Читать книгу The Quest for an Ideal Youth in Putin's Russia I - Ivo Mijnssen - Страница 7

state-initiated efforts to create youth organizations. It is in these organizations where some of the new leaders of tomorrow’s Russia are being formed. And it is thus essential to understand these organizations better, if we are to understand the Russia not only of the present, but also of the future.

Ivo Mijnssen’s book is the more fascinating since it not only includes an analysis of existing literature and various types of documents but also the author’s own experience as a participant in a Nashi summer camp in 2010 on Lake Seliger. The author thus traveled a long road, physically and figuratively. What he started in 2008-09 as a MA-thesis at the University of Basel, he now presents in a much enlarged and revised version in book-form. I thank Ivo for taking the extra time and effort in order to make his results available to a larger audience. The Western reader will enter a world largely unknown, and I am sure he will appreciate it as he will gain much needed insight into the way Russia «ticks» on many different levels.

Jeronim Perović

University of Zurich