Rival Power

October 15, 2017

Unlike the European Union (EU), Russia does not have a grand plan for domination of eastern Europe--Russia operates on opportunism: defunct democracies, economic stagnation, and the weakening pull of the EU--says Bechev (research fellow, Ctr. for Slavic, Eurasian, and East European studies, Univ. of North Carolina, Chapel Hill). Bechev uses a fairly recent historical sketch of Russia to show that "Putinism" is a reaction to current events, not a continuation of the "evil empire." Russia does not have an exportable economic or political model. Most of the ills besetting eastern Europe from Slovenia to Turkey, the issues being exploited by Russian President Vladimir Putin, are self-inflicted. American and EU policy needs to concentrate on correcting the wrongs that feed the Russian bear and not look to the country's ideological past. This work plows past other books about Putin and democracy from the last decade and will sit alongside Putin's Russia, edited by Leon Aron, and Richard Lourie's Putin: His Downfall and Russia's Coming Crash. VERDICT Captivating for serious students of Russian history and political junkies as well.--Harry Willems, Great Bend P.L., KS

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