This summer sees the publication of a special issue of East European Politics on the subject of ‘Party Politics in Russia’. The genesis of the special issue was a conference organized by David White and held at Birmingham University in June 2010. The issue brings together many of UK and Ireland’s leading academics working in the field of Russian politics and will be required reading for scholars interested in gaining a clearer insight of Russian politics in the Putin era. Many of the contributions will also be required reading on David White’s undergraduate and postgraduate modules! Contributions to the special issue include:

• Re-conceptualising Russian party politics – David White (University of Birmingham)
• Party finance in Russia – Derek Hutcheson (University College, Dublin)
• The youth movement, Nashi: contentious politics, civil society and party politics – Edwin Bacon (Birkbeck College) and Maya Atwal (University of Birmingham)
• Party and power: between representation and mobilisation in contemporary Russia – Richard Sakwa (University of Kent)
• United Russia and the dominant party framework: understanding the Russian party of power in comparative perspective – Sean Roberts (Norwegian Institute for International Affairs)
• The Russian Duma ‘opposition’: no drama out of a crisis? – Luke March (University of Edinburgh)
• Members and leaders in Russian party organizations – Paul Chaisty (University of Oxford)
• Institutional factors and Russian political parties: the changing needs of regime consolidation in a neo-patrimonial system – Neil Robinson (University of Limerick)

The articles can be found at Taylor and Francis Online.