"This book addresses the question: how, and to what degree, are political institutions important in explaining the state of post-Communist political systems today? More specifically, it analyses the nature of political leadership and explains how, and under what circumstances, ideas and identity have influenced post-Soviet political change"--

'a vivid startling biography ...drawing on a wealth of untapped material from Moscow archives ...This reassessment makes a cogent case for Khrushchev's regime as a harbinger of Gorbachev's perestroika' - Publishers Weekly;Khrushchev: a Political Life traces the rise and fall of the late Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev. Drawing on newly available archival materials and a wealth of recently published Russian and Ukrainian sources, this standard biography provides much new information on Khrushchev's life and career. Khrushchev's ultimate failure to realise his vision of the Soviet future is linked to the unrealistic optimism of that vision as well as to the contradictions inherent in Khrushchev's views and policies.

A stimulating and thought-provoking collection that challenges some of the emerging conventional wisdom about contemporary Russia. It examines the role of leadership, institutions and ideas, and the interactions among them, in shaping Russia's post-Soviet transformation.