Bread and Autocracy: Food, Politics, and Security in Putin's Russia

Since the 1917 Revolution, food has played a significant role in Russian and Soviet history. In Bread and Autocracy, the authors argue that Russia's food independence agenda is an outcome of a deliberate policy to better prepare the country for a confrontation with the West and is a crucial pillar of state security and regime survival.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 256 pages
Publication date: 18 October 2023
Publisher: Oxford University Press Inc

Since the dawn of early states, food has played a vital role in the functioning and survival of governments and regimes. However, the connection between food and politics is particularly pronounced in Russia. Since the 1917 Revolution, virtually every significant development in Russian and Soviet history has been either directly driven by or closely associated with the question of food and access to it. In fact, food shortages played a critical role in the collapse of both the Russian Empire and the USSR.

Under Putin's watch, Russia has undergone a remarkable transformation, moving from heavily relying on grain imports to becoming one of the world's leading food exporters. In their book, "Bread and Autocracy," Janetta Azarieva, Yitzhak M. Brudny, and Eugene Finkel delve into this crucial yet widely overlooked transformation, as well as its causes and consequences for Russia's domestic and foreign politics.

The authors argue that Russia's food independence agenda is the result of a deliberate, decades-long policy aimed at better preparing the country for a confrontation with the West. They further demonstrate that for the Kremlin, nutritional self-sufficiency and domestic food production are crucial pillars of state security and regime survival.

What sets Russia apart from almost all modern autocracies is its focus on food independence. While many authoritarian regimes have adopted industrial import-substitution policies, in Putin's Russia, it is the substitution of food imports with domestically produced crops that is vital for regime survival. As food reemerges as a key global issue and nations increasingly turn inwards, "Bread and Autocracy" provides a timely and comprehensive look into Russia's experience in building a nutritionally autarkic dictatorship.

Weight: 376g
Dimension: 235 x 156 x 16 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780197684375