The attitude of Russia towards climate change is extremely important for the success of climate change control policies worldwide, as Russia, with its cold climate and vast resources of carbon fuels, is one of the world's biggest polluters. Moreover, Russia frequently comes across as not being very interested in containing environmental pollution. This book explores how issues to do with climate change are handled by the Russian media. It discusses how the state and economic elites have influenced Russia's environmental communication, with the state's control of the media strengthening...

This book traces the life of free speech in Russia from the final years of the Soviet Union to the present. It shows how long-cherished hopes for an open society in which people would speak freely and tell truth to power fared under Gorbachev s glasnost; how free speech was a real, if fractured, achievement of Yeltsin s years in power; and how easy it was for Putin to reverse these newly won freedoms, imposing a patrimonial media that sits comfortably with old autocratic and feudal traditions. The book explores why this turn seemed so inexorable and now seems so entrenched. It examines the...

Although the presidency of Dmitry Medvedev is often seen as a continuation of Vladimir Putin's presidency, with the same policies applied in the same way, this book disagrees, arguing that Medvedev's foreign policy was significantly different from Putin's. The book considers especially the relationship between Russia and the Euro-Atlantic security configuration, including both NATO and the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, a relationship of great importance to Russia, given constant attention. It discusses a wide variety of issues, including "frozen conflicts,"...

The revolutionary movements in late tsarist Russia inspired a reaction by groups on the right. Although these groups were ostensibly defending the status quo, they were in fact, as this book argues, very radical in many ways. This book discusses these radical rightist groups, showing how they developed considerable popular appeal across the whole Russian Empire, securing support from a wide cross-section of society. The book considers the nature and organisation of the groups, their ideologies and polices on particular issues and how they changed over time. The book concludes by examining...

Alongside the Arab Spring, the 'Occupy' anti-capitalist movements in the West, and the events on the Maidan in Kiev, Russia has had its own protest movements, notably the political protests of 2011-12. As elsewhere in the world, these protests had unlikely origins, in Russia's case spearheaded by the 'creative class'. This book examines the protest movements in Russia. It discusses the artistic traditions from which the movements arose; explores the media, including the internet, film, novels and fashion, through which the protesters have expressed themselves; and considers the outcome of...

This book revisits many aspects of current social science theories, such as actor-network theory and the French school of science and technology studies, to test how the theories apply in a specific situation, in this case after 1991 in the city of Cherepovets in Russia, home of Russia s second biggest steel producer, Severstal. Using political philosophy to analyse the down-to-earth details of the real techno-scientific problems facing the world, the book examines the role of things - and urban infrastructure in particular - in political change. It considers how the city s infrastructure,...

This book explores the phenomena of both Political Catholicism and the growth of Euroscepticism across Eastern and Western Europe. It focuses in particular on Political Catholicism in Poland, but sets this in its wider European context. It examines the nature of Political Catholicism as a political movement, discusses the circumstances in which Political Catholicism, which has traditionally been pro-European, can turn to being Eurosceptic, and argues that Political Catholicism in Poland is a special case because of its Catholic-nationalist nature. The book concludes by assessing the role...