SAKWA, Richard

Professor of Russian and European Politics at the University of Kent at Canterbury, an Associate Fellow of the Russia and Eurasia Programme at the Royal Institute of International Affairs, Chatham House.  Member of the Valdai Discussion Club.

Previous positions: the Moscow Mir Publishing House dealing with science and technology (1980-1982), lecturer at the university of California, Santa Cruz (1982-1987).

Research interests: Soviet and post-communist Russian politics, problems of democratic devel­opment in Russia and other post-Soviet states, as well as the global challenges facing the former communist countries.

Selected publications: published widely on Soviet, Russian and post-communist affairs. Recent books include: “Postcommunism“ (1999), “Contextualising Secession: Normative Aspects of Secession Struggles“ (2003) (co-edited with Bruno Coppieters) “Putin: Russia’s Choice“(2004), “Chechnya: From Past to Future“ (2005), “Russian Politics and Society“ (2008),“The Quality of Freedom: Khodorkovsky, Putin and the Yukos Affair“ (2009). He is currently working on“The Dual State in Russia: Factionalism and the Medvedev Succession“.