Richard Sakwa

Richard Sakwa (born 22 August 1953, Norwich) is a British political scientist and a former professor of Russian and European politics at the University of Kent, a senior research fellow at the National Research University-Higher School of Economics in Moscow, and an honorary professor in the Faculty of Political Science at Moscow State University. He has written books about Russian, Central and Eastern European communist and post-communist politics.

Early life and family

Richard Sakwa is of Polish British descent. He is the son of Zenon and Andree (Dumar) Sakwa. Sakwa's father Zenon was an agronomist who later joined the Polish Army during the German and Soviet invasion of Poland. Zenon later escaped to Hungary and joined the Polish Second Corps under Lieutenant general Władysław Anders. Following the end of World War Two, Zenon and his family were granted refuge in the United Kingdom and settled down. Sakwa married Roza T. in November 1981 and the couple have two sons.

Career

Sakwa completed a Bachelor of Arts at the London School of Economics in 1975 and his PhD at the University of Birmingham in 1984. Sakwa's PhD looked at Moscow politics during the Russian Civil War. He also spent a year on a British Council scholarship at Moscow State University between 1979 and 1980. Sakwa also worked at Mir Publishers and taught at the University of Essex and the University of California, Santa Cruz. In 1987, Sakwa joined the University of Kent, and was promoted to Professor in 1996.

Sakwa is Emeritus Professor of Russian and European politics at the University of Kent. From 2001 to 2007 he was also the head of the University's Politics and International Relations department. He has published on Soviet, Russian and post-communist affairs, and has written and edited several books and articles on the subject.

Sakwa was a participant of Valdai Discussion Club, an associate fellow of the Russia and Eurasia Programme at the Royal Institute of International Affairs, a member of the advisory boards of the Institute of Law and Public Policy in Moscow and a member of Academy of Learned Societies for the Social Sciences. He is a commentator for RT and has spoken at Stop The War Coalition events.

His book ''Frontline Ukraine'' is about the origins of the Russo-Ukrainian War. It argues that the conflicts in the post-Soviet space are caused by the expansionism of western/ Atlanticist "Wider Europe" and the revanchist aggression of Eastern European states, with the USA and NATO sparking a new Cold War. The book cautions against European security becoming "hostage to a faraway country", Ukraine. Sakwa argues that it is "wrong-headed in conceptualization and dangerous in its consequences" to describe Russia as expansionist: "Russia under Putin is not a land-grabbing state, it is a profoundly conservative power and its actions are designed to maintain the status quo... ussia makes no claim to revise the existing international order, but to make it more inclusive and universal." Sakwa argues that Russia's wars with Georgia are defensive wars against NATO expansionism.

His 2021 book ''Deception'' argues that investigations into Russiagate – allegations that Donald Trump colluded with Russia to win the 2016 U.S. presidential election – were politically biased and based on unverified documents. He said the investigations polarised the U.S. and politicised the intelligence community, which greatly damaged the country and soured U.S.–Russia relations.

Reception

Sakwa's 2015 book ''Frontline Ukraine'' was well-received by University of Ottawa historian Paul Robinson in ''E-International Relations'' and political scientist Serhiy Kudelia in openDemocracy. Taras Kuzio criticised Sakwa for what he saw as pro-Russian bias and lack of expertise on Ukraine, and has described him as a "pro-Putin scholar". Sarah Lain of the Royal United Services Institute describes Sakwa as essentially providing the Russian perspective on the Russo-Ukrainian war.

A review in the '' Journal of Ukrainian Studies'' describes ''Frontline Ukraine'' as "openly polemical" and a "one-sided treatment of contemporary Russian politics and of Putin’s regime". Paul D'Anieri describes it as "a polemical attack on Western policy... and a defense of Russia... Sakwa clearly sympathizes with Russia's position."

Michael Rochlitz, an associate fellow at the Higher School of Economics in Moscow, described Sakwa's 2020 book ''Putin Redux'', which is about Vladimir Putin, as "detailed, balanced and sober".

Maria Lipman, a Russian journalist, political scientist and Russia expert, wrote in ''Foreign Affairs'' that Sakwa's 2021 book ''Deception'' "is an exceptionally detailed and well-documented account of all the major episodes covered by the Trump-Russia probes". In a 2023 study Oliver Boyd-Barrett said that he considered ''Deception'' "at the time of writing, to be the soundest, most empirical, and comprehensive analysis" of Russiagate.

Published works

Books

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:Russian edition: Коммунизм в России: интерпретирующее эссе. — М.: РОССПЭН, 2011. — 160 с. — (История сталинизма). — .
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The Quality of Freedom: Putin, Khodorkovsky and the Yukos Affair
' (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2009), pp. 426.
*''Putin: Russia’s Choice'', fully revised and updated 2nd edn (London and New York, Routledge, 2008), pp. 388. (hbk); (pbk); (ebk)*''Russian Politics and Society'', Fourth Edition, completely rewritten and reorganised (London and New York, Routledge, 2008), pp. 585. (hbk), (pbk), (ebk); (hbk), (pbk), (ebk)Fifth Edition (2021).
:Putin: El Elegido de Rusia (Madrid, Ediciones Folio, S.A., 2005).
*''The Rise and Fall of the Soviet Union'', in the Routledge Sources in History series, General Editor: David Welch, Professor of Modern History, UKC (London, Routledge, 1999), pp.xxi + 521. SBN (hbk) 0-415-12289; (pbk) 0-415-12290-2A book of annotated documents charting the political and moral trajectory of communism in the USSR.
*''Postcommunism'', in the series Concepts in the Social Sciences, General Editor Frank Parkin (Buckingham and Philadelphia, Open University Press, 1999), pp. 144. (hbk); (pbk)Translated into Portuguese as O Pós-comunismo (Lisbon, Instituto Piaget, 2001), pp. 203. . Spanish translation went to press in September 2004.
*''Soviet Politics in Perspective'', Second fully reworked edition of Soviet Politics: An Introduction (London, Routledge, October 1998), pp. xiii + 355. (hbk); (pbk)*''Gorbachev and His Reforms'', 198590 (London, Philip Allan/Simon and Schuster, October 1990; Englewood Cliffs, NJ, Prentice Hall, February 1991), pp. xiv + 459. -86003-423-2 (hbk); 0-86003-723-1 (pbk)*''Soviet Politics: An Introduction'' (London and New York, Routledge, June 1989), pp. xvi + 356. (hbk); (pbk)*''Soviet Communists in Power: A Study of Moscow During the Civil War'', 1918–21 (London, Macmillan, July 1988; New York, St Martins, 1988), pp. xxii + 342. -333-39847-5

References

External links

Emeritus Professor Richard Sakwa

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sakwa, Richard
Living people
Academics of the University of Kent
1953 births
Historians of Russia
Alumni of the University of Birmingham
British political scientists
English expatriates in Russia