Download or read book The Soviet Polity in the Modern Era written by Erik P. Hoffmann and published by Transaction Publishers. This book was released on with total page 964 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Soviet Polity in the Modern Era written by Erik P. Hoffmann and published by Aldine De Gruyter. This book was released on 1984-01 with total page 942 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Vodka Politics written by Mark Lawrence Schrad and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2014-02-05 with total page 514 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Russia is famous for its vodka, and its culture of extreme intoxication. But just as vodka is central to the lives of many Russians, it is also central to understanding Russian history and politics. In Vodka Politics, Mark Lawrence Schrad argues that debilitating societal alcoholism is not hard-wired into Russians' genetic code, but rather their autocratic political system, which has long wielded vodka as a tool of statecraft. Through a series of historical investigations stretching from Ivan the Terrible through Vladimir Putin, Vodka Politics presents the secret history of the Russian state itself-a history that is drenched in liquor. Scrutinizing (rather than dismissing) the role of alcohol in Russian politics yields a more nuanced understanding of Russian history itself: from palace intrigues under the tsars to the drunken antics of Soviet and post-Soviet leadership, vodka is there in abundance. Beyond vivid anecdotes, Schrad scours original documents and archival evidence to answer provocative historical questions. How have Russia's rulers used alcohol to solidify their autocratic rule? What role did alcohol play in tsarist coups? Was Nicholas II's ill-fated prohibition a catalyst for the Bolshevik Revolution? Could the Soviet Union have become a world power without liquor? How did vodka politics contribute to the collapse of both communism and public health in the 1990s? How can the Kremlin overcome vodka's hurdles to produce greater social well-being, prosperity, and democracy into the future? Viewing Russian history through the bottom of the vodka bottle helps us to understand why the "liquor question" remains important to Russian high politics even today-almost a century after the issue had been put to bed in most every other modern state. Indeed, recognizing and confronting vodka's devastating political legacies may be the greatest political challenge for this generation of Russia's leadership, as well as the next.
Download or read book Rethinking the Soviet Experience written by Stephen F. Cohen and published by New York : Oxford University Press. This book was released on 1986 with total page 239 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Written in 1985, this book cuts through the Cold War stereotypes of the Soviet Union to arrive at fresh interpretations of that country's traumatic history and later political realities. The author probes Soviet history, society, and politics to explain how the U.S.S.R. remained stable from revolution through the mid-1980s.
Download or read book Journal of Soviet and Post Soviet Politics and Society written by Julie Makarychev, Andrey Umland, Andreas Fedor and published by BoD – Books on Demand. This book was released on 2020-10-20 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book Understanding Soviet Politics written by Cyril E. Black and published by Westview Press. This book was released on 1986-11-10 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: To what extent did the Russian revolution of 1917 bring about the changes wanted by the Bolsheviks? Why did many of these changes fail to materialize? How has the Russian heritage adapted to the challenges facing all modernizing societies? What does Russia's past tell us about the present role of the USSR in world affairs? In this collection of essays, which includes new part and chapter introductions, Dr. Black discusses these questions, examining the major issues that shape our understanding of Soviet politics. Beginning with a general exploration of the ways the traditional heritage of the Russian empire has both helped and hindered the adaptation of Soviet society to the contemporary world, he illustrates the extent to which the Russian empire was already evolving into a modern society before World War I. The author analyzes the modernization of the USSR, emphasizing the interaction of tradition and modernity and the ways the Russian heritage of institutions and values has been adapted since 1861 to the needs of political development, economic growth, and social integration. Comparisons are made with a wide range of societies, first in 1967 the fiftieth anniversary of the Russian revolution and again in the 1980s. The book considers the past and present relations of Russia/USSR with the outside world in the context of universal societal changes. Dr. Black discusses such questions as the differences between the foreign policy objectives of Czarist Russia and the Soviet Union; the degree to which Russia/USSR has been able to influence other countries through means other than military power; and, drawing on his experience in Bulgaria, the origins of the cold war. The book concludes with Dr. Black's personal interview with Nikita Khrushchev, a discussion that provides rare insights into the thought processes of a leading Soviet statesman at the height of his power.
Download or read book Perestroika Era Politics The New Soviet Legislature and Gorbachev s Political Reforms written by Robert T. Huber and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-09-16 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is an evaluation of the new legislative politics in the Soviet Union. The contributors examine the uneven progress of electoral and constitutional reform, the composition, organisation, staffing and procedures of the Congress of People's Deputies and the Supreme Soviet, the development of factions, movements and parties on the left, on the right, and of the nationalist bent, the path of executive-legislative relations and case studies of the role of the legislature on domestic and foreign policy realms. This book should prove of interest to students of Soviet politics, political parties, and legislative politics, as well as for anyone interested in the struggle of political ideas, forces, and institutions in the USSR today.
Download or read book Russia and the Soviet Union written by John M. Thompson and published by ReadHowYouWant.com. This book was released on 2011-05 with total page 746 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This lucid account of Russian and Soviet history presents major trends and events from ancient Kievan Rus' to Vladimir Putin's presidency of the twenty-first century. Now thoroughly revised and updated, Russia and the Soviet Union addresses controversial topics, including the impact of the Mongol conquest, the paradoxes of Peter the Great, the ''inevitability'' of the 1917 Revolution, the Stalinist terror, and the Gorbachev reform effort. The sixth edition includes a new chapter on Vladimir Putin, additional treatment of social and foreign policy issues, and an updated chapter on post-Soviet Russia and the Yeltsin era. Distinguished by its brevity and amply supplemented with useful maps, illustrations, photos, and suggested readings, this essential text provides balanced coverage of all periods of Russian history and incorporates economic, social, and cultural developments as well as politics and foreign policy.
Download or read book Soviet Foreign Policy in a Changing World written by Robbin Frederick Laird and published by Transaction Publishers. This book was released on with total page 998 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This anthology provides readers with a broad overview of the sources, substance, and significance of Soviet foreign policy in the contemporary period. It covers both the legacies of the tsarist and Stalinist eras and the motivations and priorities of present-day Soviet leaders. Included are sizable sections on the policy-making process and military power, as well as Soviet relations with the U.S., Western and Eastern Europe, the Far East, and the Third World. Divergent viewpoints are expressed throughout; future prospects and directions for Soviet foreign policy are also discussed. The emphasis of this collection is practical and policy-oriented. The contributors are distinguished present and recent officials of the U.S. government, scholars, and full-time researchers in government advisory agencies. All are from the U.S., Canada, and Europe. Their essays are insightful and empirically grounded, some revised and tipdated specifically for this collection, while three (Goodson and Schultz, Herspring, and Leighton) are published here for the first time. The collection provides a comprehensive view of contemporary Soviet behavior in international affairs while reflecting the concerns of Americans both inside and outside of government who help formulate and implement U.S. policy toward the Soviet Union. As with its companion volumes--"The Sovief Polity in the Modern Era "(Aldine, 1984) and "The Conduct of Soviet Foreign Policy "(Aldine, 1980)--"Soviet Foreign Policy in a Changing World "will become an important text in Soviet studies, and will be of interest to government officials and the general reader with an interest in Soviet studies as well.
Download or read book The Russian Empire 1450 1801 written by Nancy Shields Kollmann and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2017 with total page 512 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Modern Russian identity and historical experience has been largely shaped by Russia's imperial past: an empire that was founded in the early modern era and endures in large part today. The Russian Empire 1450-1801 surveys how the areas that made up the empire were conquered and how they were governed. It considers the Russian empire a 'Eurasian empire', characterized by a 'politics of difference': the rulers and their elites at the center defined the state's needs minimally - with control over defense, criminal law, taxation, and mobilization of resources - and otherwise tolerated local religions, languages, cultures, elites, and institutions. The center related to communities and religions vertically, according each a modicum of rights and autonomies, but didn't allow horizontal connections across nobilities, townsmen, or other groups potentially with common interests to coalesce. Thus, the Russian empire was multi-ethnic and multi-religious; Nancy Kollmann gives detailed attention to the major ethnic and religious groups, and surveys the government's strategies of governance - centralized bureaucracy, military reform, and a changed judicial system. The volume pays particular attention to the dissemination of a supranational ideology of political legitimacy in a variety of media - written sources and primarily public ritual, painting, and particularly architecture. Beginning with foundational features, such as geography, climate, demography, and geopolitical situation, The Russian Empire 1450-1801 explores the empire's primarily agrarian economy, serfdom, towns and trade, as well as the many religious groups - primarily Orthodoxy, Islam, and Buddhism. It tracks the emergence of an 'Imperial nobility' and a national self-consciousness that was, by the end of the eighteenth century, distinctly imperial, embracing the diversity of the empire's many peoples and cultures.
Download or read book Revelations from the Russian Archives written by Diane P. Koenker and published by . This book was released on 2011-03-01 with total page 836 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Khrushchev in the Kremlin written by Jeremy Smith and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2011-01-25 with total page 270 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book presents a new picture of the politics, economics and process of government in the Soviet Union under the leadership of Nikita Khrushchev. Based in large part on original research in recently declassified archive collections, the book examines the full complexity of government, and provides an overview of the internal development of the Soviet Union in this period, locating it in the broader context of Soviet history.
Download or read book Soviet Politics 1917 1991 written by Mary McAuley and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 1992 with total page 132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the space of mere months in 1991, the Soviet Union saw an attempted coup fail, Gorbachev leave office, the Baltic states acquire independence, Leningrad vote to rename itself St Petersburg, the Communist Party disband, and the Russian flag fly over the Kremlin. One of the world's great powers--a country of some 200 nationalities stretching across a dozen time zones--had simply disintegrated, ending an epoch in world history. Now, for the first time, we are able to look back and assess the complete 75 year experiment with communism. Based on extensive research and a first-hand knowledge of the Soviet system, Soviet Politics: 1917-1991 offers an authoritative and lively history of the entire spectrum of Soviet politics, from the October Revolution and the rise of Lenin to the emergence of the Commonwealth of Independent States. McAuley ranges from the Revolution to the unprecedented crash industrialization and social mobility, to dictatorship and mass terror under Stalin, to conservative state control under Krushchev, Kosygin, and Brezhnev, and finally to the swift collapse of the state. The author offers a particularly stimulating analysis of the developments that brought an end to communist party rule and the breakup of the Soviet Union. She describes, for instance, how the 1989 elections undermined the Communist Party's assumption of unqualified popular support (Yeltsin, the bete noire of the Moscow party, was swept in, and Soloviev, a deputy member of the Politburo, who ran unopposed in Leningrad, failed to garner 50% of the vote). She shows how the Congress of that year, televised nationally, revealed to a wrapt nation a Party no longer solidly united behind one stand, where deputies openly criticized the government, the KGB, and the Afghan war. And she paints a striking portrait of Gorbachev trying to reconcile irreconcilable interests, to heal the rift between Democrats and Party conservatives, as the center began to unravel. By the end of 1991, the USSR was gone forever, with momentous and unpredictable consequences not only for the peoples of the former Soviet Union, but for the world as a whole. Soviet Politics helps readers make sense of the developments since 1985, showing how and why the system fell apart. It will interest anyone wanting a full understanding of current world events.
Download or read book The Estate Origins of Democracy in Russia written by Tomila V. Lankina and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2021-12-16 with total page 497 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A devastating challenge to the idea of communism as a 'great leveller', this extraordinarily original, rigorous, and ambitious book debunks Marxism-inspired accounts of its equalitarian consequences. It is the first study systematically to link the genesis of the 'bourgeoisie-cum-middle class' – Imperial, Soviet, and post-communist – to Tzarist estate institutions which distinguished between nobility, clergy, the urban merchants and meshchane, and peasants. It demonstrates how the pre-communist bourgeoisie, particularly the merchant and urban commercial strata but also the high human capital aristocracy and clergy, survived and adapted in Soviet Russia. Under both Tzarism and communism, the estate system engendered an educated, autonomous bourgeoisie and professional class, along with an oppositional public sphere, and persistent social cleavages that continue to plague democratic consensus. This book also shows how the middle class, conventionally bracketed under one generic umbrella, is often two-pronged in nature – one originating among the educated estates of feudal orders, and the other fabricated as part of state-induced modernization.
Download or read book The Development of Capitalism in Russia written by Vladimir I. Lenin and published by . This book was released on 2004 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: CONTENTS The Development of Capitalism in Russia The Theoretical Mistakes of the Narodnik Economists The Differentiation of the Peasantry The Landowners' Transition from Corvée to Capitalist Economy The Growth of Commercial Agriculture The First Stages of Capitalism in Industry Capitalist Manufacture and Capitalist Domestic Industry The Development of Large-Scale Machine Industry The Formation of the Home Market
Download or read book Stalinism and the Politics of Mobilization Ideas Power and Terror in Inter war Russia written by David Priestland and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2007-02-01 with total page 512 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Stalinism and the Politics of Mobilization offers a new interpretation of Bolshevik ideology, examines its relationship with Soviet politics between 1917 and 1939, and sheds new light on the origins of the political violence of the late 1930s. While it challenges older views that the Stalinist system and the Terror were the product of a coherent Marxist-Leninist blueprint, imposed by a group of committed ideologues, it argues that ideas mattered in Bolshevik politics andthat there are strong continuities between the politics of the revolutionary period and those of the 1930s. By exploring divisions within the party over several issues, including class, the relations between elites and masses, and economic policy, David Priestland shows how a number of ideological trendsemerged within Bolshevik politics, and how they were related to political and economic interests and strategies. He also argues that central to the launching of the Terror was the leadership's commitment to a strategy of mobilization, and to a view of politics that ultimately derived from the left Bolshevism of the revolutionary period.
Download or read book Soviet Politics written by Richard Sakwa and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2012-11-12 with total page 362 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Soviet Politics in Perspective is a new edition of Richard Sakwas successful textbook Soviet Politics: an introduction. Thoroughly revised and updated it builds on the previous editions comprehensive and accessible exploration of the Soviet system, from its rise in 1919 to its collapse in 1991. The book is divided into five parts, which focus on key aspects of Soviet politics. They are: * historical perspectives, beginning with the Tsarist regime on the eve of Revolution, the rise and development of Stalinism, through to the decline of the regime under Brezhnev and his successors and Gorbachev's attempts to revive the system * institutions of Government, such as the Communist Party, security apparatus, the military, the justice system, local government and participation * theoretical approaches to Soviet politics, including class and gender politics, the role of ideology and the shift from dissent to pluralism * key policy areas: the command economy and reform; nationality politics; and foreign and defence policy * an evaluation of Soviet rule, and reasons for its collapse. Providing key texts and bibliographies, this book offers the complete history and politics of the Soviet period in a single volume. It will be indispensable to students of Soviet and post-Soviet politics as well as the interested general reader.
