Richard Sakwa Explained

Richard Sakwa (born 1953) is a British political scientist and a former professor of Russian and European politics at the University of Kent, a senior research fellow at the National Research University-Higher School of Economics in Moscow, and an honorary professor in the Faculty of Political Science at Moscow State University.^[1] He has written books about Russian, Central and Eastern European communist and post-communist politics.

Career

Sakwa is Emeritus Professor of Russian and European politics at the University of Kent. From 2001 to 2007 he was also the head of the University's Politics and International Relations department. He has published on Soviet, Russian and post-communist affairs, and has written and edited several books and articles on the subject.^{[2] [3]}

Sakwa was a participant of Valdai Discussion Club,^[4] an associate fellow of the Russia and Eurasia Programme at the Royal Institute of International Affairs, a member of the advisory boards of the Institute of Law and Public Policy in Moscow and a member of Academy of Learned Societies for the Social Sciences.^[2] He is a commentator for RT and has spoken at Stop The War Coalition events.^{[5] [6]}

His book Frontline Ukraine is about the origins of the Russo-Ukrainian War. It argues that the conflicts in the post-Soviet space are caused by the expansionism of western/Atlanticist "Wider Europe" and the revanchist aggression of Eastern European states, with the USA and NATO sparking a new Cold War. The book cautions against European security becoming "hostage to a faraway country", Ukraine. Sakwa argues that it is "wrong-headed in conceptualization and dangerous in its consequences" to describe Russia as expansionist: "Russia under Putin is not a land-grabbing state, it is a profoundly conservative power and its actions are designed to maintain the status quo... [Russia] makes no claim to revise the existing international order, but to make it more inclusive and universal." Sakwa argues that Russia's wars with Georgia are defensive wars against NATO expansionism.

His 2021 book Deception argues that investigations into Russiagate – allegations that Donald Trump colluded with Russia to win the 2016 U.S. presidential election – were politically biased and based on unverified documents. He said the investigations polarised the U.S. and politicised the intelligence community, which greatly damaged the country and soured U.S.–Russia relations.^[7]

Reception

Sakwa's 2015 book Frontline Ukraine was well-received by University of Ottawa historian Paul Robinson in E-International Relations^[8] and political scientist Serhiy Kudelia in openDemocracy.^[9] Taras Kuzio criticised Sakwa for what he saw as pro-Russian bias and lack of expertise on Ukraine,^[10] and has described him as a "pro-Putin scholar".^[11] Sarah Lain of the Royal United Services Institute describes Sakwa as essentially providing the Russian perspective on the Ukraine conflict.^[12] A review in the Journal of Ukrainian Studies describes Frontline Ukraine as "openly polemical" and a "one-sided treatment of contemporary Russian politics and of Putin’s regime".^[13] Paul D'Anieri describes it as "a polemical attack on Western policy... and a defense of Russia... Sakwa clearly sympathizes with Russia's position."^[14]

Michael Rochlitz, an associate fellow at the Higher School of Economics in Moscow, described Sakwa's 2020 book Putin Redux, which is about Vladimir Putin, as "detailed, balanced and sober".^[15]

Maria Lipman, a Russian journalist, political scientist and Russia expert, wrote in Foreign Affairs that Sakwa's 2021 book Deception "is an exceptionally detailed and well-documented account of all the major episodes covered by the Trump-Russia probes".

Published works

Books

• Book: Sakwa, Richard . The Lost Peace: How the West Failed to Prevent a Second Cold War . Yale University Press . New Haven London . 2023-10-03 . 978-0-300-25501-0.
• Book: Sakwa, Richard . Deception: Russiagate and the New Cold War . 2022-01-15 . 978-1-7936-4495-4.
• Book: Sakwa, Richard . The Putin Paradox . I.B. Tauris . 2020-02-06 . 978-1-78831-830-3.
• Book: Sakwa, Richard . Hale . Henry E. . White . Stephen . Developments in Russian Politics 9 . Red Globe Press . London . 2018-11-27 . 978-1-352-00467-0.
• Book: Sakwa, Richard . Russia Against the Rest . Cambridge University Press . Cambridge, United Kingdom New York, NY, USA Port Melbourne, VIC, Australia New Delhi, India Singapore . 2017-10-12 . 978-1-316-61351-1.
• Book: Sakwa, Richard . Frontline Ukraine: crisis in the borderlands . Tauris . London . 2015 . 978-1-78453-064-8.
• Book: Sakwa, Richard . The Crisis of Russian Democracy . Cambridge University Press . Cambridge . 2010-12-16 . 978-0-521-14522-0.
• Book: Sakwa, Richard . Communism in Russia . Red Globe Press . Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire New York, NY . 2010-08-11 . 978-0-333-60679-7.

Russian edition: Коммунизм в России: интерпретирующее эссе. — М.: РОССПЭН, 2011. — 160 с. — (История сталинизма). — .

• The Quality of Freedom: Putin, Khodorkovsky and the Yukos Affair (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2009), pp. 426.
• Putin: Russia’s Choice, fully revised and updated 2nd edn (London and New York, Routledge, 2008), pp. 388. [{{ISBN|978-0-415-40765-6}} (hbk); {{ISBN|978-0-415-40766-3}} (pbk); {{ISBN|978-0-203-93193-6}} (ebk)]
• Russian Politics and Society, Fourth Edition, completely rewritten and reorganised (London and New York, Routledge, 2008), pp. 585. [{{ISBN|0-415-41527-6}} (hbk), {{ISBN|0-415-41528-4}} (pbk), {{ISBN|0-203-93125-4}} (ebk); {{ISBN|978-0-415-41527-9}} (hbk), {{ISBN|978-0-415-41528-6}} (pbk), {{ISBN|978-0-203-93125-7}} (ebk)]

Fifth Edition (2021).

Putin: El Elegido de Rusia (Madrid, Ediciones Folio, S.A., 2005).

• The Rise and Fall of the Soviet Union, in the Routledge Sources in History series, General Editor: David Welch, Professor of Modern History, UKC (London, Routledge, 1999), pp.xxi + 521. [ISBN (hbk) 0-415-12289; (pbk) 0-415-12290-2] A book of annotated documents charting the political and moral trajectory of communism in the USSR.
• Postcommunism, in the series Concepts in the Social Sciences, General Editor Frank Parkin (Buckingham and Philadelphia, Open University Press, 1999), pp. 144. [{{ISBN|0-335-20058-3}} (hbk); {{ISBN|0-335-20057-5}} (pbk)] Translated into Portuguese as O Pós-comunismo (Lisbon, Instituto Piaget, 2001), pp. 203. . Spanish translation went to press in September 2004.
• Soviet Politics in Perspective, Second fully reworked edition of Soviet Politics: An Introduction (London, Routledge, October 1998), pp. xiii + 355. [{{ISBN|0-415-16992-5}} (hbk); {{ISBN|0-415-07153-4}} (pbk)]
• Gorbachev and His Reforms, 198590 (London, Philip Allan/Simon and Schuster, October 1990; Englewood Cliffs, NJ, Prentice Hall, February 1991), pp. xiv + 459. [0-86003-423-2 (hbk); 0-86003-723-1 (pbk)]
• Soviet Politics: An Introduction (London and New York, Routledge, June 1989), pp. xvi + 356. [{{ISBN|0-415-00505-1}} (hbk); {{ISBN|0-415-00506-X}} (pbk)]
• Soviet Communists in Power: A Study of Moscow During the Civil War, 1918–21 (London, Macmillan, July 1988; New York, St Martins, 1988), pp. xxii + 342. [0-333-39847-5]

External links

• Emeritus Professor Richard Sakwa

Notes and References

1. Web site: Richard Sakwa . Valdai Club.
2. Web site: Emeritus Professor Richard Sakwa. University of Kent. 1 September 2022. 29 October 2022.
3. Book: Chechnya: From Past to Future. Richard Sakwa. Anthem Press. 2005. 978-1-84331-164-5.
4. Web site: Richard Sakwa on the 14th Valdai Club Annual Meeting . Valdai Club . 2014-11-21 . 2023-09-06.
5. Web site: Morrison . Hamish . Boris Johnson using Ukraine crisis to 'distract from implosion of premiership' . The National . 2022-02-10 . 2022-06-14.
6. Web site: Mason . Paul . The Labour left needs to get serious on defence . New Statesman . 2022-03-02 . 2022-06-14.
7. Lipman . Maria . Deception: Russiagate and the New Cold War . Foreign Affairs . 2022-03-31 . March/April 2022 . 2022-06-14.
8. Web site: Robinson. Paul. Review – Frontline Ukraine: Crisis in the Borderlands. 20 May 2015. 28 April 2018. Some may find Sakwa’s analysis one-sided. Russia’s mistakes and misbehaviours are explained, while those of the West and Ukraine are condemned. Nevertheless, Sakwa supports his thesis with considerable evidence and lays out a powerful case... Frontline Ukraine brings much needed balance to a subject which badly needs it.
9. Web site: Kudelia . Serhiy . Book review: Richard Sakwa, 'Frontline Ukraine: Crisis in the Borderlands' . open Democracy . 2 January 2020 . 11 February 2015.
10. Taras. Kuzio. Taras Kuzio. When an academic ignores inconvenient facts. New Eastern Europe. 21 June 2016. 25 June 2016.
11. Web site: The British Left's affinity for Russian imperial lies - A bimonthly news magazine dedicated to Central and Eastern European affairs . New Eastern Europe - A bimonthly news magazine dedicated to Central and Eastern European affairs . 2019-02-04 . 2022-06-14.
12. Lain . Sarah . Frontline Ukraine: Crisis in the Borderlands . The RUSI Journal . Informa UK Limited . 160 . 3 . 2015-05-04 . 0307-1847 . 10.1080/03071847.2015.1054737 . 91–92. 153346498 .
13. Kravchenko . Volodymyr . Frontline Ukraine . East/West: Journal of Ukrainian Studies . University of Alberta Libraries . 3 . 1 . 2016-02-15 . 2292-7956 . 10.21226/t2v88w . 155. free .
14. D'ANIERI . PAUL . Ukraine, Russia, and the West: The Battle over Blame . The Russian Review . Wiley . 75 . 3 . 2016-06-08 . 0036-0341 . 10.1111/russ.12087 . 498–503.
15. Rochlitz. Michael. Book Review: Richard Sakwa, Putin Redux: Power and Contradiction in Contemporary Russia. Political Studies Review. 14. 2. 298. 10.1177/1478929916630921l. 2016. 148402701.