Two ways of Russia

Richard Pipes is the patriarch of American political science; for many years he was director of the Research Center for Russian Studies at Harvard University. He has written several dozen books and several hundred articles on the history of the USSR and the problems of modern Russian life. In his new book, Richard Pipes writes about what is happening now in our country. According to Pipes, modern Russians feel isolated from the rest of the world, do not know exactly which development model to choose, and try to compensate for their confusion with harsh statements and actions. Meanwhile, it is now that Russia has a unique historical chance to abandon the previous "patrimonial" model of the state, in which the rulers own the country, and do not just govern it. What is needed for this, what measures need to be taken in domestic policy, the economy, what kind of foreign policy to pursue - Pipes dwells on these issues in detail. If Russia continues to follow the old path, an unenviable fate awaits it: very little time will pass, and Russia will leave the historical arena as a strong and significant state, the author argues.