David Priestland is Professor of Modern History at Oxford. He has published widely on the history of global communism and the Soviet Union, and more recently on the history of neoliberalism since the 1980s, especially in the post-socialist world. His books include The Red Flag: A History of Communism (2009), which was published in seven translated editions; and Stalinism and the Politics of Mobilization (2007). His most recent book is Merchant, Soldier, Sage: A New History of Power (2012).