Law and the Russian State: Russia’s Legal Evolution from Peter the Great to Vladimir Putin (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2018
Russia is often portrayed as a regressive, even lawless, country, and yet the Russian state has played a major role in shaping and experimenting with law as an instrument of power. In Law and the Russian State, William Pomeranz examines Russia’s legal evolution from Peter the Great to Vladimir Putin, addressing the continuities and disruptions of Russian law during the imperial, Soviet, and post-Soviet periods. The book covers key themes, including:
* Law and empire
* Law and modernization
* The politicization of law
* The role of intellectuals and dissidents in mobilizing the law
* The evolution of Russian legal institutions
* The struggle for human rights
* The rule of law
* The quest to establish the law-based state
The work also analyzes legal culture and how Russians understand and use the law. With a detailed bibliography, this is an important text for anyone seeking a sophisticated understanding of how Russian society and the Russian state have developed in the last 350 years.
1. Law and Empire under Peter the Great
2. The Expansion of Russian Legality
3. The Judicial Reforms of 1864 and the Modernization of Imperial Law
4. Law, Politics, and Revolution
5. Filling in the Blanks: The Creation of Socialist Law
6. Socialist Legality and Illegality
7. Russia’s Long Constitutional Crisis: 1985-1993
8. The 1993 Constitution: A Framework for Reform
9. Vladimir Putin and the Restoration of State and Law
Conclusion
