Putin : Russia's choice / Richard Sakwa.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

The path to power -- The unlikely making of a leader -- Operation successor -- Ideas and choices -- Who is Mister Putin? -- Normality, normalcy and normalisation -- Russia at the turn of the millennium -- Planning for the future -- The 'state of the nation' speeches -- Putin's path -- Building the Putin bloc -- Putin and the people -- Leadership and style -- National democracy and Russia's 'third way' -- Parties, elections and the succession -- Development of the party system -- Elections and electoral legislation -- Parliamentary realignment -- Putin, parties and government -- The Putin succession -- Regime, state and society -- State and regime -- The 'liquidation of the oligarchs as a class' -- Freedom of speech and the media -- Judicial reform and human rights -- Bureaucracy, incorporation and opposition -- Bureaucracy and corruption -- Civil society and para-constitutional representation -- Regime and opposition -- Putin's 'new federalism' -- Segmented regionalism -- Features of the 'new federalism' -- State reconstitution and federalism -- Reforging the nation -- National images and state symbols -- Social aspects of national identity -- Chechnya : tombstone or crucible of Russian power? -- Russian capitalism -- Entering the market -- Models of capitalism : state corporatism? -- State, economy and society -- Putin's new realism in foreign policy -- Towards a new realism -- Features of the new realism -- The new realism in practice -- Conclusion : the power of contradiction -- Public politics -- Beyond transition -- The power of contradiction -- Appendix : Russia at the turn of the millennium.

The second edition of this political biography of Vladimir Putin builds on the strengths of the previous edition to provide the most detailed and nuanced account of the man, his politics and his profound influence on Russian politics, foreign policy and society.