Andrey Makarychev is guest Professor at the Johan Skytte Institute of Political Science, the University of Tartu, Estonia. Alexandra Yatsyk is guest researcher at the Institute for Russian and Eurasian Studies, the University of Uppsala, Sweden.

How do we make sense of the post-Soviet condition when the “transition” paradigm has bankrupted? How do we put Putin’s Russia in a cultural context without falling prey to essentialism and misleading generalisations? In this original and elegantly written book Andrey Makarychev and Alexandra Yatsyk interpret the work of leading Soviet semiotician Yuri Lotman to offer us an enlightening perspective to understanding the present Russian political reality.

• Acknowledgements / Introduction / 1. Boundaries and the Political: A Cultural Semiotic Contribution to the Debate / 2.Beyond the Semiosphere: Signifying Corporeality and Displacements / 3. Excavating the Soviet: from Explosion to Erasure / 4. Playing Games with Europe: Between Accomodation and Subversion / Conclusion / Bibliography / Notes on transliteration and empirical data / Index

Andrey Makarychev is guest Professor at the Johan Skytte Institute of Political Science, the University of Tartu, Estonia. Alexandra Yatsyk is guest researcher at the Institute for Russian and Eurasian Studies, the University of Uppsala, Sweden.

How do we make sense of the post-Soviet condition when the “transition” paradigm has bankrupted? How do we put Putin’s Russia in a cultural context without falling prey to essentialism and misleading generalisations? In this original and elegantly written book Andrey Makarychev and Alexandra Yatsyk interpret the work of leading Soviet semiotician Yuri Lotman to offer us an enlightening perspective to understanding the present Russian political reality.

• Acknowledgements / Introduction / 1. Boundaries and the Political: A Cultural Semiotic Contribution to the Debate / 2.Beyond the Semiosphere: Signifying Corporeality and Displacements / 3. Excavating the Soviet: from Explosion to Erasure / 4. Playing Games with Europe: Between Accomodation and Subversion / Conclusion / Bibliography / Notes on transliteration and empirical data / Index

Andrey Makarychev is guest Professor at the Johan Skytte Institute of Political Science, the University of Tartu, Estonia. Alexandra Yatsyk is guest researcher at the Institute for Russian and Eurasian Studies, the University of Uppsala, Sweden.

How do we make sense of the post-Soviet condition when the “transition” paradigm has bankrupted? How do we put Putin’s Russia in a cultural context without falling prey to essentialism and misleading generalisations? In this original and elegantly written book Andrey Makarychev and Alexandra Yatsyk interpret the work of leading Soviet semiotician Yuri Lotman to offer us an enlightening perspective to understanding the present Russian political reality.

• Acknowledgements / Introduction / 1. Boundaries and the Political: A Cultural Semiotic Contribution to the Debate / 2.Beyond the Semiosphere: Signifying Corporeality and Displacements / 3. Excavating the Soviet: from Explosion to Erasure / 4. Playing Games with Europe: Between Accomodation and Subversion / Conclusion / Bibliography / Notes on transliteration and empirical data / Index