I had a large network of supporters during each stage of research and writing that produced this book. Most of all, I owe an incalculable debt to my dissertation committee: Timothy Colton, Yoshiko Herrera, Bear Braumoeller, and Peter Solomon. They not only helped me write an award-winning dissertation but also continued to support me as I set out to transform the dissertation into this book. My advisor, Tim Colton, allowed me to be stubborn and to feel like I was steering my own project, while he made sure I did not veer into any dead-ends. Yoshiko Herrera’s always useful and detailed comments, unwavering support, and friendship were indispensable right from when I decided I wanted to write a dissertation on the rule of law to the very last stages of the book-writing process. Bear Braumoeller pushed me to streamline the argument and guided me closely in applying quantitative methods to analyze the data I collected. Peter Solomon shared his vast knowledge on Soviet and post-Soviet courts with me and helped both deepen and broaden my understanding of how these institutions work. He also put me in touch with many of his friends and collaborators in Russia and Ukraine and thus facilitated my field research tremendously. He has been a most generous mentor and has helped me become a member of the larger community of scholars working on the intersection of law and politics.

I would like to recognize the generosity of various Harvard institutions that funded my dissertation research – the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the Center for European Studies, the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, and the Ukrainian Research Institute. In 2005–2006, I appreciated the hospitality of the Centre for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies at the University of Toronto. In 2007–2010, my research and writing were supported by a McGill Startup Grant. McGill University’s Department of Political Science has been my institutional home since 2007, and I am very grateful to be working in such a friendly and intellectually stimulating environment.

I did the field research for this book during half a dozen extended trips to Russia and Ukraine in 1999–2004. In Moscow, I benefited from the advice and assistance of Yevgenia Albatz, Andrei Buzin, Olga Sidorovich, Boris Timoshenko, and Marat Umerov. I am also thankful to the Carnegie Moscow Center and the Center for Justice Assistance at the INDEM Foundation for graciously hosting me during several field trips. In Kyiv, Oksana Syroid, Assya Ivantcheva, Tatyana Goncharenko, Aleksandr Goncharenko, Andreas Umland, Mary Mycio, and Volodymir Kovtunets helped me meet people and track down elusive data on court cases. Assya Ivantcheva shared her gorgeous apartment with me, as well as many late-night talks about Ukrainian politics and life. Oksana Syroid and Tanya and Sasha Goncharenko became my good friends and made my research trips a delightful experience.

I am grateful to friends and colleagues whose comments, advice, and input have greatly improved this book: Martin Dimitrov, Yoshiko Herrera, Juliet Johnson, Diana Kapiszewski, Oxana Shevel, Peter Solomon, and Alexei Trochev. I am especially indebted to Peter Solomon, who commented on multiple drafts, to Juliet Johnson who helped me write an effective book prospectus and who has been my mentor at McGill, and to Oxana Shevel and Yoshiko Herrera, who shared their knowledge of the book-writing and publication process and answered late-night last-minute questions about anything and everything. I am grateful to the reviewers at Comparative Political Studies, who offered useful comments on my analysis of electoral registration cases and thus helped me to substantially revise and expand Chapter 4 of the book.¹ Participants in the 2006 Danyliw Research Seminar on Contemporary Ukraine at the University of Ottawa, the Law and Politics Program Speaker Series at Dartmouth College, and the Separation of Powers conference at the Kennan Institute at the Wilson Center provided useful feedback on parts of the analysis presented in this book. I am, of course, most indebted to the reviewers at Cambridge University Press for their close reading of the manuscript – their input and suggestions were invaluable. John Berger at Cambridge University Press was a wonderful editor who offered expert advice and graciously answered my, sometimes panicked, questions. Elizabeth Chrun, Andrew Faisman, and Noelle Peach compiled the index and diligently worked on the bibliography. Noelle also caught some typos that would have made parts of the text quite confusing. Any shortcomings and mistakes that remain, needless to say, are my own.

Finally, I am grateful to my family for believing in me unconditionally. I wish they could all see this book.