Author Note and Acknowledgments
Glossary and Abbreviations
Introduction
RUSSIA: A POST-IMPERIUM?
STRUCTURE OF THE BOOK
Part I
Russia and the Curse of Empire
Chapter 1
Despotism and the Quest for Empire
Chapter 2
Comparing Western and Russian Legitimation Theories for Empire
Chapter 3
Putin and the End of Russian “Empire Fatigue”
Chapter 4
Putin’s Grand Design
Chapter 5
The Eurasian Union
Putin’s Newest Imperial Project
Part II
The “Internal War”
Consolidation of Power
Chapter 6
Russia as a “Pluralist” One-Party State
Chapter 7
Preaching the Ultranationalist Gospel
The Transformation of “United Russia”
Chapter 8
The Nashi
Fascist Blackshirts or a New Komsomol?
Chapter 9
Send in the Cossacks
Part III
The Wheels of War
Chapter 10
Three Lost Wars
From Afghanistan to the First Chechen War
Chapter 11
The Mysterious Apartment Bombings
Detonator of the Second Chechen War
Chapter 12
The Second Chechen War
Putin’s War
Chapter 13
The War with Georgia, Part I
A Premeditated Russian Aggression
Chapter 14
The War with Georgia, Part II
Six Events Announcing the Kremlin’s Preparation for War
Chapter 15
The War with Georgia, Part III
The Propaganda War
Chapter 16
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index
About the Author
Copyright