Synopsis
Russia is often portrayed as a regressive, even lawless country, and yet the Russian state has played a major role in shaping and experimenting with law as an instrument of power. In Law and the Russian State, William E. Pomeranz examines Russia's legal evolution from Peter the Great to Vladimir Putin, addressing the continuities and disruptions of Russian law during the imperial, Soviet, and post-Soviet. The book covers key themes, including:
* Law and empire
* Law and modernization
* The politicization of law
* The role of intellectuals and dissidents in mobilizing the law
* The evolution of Russian legal institutions
* The struggle for human rights
* The rule-of-law
* The quest to establish the law-based state
It also analyzes legal culture and how Russians understand and use the law. With a detailed bibliography, this is an important text for anyone seeking a sophisticated understanding of how Russian society and the Russian state have developed in the last 350 years.
About the Authors
William E. Pomeranz is the Deputy Director of the Kennan Institute for Advanced Russian Studies of the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, D.C., USA. In addition, Dr Pomeranz teaches Russian law at the Center for Eurasian, Russian, and East European Studies, Georgetown University, USA. He has written numerous journal articles on post-Soviet legal developments, including Russian foreign investment laws, judicial review, federalism, and corruption. He is also a frequent commentator on developments in Russia, with appearances on C-Span, Sky News, CNN, NPR, VOA, Bloomberg, and several other media networks. His editorials have appeared with Reuters, the National Interest, and CNN International.
Michael S. Melancon is Professor Emeritus at Auburn University, USA. He is a co-editor of the Wildman Series, a monograph series issued by Slavica Publishers (Indiana University, USA) that focuses on the revolutionary experience in Russia. Michael is the author of The Socialist Revolutionaries and the Russian Anti-War Movement, July 1914 Through February 1917 (1990) and The Lena Goldfields Massacre and the Crisis of Late Tsarist Society (2005). He is also the co-editor of New Labor History: Russian Workers' Experiences and Discourses, 1800-1917 (2002; with Alice Pate), Russia in the European Context, 1789-1917: A Member of the Family (2005; with Susan P. Mccaffray), Russia's Century of Revolutions: Parties, People, Places (2012; with Donald J. Raleigh). Michael also serves on the editorial board for the journal, Revolutionary Russia.
Ian D. Thatcher is Professor of History at Ulster University, UK. He is the author of Trotsky (2003) and the editor of Late Imperial Russia: Problems and prospects (2005).
Jonathan D. Smele is Senior Lecturer in Modern European History at Queen Mary, University of London. For a decade (2002-2012) he was editor of Revolutionary Russia, the journal of the Study Group on the Russian Revolution and is the author of The 'Russian' Civil Wars 1916-1926:Ten Years That Shook the World (2016), Historical Dictionary of the Russian Civil Wars, 1916-1926 (2016; 2 vols.) and Civil War in Siberia: The Anti-Bolshevik Government of Admiral Kolchak, 1918–1920 (1997). He is also the co-editor, along with Anthony J. Heywood, of The Russian Revolution of 1905: Centenary Perspectives (2005) and compiled The Russian Revolution and Civil War, 1917-1921: An Annotated Bibliography (2003).
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