This introductory text provides an accessible account of politics and society in Russia since the failed coup of August 1991. The author is one of the UK's most respected teachers and academics. Yeltsin and other leading figures have been faced with similar economic and political problems to those that confronted Gorbachev, but have dealt with them in very different ways. Strategies adopted have provoked intense debate and often acrimonious rivalries and struggles to control the levers of power. It is too early yet to be able to give firm conclusions, but the material presented here aims to provide a framework for discussion. It should provide both a critical synthesis of some of the central debates, and place the major issues in historical and political context.