At the Crossroads: Putin's Third Presidential Term and Russia's Institutions

type="main"> In 2013, Russia's economy entered a phase of stagnation, with a rate of gross domestic product (GDP) growth much lower than that of other emerging economies. This article argues that economic stagnation is linked to the dysfunctional system of informal institutions that permeates every level of political decision making in the country. By discussing four recent books on the topic, the article shows the negative effect of Russia's informal institutions on economic development, as well as how their emergence and persistence is linked to the political system built by Vladimir Putin. The article then outlines different scenarios of institutional reform to show how Russia stands very much at a crossroads between different paths of political, economic and institutional development. Judah , B. ( 2013 ) Fragile Empire: How Russia Fell in and out of Love with Vladimir Putin . New Haven, CT : Yale University Press . Hill , F. and Gaddy , C. G. ( 2013 ) Mr Putin: Operative in the Kremlin . Washington, DC : Brookings Institution Press . Ledeneva , A. ( 2013 ) Can Russia Modernise? Sistema, Power Networks and Informal Governance . Cambridge : Cambridge University Press . Sixsmith , M. ( 2011 ) Russia: A 1,000-Year Chronicle of the Wild East . London : BBC Books .