Perspectives on the Russian State in Transition is the first volume of the LISD-WWS Study Series. For the past decade, much of the analyses of the former Soviet Union has centered around issues of economics and Russia's transition from communism to capitalism. Increasing numbers of scholars and policy makers have recognized the crucial importance of questions relating to Russia's political and legal order, civil society, energy resources national security, and environment.  Through a series of essays written by leading authorities on the former Soviet Union, Perspectives on the Russian State in Transition offers an integrated picture of the politics, economics, society, culture, and geopolitics underpinning the move toward economic and political stability in the former Soviet Union. It is available for downloading in pdf format (in full and by chapters) and for purchase through Labyrinth Books.

The study series is a joint publication project of Princeton University’s Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination (LISD) and Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs (WWS). Each volume in the series presents fresh scholarship and timely analysis by academics and policy practitioners on a range of pressing international issues.  Content is based on work prepared for various meetings of the Liechtenstein Colloquium on European and International Affairs, a private diplomacy forum sponsored by LISD. The second volume in the series, Building State and Security in Afghanistan, was published in 2007.