A lively inside account of Putin's years of rule & the impending crisis that threatens his tsar-like regime From Kaliningrad on the Baltic to the Russian Far East journalist Ben Judah has travelled throughout Russia & the former Soviet republics conducting extensive interviews with President Vladimir Putin's friends foes & colleagues government officials business tycoons mobsters & ordinary Russian citizens Fragile Empire is the fruit of Judah's thorough research a probing assessment of Putin's rise to power & what it has meant for Russia & her people Despite a propaganda program intent on maintaining the cliche of stability Putin's regime was suddenly confronted in December 2011 by a highly public protest movement that told a different side of the story Judah argues that Putinism has brought economic growth to Russia but also weaker institutions & this contradiction leads to instability The author explores both Putin's successes & his failed promises taking into account the impact of a new middle class & a new generation the Internet social activism & globalization on the president's impending leadership crisis Can Russia avoid the crisis of Putinism? Judah offers original & up-to-the-minute answers