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2024Where is Russia Heading?
by Jens Siegert
Vladimir Putin has been ruling Russia for 25 years. There is no end in sight to his dictatorship. He relies on repression at home and is waging a war of destruction against a neighbouring country. The conflict with the West has long become a systemic conflict between an illiberal-autocratic ideology and liberal-democratic principles. Nothing will change as long as Putin remains in power. Nevertheless, as far as can be ascertained under unfree conditions, the majority of the population seems to be supporting Putin. Does this mean that too many people in Russia do not want democracy or peace? Will everything remain the same after Putin? Or is there a chance that Russia will eventually take a different, more democratic path? Whatever the outcome of the war in Ukraine, Russia is not going to disappear. We will still have to deal with our big neighbour in the east. This makes it all the more important to focus on longer-term developments. As a recognised expert on Russian history and society, the author outlines what the post-Putin era might look like. His in-depth analysis makes it clear that Russia is partly Putin, but Putin is not everything about Russia.
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Humanities & Social SciencesOctober 2022Germany's Russia problem
The struggle for balance in Europe
by John Lough
The relationship between Germany and Russia is Europe's most important link with the largest country on the continent. But despite Germany's unparalleled knowledge and historical experience, its policymakers struggle to accept that Moscow's efforts to rebalance Europe at the cost of the cohesion of the EU and NATO are an attack on Germany's core interests. This book explains the scale of the challenge facing Germany in managing relations with a changing Russia. It analyses how successive German governments from 1991 to 2014 misread Russian intentions, until Angela Merkel sharply recalibrated German and EU policy towards Moscow. The book also examines what lies behind efforts to revise Merkel's bold policy shift, including attitudes inherited from the GDR and the role of Russian influence channels in Germany.
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Humanities & Social Sciences2021Behind the Scenes of the Empire: Essays on Cultural Relationships between Ukraine and Russia
by Vira Ageyeva
Much has already been written about Ukrainian-Russian relations in the context of Russian interests and priorities. Russia unceremoniously ennobled its history with other people's achievements while depriving Ukrainians of their past. From the Ukrainian's perspective, the story is completely different. For centuries Ukrainian literature has been involved in the anti-colonial discourse. From Kotlyarevsky, Kvitka-Osnovianenko, Kharkiv romantics to the era of modernism and eventually the emergence of contemporary Ukraine, it offered various models of identity, denying imperial claims and asserting its own cultural sufficiency. In this book, the authoritative literary critic Vira Ageyeva analyses the Ukrainian resistance to imperialism and the struggle of Ukraine for the preservation of it's collective memory through the prism of the cultural process.
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December 2013The Evolution of Soviet Union and National Issues Research
by Wei SHANG
The evolution of Soviet Union has a close relationship with national issues,but national issues can’t be regarded alone,because the formulation and solution of national issues are connected with specific stages of social development.So we should summarize the experiences and learn lessons from the past.
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Humanities & Social Sciences2022The Moscow Factor: US Policy toward Sovereign Ukraine and the Kremlin
by Eugene M. Fishel
24 February 2022 was not the beginning of Russia's war on Ukraine. Back in 2014, Russia illegally annexed Crimea from Ukraine, bolstered a separatist conflict in the Donbas region, and attacked Ukraine with units of its regular army and special forces. In each instance of Russian aggression, the U.S. response has often been criticized as inadequate, insufficient, or hesitant. The Moscow Factor: U.S. Policy toward Sovereign Ukraine and the Kremlin is a unique study that examines four key Ukraine-related policy decisions across two Republican and two Democratic U.S. administrations. Author Eugene M. Fishel asks whether, how, and under what circumstances Washington has considered Ukraine’s status as a sovereign nation in its decision-making regarding relations with Moscow. This study situates the stance of the United States toward Ukraine in the broader context of international relations. It fills an important lacuna in existing scholarship and policy discourse by focusing on the complex trilateral—rather than simply bilateral—dynamics among the U.S., Ukraine, and Russia, in 1991–2016. This book brings together for the first time documentary evidence and declassified materials dealing with policy deliberation, retrospective articles authored by former policymakers, and formal memoirs by erstwhile senior officials. The study is also supplemented by open-ended interviews with former and returning officials.
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Humanities & Social SciencesOctober 2006Securitising Russia
The domestic politics of Vladimir Putin
by Bettina Renz, Edwin Bacon, Julian Cooper
Securitising Russia shows the impact of twenty-first-century security concerns on the way Russia is ruled. It demonstrates how President Putin has wrestled with terrorism, immigration, media freedom, religious pluralism, and economic globalism, and argues that fears of a return to old-style authoritarianism oversimplify the complex context of contemporary Russia. The book focuses on the internal security issues common to many states in the early twenty-first-century, and places them in the particular context of Russia. Detailed analysis of the place of security in Russia's political discourse and policy-making reveals nuances often missing from overarching assessments of Russia today. To characterise the Putin regime as the 'KGB-resurgent' is to miss vital continuities, contexts, and on-going political conflicts which make up the contemporary Russian scene. Securitising Russia draws together current debates about whether Russia is a 'normal' country developing its own democratic and market structures, or a nascent authoritarian regime returning to the past. ;
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Humanities & Social SciencesOctober 2020The European Union and its eastern neighbourhood
Europeanisation and its twenty-first-century contradictions
by Mike Mannin, Paul Flenley
This volume is timely in that it explores key issues which are currently at the forefront of the EU's relations with its eastern neighbours. It considers the impact of a more assertive Russia, the significance of Turkey, the limitations of the Eastern Partnership with Belarus and Moldova, the position of a Ukraine in crisis and pulled between Russia and the EU, security and democracy in the South Caucasus. It looks at the contested nature of European identity in areas such as the Balkans. In addition it looks at ways in which the EU's interests and values can be tested in sectors such as trade and migration. The interplay between values, identity and interests and their effect on the interpretation of europeanisation between the EU and its neighbours is a core theme of the volume.
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Humanities & Social SciencesOctober 2009Regional politics in Russia
by Cameron Ross
This innovative, multi-contributed book, now available in paperback, argues convincingly that Russia will never be able to create a viable democracy as long as authoritarian regimes are able to flourish in the regions. The main themes covered are democratisation at the regional level, and the problems faced by the federal states in forging viable democratic institutions in what is now a highly assymetrical Federation. A major strength of the book lies in its combination of thematic chapters with case studies of particular regions and republics. Very little has been published to date on the actual processes of democratisation in particular republics and regions. The book takes into account the literature available on the 'new institutionalism' and outlines the importance of institutions in developing and maintaining democracy. It looks at the importance of sovereignty, federalism and democratic order, and considers the distinct problems of party-building in Russia's regions. Electoral politics are also considered fully, before the book goes on to consider the whole issue of regional politics and democratisation in five particular areas of Russia - Novgorod, the Komi Republic, Russia's Far East, Tatarstan and Bashkortostan. The authors, the majority of whom are internationally recognised experts in their field, have been drawn from Britain, the USA, Russia and Germany, giving the book a truly global perspective. ;
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Humanities & Social SciencesNovember 2024US public diplomacy in socialist Yugoslavia, 1950–70
Soft culture, cold partners
by Carla Konta
The first comprehensive account of the public and cultural diplomacy campaigns carried out by the US in Yugoslavia during the height of the Cold War, this book examines the political role of culture in US-Yugoslav bilateral relations and the fluid links between information and propaganda. Tito allowed the US Information Agency and the State Department's cultural programmes to enter Yugoslavia, liberated from Soviet control. The exchange of intellectual and political personnel helped foster the US-Yugoslav relationship, yet it posed severe ideological challenges for both sides. By providing new insights into porous borders between freedom and coercion in Tito's regime, this book shows how public diplomacy acted as an external input for Yugoslav liberalisation and dissident movements. Using extensive archival research and interviews, Konta analyses the links between information and propaganda, and the unintended effects of propaganda beyond the control of producers and receivers.
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Business, Economics & LawMay 2021Regulating homosexuality in Soviet Russia, 1956–91
by Rustam Alexander
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Humanities & Social SciencesJuly 2005Late Imperial Russia
Problems and prospects
by Ian Thatcher
This volume offers a detailed examination of the stability of the late imperial regime in Russia. Students and scholars will appreciate the lively summaries of the latest scholarship in political, economic, social, cultural, and international history. Accessible yet insightful, contributions cover the historiography of complex topics such as peasants, workers, revolutionaries, foreign relations, and Nicholas II. In addition, there are original studies of some of the leading intellectuals of the time. The late imperial economy is examined through the writings of Tugan-Baranovsky. There is an account of M. N. Pokrovskii's radical interpretation of late imperial Russia's historical path of development. The state of the Russian theatre is studied through the lives of theatrical impresarios. Each chapter also highlights a unique interpretation, suggesting new lines of inquiry and research. This book will be compulsory reading for students of Russian and European history of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries seeking to better understand why Tsarism collapsed in 1917. ;
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Children's & YAJanuary 2022Keksyk Defender
by Inna Kurylo (Author), Oleksandra Kondratenko (Illustrator)
Not only people, but also pets stood up for the defense of Ukraine in the war against Russia! Together with his animal friends, Keksyk the cat organized a Territorial Defense force for the yard and helped people as best as he could. Together with Keksyk, many animals protect Ukraine: the dog Shustryk, the crow Ksenia, the pigeon Stepan, geese and bees. And now that you know of Keksyk do you want to learn why the missile system is called "Stugna"? And why the enemies were unable to overcome the Zmiev ramparts and disappeared without a trace in Chornobayivka? Then, the adventures of Keksyk and his friends bravely defending their native country are right for you! And while you read, remember that these tales are based on real events. From 5 to 8 years, 8596 words Rightsholders: svidoma@ukr.net
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Humanities & Social SciencesJanuary 2024The urban life of workers in post-Soviet Russia
Engaging in everyday struggle
by Alexandrina Vanke
Despite the intense processes of deindustrialisation around the world, the working class continues to play an important role in post-industrial societies. However, working-class people are often stigmatised, morally judged and depicted negatively in dominant discourses. This book challenges stereotypical representations of workers, building on research into the everyday worlds of working-class and ordinary people in Russia's post-industrial cities. The urban life of workers in post-Soviet Russia is centred on the stories of local communities engaged in the everyday struggles that occur in deindustrialising settings under neoliberal neo-authoritarianism. The book suggests a novel approach to everyday life in post-industrial cities. Drawing on an ethnographic study with elements of arts-based research, the book presents a new genre of writing about workers influenced by the avant-garde documentary tradition and working-class literature.
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Humanities & Social Sciences2014History of Ukraine from KGB Secret Files
by Volodymyr Viatrovych
The unknown and classified KGB history of the largest country in Europe - Ukraine is the history of people, events, documents and files. The files have answers to many questions. The most important of which - why did a war begin again in Europe? Why is it so important for Russia to conquer Ukraine? Why are Ukrainians putting up such a powerful resistance? Historian Volodymyr Viatrovych, who declassified the secret archives of the Soviet special services from the Cheka to the KGB, talks about the history of Ukraine, the USSR and Eastern Europe from 1918 to 1991. The reader, is offered, along with various heroes and traitors, those who thought they were in control of events, and those who thought they had no power over them, to recreate the nearly century-old chess game between the Ukrainian liberation movement and the creators of the "prison of nations." Described in reports and recreated by a historian, this work looks at the cunning “special operations”, deadly moves, information wars and complex games among several players that are all an attempt to find an answer to the question: what creates our destiny - human will or circumstances?
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Children's & young adult: general non-fiction2020Union of Soviet Things
by Petro Yatsenko
The soviet realia are not entirely clear to modern adolescents. Childhood in the late Soviet Union was not like it is now. Back in those days, everything was different and even scary to some point: a premonition of the nuclear war, propaganda, shortages, and confusing household items. The main characters of the book, a teenage Matvii and his father Petro, go to Lviv to visit their grandmother. There are still heaps of Soviet things in her ceiling cabinet and they are good at telling stories. Paretns are good at this as well, if you ask them well. The book gives a reason to talk about feelings of nostalgia and values.
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Humanities & Social Sciences2021Taste of the Soviet Union: Food and Eaters in the Art of Life and the Art of Cinema (mid-1960s - mid-1980s)
by Olena Stiazhkina
This book is about Soviet people - women, men, children - who ate at home, at work, on the road, in kindergartens and schools, in the system of the Soviet canteens. It describes those who fought for their food in long queues to the empty shops, at collective farm markets, gathered it in their own gardens, obtained it through bribes and barter exchanges and stole it at workplaces. It is about those who created the food surpluses in the system of the shadow economy and about those who refused food as a way of rebellion against the system and about those who managed to preserve national cuisine despite its deliberate extermination by the Bolsheviks and calling national dishes "simple nationalism." Food culture is considered not only as a sign of the late Soviet consumer revolution, but also as one of the powerful mechanisms of social engineering and (self) coercion. The real world of Soviet eaters is analysed together with the artistic world where filmmakers created and broadcasted the images of Soviet food, as an object representing repressive society in which taste was as problematic and almost unattainable as food and freedom associated with taste and choice.
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Humanities & Social SciencesMay 2025
The Caucasus Emirate
Ideology, identity, and insurgency in Russia’s North Caucasus
by Mark Youngman
Insurgency has plagued the North Caucasus since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Between 2007 and 2015, rebels waged their struggle under the banner of the Caucasus Emirate (Imarat Kavkaz, IK). This book systematically examines the IK's ideology to explain what the group claimed to be fighting for and against and how it sought to mobilise people behind its cause. It reveals a group with a weakly developed political programme, which aligned itself with global jihadism but consistently prioritised local concerns. It demonstrates the priority rebel leaders afforded to shaping local identities, but also their failure to forge a unified movement or revitalise armed struggle. Re-evaluating the IK's ideology helps us better understand the past and future of armed struggle in the North Caucasus.
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Humanities & Social SciencesSeptember 2017Gender and housing in Soviet Russia
Private life in a public space
by Pamela Sharpe, Lynne Attwood, Penny Summerfield, Lynn Abrams, Cordelia Beattie
This book explores the housing problem throughout the 70 years of Soviet history, looking at changing political ideology on appropriate forms of housing under socialism, successive government policies on housing, and the meaning and experience of 'home' for Soviet citizens. Attwood examines the use of housing to alter gender relations, and the ways in which domestic space was differentially experienced by men and women. Much of Attwood's material comes from Soviet magazines and journals, which enables her to demonstrate how official ideas on housing and daily life changed during the course of the Soviet era, and were propagandised to the population. Through a series of in-depth interviews, she also draws on the memories of people with direct experience of Soviet housing and domestic life. Attwood has produced not just a history of housing, but a social history of daily life which will appeal both to scholars and those with a general interest in Soviet history.
