Download or read book Forging a Unitary State written by John P. LeDonne and published by University of Toronto Press. This book was released on 2020-04-02 with total page 682 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Covering two centuries of Russian history, Forging a Unitary State is a comprehensive account of the creation of what is commonly known as the "Russian Empire," from Poland to Siberia. In this book, John P. LeDonne demonstrates that the so-called empire was, for the most part, a unitary state, defined by an obsessive emphasis on centralization and uniformity. The standardization of local administration, the judicial system, tax regime, and commercial policy were carried out slowly but systematically over eight generations, in the hope of integrating people on the periphery into the Russian political and social hierarchy. The ultimate goal of Russian policy was to create a "Fortress Empire" consisting of a huge Russian unitary state flanked by a few peripheral territories, such as Finland, Transcaucasia, and Central Asia. Additional peripheral states, such as Sweden, Turkey, and Persia, would guarantee the security of this "Fortress Empire," and the management of Eurasian territory. LeDonne’s provocative argument is supported by a careful comparative study of Russian expansion along its western, southern, and eastern borders, drawing on vital but under-studied administrative evidence. Forging a Unitary State is an essential resource for those interested in the long history of Russian expansionism.
Download or read book Forging a Unitary State written by John P. LeDonne and published by . This book was released on 2020 with total page 663 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Covering two centuries of Russian history, Forging a Unitary State is a comprehensive account of the creation of what is commonly known as the "Russian Empire," from Poland to Siberia. In this book, John P. LeDonne demonstrates that the so-called empire was, for the most part, a unitary state, defined by an obsessive emphasis on centralization and uniformity. The standardization of local administration, the judicial system, tax regime, and commercial policy were carried out slowly but systematically over eight generations, in the hope of integrating people on the periphery into the Russian political and social hierarchy. The ultimate goal of Russian policy was to create a "Fortress Empire" consisting of a huge Russian unitary state flanked by a few peripheral territories, such as Finland, Transcaucasia, and Central Asia. Additional peripheral states, such as Sweden, Turkey, and Persia, would guarantee the security of this "Fortress Empire" and the management of Eurasian territory. LeDonne's provocative argument is supported by a careful comparative study of Russian expansion along its western, southern, and eastern borders, drawing on vital but under-studied administrative evidence. Forging a Unitary State is an essential resource for those interested in the long history of Russian expansionism."--
Download or read book Forging a Unitary State written by John P. LeDonne and published by University of Toronto Press. This book was released on 2020 with total page 682 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Was Russia truly an empire respectful of the differences among its constituent parts or was it a unitary state seeking to create complete homogeneity?
Download or read book Forging a Multinational State written by John Deak and published by Stanford University Press. This book was released on 2015-09-23 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Habsburg Monarchy ruled over approximately one-third of Europe for almost 150 years. Previous books on the Habsburg Empire emphasize its slow decline in the face of the growth of neighboring nation-states. John Deak, instead, argues that the state was not in eternal decline, but actively sought not only to adapt, but also to modernize and build. Deak has spent years mastering the structure and practices of the Austrian public administration and has immersed himself in the minutiae of its codes, reforms, political maneuverings, and culture. He demonstrates how an early modern empire made up of disparate lands connected solely by the feudal ties of a ruling family was transformed into a relatively unitary, modern, semi-centralized bureaucratic continental empire. This process was only derailed by the state of emergency that accompanied the First World War. Consequently, Deak provides the reader with a new appreciation for the evolving architecture of one of Europe's Great Powers in the long nineteenth century.
Download or read book The Forging of the Union 1781 1789 written by Richard Brandon Morris and published by Harpercollins Childrens Books. This book was released on 1987 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Looks at the history of the United States during the period between the end of the Revolution and the establishment of the federal government, and discusses the country's economic and social conditions
Download or read book A Nation of Counterfeiters written by Stephen Mihm and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2009-06-30 with total page 470 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Prior to the Civil War, the United States did not have a single, national currency. Counterfeiters flourished amid this anarchy, putting vast quantities of bogus bills into circulation. Their success, Mihm reveals, is more than an entertaining tale of criminal enterprise: it is the story of the rise of a country defined by freewheeling capitalism and little government control. Mihm shows how eventually the older monetary system was dismantled, along with the counterfeit economy it sustained.
Download or read book Russia as Empire written by Kees Boterbloem and published by Reaktion Books. This book was released on 2020-10-07 with total page 247 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Covering more than one thousand years of tumultuous history, Russia as Empire shows how the medieval empire of Kyivan Rus’ metamorphosed into today’s Russian Federation. Kees Boterbloem vividly and lucidly describes Russia’s various incarnations and considers how the concept of empire evolved from tsarist Russia to the Soviet Union, and how and why it survives today. He discusses the ideological architects of these empires and the ideas of their political leaders—the tsars, Lenin, Stalin, Boris Yeltsin, and Vladimir Putin. Russia as Empire considers the role of the various empires’ inhabitants, from nobility to clergy and communist party members, revealing how and why they adhered to, or believed in, their country’s imperial mission. What emerges is a highly original overview that illuminates the continuities and discontinuities in Russian history.
Download or read book The Transformation of EU Treaty Making written by Dermot Hodson and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2018-08-09 with total page 355 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Investigates the struggle between governments, parliaments, the people and courts over who participates in EU treaty making.
Download or read book Forging Political Compromise written by Daniel Miller and published by University of Pittsburgh Pre. This book was released on 2010-11-23 with total page 342 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Historians have long claimed Czechoslovakia between the world wars as an island of democracy in a sea of dictatorships. The reasons for the survival of democratic institutions in the Czechoslovak First Republic, with its profound divisions, have never been fully explained, partly because for years critical research was thwarted by the communist state. Drawing on information from European archives, Miller pieces together the story of the party and its longtime leader, Antonin Svehla— the "Master of Compromise," who had an extraordinary capacity to mediate between political parties, factions, and individual political leaders. Miller shows how Svehla's official and behind-the-scenes activities in the parliament provided the new state with stability and continuity.
Download or read book Forging an Integrated Europe written by Jeffry A. Frieden and published by University of Michigan Press. This book was released on 2010-05-18 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As European integration has deepened and become more invasive, the tension between the authority of the European Union and the autonomy of member states has increased, while dissatisfaction with the political institutions of the European Union has increased dramatically. How fast and how far European integration will proceed are critical issues for scholars and policymakers in Europe and the United States. Barry Eichengreen and Jeffry Frieden have assembled a group of prominent economists and political scientists to discuss the most important--and most difficult--political and economic issues involved in European integration. The book focuses on three major issues: economic and monetary union, the reform and development of responsive political institutions for the Union, and the enlargement of the Union to include states to the east. In examining these issues, the writers consider such prob-lems as the trade-off between the benefits of international economic cooperation and the ability to pursue domestic welfare policies; how to increase the political accountability of the institutions of the EU; and how the EU can both be enlarged in membership and deepened in terms of the powers given community institutions. The contributors are Steven Arndt, Peter Bofinger, Christian de Boisseu, Michele Fratianni, Geoffrey Garrett, Jurgen von Hagen, Ander Todal Jenssen, Ken Kletzer, Lisa Martin, Jonathan Moses, Jean Pisani-Ferry, and Michael Wallerstein, in addition to the editors. Barry Eichengreen is Professor of Economics, University of California, Berkeley. Jeffry Frieden is Professor of Government, Harvard University.
Download or read book Forging Democracy from Below written by Elisabeth Jean Wood and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2000-10-30 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book, first published in 2000, analyzes the role of economically marginalized people in recent transitions to democratic rule.
Download or read book Italian Regionalism and the Federal Challenge written by Erika Arban and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2023-06-26 with total page 204 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This monograph thoroughly illustrates the debate on federalism and regionalism as it emerged in Italy in the years preceding the unification of 1861 and then again in the early 1990s, a debate mainly centred on the deep socio-economic differences between the North and the South of the country. Torn between centripetal and centrifugal forces, the Italian regional model implemented with the 1948 constitution and strengthened in 2001 provokes questions that intersect with topical debates engaging scholars globally, potentially stimulating comparative discussions. While the future of Italian regionalism remains unclear, the Italian regional model combines lessons coming from different theoretical experiences, including federalism, sub-state nationalism, and the European unification process, representing a novel experiment fashioned by those who were looking for a compromise between unitary and federal schemes.
Download or read book Laboratory of Modernity written by Serhiy Bilenky and published by McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP. This book was released on 2023-10-15 with total page 446 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When the powers of Europe were at their prime, present-day Ukraine was divided between the Austrian and Russian empires, each imposing different political, social, and cultural models on its subjects. This inevitably led to great diversity in the lives of its inhabitants, shaping modern Ukraine into the multiethnic country it is today. Making innovative use of methods of social and cultural history, gender studies, literary theory, and sociology, Laboratory of Modernity explores the history of Ukraine throughout the long nineteenth century and offers a unique study of its pluralistic society, culture, and political scene. Despite being subjected to different and conflicting power models during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Ukraine was not only imagined as a distinct entity with a unique culture and history but was also realized as a set of social and political institutions. The story of modern Ukraine is geopolitically complex, encompassing the historical narratives of several major communities – including ethnic Ukrainians, Poles, Jews, and Russians – who for centuries lived side by side. The first comprehensive study of nineteenth-century Ukraine in English, Laboratory of Modernity traces the historical origins of some of the most pressing issues facing Ukraine and the international community today.
Download or read book Federalism as Decision Making written by Francesco Palermo and published by Hotei Publishing. This book was released on 2015-02-24 with total page 538 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Accounting for participation, separation of powers and democratic accountability, federalism gains momentum in times when traditional democratic legitimacy of institutional decision-making is challenged. Its ability to include multiple interests makes federalism a means to ensure good governance. Based on a multidisciplinary analysis, the book tackles the question of whether federalism as a pragmatic governance tool provides answers to current challenges and what those answers are. Thirty-three leading experts critically examine to what extent federalism serves this purpose in compound states, looking at different countries and policies. The volume revolves around five sub-themes: ‘federalism, democracy and governance’, ‘participation mechanisms and procedures’, ‘policy areas compared’, ‘institutional innovation and participatory democracy’ and ‘federalism: from theory to governance’.
Download or read book Cossacks and the Russian Empire 1598 1725 written by Christoph Witzenrath and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2007-04-16 with total page 278 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Using a wide range sources, this book explores the ways in which the Russians governed their empire in Siberia from 1598 to 1725. Paying particular attention to the role of the Siberian Cossaks, the author takes a thorough assessment of how the institutions of imperial government functioned in seventeenth century Russia. It raises important questions concerning the nature of the Russian autocracy in the early modern period, investigating the neglected relations of a vital part of the Empire with the metropolitan centre, and examines how the Russian authorities were able to control such a vast and distant frontier given the limited means at its disposal. It argues that despite this great physical distance, the representations of the Tsar’s rule in the symbols, texts and gestures that permeated Siberian institutions were close at hand, thus allowing the promotion of political stability and favourable terms of trade. Investigating the role of the Siberian Cossacks, the book explains how the institutions of empire facilitated their position as traders via the sharing of cultural practices, attitudes and expectations of behaviour across large distances among the members of organisations or personal networks.
Download or read book The Making of the European Union written by Sten Berglund and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2006-01-01 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Making of the European Union argues that the process of European integration has drifted into serious crisis, perhaps the most serious since the Danes voted against the Treaty of the European Union in 1992. Analysing the conditions for European integration, this book applies a citizens' or 'bottom-up' perspective on the integration process. The difficulties that the constitutional process has encountered illustrate the relevance of bringing public opinion into the analysis of the prospects for European integration. The book describes and analyses the historical, mental, intellectual , and attitudinal denominators of European integration, denominators that have shaped the processes so far and will continue to do so in the future. The authors apply a broad comparative perspective, where European nation-states constitute the primary units of analysis. The focus is on the foundations of European integration, public views about the EU, including various shades of Euroscepticism, and the long-term prospects of the EU. This book will appeal to a wide audience including scholars and researchers in the social sciences - particularly political science, comparative politics and European studies. The book will also be of great interest to journalists and all those involved in the EU, including policy makers and civil servants throughout the EU itself.
Download or read book Johann Cornies the Mennonites and Russian Colonialism in Southern Ukraine written by John R. Staples and published by University of Toronto Press. This book was released on 2023-11-01 with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the late eighteenth century, the Russian Empire opened the grasslands of southern Ukraine to agricultural settlement by new colonists, among them Prussian Mennonites. Mennonite colonization was one aspect of the empire’s consolidation and modernization of its multi-ethnic territory. In the colony of Molochnaia, the dominant personality of the early nineteenth century was Johann Cornies (1789–1848), a hard-driving modernizer and intimate of senior Russian officials whose papers provide unique access into events in Ukraine in this era. Johann Cornies, the Mennonites, and Russian Colonialism in Southern Ukraine uses the life story of Johann Cornies to explore how colonial subjects interacted with Russian imperial policy. The book reveals how tsarist imperial policy shifted toward Russification in the 1830s and 1840s and became increasingly intolerant of ethnocultural and ethnoreligious minorities. It shows that Russia employed the Mennonite settlement as a colonial laboratory of modernity, and that the Mennonites were among Russia’s most economically productive subjects. This microhistory illuminates the role of Johann Cornies as a mediator between the empire and the Mennonite colonists, and it ultimately aims to bring light to the history of nineteenth-century Russia and Ukraine.
