Political and Social Thought in Post-Communist Russia

Political and Social Thought in Post-Communist Russia

Author: Axel Kaehne

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2007-11-13

Total Pages: 180

ISBN-13: 113416517X

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This is the first comprehensive study of Russian political and social thought in the post-Communist era. The book portrays and critically examines the conceptual and theoretical attempts by Russian scholars and political thinkers to make sense of the challenges of post-communism and the trials of economic, political and social transformation. It brings together the various strands of political thought that have been formulated in the wake of the collapsed communist doctrine. It engages constructively with the numerous attempts by Russian political theorists and social scientists to articulate a coherent model of liberal democracy in their country. The book investigates critical, as well as favourable voices, in the Russian debate on liberal democracy, a debate often marked by eclecticism and, at times, little conceptual discipline. As such, the book will be of great interest both to Russian specialists, and to all those interested in political and social thought more widely.


The Anatomy of Post-Communist Regimes

The Anatomy of Post-Communist Regimes

Author: Bálint Magyar

Publisher: Central European University Press

Published: 2021-02-20

Total Pages: 834

ISBN-13: 9633863708

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Offering a single, coherent framework of the political, economic, and social phenomena that characterize post-communist regimes, this is the most comprehensive work on the subject to date. Focusing on Central Europe, the post-Soviet countries and China, the study provides a systematic mapping of possible post-communist trajectories. At exploring the structural foundations of post-communist regime development, the work discusses the types of state, with an emphasis on informality and patronalism; the variety of actors in the political, economic, and communal spheres; the ways autocrats neutralize media, elections, etc. The analysis embraces the color revolutions of civil resistance (as in Georgia and in Ukraine) and the defensive mechanisms of democracy and autocracy; the evolution of corruption and the workings of “relational economy”; an analysis of China as “market-exploiting dictatorship”; the sociology of “clientage society”; and the instrumental use of ideology, with an emphasis on populism. Beyond a cataloguing of phenomena—actors, institutions, and dynamics of post-communist democracies, autocracies, and dictatorships—Magyar and Madlovics also conceptualize everything as building blocks to a larger, coherent structure: a new language for post-communist regimes. While being the most definitive book on the topic, the book is nevertheless written in an accessible style suitable for both beginners who wish to understand the logic of post-communism and scholars who are interested in original contributions to comparative regime theory. The book is equipped with QR codes that link to www.postcommunistregimes.com, which contains interactive, 3D supplementary material for teaching.


Journal of Soviet and Post-Soviet Politics and Society

Journal of Soviet and Post-Soviet Politics and Society

Author: Julie Makarychev, Andrey Umland, Andreas Fedor

Publisher: BoD – Books on Demand

Published: 2020-10-20

Total Pages: 360

ISBN-13: 3838214668

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Special Sections: Russian Foreign Policy Towards the “Near Abroad” and Russia's Annexiation of Crimea II This special section deals with Russia’s post-Maidan foreign policy towards the so-called “near abroad,” or the former Soviet states. This is an important and timely topic, as Russia’s policy perspectives have changed dramatically since 2013/2014, as have those of its neighbors. The Kremlin today is paradoxically following an aggressive “realist” agenda that seeks to clearly delineate its sphere of influence in Europe and Eurasia while simultaneously attempting to promote “soft-power” and a historical-civilizational justification for its recent actions in Ukraine (and elsewhere). The result is an often perplexing amalgam of policy positions that are difficult to disentangle. The contributors to this special issue are all regional specialists based either in Europe or the United States.


Political Theory and Community Building in Post-Soviet Russia

Political Theory and Community Building in Post-Soviet Russia

Author: Oleg Kharkhordin

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2011-03-07

Total Pages: 257

ISBN-13: 1136855114

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This book revisits many aspects of current social science theories, such as actor-network theory and the French school of science and technology studies, to test how the theories apply in a specific situation, in this case after 1991 in the city of Cherepovets in Russia, home of Russia’s second biggest steel producer, Severstal. Using political philosophy to analyse the down-to-earth details of the real techno-scientific problems facing the world, the book examines the role of things - and urban infrastructure in particular - in political change. It considers how the city’s infrastructure, including housing, ICT networks, the provision of public utilities of all kinds, has been transformed in recent years; examines the roles of different actors including the municipal authorities, and explores citizens’ differing and sometimes contradictory images of their city. It includes a great deal of new thinking on how communities are built, how common action is initiated to provide public goods, and how the goods themselves - physical things – are a crucial driver of community action and community building, arguably more so than more abstract social and human forces.


The Soviet Social Contract and why it Failed

The Soviet Social Contract and why it Failed

Author: Linda J. Cook

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 1993

Total Pages: 300

ISBN-13: 9780674828001

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This book is the first critical assessment of the likelihood and implications of such a contract. Linda Cook pursues the idea from Brezhnev's day to our own, and considers the constraining effect it may have had on Gorbachev's attempts to liberalize the Soviet economy.


Learning to Labour in Post-Soviet Russia

Learning to Labour in Post-Soviet Russia

Author: Charles Walker

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2010-11-12

Total Pages: 244

ISBN-13: 1136873619

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This book explores the changing nature of growing-up working-class in post-Soviet Russia in a time of economic reform. Based on extensive research, it analyses the strategies of contemporary vocational education graduates and highlights their significance for wider processes of social change and social stratification in post-Soviet Russia.


Ethnic Relations in Post-Soviet Russia

Ethnic Relations in Post-Soviet Russia

Author: Andrew Foxall

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2014-10-03

Total Pages: 203

ISBN-13: 1317623533

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While the collapse of communism in Russia was relatively peaceful, ethnic relations have been deteriorating since then. This deterioration poses a threat to the functioning of the Russian state and is a major obstacle to its future development. Analysing ethnic relations in the North Caucasus, this book demonstrates how a myriad of processes that characterised post-Soviet transition, including demographic change, economic upheaval, geopolitical instability, and political re-structuring, have affected daily life for citizens. It raises important questions about ethnicity, identity, nationalism, sovereignty, and territoriality in the post-Soviet space.


The Post-Soviet Russian Media

The Post-Soviet Russian Media

Author: Birgit Beumers

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2008-11-26

Total Pages: 262

ISBN-13: 1134112394

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Presenting original research from a number of well-known international specialists, this book is a detailed investigation of the development of mass media in Russia since the end of Communism and the collapse of the Soviet Union.


Citizens in the Making in Post-Soviet States

Citizens in the Making in Post-Soviet States

Author: Olena Nikolayenko

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2011-03-02

Total Pages: 177

ISBN-13: 1136824545

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This book, based on extensive original research, including new survey research amongst young people, examines the political attitudes of Russian and Ukrainian adolescents without any firsthand experience with communism.