Book Discussion: "Complaint to the Authorities in Russia: A Trap Between Tradition and Legal Modernization," by Elena Bogdanova

Session Submission Type: Roundtable

Brief Description

The roundtable is devoted to the discussion of gaze on the process of the Russian legal modernization, described in a newly published book. It approaches the issue from the side of the complaint mechanism, a traditional institution that has been operating in Russia for centuries and has been consistently used by people as a means of seeking justice. This study demonstrates that legal modernization of the Western-type has taken place in Russia in the last century. At the same time, the permanent co-existence of the judiciary with the semi-informal complaint mechanism preserves a conflict between formality and informality, law and morality, rationality, and emotionality. The authorities regularly make efforts—like supporting the complaint mechanism, for example—to preserve the authoritarian social contract, hampering the legal modernization.

Sub Unit

• Politics/Law

Chair

• Deirdre Ruscitti Harshman, Christopher Newport U

Roundtable Members

• Deirdre Ruscitti Harshman, Christopher Newport U

• Kathryn Hendley, U of Wisconsin-Madison

• Laura A. Henry, Bowdoin College

• Jeremy Morris, Aarhus U (Denmark)

Session Manager

• Elena A. Bogdanova, Aleksanteri Institute, University of Helsinki