In the absence of democratic state institutions, eastern European countries were considered to possess only myths of democracy. Working on the premise that democracy is not only an institutional arrangement but also a civilisational project, this book argues that mythical narratives help understanding the emergence of democracy without 'democrats'. Examining different national traditions as well as pre-communist and communist narratives, myths are seen as politically fabricated 'programmes of truth' that form and sustain the political imagination. Appearing as cultural, literary, or...
In the absence of democratic state institutions, eastern European countries were considered to possess only myths of democracy. Working on the prem...
This book, based on extensive original research in previously unexplored sources, including the party archives, provides a great deal of new information on the disintegration of the Soviet communist party, in 1991 and the preceding years. It argues that, contrary to prevailing views, the party was reformable in late Soviet times, but that attempts to reform it failed: reforms succeeded in preventing the party interfering in the state body, and thereby abolished the party's traditional administrative functions, but without creating an alternative power centre, and without transforming the...
This book, based on extensive original research in previously unexplored sources, including the party archives, provides a great deal of new inform...
The Russian revolution of 1917 was a defining event of the twentieth century, and its achievements and failures remain controversial in the twenty-first. This book focuses on the retreat from the revolution's aims in 1920-24, after the civil war and at the start of the New Economic Policy - and specifically, on the turbulent relationship between the working class and the Communist Party in those years. It is based on extensive original research of the actions and reactions of the party leadership and ranks, of dissidents and members of other parties, and of trade union activists and...
The Russian revolution of 1917 was a defining event of the twentieth century, and its achievements and failures remain controversial in the twenty-...
Written by an acknowledged expert in the area, this book investigates how Russia has manipulated the energy dependency of its neighbours on Russian energy supplies to achieve its foreign policy goals, focusing in particular on relations with the Ukraine.
Written by an acknowledged expert in the area, this book investigates how Russia has manipulated the energy dependency of its neighbours on Russian...
This book explores developments in the Russian mass media since the collapse of the USSR in 1991. Complementing and building upon its companion volume, Television and Culture in Putin's Russia: Remote Control, it traces the tensions resulting from the effective return to state-control under Putin of a mass media privatised and accorded its first, limited, taste of independence in the Yeltsin period. It surveys the key developments in Russian media since 1991, including the printed press, television and new media, and investigates the contradictions of the post-Soviet media market...
This book explores developments in the Russian mass media since the collapse of the USSR in 1991. Complementing and building upon its companion vol...
Minority rights is an important issue in all modern states, but for those countries hoping to join the European Union the protection of minorities is a key condition for success in the accession process. This book provides a comprehensive assessment of minority rights in Central and Eastern Europe, covering all the countries of the region that have joined the EU since 2004, including Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovenia, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Slovakia, Romania and Bulgaria. For each country it outlines the major developments since 1989, highlights the salient issues in minority...
Minority rights is an important issue in all modern states, but for those countries hoping to join the European Union the protection of minorities ...
The traditional view that the rise of Western theoretical thought in the 1960s and 1970s could be traced back to the Soviet 1920s, once accepted in Russia and the West alike because it directly associated the academic prestige of contemporary Western theory with the intellectual climate of post-revolutionary Russia, is increasingly challenged today. With the gradual retreat in recent years of theory from the high ground of the Western humanities, new work has emerged to suggest unexpected parallels and to undermine others.
This book, with contributions from some of the most visible...
The traditional view that the rise of Western theoretical thought in the 1960s and 1970s could be traced back to the Soviet 1920s, once accepted in...
The Socialist Revolutionary party, which had been the largest and most popular party in Russia in 1917, did not after the October Revolution just disappear into the "dustbin of history," as Trotsky hoped, but - led by its leadership in exile in the 1920s and 1930s - continued to observe and comment on developments in Russia.
In emigration, the Socialist Revolutionary (SR) party often put forward policy proposals on a wide range of topics: policies which, based on a shrewd understanding of the real situation in Russia, offered realistic alternatives to the policies being pursued by...
The Socialist Revolutionary party, which had been the largest and most popular party in Russia in 1917, did not after the October Revolution just d...
This book examines television culture in Russia under the Putin government. It demonstrates how broadcasters have been enlisted in a national identity project to install a latter-day version of imperial pride in Russian military achievements, over which Putin’s government exerts a form of remote control.
This book examines television culture in Russia under the Putin government. It demonstrates how broadcasters have been enlisted in a national ident...
This book examines the development of big business in Russia since the onset of market oriented reform in the early 1990s. It explains how privatized post-Soviet enterprises, many of which made little sense as business units, were transformed into functional firms able to operate in the environment of a market economy. It provides detailed case studies of three key companies - Yukos Oil Company, Siberian (Russian) Aluminium and Norilsk Nickel - all of which played a key role in Russia's economic recovery after 1998, describing how these companies were created, run and have developed. It...
This book examines the development of big business in Russia since the onset of market oriented reform in the early 1990s. It explains how privatiz...
