Dr. Brian D. Taylor, Chair of the Political Science Department at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School, joins Andrea Kendall-Taylor for a discussion about his book, The Code of Putinism. Russia’s institutions are generally weak, and authority resides within various circles and factions of actors, all secondary to the man at the top. Putinism is less an ideology than a code for staying in Vladimir Putin’s good graces, administering authority over the largest country on earth, and maintaining a grip on power in a nation whose economy continues to stagnate. This episode also tackles the question of succession and what Russian politics, and Vladimir Putin’s place in it, might look like after 2024.