Russia

Few Russians have benefited much from the new capitalist order. Political violence and economic corruption have shaken Moscow whilst war has raged in Chechnya. But despite this, there has been progress. Russians are able to think, speak and act more freely than under Communism. The state no longer intrudes on the privacy. Reform has been a mixture of failure and success.In this work, Robert Service traces the formation of the contemporary Russian state from its ambitious beginnings in 1991. Boris Yeltsin and his supporters stood forth, determined to build a new nation, a nation fortified by the framework of civic freedom, liberal democracy and a market economy. In that time of elation and promise, confidence in future success ran high. For a while it seemed they would not fail.