Rebel Russia: Dissent and Protest from the Tsars to Navalny

Navalny. Lenin. Pugachev. The Russian rebel – in his epic battle against the Leviathan of the Russian state – has enthralled readers and writers for decades. The rebel's story is almost always a sad one that ends in exile, imprisonment, or martyrdom, leaving but a seed for the future reform of the Leviathan which he or she had taken on.

Why do revolts – from the Decembrist uprising to the Snow Revolution that brought Alexei Navalny to the forefront of contemporary Russian politics – seem to...