{"product_id":"9783032012678","title":"Excessive Loyalism in Putin’s Authoritarian Regime: The Costs of Sycophancy","description":"\u003ch1\u003eExcessive Loyalism in Putin’s Authoritarian Regime: The Costs of Sycophancy\u003c\/h1\u003e \u003ch2\u003eLibman, Alexander\u003c\/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp style=\"margin: 0in; margin-bottom: .0001pt; background: white;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;\"\u003eThis book provides new insights into how excessive loyalism hinders Russia’s authoritarian government. When Russian bureaucrats, diplomats and academics go to great lengths to display their loyalty to the regime in Moscow, many observers regard it as a show of regime’s strength. Yet where this results in overcompliance, excessive praise or needlessly aggressive rhetoric, it becomes a source of weakness – not only alienating citizens at home and irritating allies abroad but even contributing to costly strategic mistakes, such as Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"margin: 0in; margin-bottom: .0001pt; background: white;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;\"\u003eThe book engages with an intractable dilemma facing the regime: it cannot punish these actors for being too loyal, but it also cannot allow such expressions of loyalty to break the boundaries it sets. The author helps explain why the regime has repeatedly stunned the international community with unexpected political moves and, in several cases, become its own worst enemy. In doing so, he illuminates\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;\"\u003emany of the dynamics through which sycophancy undermines authoritarian governments across the world. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;\"\u003eThe book addresses a broad array of manifestations of excessive loyalism and sycophancy in Russia – from rude and offensive comments of bureaucrats to rhetorical dissonance in the foreign policy to politically motivated rhetoric in the Russian academia. It combines quantitative and qualitative tools to study sycophancy empirically and develops a theory of excessive loyalism, which is applicable well beyond the Russian case.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"margin: 0in; margin-bottom: .0001pt; background: white;\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"margin: 0in; margin-bottom: .0001pt; background: white;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAlexander Libman\u003c\/strong\u003e is Professor of Russian and East European Politics at the \u003cspan style=\"font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;\"\u003eFreie Universität Berlin\u003c\/span\u003e, Germany. His main research interests include comparative politics of authoritarian regimes, Russian politics, historical legacies of authoritarianism and authoritarian cooperation in the post-Soviet Eurasia. His work has been published, among others, in the American Political Science Review, Comparative Political Studies, World Politics, Perspectives on Politics and British Journal of Political Science.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"EN-GB\" style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003ch3\u003eDetails\u003c\/h3\u003e \u003cp\u003ePublished by: Palgrave Macmillan\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003ePublication Date: 2025-09-27\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eFormat: Hardcover\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eISBN-13: 9783032012678\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eDOI: 10.1007\/978-3-032-01268-5\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eDimensions: 210cm x148cm\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003ePages: 247\u003c\/p\u003e ","brand":"Springer Nature Switzerland","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44309935161484,"sku":"9783032012678","price":116.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0710\/9545\/1788\/files\/9783032012678.jpg?v=1775067455","url":"https:\/\/fh90cf-fv.myshopify.com\/products\/9783032012678","provider":"Late Knight Books and Services, LLC","version":"1.0","type":"link"}