Dis/order in the world: the longlist for the special PolitProsvet political writing prize announced

  • 3 Jul 2025

  •  Today, July 3, the longlist for the PolitProsvet, a special category of the Enlightener Prize, was revealed. This year’s longlist includes 15 books that delve into social and political trends pertinent to contemporary Russia. The list comprises books that provide insight into almost every aspect of daily news––from Russian-American relations and the paradoxes of Iranian autocracy to scandals within the Russian Orthodox Church.

    The longlist for the PolitProsvet-2025 prize includes:

    1. Sergey Aleksashenko. “Chance: America –– Russia, a Window of Opportunity” –– Almaty: Book Echo publishing house, 2025.
    2. Sergey Bondarenko. “Lost in Memory: Memorial Society and the Fight for the Past in Russia” –– Almaty: Ricochet/StraightForward, 2025.
    3. Olesya Gerasimenko. “Don’t Shut Your Eyes: Journalist at War and in Emigration” –– Berlin: Freedom Letters, 2025.
    4. Grigory Golosov. “Power in Uniform: Military Regimes in the Contemporary World” –– Moscow: Alpina Publisher, 2025.
    5. Ivan Zuenko. “China in the Era of Xi Jinping” –– Moscow: AST Publishing House, 2024.
    6. Heinrich Kirschbaum. “Revolution of Patience: Belarusian Bricolage” –– Tel Aviv: Publishing House of the Babel Bookstore, 2025.
    7. Andrey Kolesnikov. “The New World (Dis)Order: Waiting for the End of History” — Kust Press, 2024.
    8. Team Against Torture*. “Anatomy of Decay: Why and How Human Rights Stopped Being Valued in Modern-day Russia” — Nizhny Novgorod: Team Against Torture, 2024.
    9. Kseniya Luchenko. “Good Intentions: Russian Orthodox Church and Authority from Gorbachev to Putin” –– Almaty: Book Echo publishing house/StraightForward, 2025.
    10. Mikhail Nemtsev. “Me Too: Works on Moral and Political Philosophy” — St. Petersburg: Ivan Limbach Publishing House, 2025.
    11. Vladimir Pastukhov. “Telegram-Style War: 500 Days of Catastrophe. March 1, 2022––July 23, 2023: Philosophical Diary” — Kust Press, 2024.
    12. Konstantin Pakhalyuk*. “Notes of a Foreign Agent: Articles on History, Culture, and Z-militarism (2023-2024)” — Chișinău: The Historical Expertise, 2025.
    13. Nikita Smagin. “Iran to All: Paradoxes of Life in a Sanctioned Autocracy” — Moscow: Individuum, 2025.
    14. Yefim Sorkin. “After the Exodus: Russia Without Europe” — Kust Press, 2024
    15. Sergey Shelin. “Intriguing Russia: 228 Answers” — London: Freedom Letters, 2024.

    The panel of judges will announce the prize’s shortlist by October 1.

    Earlier, the longlists for the Enlightener and Enlightener.Translation prizes were also announced.