An examination of property rights reforms in Russia before the revolution reveals the advantages and pitfalls of liberal democracy in action—from a government that could be described as neither liberal nor democratic. The author analyzes whether truly liberal reform can be effectively established from above versus from the bottom up—or whether it is simply a product of exceptional historical circumstances.

Gary S. Becker

The Hoover Archives contain a large collection of writings by the Russian émigré intellectual Nikolai Berdyaev, many of which were published in obscure Parisian émigré journals. Berdyaev’s writings illustrate the profound paradoxes of Russian messianism, which continue to confound many Russians today. By David Satter.