Plus ça change: getting real about the evolution of Russian studies after 1991

ABSTRACT The contributions to this special issue interrogate and revise how social scientists, and in particular political scientists, study the Russian Federation and the independent states that emerged in the collapse of the Soviet empire. They are right to do so. Russia’s escalation of war shined a spotlight on critical research gaps and inaccurate assumptions. Yet, as the field discovered in the 1990s, a dramatic shift in research approaches and strategies does not imply tabula rasa. My contribution highlights the field's capacity to evolve and identify gaps, recognize dead ends, and adjust. Relying on insights from colleagues and lessons of the past 30 years, I argue that in opening our field and questioning its foundations we should take care to expand our discussions and research approaches rather than replace them, and to recognize lessons learned from existing research platforms and models of collaboration.