The Yukos Affair: Terminating the Implicit Contract
On July 2, 2003, Russian law enforcement arrested billionaire Platon Lebedev, chairman of the Board of Directors of MENATEP, the financial center of the oil giant YUKOS. A few days earlier the…
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Russia
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Time to Get Off the Putin Path
In the last few years, Russia has become an increasingly hostile place for those who support democracy, human rights, and the rule of law. Political and social activists inside and outside Russia…
The State in the New Russia (1992-2004): From Collapse to Gradual Revival?
The very notion of the state implies that public authorities hold monopolies on three functions: Legitimate use of violence Provision of revenues by collecting taxes Control of monetary emission All…
The Selective Use of State Capacity in Russia’s Economy: Property Disputes and Enterprise Takeovers After 2000
Throughout the 1990s, the role of the Russian state in governing the private economy was negligible. Private organizations of various kinds, such as organized criminal groups, private security agencies, and…
Rights and Restraints in Russia’s Criminal Justice System
One of the hardest tasks for the newly democratizing states in Central and Eastern Europe has been the establishment of fair and effective systems of criminal justice. During the Communist era, the…
Khodorkovsky’s Gamble: From Business to Politics in the YUKOS Conflict
Political battles in Russia have a reputation for being as obscure as they are vicious; thus Churchill’s famous comparison of Politburo rivals to bulldogs fighting under a carpet. Churchill’s saying now seems…
The Forced Choice Between Russia and the West: The Geopolitics of Alienation
On Sunday of November 21, 2004, every half hour the news headlines of the British Broadcasting Corporation reminded listeners around the world that the voters in Ukraine were to make a crucial…
The Challenge of an Undemocratic Russia
As weakened as it has been by its prolonged and poorly executed transition from central planning to a market economy, Russia remains a key player in international security. Geographically, Russia…
Russia’s Virtual War Against Georgia: Risks of a PR Offensive
Georgia is the only post-Soviet neighbor—and, in fact, the only country in the world—with which Russia has a protracted and carefully cultivated political conflict that periodically escalates and generates serious…
The End of ‘Primitive Capitalist Accumulation’?: The New Bankruptcy Law and the Political Assertiveness of Russian Big Business
One of the important long-term trends in Russian business since the collapse of the Soviet Union has been concentration, as a small number of business groups (the heads of which…