Paul Chaisty is the University Lecturer in Russian Government and Director of the Russian and Eurasian Studies Centre at St. Antony’s College, Oxford University. His publications include Legislative Politics and Economic Power in Russia (Palgrave, Basingstoke, 2006), as well as articles in journals such as Europe-Asia Studies, Government and Opposition, The Journal of Legislative Studies, Legislative Studies Quarterly, Party Politics, and Post-Soviet Affairs. Together with Stephen Whitefield, he is currently involved in research project titled ‘Nationalism and State-Building at a Crucial Turning Point: Democracy, Authoritarianism and Political Mobilisation in Ukraine and Russia.’ He is also writing a book which explores the phenomenon of coalitional presidentialism in the former Soviet Union, Africa and Latin America.

Stephen Whitefield is Professor of Politics in the Department of Politics and International Relations, and Fellow in Politics at Pembroke College, University of Oxford. He is the author of Industrial Power and the Soviet State (OUP, 1993) and, with Robert Rohrschneider (Kansas University), of The Strain of Representation: How Parties Represent Diverse Voters in Western and Eastern Europe (OUP, 2012), as well as many peer-reviewed articles on issues in social and political change and stability in post-Communist Europe. More recently, he has embarked on research on public opinion in Egypt and on the role of emotions in British politics. With Paul Chaisty, he is now working on a project on comparative nationalism in contemporary Russia and Ukraine.