, cultural, socio-economic and political complexities of the Caucasus. Covering both the North and South Caucasus, the book gathers leading Western, Caucasian and Russian scholars of the region from different disciplines in the humanities and social sciences. Following a thorough introduction by the editors, the handbook is divided into six parts which combine thematic and chronological principles.

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Section V: Eurasia Country Books

❖ Armenia

Title: The Armenian Experience: From Ancient Times to Independence Author: Gaïdz Minassian

Gaidz Minassian is a lecturer in International Relations at Sciences Po, Paris Institute of Political Studies and a research associate at the Foundation Pour la Recherche Scientifique (FRS) in Paris.

Armenian national identity has long been associated with what has come to be known as the Armenian Genocide of 1915. Immersing the reader in the history, culture and politics of Armenia – from its foundations as the ancient kingdom of Urartu to the modern-day Republic – Gaidz Minassian moves past the massacres embedded in the Armenian psyche to position the nation within contemporary global politics. An in-depth study of history and memory, The Armenian Experience examines the characteristics and sentiments of a national identity that spans the globe. Armenia lies in the heart of the Caucasus and once had an empire - under the rule of Tigranes the Great in the first century BC – that stretched from the Caspian to the Mediterranean seas. Beginning with an overview of Armenia's historic position at the crossroads between Rome and Persia, Minassian details invasions from antiquity to modern times by Arabs, Mongols, Ottomans, Persians and Russians right up to its Soviet experience, and drawing on Armenia's post-Soviet conflict with Azerbaijan in its attempts to reunify with the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.

❖ Georgia

Title: Georgia: From Autocracy to Democracy Authors: Stephen F. Jones and Neil MacFarlane

Stephen F. Jones is a professor of Russian and Eurasian Studies at Mount Holyoke College. Neil MacFarlane is the Lester B. Pearson professor of International Relations and Fellow at St Anne's College, University of Oxford.

Reflecting on the deep and complex changes in Georgian politics over the last quarter of a century, this book highlights the domestic and international developments that have shaped Georgia as a state and society. Georgia: From Autocracy to Democracy covers a wide array of topics, including the economy, elections, judicial and educational systems, relations with the EU, and Georgia's interaction with its regional neighbors, including Russia, Turkey, and Iran.

In the book, Georgian policy-makers, practitioners, and scholars who have worked in the administration, in the opposition, in the Third Sector, and in academia provide first-hand perspectives on Georgia's political and economic life - from the authoritarianism of President Gamsakhurdia, through the experience of civil war in the 1990s, to democracy today.

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❖ Kazakhstan

Title: Kazakhstan’s Developmental Journey: Entrenched Paradigms, Achievements, and the Challenge of Global Competitiveness Editors: Anastasia Koulouri, Nikolai Mouraviev

Anastasia Koulouri is a Lecturer at the Norwich Business School, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK. Her research interests include energy policy and security in resource-rich countries with particular focus on Kazakhstan, and sustainable development of transitional economies. Nikolai Mouraviev is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Business, Law and Social Sciences, Abertay University, Dundee, Scotland, UK. Part of his research focuses on public-private collaboration in developing nations.

This book discusses Kazakhstan’s transitioning trajectory to a market economy since it declared its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. It analyses the evolution of key policy areas and sectors through the lens of policy development and implementation and evaluates their suitability in pursuing the country’s strategic objectives. Topics include policy initiatives for economic development, new policy paradigms in public service delivery and infrastructure improvement, and water-energy-food (WEF) nexus thinking in governing the WEF sectors. The book argues that policies developed in the 1990s and 2000s have so far served the nation’s needs. Nevertheless, as Kazakhstan seeks to achieve a competitive edge worldwide, many of these policies would require adjustment, or a paradigm shift.

❖ Mongolia

Title: Into Wild Mongolia Author: George Schaller

George Schaller is a field biologist who is known for his research on tigers, mountain gorillas, and giant pandas. He is a senior conservationist with the Wildlife Conservation Society.

Mongolia became a satellite of the Soviet Union in the mid-1920s, and for nearly seven decades effectively closed its doors to the outside world. Biologist George Schaller initially visited the country in 1989, and was one of the first Western scientists allowed to study and assess the conservation status of Mongolia's many unique, native wildlife species. Schaller made a number of trips from 1989 to 2018 in collaboration with Mongolian and American scientists. This book provides a first- hand account of Schaller's time in Mongolia where he studied and helped develop conservation initiatives for the snow leopard, Gobi bear, wild camel, and Mongolian gazelle, among other species. Featuring magnificent photographs from his travels, the book offers a fresh perspective on the natural beauty of the region, which encompasses steppes, mountains, and the Gobi Desert.

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❖ Ukraine

Title: Ukraine: What Everyone Needs to Know Author: Serhy Yekelchyk

Serhy Yekelchyk is Professor of History and Slavic Studies at the University of Victoria. He has published widely on modern Ukrainian history and Russian-Ukrainian relations.

Conventional wisdom dictates that Ukraine's political crises can be traced to the linguistic differences and divided political loyalties that have long fractured the country. However, this theory obscures the true significance of Ukraine's recent civic revolution and the conflict's crucial international dimension. The 2013-14 Ukrainian revolution presented authoritarian powers in Russia with both a democratic and a geopolitical challenge. Political conflict in Ukraine is reflective of global discord, stemming from differing views on state power, civil society, and democracy. Ukraine's sudden prominence in American politics has compounded an already-widespread misunderstanding of what is happening in the nation.

In the American media, Ukraine has come to signify an inherently corrupt place, rather than a real country struggling in the face of great challenges. The book explains how independent Ukraine fell victim to crony capitalism, how its people rebelled twice in the last two decades in the name of democracy and against corruption, and why Russia reacted to the strivings of Ukrainians. Additionally, it looks at what we know about alleged Ukrainian interference in the 2016 US presidential election, the factors behind the stunning electoral victory of the political novice Volodymyr Zelenskiy, and the ways in which the events leading to the impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump have changed the Russia-Ukraine-US relationship.

Title: Decentralization, Regional Diversity, and Conflict: The Case of Ukraine Authors: Hanna Shelest, Maryna Rabinovych

Hanna Shelest is Member of the Board at the Foreign Policy Council “Ukrainian Prism” and Editor- in-chief at UA: Ukraine Analytica.

Maryna Rabinovych is a researcher at the Faculty of Law, University of Hamburg, Germany. She will join the Leibniz Science Campus “Eastern Europe as a Global Area” as Post-Doc Fellow.

This edited volume focuses on the links between the ongoing crisis in and around Ukraine, regional diversity, and the reform of decentralization. It provides in-depth insights into the historical constitution of regional diversity and the evolution of center-periphery relationships in Ukraine, the legal qualification of the conflict in Eastern Ukraine, and the role of the decentralization reform in promoting conflict resolution, as well as modernization, democratization and European integration of Ukraine.

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Emphasis lies on the securitization of both regional diversity issues and territorial self-government arrangements in terms of Russia’s support for self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics. The volume captures the complexity of contemporary “hybrid” conflicts, involving both internal and external aspects, and the hybridization and securitization of territorial self-governance solutions. It thus provides an important contribution to the debate on territorial self-government and conflict resolution.

❖ Uzbekistan

Title: Uzbekistan: The Golden Road to Samarkand Author: Calum MacLeod, Bradley Mayhew (photographer)

Calum MacLeod is the Asia Correspondent for USA Today. A Beijing resident and co-author of China Remembers, Calum has lectured on Uzbekistan to the Royal Geographical Society, London. Bradley Mayhew has travelled and written about the wilder parts of the Himalayas, Western China, and Central Asia for twenty-five years.

From the blue-tiled splendor of Tamerlane's Samarkand to the holy city of Bukhara, which boasts a mosque for each day of the year, and beyond to the desert-girdled khanate of Khiva, Uzbekistan lays claim to a breath-taking architectural legacy. Bound by sand and snow, fed by meltwater from the Roof of the World, these fertile oases attracted the greatest travelers and conquerors in history along the fragile threads of the Silk Road. This guide, continually revised and updated, focuses on the wealth of sites and colorful legends at the heart of Central Asia, plus the best of the rest-- excursions covering the major nearby attractions of neighboring republics Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan.

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Section VI: Russia Recommended Reading List

These are books which I recommend to anybody looking to better understand Russia’s history, its transformation from the Soviet Union, the formation of capitalism and today’s political structures.

❖ How Government Works & Decisions Made

Title: Can Russia Modernize? – Sistema, Power Networks and Informal Governance (2013) … by far the best book for an understanding of how government works, especially how power is yielded inside the Kremlin. Author: Alena Ledeneva

Title: Life and Work in Post-Soviet Russia (2020) – see comments in Russia General section earlier Author: Chris Cheang

Title: Russian Politics and Society (2020) -See comments in Russia Domestic Politics section earlier Author: Richard Sakwa

Title: The New Autocracy: Information, Politics, and Policy in Putin's Russia (2018) Author: Daniel Treisman (editor) and contributors (see comment earlier)

Alternatives: Authoritarian Russia: analyzing post-Soviet regime change; Vladimir Gel’Man

Russia’s Response to Sanctions (2018): Richard Connolly

A Russian Diary (2007) by Anna Politkovskaya

❖ Vladimir Putin

Title: The New Tsar (2015)

Author: Steven Lee Meyers

Alternative: First Person (2000) … this is Putin’s autobiography. Yeltsin advised him to have it written so that people could better understand their new leader.

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Putin v Putin (2013) by Alexander Dugin

The Putin Interviews (2017) by Oliver Stone

❖ The Economy

Title: Russia's Economy in an Epoch of Turbulence: Crises and Lessons (2017) Author: Vladimir Mau

Alternatives: Gaidar’s Revolution (2015) by Petr Aven & Alfred Kokh

Russian Tide (2012) …. an account of Proctor & Gamble’s experience of investing in Russia in the 1990s, written by John Pepper, President of P&G at the time

❖ Oligarchs, Siloviki and Elites

Title: Putin’s People: How the KGB Took Back Russia and then Took on the West (2020) – see comment earlier in Russia Domestic Politics section Author: Catherine Belton

Title: All the Kremlin’s Men (2016) Author: Mikhail Zygar

Alternatives: The New Nobility (2010) by Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan Sale of the Century (2000) by Chrystia Freeland The Oligarchs (2002) by David Hoffman

❖ Russia and the World

Title: Russia in a Changing World (2020) … See comment earlier Editors: Alexander Lukin, Glenn Diesen

Title: Russia (2019) Author: Dmitri Trenin

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Title: Dealing with The Russians (2019) Author: Andrew Monaghan

Title: Putin's World: Russia Against the West and with the Rest (2019) Author: Angela Stent

Alternatives: The Russia Trap (2019) – George Beebe

❖ Russia History

Title: A History of Modern Russia (published in 1997 & updated in 2003) … from Nicholas II to Putin Author: Robert Service

Title: Hammer & Tickle (humor in the Soviet Union) (2008) Author: Ben Lewis

Title: The House of Government: A Saga of the Russian Revolution (2017) Author: Yuri Slezkine

Alternatives: Russia: A 1,000-Year Chronicle (2011) by Martin Sixsmith

The Rise and Fall of the Soviet Empire: from Lenin to Gorbachev (1998) by Dmitri Volkogonov

Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar (2003) by Simon Montefiore

❖ Transition from Soviet Union to Russia

Title: Lenin’s Tomb: The Last Days of the Soviet Empire (1994) Author: David Remnick Alternatives: Black Earth. Russia after the fall (2004) by Andrew Meier

Midnight Diaries (2000) by Boris Yeltsin

Rebirth of a Nation: An anatomy of Russia (1998) by John Lloyd

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Section VII: Energy, Carbon & The Environment

❖ Russia-Eurasia Energy

Title The New Map: Energy, Climate, and the Clash of Nations (2020) – see comments earlier Author: Daniel Yergin

Title: Informal Institutions in Policy Implementation: Comparing Low Carbon Policies in China and Russia (2020) – see comments earlier Authors: Anna Karpoo, Iselin Stensdal and Marius Korsnes

Title: The Bridge: Natural Gas in a redivided Europe (2020) … see comment earlier Author: Thane Gustafson

Title: The Globalization of Russian Gas: Political and Commercial Catalysts (2020)… see comment earlier Author: James Henderson and Arild Moe

Alternatives: Wheel of Fortune (2012), the definitive detailed history of the oil industry's evolution since the breakup of the Soviet Union, its current structure, as at early 2012, and the issues it faces. By Thane Gustafson.

Russian Oil Companies in an Evolving World: The Challenge of Change (2020) – see comments earlier – by Indra Overland and Nina Poussenkova

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Section VII: BRI, China & Russia

Title: The "Roads" and "Belts" of Eurasia (2020) … see comments earlier Editor: Alexander Lukin

Title: The Prequel to China's New Silk Road: Preparing the Ground in Central Asia (2020) – see comments earlier Author: Tilman Pradt

Title: China’s Belt and Road Initiative: Potential Transformation of Central Asia and the South Caucasus (2019) Author: Harinder S. Kohli

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Section VIII: Eurasia Region & Eurasianism

Title: Foundations of Eurasianism: Volume I – see comments earlier Editors: Jafe Arnold, John Stachelski, Leonid Savin

Title: Eurasianism: An Ideology for the Multipolar World (Russian, Eurasian, and Eastern European Politics) 2020 - see comments earlier Author: Paolo Pizzolo

Title: Sovietistan: Travels in Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan (2020) – see comments earlier Author: Erika Fatland

Title: China's Western Horizon: Beijing and the New Geopolitics of Eurasia (2020) – see comments earlier

Author: Daniel Markey

Title: The Resurgence of Central Asia (2017) Author: Ahmed Rashid

Title: Central Asia in the Era of Sovereignty: The Return of Tamerlane? (2018) Contributors: Daniel Burghart, Theresa Sabonis-Helf, Laura Adams & 15 others

Title: The Silk Roads: A New History of the World (2015) Author: Peter Frankopan

Alternatives: New Silk Roads: The Present and Future of the World (2018) by Peter Frankopan The Great Game, On Secret Service in High Asia (1990) by Peter Hopkirk Great Game, Local Rules; The New Great Power Contest in Central Asia (2013) by Alexander Cooley Caucasus, An Introduction (2010) by Thomas de Waal

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Section IX: Eurasia Country Specific Books

Armenia

Title: The Armenian Experience: From Ancient Times to Independence (2020) Author: Gaïdz Minassian

Title: Armenians; From Kings and Priests to Merchants and Commissars (2006) Author: Ramzik Panossian

Alternative: The Crossing Point (1993) by Philip Marsden

Azerbaijan

Title: Azerbaijan: A Political History 2011) Author: Suha Bolukbasi

Title: Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan Through Peace and War (2003) Author: Thomas de Waal

Belarus

Title: A History of Belarus (2014) Author: Lubov Bazan

Title: Belarus under Lukashenka: Adaptive Authoritarianism (2018) Author: Matthew Frear

Alternative : Modeling Economic Growth in Contemporary Belarus (Entrepreneurship and Global Economic Growth) – 2019 by Bruno S. Sergi Georgia

Title: Georgia: From Autocracy to Democracy Authors: Stephen F. Jones and Neil MacFarlane

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Title: Edge of Empires: A History of Georgia (2019) Author: Donald Rayfield

Alternative: The Making of Modern Georgia, 1918-2012: The First Georgian Republic and its Successors by Stephen F. Jones

Kazakhstan

Title: State-Building in Kazakhstan: Continuity and Transformation of Informal Institutions (2018) Author: Dina Sharipova

Title: Dark Shadow: Inside the Secret World of Kazakhstan (2019) Author: Joanna Lillis

Title: Once in Kazakhstan, The Snow Leopard Emerges (2005) Author: Keith Rosten

Kyrgyz Republic

Title: Life on the Edge of Empire: Oral Histories of Soviet Kyrgyzstan (2012) Author: Sam Tranum

Title: Democracy, Instability and Strategic Game in Kyrgyzstan (2014) Author: P. Stobdan

Mongolia

Title: Mongolia: The Shadow Land Hardcover (2016) Author: Michael Dillon

Title: Genghis Khan: The Man who Conquered the World (2015) Author: Frank McLynn

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Title: Not quite Shamans: Spirit Worlds and Political Lives in northern Mongolia (2011) Author: Morten Pederson

Tajikistan

Title: Historical Dictionary of Tajikistan (2018) Author: Kamoludin Abdullaev

Title: Tajikistan History: Ethnic Background, Early History, Society Author: Uzo Marvin

Turkmenistan

Title: Tribal Nation: The Making of Soviet Turkmenistan (2004) Author: Adrienne Lynn Edgar

Ukraine

Title: Ukraine: What Everyone Needs to Know (2020) Author: Serhy Yekelchyk

Title: The Gates of Europe: A History of Ukraine (2016) Author: Serhii Plokhy

Uzbekistan

Title: Uzbekistan's New Face (2018) Authors: Frederick Starr, Svante Cornell

Title: Making Uzbekistan, Nation, Empire and Revolution (2015) Author: Adeeb Khalid

Title: Tamerlane, Sword of Islam, Conqueror of the World (2004) Author: Justin Marouzzi

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Who Are We?

▪ Macro-Advisory is an independent Eurasia-based consultancy providing international companies and investors with strategic advisory services throughout the CIS-Eurasia region

▪ Macro-Advisory’s coverage footprint includes the entire CIS-Eurasia region plus Mongolia, Iran and Afghanistan

▪ For our clients we carry out market and sectoral analysis, risk assessments, and deep due- diligence work across all the key industry sectors in all the countries in the region

▪ We keep our clients fully informed of the relevant trends and events which impacts their business

▪ We assist local business teams and management in headquarters to help ensure a strategic focus and success for our clients’ businesses

▪ We are experts on the Eurasian Economic Union (EaEU) and help our clients assess the opportunities and implications of the economic bloc

▪ We are experts in the operation of the Chinese promoted Belt & Road Initiative (BRI) and in helping our clients understand the opportunities arising from this expanding trade and transport network Our Competitive Advantages

▪ Local. From our base in Moscow we cover the entire CIS-Eurasia region. We have an available network of industry specialists across the region to assist with project work as required. We also have offices in London, Washington, and New York, from which we can regularly engage with our clients.

▪ Independent. We are independent and this allows us to offer completely impartial advice. We combine coverage of economics, politics, industry and social trends to provide the most comprehensive analysis for our clients.

▪ Experienced. The combined experience of our key personnel living and working in the CIS- Eurasia region is over 150 years.

▪ Network. We have built a substantive network of contacts in government and regulatory agencies as well as in other relevant bodies. This allows us to consult with decision makers and policy influencers, and to gain better insights into evolving events.

▪ Commercial. All our reports come with commercially relevant and, more importantly, actionable recommendations.

▪ Reports. All our clients get regular reports updating and providing analysis of economic and industry data as well as an assessment of all relevant news and events which are important for companies and investors in the region.

▪ Briefings. We host regular client briefings, including quarterly events with specialist guest speakers. We also organize formal presentations for clients, including at management and

board level.

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Reports suite* Russia Macro Monthly. This monthly update provides a record of all of the events which investors in Russia are interested in, such as economics, politics, monetary policy and all business related developments. This publication also has updated economic forecasts for Russia and all of the CIS-Eurasia states. We also provide reviews of all new books published which are focused on or which may influence the Eurasia region.

In Context. Whenever a topic arises which is both topical and of concern to our clients, such as the questions and threats posed by sanctions, we issue quick response notes to place the topic into a proper context. In these notes we highlight the areas of concern and set out our opinion about what to expect next and how to prepare for it.

Eurasia Country Snapshot reports. We issue regular updates for all of the countries in the CIS-Eurasia region. These will cover not only macro and political events but will also highlight business trends and focus on opportunities for investors, both existing and emerging. These reports also look at and explain any risks in respective investment scenarios.

Beltway 360⁰. Macro-Advisory produces regular updates examining events and issues from inside the Washington Beltway as part of our Beltway 360° reports. These confidential and limited distribution reports examine what is behind a range of policy and legislative issues impacting or potentially affecting the investment climate in Russia and the Eurasia region. Sanctions and other political issues are monitored and insights are provided as to what investors can expect from inside the Beltway.

Covid-19 Checkup. This is our weekly series of updates covering the actions taken to deal with the Covid-19 crisis and what these events may mean for those doing business in Russia and the Eurasia region. We delve into macro-political implications for Russia and the other Eurasia region states in two separate weekly publications.

What Lies Beenath. What Lies Beenath” is a series of limited distribution reports prepared exclusively for Macro-Advisory clients and which goes deeper into headline grabbing events.

*Refer to our web site (www.macro-advisory.com) for a full list of available reports

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Contacts

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No warranties, promises, and/or representations of any kind, expressed or implied are given as to the nature, standard, accuracy, or likewise of the information provided in this material nor to the suitability or otherwise of the information to your particular circumstances. Macro-Advisory Limited does not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, completeness, legality, or reliability of the content contained in this note.

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