This book examines recent political and psychological changes in Russian society during Vladimir Putin's third term. Instability in 2011-2012 and new domestic and international contexts make this a unique period in the post-Soviet political history of Russia. This volume focuses on popular perceptions of Russian politics during a new electoral cycle, in particular views of political power, institutions, and leaders. The contributors to this collection describe, and interpret recent political trends in Russian society by utilizing unique methodologies used for over twenty years, allowing results to be compared over time.
Part 1: Political Psychological Analysis of Russians' Public Mentality: From Theory to Empirical Data Chapter 1: The Key Role of Perception as a Mechanism of Mass Political Mentality, Elena Shestopal, Audrey Zverev, Natalia Bokova, and Natalia Smulkina Chapter 2: Methodology of the Study of Various Political Objects, Elena Shestopal, Alena Zatonskih, Irina Moiseeva, and Ivan Palitai Part 2: Images of Authorities in Russians' Mentality Chapter 3: Content of Authorities' Images, Elena Shestopal, Maxim Zhestkov, Svetlana Akhmatnurova, Ignat Bogdan, Svyatoslav Davydov, Vladislav Markov, Ekaterina Muzyka, Svetlana Nesterova, Gadzhibala Ramaldanov, Natalia Smulkina, and Anastasia Trushcheva Chapter 4: Psychological Structure of Authorities' Images, Elena Shestopal, Ignat Bogdan, Natalia Bokova, and Olga Bukreeva Chapter 5: Images of Authorities in Different Social Groups, Elena Shestopal, Ekaterina Muzyka, Anna Rogozar, Lira Gazizova, and Maria Suslina Part 3: Images of Political Institutions Chapter 6: Image of the Contemporary Russian State, Elena Shestopal and Philip Perzh Chapter 7: Image of Russia's Parliament, Elena Shestopal and Irina Moiseeva Chapter 8: Images of Russia's Political Parties, Elena Shestopal, Ivan Palitai, and Alena Zatonskih Part 4: Images of Russian Leaders Chapter 9: Certain Psychological Features of Perception of Russian Leaders, Elena Shestopal Chapter 10: Presidents as Leaders, Elena Shestopal and Natalia Smulkina Chapter 11: Images of Executive Branch Leaders, Elena Shestopal, Anastasia Trushcheva, and Vladislav Markov Chapter 12: Leaders of Opposition: Images of A. Navalny, M. Prokhorov, M. Khodorkovsky, A. Kudrin, Elena Shestopal and Svyatoslav Davydov Chapter 13: Regional Leaders: Governors, Elena Shestopal and Elena Yakovleva Chapter 14: Political Leaders of Russia's Parliament, Elena Shestopal and Irina Moiseeva Postscript: 2014: The End of the Time of Troubles?, Elena Shestopal
