Russia lost in transition : the Yeltsin and Putin legacies / Lilia Shevtsova ; translated by Arch Tait.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Boris Yeltsin : a revolutionary who preserved tradition -- How will Yeltsin go down in history? -- The coming of Vladimir Putin : a new regime to preserve an old system -- Imitation democracy -- Can you sit and run at the same time? -- Pragmatists versus idealists -- Should I stay or should I go? -- The siloviki in power -- Oligarchy as myth and reality -- Liberal technocrats as an adornment of the state -- The triumph of bureaucratic capitalism -- Something new : a nuclear petro-power -- The state shakes off its social responsibilities -- What is behind Russia's new assertiveness -- Is Russia ready to set sail under her own steam? -- How can we learn to be neighbors? -- Russia and Europe : condemned to live together -- Russia and the United States : in search of new paradigm -- What went wrong? -- Bumps in the road -- The Bush-Putin legacy -- Unstable stability, or on shooting yourself in the foot -- What might detonate an explosion? -- Russia : going nowhere fast -- Can the West help the Russian liberal project? -- How to stop suicidal statecraft -- Paradoxes and hopes.

Looking forward as well as back, Shevtsova speculates about the upcoming elections as well as the self-perpetuating system in placethe legacies of Yeltsin and Putinand how it will dictate the immediate political future. She also explores several scenarios for Russias future over the next decade.