Download or read book Politics of Nationality and the Erosion of the USSR written by Zvi Y. Gitelman and published by Springer. This book was released on 1992-06-18 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Soviet Union has undergone many changes recently as many of its peoples are demanding autonomy and even independence. This volume of essays analyzes recent political and social movements and trends among a variety of Soviet ethnic groups and explains their grievances and goals.
Download or read book The Politics of Nationality and the Erosion of the USSR written by Zvi Y. Gitelman and published by MacMillan Publishing Company. This book was released on 1992 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Until recently, most people thought of the Soviet Union as a powerful, stable and highly centralized state. Since 1988, however, several thousand people have been killed in inter-ethnic clashes, and many of its large and small nationalities have recently obtained autonomy and independence. This volume analyses recent political and social trends among a broad range of formerly Soviet ethnic groups. It attempts to discover the demographic, cultural, political, and economic sources of contemporary ethnic discontents and to examine their social and political expressions. The authors, all distinguished specialists, analyze some of the larger groups of peoples in the former USSR, such as Ukrainians, as well as the less well-known smaller peoples, such as Koreans and Karelians. The complex nationality struggles in the Caucasus area and in Central Asia are also subjected to penetrating scrutiny by leading scholars. Several authors attempt an assessment of the future prospects of the post-Soviet states and weigh alternatives for the reconstitution or further disintegration of the former USSR. Authors from Europe, North America and Israel are represented in this study of ethnicity and politics in the 1990s.
Download or read book The Politics of Nationality and the Erosion of the USSR written by and published by . This book was released on 1992 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Near Abroad written by Zbigniew Wojnowski and published by University of Toronto Press. This book was released on 2017-06-16 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the Soviet perspective, Eastern Europe was the near abroad – more accessible than the capitalist West, yet also unambiguously foreign. Observing their western neighbours, citizens of the USSR developed new ideas about the role of states, borders, and national identities in the Soviet empire. In The Near Abroad, Zbigniew Wojnowski traces how Soviet Ukrainian identities developed in dialogue and confrontation with the USSR’s neighbours in Eastern Europe. The author aptly challenges the dominant chronologies of late Soviet history by arguing that patriotism framed heated debates about the future of the Soviet state even amongst the rising tide of cynicism and disengagement from public life. Wojnowski’s insightful analysis illuminates the mental geographies that continue to shape relations and conflicts between Russia, Ukraine and Eastern Europe to this very day. Unlike most other histories of Ukraine, The Near Abroad does not reduce Ukrainian nationalism to anti-Soviet views and behaviours.
Download or read book Russia and The Commonwealth of Independent States 2012 written by M. Wesley Shoemaker and published by Stryker Post. This book was released on 2012-08-09 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States 2011 is a volume in "The World Today Series". Published and updated annually, this series provides both a short historical treatment and an up-to-date look at the various countries of the entire globe. Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States deals with the twelve independent republics that became members of the Commonwealth of Independent States following the collapse of the Soviet Union in December 1992. The book focuses strongly on recent economic and political developments with shorter sections dealing with foreign policy, the military, religion, education, and specific cultural elements that help to define each republic and differentiate one from the other. Approximately one-third of the book is devoted to Russia, with shorter sections dealing with Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. There is also a section dealing with how the Commonwealth of Independent States came into being and how it has evolved since 1992.
Download or read book The Germans of the Soviet Union written by Irina Mukhina and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2007-03-06 with total page 347 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Germans were a very substantial minority in Russia, and many leading figures, including the Empress Catherine the Great, were German. Using rarely seen archival information, this book provides an account of the experiences of the Germans living in the Soviet Union from the early post-revolution period to the post-Soviet era following the collapse of communism. Setting out the history of this minority group and explaining how they were affected by the Soviet regime’s nationality policies, the book: describes the character of the ethnic Germanic groups, demonstrating their diversity before the execution of the policy of systematic deportations by the Stalinist authorities from 1937 to 1947 argues that there was not one but several episodes of deportation within this period considers the different dimensions of this policy, including the legal and economic structures of, and everyday life in, the Soviet special settlements investigates the ‘women’s dimension’ of deportation, especially the role of women in the preservation of ethnic identity among the afflicted groups explores the long term consequences of Soviet deportations and exile on the identity of the Soviet Germans.
Download or read book Ukrainian Political Economy written by R. Kravchuk and published by Springer. This book was released on 2003-01-17 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This comprehensive and detailed examination of the challenges faced by the newly independent state of Ukraine argues that its lackluster economic performance during the 1990s was the unfortunate result of a combination of the hasty adoption of public policies not clearly understood and a prolonged struggle to build governmental institutions. With a focus on both how the government used financial repression to balance budgets, dampen inflationary pressures and, at the same time, maintain formal and informal subsidies to state enterprises. It makes original contributions to the debate on economic reform by focusing attention on Ukraine's critical choices in the areas of state institution-building, fiscal policies and monetary reform, and the government's preference for financially-repressive policy measures.
Download or read book Intermarium written by Marek Jan Chodakiewicz and published by Transaction Publishers. This book was released on 2012 with total page 577 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: History and collective memories influence a nation, its culture, and institutions; hence, its domestic politics and foreign policy. That is the case in the Intermarium, the land between the Baltic and Black Seas in Eastern Europe. The area is the last unabashed rampart of Western Civilization in the East, and a point of convergence of disparate cultures. Marek Jan Chodakiewicz focuses on the Intermarium for several reasons. Most importantly because, as the inheritor of the freedom and rights stemming from the legacy of the Polish-Lithuanian/Ruthenian Commonwealth, it is culturally and ideologically compatible with American national interests. It is also a gateway to both East and West. Since the Intermarium is the most stable part of the post-Soviet area, Chodakiewicz argues that the United States should focus on solidifying its influence there. The ongoing political and economic success of the Intermarium states under American sponsorship undermines the totalitarian enemies of freedom all over the world. As such, the area can act as a springboard to addressing the rest of the successor states, including those in the Caucasus, Central Asia, and the Russian Federation. Intermarium has operated successfully for several centuries. It is the most inclusive political concept within the framework of the Commonwealth. By reintroducing the concept of the Intermarium into intellectual discourse the author highlights the autonomous and independent nature of the area. This is a brilliant and innovative addition to European Studies and World Culture.
Download or read book Ukraine under Kuchma written by Taras Kuzio and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-07-27 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ukraine under Kuchma is the first survey of recent developments in post-soviet Ukraine. The book covers in an in-depth manner the entire range of key developments since the 1994 parliamentary and presidential elections, the first elections held in post-soviet Ukraine. The new era ushered in by these elections led to Ukraine's launch of radical economic and political reforms which aim to domestically dismantle soviet power within Ukraine, stabilise relations with the separatist Crimean region and normalise relations with Russia and the West.
Download or read book Ukrainian Nationalism in the 1990s written by Andrew Wilson and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1997 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The complex interrelationship between Russia and Ukraine is arguably the most important single factor in determining the future politics of the Eurasian region. In this book Andrew Wilson examines the phenomenon of Ukrainian nationalism and its influence on the politics of independent Ukraine, arguing that historical, ethnic and linguistic factors limit the appeal of narrow ethno-nationalism, even to many ethnic Ukrainians. Nevertheless, ethno-nationalism has a strong emotive appeal to a minority, who may therefore undermine Ukraine's attempts to construct an open civic state. Ukraine is therefore a fascinating test case for alternative nation-building strategies in countries of the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.
Download or read book Twenty Years of Studying Democratization written by Aurel Croissant and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-01-08 with total page 237 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Democratization emerged at a time of epochal change in global politics: the twin impacts of the end of the Soviet Union and the speeding up and deepening of globalisation in the early 1990s meant a whole new ball game in terms of global political developments. The journal’s first issue appeared in early 1994. Over time, the editorial position has been consistently to focus on ‘the third wave of democracy’ and its aftermath. The third wave is the most recent exemplar of a long-term, historical trend towards more democratically viable regimes and away from authoritarian systems and leaders. In short, the journal wants to promote a better understanding of democratization – defined as the way democratic norms, institutions and practices evolve and are disseminated both within and across national and cultural boundaries. Over the years, the many excellent articles that we have featured in the journal have shared our focus on democratization, viewed as a process. The journal has sought – and continues to seek – to build on the enduring scholarly and of course popular interest in democracy, how and why it emerges, develops and becomes consolidated. Our emphasis over the last 20 years has been contemporary and the approach comparative, with a strong desire to be both topical and authoritative. We include special reference to democratization in the developing world and in post-communist societies. In sum, just as 20 years ago, the journal today aims to encourage debate on the many aspects of democratization that are of interest to policy-makers, administrators and journalists, aid and development personnel, those involved in education, and, perhaps above all, the tens of millions of ordinary people around the world who do not (yet) enjoy the benefits of living under democratic rule. The two dozen articles collected in this ‘virtual’ special issue are emphatic proof of the power of the written word to induce debate, uncertainty, and ultimately progress towards better forms of politics, focused on the achievement of the democratic aspirations of men and women everywhere.
Download or read book The Disintegration of the Soviet Union written by B. Fowkes and published by Springer. This book was released on 1996-11-04 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book tells the dramatic story of the unexpected disintegration of the Soviet Union. The author draws on a wide range of sources to illustrate the growth of national awareness among the many subject peoples, partly promoted by the actions of the communists themselves. He concludes that, the efforts of Mikhail Gorbachev to reform the state he initially controlled, undermined and eventually destroyed the mechanisms that held the non-Russians in check.
Download or read book Ukraine Crimea Russia written by Taras Kuzio and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2007-03-13 with total page 259 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Crimea was the only region of Ukraine in the 1990s where separatism arose and inter-ethnic conflict potentially could have taken place between the Ukrainian central government, ethnic Russians in the Crimea, and Crimean Tatars. Such a conflict would have inevitably drawn in Russia and Turkey. Russia had large numbers of troops in the Crimea within the former Soviet Black Sea Fleet. Ukraine also was a nuclear military power until 1996. This book analyses two inter-related issues. Firstly, it answers the question why Ukraine-Crimea-Russia traditionally have been a triangle of conflict over a region that Ukraine, Tatars and Russia have historically claimed. Secondly, it explains why inter-ethnic violence was averted in Ukraine despite Crimea possessing many of the ingredients that existed for Ukraine to follow in the footsteps of inter-ethnic strife in its former Soviet neighbourhood in Moldova (Trans-Dniestr), Azerbaijan (Nagorno Karabakh), Georgia (Abkhazia, South Ossetia), and Russia (Chechnya).
Download or read book Historical Dictionary of Ukraine written by Ivan Katchanovski and published by Scarecrow Press. This book was released on 2013-07-11 with total page 970 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Although present-day Ukraine has only been in existence for something over two decades, its recorded history reaches much further back for more than a thousand years to Kyivan Rus’. Over that time, it has usually been under control of invaders like the Turks and Tatars, or neighbors like Russia and Poland, and indeed it was part of the Soviet Union until it gained its independence in 1991. Today it is drawn between its huge neighbor to the east and the European Union, and is still struggling to choose its own path… although it remains uncertain of which way to turn. Nonetheless, as one of the largest European states, with considerable economic potential, it is not a place that can be readily overlooked. The problem is, or at least was, where to find information on this huge modern Ukraine, and since 2005 the answer has been the Historical Dictionary of Ukraine in its first edition, and now even more so with this second edition. It now boasts a dictionary section of about 725 entries, these covering the thousand years of history but particularly the recent past, and focusing on significant persons, places and events, political parties and institutions as well as more broadly international relations, the economy, society and culture. The chronology permits readers to follow this history and the introduction is there to make sense of it. It also features the most extensive and up-to-date bibliography of English-language writing on Ukraine.
Download or read book Women s Access to Political Power in Post Communist Europe written by Richard E. Matland and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2003-05-01 with total page 394 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book considers women's access to formal positions of powers in the newly formed democracies of post communist Europe. While acknowledging the relevance of recent history, this book takes an important step away from the communist legacy and explicitly argues for a framework based on causal variables identified in the existing literatures from industrialized democracies on women and politics and legislative recruitment After a brief introduction, the second chapter sets forth a general theoretical framework, which posits that the level of female legislative representation in a given country is a function of the relative supply of and demand for female candidates. After a chapter considering a broad overview of public opinion on women and politics in Eastern Europe, thirteen country chapters, spanning the spectrum of Eastern European democracies, address and test hypotheses about the key variables affecting the supply and demand sides of the equation in individual countries. Relevant aspects of the communist cultural and developmental legacy are addressed, but authors give particular attention to political factors, such as electoral rules and the characteristics of the emerging party systems, that vary within the Eastern European countries. The new democracies of Eastern Europe provide a novel context in which to test and extend our theories about the consequences of political institutions for the quality of democracy. Since institutional arrangements are more malleable than developmental or cultural characteristics, those variables also offer the greatest promise to scholars and practitioners wondering what can be done to improve women's access to formal arenas of political power? How can we build democracies that are stable, lasting and representative? A careful analysis of the post-communist context can help us to address issues concerning institutional design and development that has relevance well beyond the Eastern European context.
Download or read book Social Capital and Democratisation written by Martin Åberg and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-09-08 with total page 310 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Contributing an impressive historical basis for path dependency analysis and the role of social capital in newly established democracies, this book offers a fascinating and ground-breaking analysis of the role of social capital in the democratic context of Eastern Europe. Focusing on Poland and Ukraine, this book fills the literature gaps for integrated empirical and theoretical research with respect to post-Communist democratization, social capital vs. democratization theory, and the case study area of Central and Eastern Europe. Suitable for students from graduate level upwards in Central and Eastern European studies, political theory and history.
Download or read book Russian Foreign Policy in the Twenty first Century and the Shadow of the Past written by Robert Legvold and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2007 with total page 546 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Because the turbulent trajectory of Russia's foreign policy since the collapse of the Soviet Union echoes previous moments of social and political transformation, history offers a special vantage point from which to judge the current course of events. In this book, a mix of leading historians and political scientists examines the foreign policy of contemporary Russia over four centuries of history. The authors explain the impact of empire and its loss, the interweaving of domestic and foreign impulses, long-standing approaches to national security, and the effect of globalization over time. Contributors focus on the underlying patterns that have marked Russian foreign policy and that persist today. These patterns are driven by the country's political makeup, geographical circumstances, economic strivings, unsettled position in the larger international setting, and, above all, its tortured effort to resolve issues of national identity. The argument here is not that the Russia of Putin and his successors must remain trapped by these historical patterns but that history allows for an assessment of how much or how little has changed in Russia's approach to the outside world and creates a foundation for identifying what must change if Russia is to evolve. A truly unique collection, this volume utilizes history to shed crucial light on Russia's complex, occasionally inscrutable relationship with the world. In so doing, it raises the broader issue of the relationship of history to the study of contemporary foreign policy and how these two enterprises might be better joined.
