The transformation of the Russian political system under Putin for almost a quarter of a century raises questions about the factors of its longevity and the implications of its ageing. In this invigorating conversation, Alena Ledeneva, UCL’s Professor of Politics and Society, and Vladimir Pastukhov, Honorary Senior Fellow at the UCL School of Slavonic and Eastern European Studies, will unpack ideas about Putin’s sistema that often lead to misunderstandings, misinterpretations and over-complication of the modus operandi of informal governance in Russia. Denis Maksimov will moderate the event.
About the speakers
Alena Ledeneva is a Professor of Politics and Society at the University College London and a founder of the Global Informality Project (in-formality.com) and The Global Encyclopedia of Informality (2018). She graduated from Cambridge University (Newnham) and authored Russia's Economy of Favours (1998), How Russia Really Works (2006) and Can Russia Modernize? (2013).
Vladimir Pastukhov is an Honorary Senior Research Associate at the University College London's School of Slavonic and East European Studies. He is an author of the so-called "constitution by concepts", a written code of unwritten rules that define the actual substance of life in Russia. He holds a doctorate in political science and is a visiting fellow at St. Antony’s College, University of Oxford.