Russia seems to be hurtling toward fascism. Vladimir Putin and his allies—domestic and foreign—have obliterated and colonised Ukrainian cities in a “holy war,” committed over 100,000 war crimes , introduced Draconian domestic crackdowns on free speech and political opposition, and rewritten the constitution to seize power in perpetuity. The state and its propagandists declare their intentions to destroy the Ukrainian state and commit genocide against the Ukrainian people, to overthrow the liberal international order, and to recreate the Tsarist and Soviet empires. Meanwhile, the Russian population languishes in a militarising culture in which civic life has been replaced by a cult of war, past and present. Each of these phenomena invites comparisons with past fascist regimes.
This volume gathers leading experts in the first scholarly study of a new Russian fascism that draws on distinctly modern forms of control and violence as much as on historical precedents. An array of theoretical debates and case studies from across disciplines makes this a pioneering study of modern Russian politics. The volume’s contributors include Jaroslava Barbieri, Paul D’Anieri, Jolanta Darczewska, Maria Domanska, Ian Garner, Joanna Getka, Andreas Heinemann-Grüder, Taras Kuzio Alexander J. Motyl, Andreas Umland, and Michał Wawrzonek.
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Ian Garner
Dr Ian Garner is Assistant Professor at the Center for Totalitarian Studies at the Pilecki Institute in Warsaw. He is also an adjunct faculty member in War Studies at the Royal Military College, Canada, Fellow at the Centre for International & Defence Policy, Canada, as well as lifetime fellow of the Royal Historical Society in London. His books include Stalingrad Lives: Stories of Combat and Survival (Mc-Gill-Queen’s UP 2022) and Z Generation: Into the Heart of Russia’s Fascist Youth (Hurst/Oxford UP 2023). He regularly writes for major media outlets including the Globe & Mail, National Post, The Guardian, Foreign Policy, and UnHerd.
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Taras Kuzio
Dr Taras Kuzio is Professor of Political Science at the National University of Kyiv Mohyla Academy. He is the author and editor of 24 books, including Russia's War on Ukraine: The Four Roots of Putin's Invasion (Cambridge University Press 2025, with Michał Wawrzonek), Fascism and Genocide: Russia’s War Against Ukrainians (ibidem 2023), Russian Nationalism and the Russian-Ukrainian War (Routledge 2022), The Sources of Russia's Great Power Politics (E-IR 2018, with Paul D’Anieri), Putin’s War Against Ukraine (University of Toronto Press 2019), Ukraine: Democratization, and Corruption and the New Russian Imperialism (Praeger 2015).
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David Satter
David Satter is an American journalist and historian best known for his books including Darkness at Dawn: The Rise of the Russian Criminal State, The Less You Know, The Better You Sleep: Russia’s Road to Terror and Dictatorship under Yeltsin and Putin, and Never Speak to Strangers and Other Writing from Russia and the Soviet Union.
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Andreas Umland
Andreas Umland, M.Phil. (Oxford), Dr.Phil. (FU Berlin), Ph.D. (Cambridge), Research Fellow at the Swedish Institute of International Affairs in Stockholm, Senior Expert at the Ukrainian Institute for the Future in Kyiv, and Associate Professor at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy.
ORCID: 0000-0001-7916-4646
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Jaroslava Barbieri
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Paul D'Anieri
Dr Paul D'Anieri is Professor of Public Policy and Political Science at the University of California at Riverside.
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Maria Domanska
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Joanna Getka
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Andreas Heinemann-Grüder
Dr. Andreas Heinemann-Grüder is Professor of Political Science at the University of Bonn and Senior Researcher at the Bonn International Centre for Conflict Studies. He taught at the Free as well as Humboldt University of Berlin, Duke University, University of Pennsylvania, and University of Cologne. He has given policy advice to Germany’s Chancellery, Foreign Ministry, Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Parliament, as well as the European Parliament, OSCE, NATO, and EU. Heinemann-Grüder’s previous books include Sowjetische Politik im arabisch-israelischen Konflikt (Deutsches Orient-Institut 1991), Die Spezialisten (with Ulrich Albrecht and Arend Wellmann; Dietz 1992), Der heterogene Staat (BWV 2000), Federalism Doomed? (Berghahn 2002), Die sowjetische Atombombe (Westfälisches Dampfboot 2002), Föderalismus als Konfliktregelung (Budrich 2011), Zivile Konfliktbearbeitung (co-edited with Isabella Bauer; Budrich 2012), Lehren aus dem Ukrainekonflikt (co-edited with Claudia Crawford and Tim Peters; Budrich 2021), and Osteuropa zwischen Mauerfall und Ukrainekrieg (co-authored with Ulrich Schmid, Angelika Nussberger and Martin Aust; Suhrkamp 2022).
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Alexander John Motyl
Dr. Alexander J. Motyl is Professor of Political Science at Rutgers University, Newark, USA, and c0-editor of The Holodomor Reader (CIUS Press 2012).
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Michal Wawrzonek
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Delivery time
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Delivery time 2-3 working days.
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| Edited by | Ian Garner, Taras Kuzio |
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| Contributions by | Ian Garner, Taras Kuzio, Andreas Umland, Jaroslava Barbieri, Paul D'Anieri, Maria Domanska, Joanna Getka, Andreas Heinemann-Grüder, Alexander John Motyl, Michal Wawrzonek |
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| Foreword by | David Satter |
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Number of Pages |
324
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Language |
English
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Type |
Paperback
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Format |
8,3 in x 5,8 in
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Publication date |
04.08.2025
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ISBN
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978-3-8382-2015-4
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DOI
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10.24216/9783838220154
https://doi.org/10.24216/9783838220154
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Weight
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445 g
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Product safety information (EU GPSR)
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„Das Buch schafft es, viele fruchtbare Diskussionen auszulösen. Wer immer über den ‚Putinismus‘ weiterdenken will, sollte sich mit seinen Beiträgen auseinandersetzen.“
– Matthias Vetter, H-Soz-Kult, 20.02.2026.
"Ian Garner and Taras Kuzio’s edited volume on Russia and modern fascism is a timely and masterful contribution to the debate on how to classify the current Russian regime. [...] Every chapter in the book should be required reading for scholars and practitioners of Russian politics."
—Richard Arnold, Slavonic and East European Review, vol. 104, no. 2, April 2026.