The Imposition of a Fake Political Settlement in the Northern Caucasus

The Imposition of a Fake Political Settlement in the Northern Caucasus

Author: Tanya Lokshina

Publisher: ibidem-Verlag / ibidem Press

Published: 2005-12-19

Total Pages: 292

ISBN-13: 3838254368

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This book explains why Russia's "War on Terror" shows little sign of success. It provides first-hand accounts of recent developments in Chechnya, and is supplemented with thematic summaries as well as numerous documents. In the manipulated election of October 2003, the favorite of the Kremlin, Akhmad Kadyrov, was made President of the Chechen Republic only to be killed seven months later in a terrorist attack. While a political settlement is urgently needed and Kadyrov's death is to be regretted, evidence shows that the 2003 "presidential election" bore no relation to a sincere political solution. The President was imposed on Chechnya and had little legitimacy among the Chechen people. The book describes how violence in the Northern Caucasus attributed to gangsters, war lords, Wahhabists, al Qaedists, and to hatred of Russia has been reciprocated by "law enforcement" agencies with "cleansing operations", "disappearances", and targeted assassinations. The reciprocity of violence has maintained the scale of lawlessness, and further diminished the prospects of solution.The book is an invitation to the Russian public and the international community to launch a frank discussion on the situation in the Northern Caucasus in order to find a way out from a bloody crisis that has been lingering on for more than a decade now.


Political Anti-Semitism in Post-Soviet Russia

Political Anti-Semitism in Post-Soviet Russia

Author: Vyacheslav Likhachev

Publisher: ibidem-Verlag / ibidem Press

Published: 2012-02-03

Total Pages: 242

ISBN-13: 3838255291

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Anti-Semitism was a major feature of both late Tsarist and Stalinist as well as neo-Stalinist Russian politics. What does this legacy entail for the emergence of post-Soviet politics? What are the sources, ideologies, permutations, and expressions of anti-Semitism in recent Russian political life? Who are the main protagonists and what is their impact on society?This book shows that anti-Semitism is alive and well in contemporary Russia, in general, and in her political life, in particular. The study focuses on anti-Semitism in political groups, mass media and religious organizations from the break-up of the Soviet Union until shortly before the elections to the fourth post-Soviet State Duma which saw the entry of a major new nationalist grouping, Rodina (Motherland), into the Russian parliament. The author analyzes various “justifications” for anti-Semitism, its manifestations and its ups and downs during this period. The book chronicles Russian federal and regional elections, which served as a “reality check” for the ultra-nationalists. Several sections are devoted to the role of anti-Semitism in political associations, including marginal neo-Nazi groups, “mainstream” nationalist parties, and the successor organizations of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. A special section covers the financial sources for post-Soviet anti-Semitic publications. The author considers anti-Semitism within a wider context of religious and ethnic intolerance in Russian society. Likhachev, as a result, compiles a “Who is Who” of Russian political anti-Semitism. His book will serve as a reliable compendium and obligatory starting point for future research on post-Soviet xenophobia and ultra-nationalist politics.


Chechnya

Chechnya

Author: Tony Wood

Publisher: Verso Books

Published: 2020-05-05

Total Pages: 254

ISBN-13: 1789602971

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The Case for Chechnya sharply criticizes the role of Western nations in their struggle, and lays bare the weakness-and shamefulness-of the arguments used to deny the Chechens' right to sovereignty. Tony Wood considers Russo-Chechen relations over the past century and a half, as well as the fate of the region since the fall of the Soviet Union.


Cultural Politics of Ethnicity

Cultural Politics of Ethnicity

Author: Vera Sokolova

Publisher: ibidem-Verlag / ibidem Press

Published: 2012-02-27

Total Pages: 312

ISBN-13: 3838258649

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This book maps out the history of Czechoslovak linguistic and social practices directed at Roma during the communist period. It explains how contemporary Czech society has come to understand the Romani population in terms of inherited social, medical and juridical ideas. Rather than focusing on the Roma people as an object of analysis, the book problematizes assumed notions of “Gypsiness” and “Czechness” in mainstream society by highlighting the role of different socialist discourses in constructing images of Roma as socially deviant and abnormal. By uncovering the lines of continuity in the intersections of ethnic discrimination, social deviance and citizenship from the 1950s to the collapse of communism, this book comes to terms with a variety of questions that have not yet been adequately addressed in the literature: What underlying assumptions informed the socialist regime’s understanding of “Gypsiness,” and how did these conceptions relate to notions of citizenship, equality and normality? How and why did the meaning of the terms “Gypsies” and “Roma” become imbued in popular discourse with ideas of unhealthiness and social deviance? What implications does translating perceived cultural traits and lifestyles of Roma into non-ethnic frames of reference have for understanding racism and ethnic sensibilities in the country today? The work emphasizes historical continuities between contemporary xenophobia and the strategies which the communist regime used to deal with the “Gypsy question.” Focusing on the discrepancies between written laws and policies as well as their implementation, this study exposes the intricate relationships between official beliefs, institutional policies and popular consciousness under the communist regime. For it was these relationships which together created the mechanisms of social control that facilitated discrimination of Czechoslovak Roma under the guise of social welfare.


Nation-Building and Minority Politics in Post-Socialist States

Nation-Building and Minority Politics in Post-Socialist States

Author: David Galbreath

Publisher: Columbia University Press

Published: 2005-03-05

Total Pages: 342

ISBN-13: 3898214672

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Despite socialism's best efforts, ethnic identity remained a salient feature in Central and Eastern Europe. Not only did ethno-nationalism help to bring about the fall of the socialist regimes in this region, but it also characterized much of the post-socialist politics. Nation-Building and Minority Politics examines the issue of minority politics in post-socialist states within this dual structure. In particular, it offers an in-depth analysis of post-restoration politics in Estonia and Latvia, covering four issues. First, it looks at the historical context of the current group relations. Second, the study explores the domestic nature of minority politics in Estonia and Latvia by looking at domestic politics and policies. Third, it examines the role of the Russian Federation as an 'external national homeland' through illustrating developments within Russian foreign policy. Finally, the book analyses the role of three significant European organizations, namely the OSCE, EU and the Council of Europe as agents of 'conditionality'. Overall, this study combines old and new theoretical approaches to nation-building and minority politics to exhibit the changing nature of the relationship between majority, minority, external national homeland, and international organizations in today's Europe.


Chechnya - Russia's 'War on Terror'

Chechnya - Russia's 'War on Terror'

Author: John Russell

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2007-08-07

Total Pages: 268

ISBN-13: 1134179456

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Providing a comprehensive overview of the Russo-Chechen War, the author examines the origins of the conflict historically, and traces how both sides were dragged inexorably into war in the early 1990s.


Chechnya at War and Beyond

Chechnya at War and Beyond

Author: Anne Le Huérou

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2014-09-15

Total Pages: 292

ISBN-13: 1317756177

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The Russia-Chechen wars have had an extraordinarily destructive impact on the communities and on the trajectories of personal lives in the North Caucasus Republic of Chechnya. This book presents in-depth analysis of the Chechen conflicts and their consequences on Chechen society. It discusses the nature of the violence, examines the dramatic changes which have taken place in society, in the economy and in religion, and surveys current developments, including how the conflict is being remembered and how Chechnya is reconstructed and governed.


Preparing Liberty in Central Europe

Preparing Liberty in Central Europe

Author: Josette Baer

Publisher: ibidem-Verlag / ibidem Press

Published: 2012-02-03

Total Pages: 188

ISBN-13: 3838255461

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The often turbulent history of the Czechs and Slovaks in the 20th Century, leading from the Czechoslovak Republic to four decades of communist rule, ended with the Velvet Revolution in 1989. The independent Czech and Slovak democracies achieved EU membership in 2004. While their political histories under Austrian and Hungarian rule in 19th Century has been widely researched, their intellectual history is still largely unknown, mainly due to a lack of English translations. Preparing Liberty in Central Europe provides a collection of newly translated texts by Czech and Slovak intellectuals and political thinkers, covering the period of time from the Spring of Nations in 1848 to the Spring of Prague in 1968. The collection includes Ján Kollár’s On literary reciprocity, T.G. Masaryk’s The difficulties of Democracy and the debate about the Czech Fate between Václav Havel and Milan Kundera in 1968/9. The volume addresses students of history, philosophy, political science and Slavic Studies, interested in issues such as Slavonic national revival, Panslavism, Austroslavism, liberalism and Human Rights. Additional comments on text and author guide the reader through one hundred and thirty years of Czech and Slovak political thought. A large selected bibliography and index complement the volume.


The Quest for an Ideal Youth in Putin's Russia II

The Quest for an Ideal Youth in Putin's Russia II

Author: Jussi Lassila

Publisher: Columbia University Press

Published: 2014-04-15

Total Pages: 229

ISBN-13: 3838265858

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Government-organized yet scandal-stricken, Nashi inspires everything from broad support to a reluctance to accept all implications of Putin's political system. This volume shows how Nashi conceptualizes an "ideal youth" within the framework of an official national identity politics and as an attempt to mobilize apolitical youth.


Cleft Countries

Cleft Countries

Author: Ivan Katchanovski

Publisher: Columbia University Press

Published: 2006-04-27

Total Pages: 297

ISBN-13: 3838255585

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During the "Orange Revolution" in Ukraine, the second largest country in Europe came close to a violent break-up similar to that in neighboring Moldova, which witnessed a violent secession of the Transdniestria region. Numerous elections, including the hotly contested 2004 presidential elections in Ukraine, and surveys of public opinion showed significant regional divisions in these post-Soviet countries. Western parts of Ukraine and Moldova, as well as the Muslim Crimean Tatars, were vocal supporters of independence, nationalist, and pro-Western parties and politicians. In contrast, Eastern regions, as well as the Orthodox Turkic-speaking Gagauz, consistently expressed pro-Russian and pro-Communist political orientations. Which factors -- historical legacies, religion, economy, ethnicity, or political leadership -- could explain these divisions? Why was Ukraine able to avoid a violent break-up, in contrast to Moldova? This is the first book to offer a systematic and comparative analysis of the regional political divisions in post-Soviet Ukraine and Moldova. The study examines voting behavior and political attitudes in two groups of regions: those which were under Russian, Ottoman, and Soviet rule; and those which were under Austro-Hungarian, Polish, Romanian, and Czechoslovak rule until World War I or World War II. This book attributes the regional political divisions to the differences in historical experience. This study helps us to better understand regional cleavages and conflicts, not only in Ukraine and Moldova, but also in other cleft countries.