Today Russia and human rights are both high on the international agenda. Since Putin returned to the presidency in 2012, domestic developments--from the prosecution of Pussy Riot to the release of Khodorkovsky--and Russia's global role, especially in relation to Ukraine, have captured the attention of the world. The role of human rights activism inside Russia is, therefore, coming under ever greater international scrutiny. Since 1991, when the Russian Federation became an independent state, hundreds of organisations have been created to champion human rights causes, with varying strategies, and successes. The response of the authorities has ranged from being supportive, or indifferent, to openly hostile. Based on archival research and practical experience working in the community, Mark McAuley here provides a clear and comprehensive analysis of the progress made by human rights organisations in Russia--and the challenges which will confront them in the future.

In this book Mary McAuley explores the political reactions of elites and society in the Russian Federation in the years following the collapse of communist party rule and the break-up of the USSR. Spanning two republics and four regions, the book offered the first in-depth study of the impact of change in the regions as well as at the centre. Using first-hand research including extensive interviews and personal observation, this book provides a study of the response of a society to the breakdown of the established political order. Mary McAuley traces Russia's search for new identities, institutions, and rules of political behaviour. Her book will appeal to students of comparative politics generally, as well as to all those interested in transition in Russia.

In this book Mary McAuley explores the political reactions of elites and society in the Russian Federation in the years following the collapse of communist party rule and the break-up of the USSR. Spanning two republics and four regions, the book offered the first in-depth study of the impact of change in the regions as well as at the centre. Using first-hand research including extensive interviews and personal observation, this book provides a study of the response of a society to the breakdown of the established political order. Mary McAuley traces Russia's search for new identities, institutions, and rules of political behaviour. Her book will appeal to students of comparative politics generally, as well as to all those interested in transition in Russia.

Despite their very different histories, societies, political and legal systems, Russia and the UK stand out as favouring a punitive approach to young law breakers, imprisoning many more children than any other European countries. The book is based on the author's primary research in Russia in which she visited a dozen closed institutions from St Petersburg to Krasnoyarsk and on similar research in England and Northern Ireland. The result is a unique study of how attitudes to youth crime and criminal justice, the political environment and the relationship between state and society have interacted to influence the treatment of young offenders. McAuley's account of the twists and turns in policy towards youth illuminate the extraordinary history of Russia in the twentieth century and the making of social policy in Russia today. It is also the first study to compare the UK (excluding Scotland because of its separate juvenile justice system) with Russia, a comparison which highlights the factors responsible for the making of 'punitive' policy in the two societies. McAuley places the Russian and UK policies in a European context, aiming to reveal how other European countries manage to put so many fewer children behind bars.

This is a study of Petrograd in the period immediately following the Russian Revolution. Formerly the imperial capital St. Petersburg, in the years after 1917 Petrograd became a revolutionary citadel. Mary McAuley's political and social history throws into relief the interplay of factors that contributed to the formation of the new Soviet state. Her detailed account of life in the city provides new insights into the progress of the Russian Revolution and the establishment, in 1921, of the Leninist political order. Bread and Justice is based on a wide array of original sources, including newspapers, pamphlets, posters, memoirs, and personal interviews. It paints a multi-dimensional picture of everyday life in post-Revolutionary Petrograd, exploring themes such as violence and unemployment, civic justice and bread rations, political ideas and cultural dreams. This is a book about the people of the city - Bolshevik commissars, imperial princesses, hungry schoolchildren, and theatre artists all make their appearance - and about the impact of the Russian Revolution on their lives. It is a major contribution to our understanding of the revolutionary process and the formation of the Soviet Union.

Now available in paperback, this timely work offers an authoritative and lively history of the entire spectrum of Soviet politics, from the rise of Lenin and the October Revolution of 1917 to the emergence of the Commonwealth of Independent States. It discusses in fascinating detail how Lenin's Communist party transformed the Tsarist empire, why Stalin's massive program to industrialize was coupled with one of the most horrific terror campaigns in history, and what we can expect from this erstwhile superpower in the years ahead. Based on extensive research and first-hand knowledge of the Soviet system, it offers a lucid and stimulating analysis of the developments which first sustained, then finally undermined, the Soviet state, pinpointing all the key political developments--revolution, state-building, party rule, terror, Nazi invasion, the Cold War, and the recent elections--and examining their significance in an especially well-wrought historical context. Timely, cogent, and comprehensive, Soviet Politics helps readers make sense of developments in the former USSR since 1985, showing how and why the system fell apart. It will interest anyone wanting a fuller understanding of current events, and their consequences for the world as a whole.

Englishwoman Mary McAuley first arrived in Leningrad in the early 1960s, eager to study labor relations for her thesis. Staying at a hostel, she met a number of Soviet students, many born under the rule of Joseph Stalin. Over the half-century that followed, McAuley traced their varying paths and the changing face of the former imperial capital. Remembering Leningrad captures the story of a beautiful city and lifelong friendships. We follow McAuley as she walks through the streets downtown and examines politics in the 1960s, describes the hazards of furnishing an apartment in the 1990s, and learns about the challenges her friends have faced during these turbulent years. By weaving history and anecdotes to create a picture of Russia's cultural center, McAuley underscores the impact of time and place on the Russian intelligentsia who lived through the transition from Soviet to post-Soviet life. The result is a remarkable group portrait of a generation.