This book examines the extent to which Russia's strategic behavior is the product of its imperial strategic culture and Putin's own operational code.

Graeme P. Herd is Professor of Transnational Security Studies and Chair of the Research and Policy Analysis Department at the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.

1. Introduction: Understanding Russian Strategic Behavior 2. Russian Strategic Culture: Conceptualization and Evolution 3. The "Inner Logic" of Tsarist Imperial History 4. Soviet Legacies: Stalin, Brezhnev and Putin 5. "Putinism" and Russia's Hybrid State: Policies, Practice and Performance 6. Putin's Operational Code: Inferences and Implications for Regime Stability 7. Russia's Global Reach: Reality and Rhetoric 8. Putin, the Collective Putin and Alternative Power Transition Scenarios 9. Conclusions: Putin's Paradoxes, Strategic Sub-Cultures and World Order