Fragmented Space in the Russian Federation by Blair A. Ruble

Russia is a country of great complexity―eighty-nine subject regions, ethnic diversity, economic variance across regions, the power struggle of Moscow versus the regions―and multiple realities―urban versus rural, rich versus poor, and cosmopolitan versus provincial, just to name a few. Fragmented Space in the Russian Federation explores Russia's complexity and the meanings of the country's internal borders, the future of its agricultural spaces, the development of its political parties, and the effect of its federal organization. The contributors examine stratification, citizenship, federalization, democratization, the politics of culture and identity, and globalization. These essays show how political leaders within Russia and scholars and policymakers from outside must accept the country's complexity and view uncertainty as a positive development rather than a liability. The authors explore how Russian experience can enhance theory political science, sociology, geography, and economics. James Alexander • Marjorie Mandelstam Balzer • Michael Bradshaw • Cynthia Buckley • Andrei Degtyarev • Vladimir Gel'man • Grigory Ioffe • Jodi Koehn • Andrei Makarychev • Yuri Medvedkov • Olga Medvedkov • Beth Mitchneck • Tatiana Nefedova • Nicolai Petro • Nancy Popson • Lawrence Robertson • Blair A. Ruble • Regina Smyth • Steven Solnick • Kathryn Stoner-Weiss • and Natalia Vlasova.