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Jun 20, 2026
Russian Pendulum
Paradoxes, Practices and Patterns
Summary
Alena Ledeneva is Professor of Politics and Society at the University College London and a founder of the Global Informality Project. Her research focuses on informal practices, and she has written several Russia-focused books, including Russia’s Economy of Favours, How Russia Really Works and Can Russia Modernise. The Global Informality has also published 3 volumes of its Global Encyclopaedia of Informality. Alena is here today to talk about her new book Russian Pendulum: Paradoxes, Practices and Patterns (UCL Press, 2026), which has been shortlisted for the 2026 Pushkin House Book Prize.
Adam Quinn is a Glasgow-based researcher whose work focuses on activism, social movements and state-society relations in the Post-Soviet space.
Alena’s new book: art, music, text in a new UCL Press book in open access:
- Russian Pendulum: here
- The accompanying music: Delphian Records classical album The System Made Me Do It composed by Benjamin Woodgates: here
- And a brilliant review of the music: here
Plus, a nice mention in the BBC sounds for dark: here
Enjoy the podcast!
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