Elites and classes in the transformation of state socialism

The books included in this review article are essential for the understanding of what I call Putin's sistemathe governance model that originated in the Soviet system but has transformed and adapted to global change. Each book tackles, from a different angle, the issues of Russia's transition and suggests ways to describe its political consequences. The books all attempt to identify some underlying logic or organizing force in a Russian society that has emerged through weak institutions. Although I join the authors in their criticisms of the transition paradigm and its opening-breakthrough-consolidation of democracy formula, transformations of the Soviet sistema seem to resonate with the opening-breakthrough-consolidation of capitalism. Perestroika can be seen as an opening in shaking the foundations of sistema; Yeltsin's era as a breakthrough; and Putin's regime as the consolidation of capitalism but with its distinct characteristics.