In an atmosphere of speculation concerning the possible retirement plans of the Russian president and the ambitions of his American counterpart, we have drawn from the archive of Russian social science translations to assemble a collection on the topic of authoritarianism. We open with an imaginative evocation of “life in a museum” populated with enduring legacies of the Soviet era. The next four selections reflect on significant events along Russia’s path between dictatorship and disorder, from the failed putsch that ultimately toppled Mikhail Gorbachev and the Soviet Union in 1991, to the turbulent presidency of Boris Yeltsin, the succession of Vladimir Putin, and the progressive tightening of the authoritarian hold. The following four articles describe the instruments of autocratic power, from assassination and disinformation to centralization and electoral system design. We close with a piece that analyzes the consolidation of authoritarian regimes not only in Russia but more broadly across the post-Soviet world.
—P.A.K.