Editor's Introduction

Abstract

The popular reaction against the excesses of the Yeltsin-era reforms pervades the articles in the current issue of Russian Politics and Law. Boris Kagarlitskii, who held out such great hope for the government of Evgenii Primakov, analyzes in depth the political culture of what he calls "post-Soviet pseudodemocracy" ("The Traps of ‘Westernism’ and the Blind Alleys of ‘Nativism"’). Amid an incisive discussion of patriotism and its aspects, he asks whether a new elite may be emerging in Russia: a world-class technology elite rooted in what the Soviets did best, military production. The postcommunist military-industrial complex in Russia may turn out to be as anti-Western as the Communist military-industrial complex!