Sarah Oates has studied Russian politics and the media for the past twenty years. An expert in comparative political communication, she has published widely on the role of the media in relation to elections, terrorism, and democracy in general. A former journalist, she is Professor and Senior Scholar at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism, University of Maryland, College Park.

Winner of the BASEES Alexander Nove Prize in Russian, Soviet and Post-Soviet Studies

"Revolution Stalled is a very thorough, balanced assessment of the impact of the internet on Russian politics. It is an important contribution to the fields of political communication, Russian area studies and internet studies more generally."--Bruce Etling, Director of the Internet & Democracy Project, Berkman Center for Internet & Society, Harvard Law School

"In Revolution Stalled Sarah Oates offers a unique and highly instructive insight into the world of Russian politics on the Web. Starting from the crucially important premise that 'context matters' in determining how political actors' make use of the Net, the book shows that nowhere is this perhaps more the case than in Russia. Stopping short of predicting a 'Russian Spring' to match that witnessed in the Middle East, Oates skillfully identifies the central tension that the growth of the internet brings to non-democratic states."--Rachel Gibson, Professor of Political Science and Director, Institute for Social Change, University of Manchester

"Oates, in her wonderfully thorough and multifaceted analysis leads us closer to unraveling the unique dynamics of the internet in the context of Russian political communication."--Digital Icons: Studies in Russian, Eurasian and Central European New Media

"Sarah Oates has written a much-needed book about the Russian Internet (RuNet) that captures the impact of online political trends in authoritarian states without losing sight of the legacies and particularities that set Russia apart... Oates deserves praise for a book that synthesizes extant work from both Internet optimists and pessimists and adds significant findings from two original case studies." --The Russian Review

"Sarah Oates has undertaken and achieved an ambitious agenda in this tightly written, wide-ranging, and important book." --Slavic Review