Post-communist transformation in the former Soviet bloc has had a profound effect, not just in the political and economic sphere, but on all aspects of life. Although a great deal has been written about transformation, much of it has been about transformation viewed from the top, and little has been written about how things have changed for ordinary people at the local level. This book, based on extensive original research, examines the changes resulting from transformation at the local level in the form Czechoslovakia. It considers especially local democracy, social movements, and work...
Post-communist transformation in the former Soviet bloc has had a profound effect, not just in the political and economic sphere, but on all aspects o...
This book explores how one of the world's most literary-oriented societies entered the modern visual era, beginning with the advent of photography in the nineteenth century, focusing then on literature's role in helping to shape cinema as a tool of official totalitarian culture during the Soviet period, and concluding with an examination of post-Soviet Russia's encounter with global television. As well as pioneering the exploration of this important new area in Slavic Studies, the book illuminates aspects of cultural theory by investigating how the Russian case affects general notions of...
This book explores how one of the world's most literary-oriented societies entered the modern visual era, beginning with the advent of photography in ...
This book explores the role of coercion in the relationship between the citizens and regimes of communist Eastern Europe. Looking in detail at Soviet collectivisation in 1928-34, the Hungarian Uprising of 1956 and the Polish Solidarity Movement of 1980-84, it shows how the system excluded channels to enable popular grievances to be translated into collective opposition; how this lessened the amount of popular protest, affected the nature of such protest as did occur and entrenched the dominance of state over society.
This book explores the role of coercion in the relationship between the citizens and regimes of communist Eastern Europe. Looking in detail at Soviet ...
Russian Society and the Orthodox Church examines the Russian Orthodox Church's social and political role and its relationship to civil society in post-Communist Russia. It shows how Orthodox prelates, clergy and laity have shaped Russians' attitudes towards religious and ideological pluralism, which in turn have influenced the ways in which Russians understand civil society, including those of its features - pluralism and freedom of conscience - that are essential for a functioning democracy. It shows how the official church, including the Moscow Patriarchate, has impeded the...
Russian Society and the Orthodox Church examines the Russian Orthodox Church's social and political role and its relationship to civil societ...
This book examines folk music and dance revival movements in Russia, exploring why this folk culture has come to represent Russia, how it has been approached and produced, and why memory and tradition, in these particular forms, have taken on particular significance in different periods. Above all it shows how folk "tradition" in Russia is an artificial cultural construct, which is periodically reinvented, and it demonstrates in particular how the "folk revival" has played a key role in strengthening Russian national consciousness in the post-Soviet period.
This book examines folk music and dance revival movements in Russia, exploring why this folk culture has come to represent Russia, how it has been app...
This book embraces the political, intellectual, social and cultural history of Soviet Russia. Providing a useful perspective of Putin s Russia, and with a strong historical and religious background, the book:
looks at the changing features of the Soviet ideology from Lenin to Stalin, and the moral universe of Stalin's time
explores the history of the moral thinking of the dissident intelligentsia
examines the moral dimension of Soviet dissent amongst dissidents of both religious and secular persuasions, and includes biographical material
explores...
This book embraces the political, intellectual, social and cultural history of Soviet Russia. Providing a useful perspective of Putin s Russia, and...
When Ukraine became independent in 1991, it inherited an underdeveloped set of state institutions with which to manage its transformation to statehood. The task of establishing a legal base for the operation of the new polity was the responsibility of the parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, an institution itself undergoing colossal upheaval. From 1991, it was transformed from a provincial republican Soviet into the national legislature of a sovereign state and from a nominal, symbolic body into a genuine legislative and representative institution. Therefore, the process of building parliament as...
When Ukraine became independent in 1991, it inherited an underdeveloped set of state institutions with which to manage its transformation to statehood...
During the 1970s, dissidents like Sakharov and Solzhenitsyn dominated Western perceptions of the USSR, but were then quickly forgotten, as Gorbachev's reformers monopolised the spotlight. This book restores the dissidents to their rightful place in Russian history. Using a vast array of samizdat and published sources, it shows how ideas formulated in the dissident milieu clashed with the original programme of perestroika, and shaped the course of democratisation in post-Soviet Russia. Some of these ideas - such the dissidents' preoccupation with glasnost and legality, and their critique of...
During the 1970s, dissidents like Sakharov and Solzhenitsyn dominated Western perceptions of the USSR, but were then quickly forgotten, as Gorbache...
This book examines a number of key questions about social change in contemporary Russia - issues such as how people survive when they are not paid for months on end, 'the New Poor', the falling birth rate, why so many Russian men die in middle age, whether regional identities are becoming stronger, and how people's sense of 'Russianness' has developed since the creation of the Russian Federation in 1992. It examines these issues by looking at actual experiences in three small Russian towns. It includes a great deal of original ethnographic research, and, by looking at real places overall,...
This book examines a number of key questions about social change in contemporary Russia - issues such as how people survive when they are not paid for...