This study of Putin and his politics provides the biographical and political context needed to explain his astonishing rise from anonymous KGB apparatchik to leader of one of the world's most significant and fascinating countries.

Drawing on both Russian and English-language sources, and providing comprehensive coverage of Putin's speeches, interviews and policy documents, this is the definitive study of the Russian leader.

Part 1: The Path to Power
1. The unlikely making of a leader
2. The succession operation
Part 2: Russia at the Turn of the Millenium
1. Who is Mr Putin?
2. The nature of the system
3. The ideas behind the choice
4. Planning for the future
5. The state of the nation
6. The politics of 'nornalisation'
Part 3: The Putin Way
1. Building the Putin bloc
2. Putin and the people
3. Leadership style
4. Putin's path: towards a Russian 'third way'?
Part 4: State and Society
1. State and regime
2. State strengthening as politics or law
3. The 'liquidation of the oligarchs as a class'
4. Freedom of speech and the media
5. Judicial reform and human rights
Part 5: Restructuring the Political Space
1. Changes to the party system
2. Changes to electoral legislation
3. Parliamentary realignment
4. Regime and opposition
5. Democracy and civil society
Part 6: Putin and the Regions
1. Segmented regionalism
2. Segmented regionalism and state reconstitution
3. Establishing the presidential 'vertical'
4. Reorganising federal relations
5. Regional governors and legislatures
6. State reconstitution and federalism
Part 7: Reforging the Nation
1. Images of the nation and symbols of the state
2. Social aspects of national identity
3. Chechnya: tombstone or crucible of Russian power?
Part 8: Russian Capitalism
1. Entering the market
2. Models of capitalism: oligarchical democracy?
3. State economy and society
Part 9: Putin and the World
1. The normalisation of foreign policy
2. Putin's choice
3. Practising normality
Part 10: Conclusion
1. Out of the wilderness?
2. Putin and the power of contradiction