Although the role of the military in Russia has changed significantly since Soviet times, it continues to exert great influence on Russian politics, economy and society. This book presents a comprehensive overview of current developments related to Russia’s military sector. It considers recent military reforms, personnel issues, the defence industry and procurement, the defence economy, changes in civil-military relations, and the continuing huge economic significance of Russia’s military-industrial complex. It explores difficulties currently faced by the Russian military, including problems of recruitment and leadership; analyses Russian security policy – including in relation to Europe and more widely; and discusses the lessons learned by the Russian military as a result of the recent war in Georgia. The book argues that reform attempts have often been thwarted by bureaucracy, economy, strategy, manpower, weapon systems and leadership. The book concludes by assessing likely future developments.

ToC – Introduction – Roger McDermott, Bertil Nygren and Carolina Vendil Pallin Part I: Transforming Russia’s Conventional Armed Forces 1. Russian Operations in Georgia: Lessons Identified Versus Lessons Learned – Keir Giles 2. Towards A ‘New Look’ of the Russian Armed Forces? Organizational and Personnell Changes – Margarete Klein 3. Network Centric Warfare as the Undeclared Aim of Russian Defence Reform: Russian Perspectives and Challenges – Roger N. Mcdermott Part II: The Euro-Atlantic Geopolitical Context 4. Russian Policy Towards NATO in a Broader European Security Context – Marek Menkiszak 5. The Russian Army as a Crumbling Keystone in the European Security Architecture – Pavel K. Baev Part III: Russian Defence Economics, Industry and Procurement 6. The Economics of Russian Defence Policy: In Search for the Roots of Inefficiency – Vasily B. Zatsepin 7. Postcrisis Russia: Counting on Miracles in Uncertain Times – Steven Rosefielde 8. A Work in Regress? Russian Defence Industry and the Unending Crisis of the Russian State – Stephen Blank 9. Military Procurement in Russia – Julian Cooper Part IV: Civil-Military Relations and Future Manpower 10. Civil-Military Relations and Russian Military Modernization – Bettina Renz 11. Conscription – A Basic Question of Civil-Military Relations in Russia – Alexander Golts