This blog's author, Dr Mark Galeotti has been researching Russian history and security issues since the late 1980s. Educated at Cambridge University and the LSE, he is now Clinical Professor of Global Affairs at New York University's Center for Global Affairs and an associate member of NYU's History and Russian & Slavic Studies departments. Until 2008, he was head of the History department at Keele University in the UK as well as director of its Organised Russian & Eurasian Crime Research Unit.
His books include the edited collections 'The Politics of Security in Modern Russia' (Ashgate), 'Russian & Soviet Organized Crime' (Ashgate) and 'Global Crime Today' (Routledge) and he is a regular contributor to Jane's Intelligence Review, Oxford Analytica and many other outlets. He writes a regular column, 'Siloviks & Scoundrels,' for the Moscow News.
THE POLITICS OF SECURITY IN MODERN RUSSIA (Ashgate, 2010)
"A much needed objective and balanced examination of the ways in which security has played and continues to play a central role in contemporary Russian politics. "
Contents: Introduction Mark Galeotti; Security Strategy: Sovereign Democracy and Great Power Aspirations Graeme Herd; The Politics of Security Mark Smith; Civil-Military Relations and the Security Apparatus Bettina Renz; Neither Reform Nor Modernisation: The Armed Forces Under and After Putin's Command Pavel Baev; Chechnya and Regional Security C.W. Blandy; Nuclear Arms Control After a Time of Troubles Stephen J. Cimbala; Terrorism, Crime and the Security Forces Mark Galeotti; The 'Security Economy' Julian Cooper; Russia's Unending Quest for Security Stephen Blank; Afterword Dmitri Trenin; Bibliography; Index
'Incisive, well-informed and disturbing.'
-- Edward Lucas, The Economist
VORY (A history of Russian organised crime)
RUSSIAN SECURITY & PARAMILITARY FORCES (a book for the Osprey Elite series)
CRIMINAL WORLD (long-term monograph project on organised crime worldwide and throughout history)
Just a quick note: I have a largely-but-not-wholly serious piece on VVP and his travails in the NYU Jordan Center All The Russias blog, Putin: the man who arranges the blocks. Is this man a tactician rather than a strategist, and does he have some sense that his once-impregnable fortress might be beginning to crumble…?
Andras Toth-Czifra (@NoYardstick)
/ November 7, 2012Excellent piece, Mark. Approximately a week ago, I also argued on my blog that we’re witnessing a change in the inner structures of the system here ( http://www.noyardstick.com/?p=128 ). I don’t think Putin would like to be involved in the hustle and bustle of dealing with the opposition and of the economic reforms. He is still fairly popular and the only way to keep his ship afloat within a system that has been becoming more and more competitive both inside and outside the elite is to let elite groups on a longer leash, to “outsource” decisions. I might even say that he has no choice but to do so. I guess this is why there’s so much talking about ideology these days.