Law and the Russian State: Russia's Legal Evolution from Peter Great to Vladimir Putin

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 , William E. 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. 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 stateIt 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