Download or read book Post Soviet Chaos written by Joma Nazpary and published by Pluto Press (UK). This book was released on 2002 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Leading Marxist thinkers re-evaluate Trotsky's key theories -- an ideal introduction for students.
Download or read book Chaos Violence Dynasty written by Eric M. McGlinchey and published by University of Pittsburgh Pre. This book was released on 2011-09-30 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the post-Soviet era, democracy has made little progress in Central Asia. In Chaos, Violence, Dynasty, Eric McGlinchey presents a compelling comparative study of the divergent political courses taken by Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan in the wake of Soviet rule. McGlinchey examines economics, religion, political legacies, foreign investment, and the ethnicity of these countries to evaluate the relative success of political structures in each nation. McGlinchey explains the impact of Soviet policy on the region, from Lenin to Gorbachev. Ruling from a distance, a minimally invasive system of patronage proved the most successful over time, but planted the seeds for current "neo-patrimonial" governments. The level of direct Soviet involvement during perestroika was the major determinant in the stability of ensuing governments. Soviet manipulations of the politics of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan in the late 1980s solidified the role of elites, while in Kyrgyzstan the Soviets looked away as leadership crumbled during the ethnic riots of 1990. Today, Kyrgyzstan is the poorest and most politically unstable country in the region, thanks to a small, corrupt, and fractured political elite. In Uzbekistan, Islam Karimov maintains power through the brutal suppression of disaffected Muslims, who are nevertheless rising in numbers and influence. In Kazakhstan, a political machine fueled by oil wealth and patronage underlies the greatest economic equity in the region, and far less political violence. McGlinchey's timely study calls for a more realistic and flexible view of the successful aspects of authoritarian systems in the region that will be needed if there is to be any potential benefit from foreign engagement with the nations of Central Asia, and similar political systems globally.
Download or read book The Post Soviet Wars written by Christoph Zurcher and published by NYU Press. This book was released on 2009-09 with total page 302 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A brief history of the Caucusus region during and after the Post-Soviet Wars The Post-Soviet Wars is a comparative account of the organized violence in the Caucusus region, looking at four key areas: Chechnya, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Dagestan. Zürcher’s goal is to understand the origin and nature of the violence in these regions, the response and suppression from the post-Soviet regime and the resulting outcomes, all with an eye toward understanding why some conflicts turned violent, whereas others not. Notably, in Dagestan actual violent conflict has not erupted, an exception of political stability for the region. The book provides a brief history of the region, particularly the collapse of the Soviet Union and the resulting changes that took place in the wake of this toppling. Zürcher carefully looks at the conditions within each region—economic, ethnic, religious, and political—to make sense of why some turned to violent conflict and some did not and what the future of the region might portend. This important volume provides both an overview of the region that is both up-to-date and comprehensive as well as an accessible understanding of the current scholarship on mobilization and violence.
Download or read book Georgia Diary written by Thomas Goltz and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2006 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Soon after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Republic of Georgia fell prey to a series of power struggles. This work provides details about the struggles of this region of the former Soviet Union. Featuring portraits of individuals in high places and low, it traces the story from 1992 through the "Rose Revolution.
Download or read book Georgia Diary A Chronicle of War and Political Chaos in the Post Soviet Caucasus written by Thomas Goltz and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-03-04 with total page 513 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First Published in 2015. The author of the acclaimed Azerbaijan Diary and Chechnya Diary now recounts his experiences in the strife-ridden Republic of Georgia. Soon after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Republic of Georgia fell prey to a series of power struggles, rampant crime and corruption, secessionist wars, and the spillover of the war in neighboring Chechenya. Journalist Goltz traces these developments with the same kind of vivid, personal narrative that made his previous books so compelling. This fast-paced, first-person account is filled with fascinating details about the ongoing struggles of this little-known region of the former Soviet Union. Featuring memorable portraits of individuals in high places and low, it traces the story from 1992 through the Rose Revolution, the resignation of Eduard Shevardnadze, and the new presidency of U.S.-educated Mikhail Saakashvili.
Download or read book A Long Night of Chaos written by Paul Clark and published by Friston Books. This book was released on 2020-08-20 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Can one man stop a war? In the vacuum left by the collapse of Communism, long-suppressed national rivalries are poised to wreak havoc. A leading Communist contacts Olympic athlete Ruslan Shanidza and begs him to return to his newly-independent homeland and use his popularity among all ethnic groups to halt the slide to civil war. So begins a fraught peace mission that takes Ruslan deep into the conflict zone. But how far can he trust his Communist ally? What is his real agenda? And when everything starts to fall apart, the extremists who want a war move in for the kill... This second Ruslan Shanidza novel follows on from The Price of Dreams but can be enjoyed as a stand-alone. It is a political thriller that is rooted in time and place and reads like historical fiction. “Few novels start as savagely and alarmingly as this…The place is the northern Caucasus; the time the murderous period of chaos left by the collapse of the Soviet Union…Events in ‘Ksordia-Akhtaria’ are not only a guide to the recent past but – unhappily – to the bloodshed and intrigue of the likely future.” Neal Ascherson, author of Black Sea and The Polish August. “…melds themes of conflict, loss, and love in this politically charged thriller that arrests the reader’s attention from the first page…solid characters…the most endearing and relatable thing about them is their humanity…an exhilarating read” OnlineBookClub.org Official Review “An energetic continuation of the Ruslan Shanidza story from The Price of Dreams. Political intrigue, personal vendettas, believable characters, interesting plot twists.” EP Goodreads Reviewer
Download or read book Post Soviet Chaos written by Joma Nazpary and published by Pluto Press. This book was released on 2001-11-20 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the 1990s the former states of the Soviet Union underwent dramatic and revolutionary changes. As a result of enforced, neo-liberal reforms the fledgling republics were exposed to the familiar effects of globalised capital. Focusing on Kazakhstan, where violence and corruption are now facts of everyday life, Joma Nazpary examines the impact of the new capitalism on the people of Central Asia. Using in-depth interviews and material gathered over more than a year's fieldwork, Nazpary explores the responses of the dispossessed to their dispossession. He uncovers the construction of 'imagined communities', grounded in Soviet nostalgia, which serve to resist the economic order, as well as the more practical survival strategies, especially of women, often forced into prostitution where they are subject to violence and stigma. By revealing the extent to which Kazakh society has disintegrated and the cultural responses to it, Nazpary argues that dispossession has been a stronger unifying force than even ethnicity or religion. Comparing the effects of neo-liberal reforms in Kazakhstan with those in other regions, he concludes that causes, forms and consequences of dispossession in Kazakhstan are particular instances of a much wider global trend.
Download or read book A Long Night of Chaos written by Paul Clark and published by Independently Published. This book was released on 2022-01-05 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Can one man stop a war? In the vacuum left by the break-up of the Soviet Union, long-suppressed national rivalries are poised to wreak havoc. A leading Communist contacts Olympic hero Ruslan Shanidza. He begs him to use his popularity among different ethnic groups to halt the slide to civil war. So begins a fraught peace mission that takes Ruslan deep into the conflict zone. But how far can he trust his Communist ally? What is his real agenda? And how can Ruslan protect himself against the brutal fanatics on both sides who want him out of the way so they can get on with their war? This exhilarating political thriller is full of intrigue and unexpected twists. It follows on from The Price of Dreams but can be enjoyed without reading the first book. "Few novels start as savagely and alarmingly as this...The place is the northern Caucasus; the time the murderous period of chaos left by the collapse of the Soviet Union...Events in 'Ksordia-Akhtaria' are not only a guide to the recent past but - unhappily - to the bloodshed and intrigue of the likely future." Neal Ascherson, author of Black Sea and The Polish August. "...melds themes of conflict, loss, and love in this politically charged thriller that arrests the reader's attention from the first page...solid characters...the most endearing and relatable thing about them is their humanity...an exhilarating read" OnlineBookClub.org Official Review
Download or read book Post Soviet Political Order written by Barnett Rubin and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2002-11-01 with total page 210 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Post-Soviet Political Order asks what is shaping the institutional pattern of the post-Soviet political order, what the new order will be like, what patterns of conflict are emerging, and what can be done about stabilising the region. In considering these questions the contributors converge on four common themes: * the institutional legacy of empire * the social processes unleashed by imperial collapse * patterns of bargaining within and between states to resolve conflicts arising out of the imperial collapse * the impact of the wider international setting on the pattern of post-imperial politics Focusing on the former Soviet Union and Eastern European countries, the contributors show how strong state institutions are essential if conflict and political instability are to be avoided.
Download or read book Crises in the Post Soviet Space written by Felix Jaitner and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2018-06-13 with total page 461 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The breakup of the Soviet Union led to the creation of new states and territorial conflicts of different levels of intensity. Scrutinising the post‐Soviet period, this volume offers explanations for both the frequency and the intensity of crises in the region. This book argues that the societies which emerged in the post-Soviet space share characteristic features, and that the instability and conflict-prone nature of the Soviet Union’s successor states can be explained by analysing the post-independence history of the region and linking it to the emergence of overlapping economic, political and violent crises (called 'Intersecting Crises Phenomena’). Transformation itself is shown to be a decisive process and, while acknowledging specific national and regional characteristics and differences, the authors demonstrate its shared impact. This comparison across countries and over time presents patterns of crisis and crisis management common to all the successor states. It disentangles the process, highlighting the multifaceted features of post-Soviet crises and draws upon the concept of crisis to determine the tipping points of post-Soviet development. Especially useful for scholars and students dealing with the Soviet successor states, this book should also prove interesting to those researching in the fields of communist and post‐communist Studies, Eurasian politics, international relations and peace and conflict studies.
Download or read book The Post Soviet States written by Graham Smith and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2024-11-01 with total page 277 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The collapse of the Soviet Union has engendered one of the most momentous and critical regional transformations of our tiomes through the formation and development of the post-Soviet states. This book explores the politics of post-Soviet transition and the problems which will continue to face these states well into the twenty-first century, as they struggle towards democracy, market reform, ethnic co-existance and integration into a new geoplolitical post-Cold War world order. Richly illustrated with examples drawn from Russian and other post-Soviet primary sources, the author focuses on three broad themes of transition. Firstly, the progression from colonialism to post-colonialism and the consquences of such changes on national identity and the redefinition of national homeland. Secondly, the movement away from totalitarian rule and the factors which both facilitate and challenge the prospects of a democratic future. Thirdly, the process of securing a successful place in the global capitalist economy.
Download or read book Lost and Found in Russia written by Susan Richards and published by Other Press, LLC. This book was released on 2010-12-07 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: After the fall of communism, Russia was in a state of shock. The sudden and dramatic change left many people adrift and uncertain—but also full of a tentative but tenacious hope. Returning again and again to the provincial hinterlands of this rapidly evolving country from 1992 to 2008, Susan Richards struck up some extraordinary friendships with people in the middle of this historical drama. Anna, a questing journalist, struggles to express her passionate spirituality within the rules of the new society. Natasha, a restless spirit, has relocated from Siberia in a bid to escape the demands of her upper-class family and her own mysterious demons. Tatiana and Misha, whose business empire has blossomed from the ashes of the Soviet Union, seem, despite their luxury, uneasy in this new world. Richards watches them grow and change, their fortunes rise and fall, their hopes soar and crash. Through their stories and her own experiences, Susan Richards demonstrates how in Russia, the past and the present cannot be separated. She meets scientists convinced of the existence of UFOs and mind-control warfare. She visits a cult based on working the land and a tiny civilization founded on the practices of traditional Russian Orthodoxy. Gangsters, dreamers, artists, healers, all are wondering in their own ways, “Who are we now if we’re not communist? What does it mean to be Russian?” This remarkable history of contemporary Russia holds a mirror up to a forgotten people. Lost and Found in Russia is a magical and unforgettable portrait of a society in transition.
Download or read book The Piratization of Russia written by Marshall I. Goldman and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2003-04-10 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1991, a small group of Russians emerged from the collapse of the Soviet Union and enjoyed one of the greatest transfers of wealth ever seen, claiming ownership of some of the most valuable petroleum, natural gas and metal deposits in the world. By 1997, five of those individuals were on Forbes Magazine's list of the world's richest billionaires.
Download or read book Geopolitical Imagination written by Mikhail Suslov and published by BoD – Books on Demand. This book was released on 2020-11-02 with total page 302 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In his timely book, Mikhail Suslov discusses contemporary Russian geopolitical culture and argues that a better knowledge of geopolitical concepts and fantasies is instrumental for understanding Russia’s policies. Specifically, he analyzes such concepts as “Eurasianism,” “Holy Russia,” “Russian civilization,” “Russia as a continent,” “Novorossia,” and others. He demonstrates that these concepts reached unprecedented ascendance in the Russian public debates, tending to overshadow other political and domestic discussions. Suslov argues that the geopolitical imagination, structured by these concepts, defines the identity of post-Soviet Russia, while this complex of geopolitical representations engages, at the same time, with the broader, international criticism of the Western liberal world order and aligns itself with the conservative defense of cultural authenticity across the globe. Geopolitical ideologies and utopias discussed in the book give the post-Soviet political mainstream the intellectual instruments to think about Russia’s exclusion—imaginary or otherwise—from the processes of a global world which is re-shaping itself after the end of the Cold War; they provide tools to construct the self-perception of Russia as a sovereign great-power, a self-sufficient civilization, and as one of the poles in a multipolar world; and they help to establish the Messianic vision of Russia as the beacon of order, tradition, and morality in a sea of chaos and corruption.
Download or read book The World in Transition written by Satyendra Kumar Singh and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With reference to Russia and Central Asia after the post-Soviet Union collapse.
Download or read book Age of Delirium written by David Satter and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2008-10-01 with total page 446 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first state in history to be based explicitly on atheism, the Soviet Union endowed itself with the attributes of God. In this book, David Satter shows through individual stories what it meant to construct an entire state on the basis of a false idea, how people were forced to act out this fictitious reality, and the tragic human cost of the Soviet attempt to remake reality by force. “I had almost given up hope that any American could depict the true face of Russia and Soviet rule. In David Satter’s Age of Delirium, the world has received a chronicle of the calvary of the Russian people under communism that will last for generations.†?—Vladimir Voinovich, author of The Life and Extraordinary Adventures of Private Ivan Chonkin “Spellbinding. . . . Gives one a visceral feel for what it was like to be trapped by the communist system.†?—Jack Matlock, Washington Post “Satter deserves our gratitude. . . . He is an astute observer of people, with an eye for essential detail and for human behavior in a universe wholly different from his own experience in America.†?—Walter Laqueur, Wall Street Journal “Every page of this splendid and eloquent and impassioned book reflects an extraordinarily acute understanding of the Soviet system.†?—Jacob Heilbrunn, Washington Times
Download or read book The Wild East written by Viktor Mikhaĭlovich Sergeev and published by M.E. Sharpe. This book was released on 1998 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A provocative analysis of the problem of all-pervasive corruption and surging violent crime in last Soviet and post-Soviet Russia. Victor Sergeyev asks how it is possible to label and control certain behaviors as deviant in a context where the legal and moral-ethical norms of a collapsed regime have been discredited but not replaced -- particularly when the elite of that failed regime, in league with a patently criminal element, is thriving in the new chaos.
