The book aims to trace and explain the historical evolution of Moscow, the capital of the Tsardom of Russia, Soviet Union and Russian Federation, as a political entity and political community, and to understand what place Moscow occupied within the Russian political space and what role it played in Russian political life for centuries until 2018. The authors consistently examine the dramatic political history of the contemporary Russian capital in the Moscow (13th 17th centuries) and St. Petersburg (18th 19th centuries) epochs, in the Soviet period, in the post-Soviet era, and identify its key points and the most pivotal events.

Marina Glaser (Kukartseva) is Professor of Philosophy in the Department of International Relations at the National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow, and Professor of Philosophy at the Diplomatic Academy of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Moscow, Russia.

Ivan Krivushin is Professor of Modern History in the Department of International Relations at the National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow, and Leading Researcher in the Institute of World History at the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia.

Mara Moriniis Assistant Professor in Comparative Politics and Political Science at the University of Genoa, Italy.

Chapter 1. Introduction (Mara Morini). - Chapter 2. Moscow as a Space of the Political in Russian History: the Moscow and Petersburg Epochs (Marina Glaser, Ivan Krivushin). - Chapter 3. Moscow as a Space of the Political in the Soviet Era (Marina Glaser, Ivan Krivushin). - Chapter 4. Luzhkovs Moscow: Antagonism Agonism Platonism (Marina Glaser, Ivan Krivushin). - Chapter 5. Sobyanin's Moscow in 2011-2018: Antagonism Platonism Agonism (Marina Glaser, Ivan Krivushin). - Chapter 6. Conclusion: The Nature of the Moscow Political (Marina Glaser, Ivan Krivushin).