Introduction: Civil Society and Russia's Elusive Search for Justice: Concepts, Traditions, and Contemporary Issues / Christopher Marsh and Nikolas K. Gvosdev -- Pt. 1. Lessons from History and Culture -- 1. Revisiting the Russian "Constrained Autocracy": "Absolutism" and Natural Rights Theories in Russia and the West / James W. Warhola -- 2. A Russian Model of Development: What Novgorod Can Teach the West / Nicolai N. Petro -- Pt. 2. Freedom of Religion and Civil Society -- 3. Nationalism and Religion in Russian Civil Society: An Inquiry into the 1997 Law "On Freedom of Conscience"