Archie Brown is Professor of Politics at Oxford University and Director of the Russian and Eurasian Studies Centre at St Antony's College, Oxford, where he has been a Fellow since 1971. His book, The Gorbachev Factor, won the W.J.M. Mackenzie Prize of the Political Studies Association of the UK for best political science book of its year and was also joint winner of the Alec Nove Prize for best book on Communism, Post-Communism, or Russia. Professor Brown was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 1991 and is currently Chair of its Political Studies Section.

• INSTITUTIONAL DESIGN ; THE PRESIDENCY AND POLITICAL LEADERSHIP ; THE LEGISLATURE AND THE LAW ; ELECTIONS AND THE ELECTORAL SYSTEM ; PROBLEMS OF PARTY FORMATION AND CONSOLIDATION ; ECONOMIC REFORM: POLITICS, INTERESTS, AND SOCIAL CONSEQUENCES ; PUBLIC OPINION, POLITICAL BELIEFS, AND THE MASS MEDIA ; RUSSIAN STATEHOOD AND THE NATIONAL QUESTION ; FEDERALISM, REGIONALISM, AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT ; RUSSIA AND THE WORLD ; THE RUSSIAN TRANSITION IN COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE ; IS RUSSIA BECOMING A DEMOCRACY?

This is a carefully winnowed collection of some of the best articles - Western and Russian - from the second half of the decade ... the selection of the articles and their grouping into twelve sections was a rigorous process. ...The book's aim is to give students of Russian politics easy access to a wide range of material that might otherwise have escaped their attention. In this it succeeds admirably ... Moreover, Archie Brown's introduction to the volume and to each section, as well as his concluding chapter, would make a worthwhile book in themselves.' International Affairs, Oct 2001