Download or read book Language Policy and Discourse on Languages in Ukraine Under President Viktor Yanukovych written by Michael Moser and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2014-04-15 with total page 507 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Declared the country's official language in 1996, Ukrainian has weathered constant challenges by post-Soviet political forces promoting Russian. Michael Moser provides the definitive account of the policies and ethno-political dynamics underlying this unique cultural struggle.
Download or read book The Un Polish Poland 1989 and the Illusion of Regained Historical Continuity written by Tomasz Kamusella and published by Springer. This book was released on 2017-08-21 with total page 155 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book discusses historical continuities and discontinuities between the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, interwar Poland, the Polish People’s Republic, and contemporary Poland. The year 1989 is seen as a clear point-break that allowed the Poles and their country to regain a ‘natural historical continuity’ with the ‘Second Republic,’ as interwar Poland is commonly referred to in the current Polish national master narrative. In this pattern of thinking about the past, Poland-Lithuania (nowadays roughly coterminous with Belarus, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia’s Kaliningrad Region and Ukraine) is seen as the ‘First Republic.’ However, in spite of this ‘politics of memory’ (Geschichtspolitik) – regarding its borders, institutions, law, language, or ethnic and social makeup – present-day Poland, in reality, is the direct successor to and the continuation of communist Poland. Ironically, today’s Poland is very different, in all the aforementioned aspects, from the First and Second Republics. Hence, contemporary Poland is quite un-Polish, indeed, from the perspective of Polishness defined as a historical (that is, legal, social, cultural, ethnic and political) continuity of Poland-Lithuania and interwar Poland.
Download or read book Our Glorious Past written by David Marples and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2014-09-01 with total page 437 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book History as Therapy Alternative History and Nationalist Imaginings in Russia written by Konstantin Sheiko and published by ibidem-Verlag / ibidem Press. This book was released on 2014-05-01 with total page 245 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This astonishing book explores the delusional imaginings of Russia's past by the pseudo-scientific 'Alternative History' movement. Despite the chaotic collapse of two empires in the last century, Russia's glorious imperial past continues to inspire millions. The lively movement of 'Alternative History', diligently re-writing Russia's past and 'rediscovering' its hidden greatness, has been growing dramatically since the collapse of Communism in 1991. Virtually unknown in the West, these pseudo-historians have published best-selling books, attracted widespread media attention, and are a prominent voice in Internet discussions about Russian and world history. Alternative History claims that Russia is much older than Ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome; that the medieval Mongol Empire was in fact a Slav-Turk world empire; and that, in the twentieth century, duplicitous foreign powers stabbed Russia in the back and stole its empire. For its followers the key to Russia's greatness in the future lies in ensuring that Russians understand the true wealth of their past. Alternative history has become a popular therapy for Russians still coming to terms with the reality of Post-Soviet life. It is one of the forces shaping a new Russian nationalism and an important factor in the geopolitics of the twenty-first century.
Download or read book The Quest for an Ideal Youth in Putin s Russia I written by Ivo Mijnssen and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2014-04-15 with total page 269 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book analyzes the dubious role of the Democratic Antifascist Youth Movement "Nashi" in contemporary Russia. Part of the Putinist project of political stabilization, Nashi mobilizes young Russians through its emotional appeal, skillful use of symbolic politics, and promise of professional self-realization.
Download or read book Filming the Unfilmable written by Ben Hellmann and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2014-04-01 with total page 278 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume shares the fascinating story of the cinematic adaptation of one of the world’s most influential novels. An all-encompassing account of the film’s production and reception, the account is filled with little-known facts and valuable insight into Solzhenitsyn’s complex relationship with filmmaking.
Download or read book The Moscow Bombings of September 1999 written by John Dunlop and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2014-04-15 with total page 295 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The five chapters of this volume focus on the complex and tumultuous events occurring in Russia during the five months from May through September 1999. They sparked the Russian invasion of Chechnya on 1 October and vaulted a previously unknown former KGB agent into the post of Russian prime minister and, ultimately, president. The five chapters are devoted to: ? The intense political struggle taking place in Russia between May and August of 1999, culminating in an incursion by armed Islamic separatists into the Republic of Dagestan.? Two Moscow terrorist bombings of 9 and 13 September 1999, claiming the lives of 224 Muscovites and preparing the psychological and political ground for a full-blown invasion of Chechnya.? The so-called Ryazan Incident of 22 September 1999, when eyewitnesses observed officers of the FSB special forces placing a live bomb in the basement of an apartment building in the town of Rzayan.? The detonation of a powerful truck bomb outside of an apartment house in Buinaksk, Dagestan, on 4 September 1999, which took the lives of fifty-eight innocent victims.? The explosion on 16 September 1999 of a truck bomb in the city of Volgdonsk in southern Russia, which killed eighteen persons and seriously wounded eighty-nine
Download or read book Russia and the EU in a Multipolar World written by Andrey Makarychev and published by ibidem-Verlag / ibidem Press. This book was released on 2014-11-01 with total page 223 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This timely book offers a multifaceted analysis of EU-Russian relations, drawing on the investigation of competing models of international society. Makarychev argues that the huge variety of interest-based and normative models is best explained through the study of foreign policy and identity discourses. His approach defies simplistic explanations of EU-Russian relations as either destined for cooperation or doomed to constant collisions. Instead, Makarychev unveils multiple alternatives that both the EU and Russia face in their policies toward each other. Assessing the repercussions ongoing EU-Russian discord has on Europe and the world, Makarychev's volume reveals the interconnectedness of the discourses dominating the EU and Russia while also accounting for the deep-seated disconnect between them.
Download or read book Rocking St Petersburg Transcultural Flows and Identity Politics in Post Soviet Popular Music written by David-Emil Wickström and published by ibidem-Verlag / ibidem Press. This book was released on 2014-06-01 with total page 375 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this remarkable book, David-Emil Wickström traces the transcultural flow of popular music production emanating from St. Petersburg, a central hub of the Russian music scene. With a specific focus on the post-Soviet emigrant community in Germany and their event 'Russendisko', Wickström – himself a trumpet player in two local bands – explores St. Petersburg's vibrant music scene, which provides an electrifying platform for musical exchange. The findings shed a new light on Soviet and post-Soviet popular music history and even Russia's relationship to Ukraine. Wickström demonstrates the filtering processes embedded in transcultural flows and how music is attributed new meanings within new contexts. This innovative book not only promotes a deeper understanding of the role of popular music in society, it also enables a better comprehension of cultural processes in the second decade after the fall of the Soviet Union."
Download or read book Alexander Solzhenitsyn Cold War Icon Gulag Author Russian Nationalist written by Elisa Kriza and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2014-10-01 with total page 311 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Moscow Bombings of September 1999 written by John B Dunlop and published by BoD – Books on Demand. This book was released on 2014-02-01 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The five chapters contained in this volume focus on the complex and tumultuous events occurring in Russia during the five months from May through September 1999. They sparked the Russian invasion of Chechnya on 1 October and vaulted a previously unknown former KGB agent into the post of Russian prime minister and, ultimately, president. The five chapters are devoted to: • The intense political struggle taking place in Russia between May and August of 1999, culminating in an incursion by armed Islamic separatists into the Republic of Dagestan. • Two Moscow terrorist bombings of 9 and 13 September 1999, claiming the lives of 224 Muscovites and preparing the psychological and political ground for a full-blown invasion of Chechnya. • The so-called Ryazan Incident of 22 September 1999, when eyewitnesses observed officers of the FSB special forces placing a live bomb in the basement of an apartment building in the town of Rzayan. • The detonation of a powerful truck bomb outside of an apartment house in Buinaksk, Dagestan, on 4 September 1999, which took the lives of fifty-eight innocent victims. • The explosion on 16 September 1999 of a truck bomb in the city of Volgdonsk in southern Russia, which killed eighteen persons and seriously wounded eighty-nine
Download or read book Limits of a Post Soviet State written by Abel Polese and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2016-05-03 with total page 259 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Though informed by case studies conducted in Ukraine, this book transcends its country-specific scope. It explains why informality in governance is not necessarily transitory or temporary but a constant in most political systems. The book discusses self-protective mechanisms, responses to incomplete or unfocused policy making, and strategies employed by individuals, classes, and communities to respond to unusual demands. The book argues that when state or company expectations exceed normative behavior, informal behavior continues to thrive. New tactics help cope with the reality of governance. Informality also challenges the values imposed by power through attitudes and behaviors that take place "beyond" or "in spite of" the state.
Download or read book Migrant Friendships in a Super Diverse City written by Darya Malyutina and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2015-10-01 with total page 173 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This timely book offers an integrative and critical approach to the conceptualization of diversity of social ties in contemporary urban migrant populations. It explores the informal relationships of migrants in London and how the construction and the dynamics of their social ties function as a part of urban sociality within the super-diversity of London.Based on the results of a qualitative study of Russian-speaking migrants, it targets the four main themes of transnationalism, ethnicity, cosmopolitanization, and friendship. Acknowledging the complexity of the ways in which contemporary migrants rely on social relationships, the author argues that this complexity cannot be fully grasped by theories of transnationalism or explanations of ethnic communities alone. Instead, one can gather a closer understanding of migrant sociality when adding the analysis of informal relationships in different locations and with different subjects. This book suggests that friendship should be seen as an important concept for all research on migrant social connections.
Download or read book Das sowjetische Fieber written by Manfred Zeller and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2015-08-01 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What did the citizens of the Soviet Union identify with? Where did the societal faultlines lie? Did mass demonstrations effectively de-stabilize Soviet order? How did informal groups come into being within a society based on uniformity? What impact did new media and new forms of interconnectivity have on the development of a multinational Soviet society? What remained after the end of the Soviet Union?Using Soviet soccer teams from Moscow (Spartak, Dynamo, ZSKA) and Kiev (Dynamo) as examples, Manfred Zeller tells a story of community and enmity in the post-Stalinist multinational empire. This brilliant monograph exposes the complex loyalties that governed group identities and explains phenomena like the love-hate relationship between Kiev and Moscow.'Moscow against Kiev' in Soviet times wasn't a question of war and peace, but in soccer it was already a feeling of 'us against them' and a question of victory or defeat in the complex multinational setting of the region.Zeller's book is an important contribution to the research of Soviet pop culture after Stalin as well as to contemporary debates on antagonism in the post-Soviet world.
Download or read book Changing Images of the Left in Bulgaria written by Boris Popivanov and published by BoD – Books on Demand. This book was released on 2015-08-01 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Is Bulgaria's Left heading towards decomposition or to a new identity? Popivanov offers an excellent analytical answer."?Georgi Karasimeonov, Professor of Political Science at Sofia University
Download or read book Setting Signs for Europe written by Bernd Kappenberg and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2014-04-01 with total page 307 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: More than 20 years have passed since the introduction of the Universal Character Set. However, legacy applications still sometimes cannot even render German umlauts correctly. Part of this problem is a hidden political agenda: Consciously or unconsciously, patterns of the Cold War are continued in the interaction between Western and Eastern European languages. This book examines the current use of diacritical marks in Western Europe, such as the use of names from Slavic languages in electronic data processing systems. The role of the media as multiplier receives particular attention, with most error examples taken from actual media coverage.Considering international, EU, and national law and referring to ground-breaking court decisions, Kappenberg answers the question: 'Is there a right to diacritical marks in people's names?' This is followed by a description of current practice in several European countries.Finally, Setting Signs for Europe answers the question how in the framework of the EU's multilingualism policy effective approaches can be created to raise awareness among software vendors, the media, government agencies, and individuals regarding the correct handling of diacritics. Kappenberg also assesses the use of diacritics as a style element and offers an improved input method for diacritics.
Download or read book Geopolitical Rivalries in the Common Neighborhood written by Vasif Huseynov and published by BoD – Books on Demand. This book was released on 2019-11-20 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This timely book analyses ‘soft power’ in the light of neoclassical realist premises as part of the foreign policy toolkit of great powers to expand their sphere of influence. Vasif Huseynov argues that if nuclear armed great powers compete against the same type of powers to expand or sustain their sphere of influence over a populated region, they use soft power as a major expansive instrument while military power remains a tool to defend themselves and back up their foreign policies. Presenting his model of soft power, the author explores the role of soft power projection by great powers in the formation of the external alignment of regional states. He focuses on the rivalries between Russia and the West (i.e. the EU and the USA) over the states located between the EU and Russia (the region known as the “common [or shared] neighborhood”) and on two of these regional states (Ukraine and Belarus) to test his hypotheses.
