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Comments on the dominance of the defense industry in the Soviet Union. Complexity of the process by which the Soviet Union has made its military and defense decisions; Scholars and diplomats concern with strategic questions; Immediate beneficiaries of defense expenditures; Complexity of the Soviet defense policy; Major developments in the Soviet defense policy process.

The article presents information on the transition due to the emergence of a new generation that has the urge to assume power in the Soviet Union. The transition is related to the factors on economic, military and social policy. Several developments have taken place in the Soviet Union including the installation of intercontinental ballistic missiles thereby acquiring massive retaliatory capability, and the holding of new bases for the deep-water navy. In relation to the U.S.-Soviet relationships that began in the mid-1980s on subjective realms, significant developments have been initiated in both the countries. The potential changes in the Soviet Union are more radical due to the fundamental priorities started by the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin in 1929.

Discusses various aspects concerning the democratic revolution in Russia. Views on the political and economic reforms of the Russian government; Description of the economic and political conditions of Russia; Move toward market economy; Democratization process.

Examines the 1996 presidential election in European Russia with emphasis on the regional voting patterns on attitudes toward economic reform. Information on the latitude and voting behavior in European oblasts and republics; Indepth look at the 1996 voting in the christian republics of the north and center of the country; What data from a survey showed; Detailed information on attitudes toward economic reform.

Discusses the evolution of language use and linguistic politics in Russia. Understanding the complexity of the struggle over language; Association of language with economic opportunity; Dynamics of change within the country; Understanding the incentives for individual language use and the struggle of those trying to change the incentives created and enforced by the state.

A leading American specialist on the Soviet Union and Russia reports on results of a massive (N = 33,869) nationwide survey of a random sample of the adult Russian population in 69 provinces and republics of the Russian Federation. The survey was administered during the three-week period preceding the elections of December 12, 1993. This article focuses on mass attitudes toward economic, political, and ethnic-national issues, exploring as well the demographic correlates of attitudes. The author concludes that the Russian population is highly receptive to moderate reform, but not to shock therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the life of the Soviet Union, when Ukraine was part of the USSR, suspicion of Ukrainian nationalism was enduring, if not pervasive and endemic. The Ukraine crisis and the failure of immediate deterrence One might reasonably argue that the failure of general deterrence on the part of the US was so serious that little it could have attempted would have succeeded in putting a compensatory form of immediate deterrence into place. Keywords: deterrence; Ukraine; Russia; diplomacy EN deterrence Ukraine Russia diplomacy 407 414 8 10/17/23 20230801 NES 230801 Introduction Russia's 2014 seizure of the Crimean Peninsula in Ukraine highlighted the limitations of a "rules-based" international order in protecting a state's territorial integrity in the face of threats to international peace and security resulting from the actions of a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. The 1994 I Memorandum on Security Assurances in Connection with Ukraine's Accession to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons i (the "Budapest Memorandum") saw Russia reaffirm its commitment to 'respect the independence and sovereignty and the existing borders of Ukraine'. [Extracted from the article]

Gender inequality in Russia's rural formal economy is examined using quantitative and qualitative data. Rural women continue to be underrepresented in farm managerial positions, and gendered income differences remain the norm. Rural women are underrepresented because they continue to have responsibility for most of the housework and child care. The traditional division of labor inside the household continues to dominate, thereby affecting women's career trajectories and earning potential. Value change about gendered roles in the formal economy has been minimal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fall of the USSR can best be understood as a combination of regime change, state decline, and territorial disintegration. Doing so allows scholars to use insights from comparative politics to adjudicate among potential explanations. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article draws upon hundreds of surveys of Russian public opinion conducted from 1992 to 2006 to assess the responsiveness of the Russian state to citizens' policy preferences. Patterned after studies of US opinion, this study finds levels of opinion–policy consistency in Russia to be surprisingly high. Opinion–policy consistency is assessed over time and across policy domains, with extended discussions of how opinion affects (and fails to affect) policy, using the “shock therapy” policies of the early 1990s and the first and second Chechen conflicts as examples. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Measuring support for democracy in societies where democratic institutions do not exist or do not function well is a challenge faced by many researchers around the world. In societies moving either toward or away from democracy, the very meaning of 'democracy' is often in question and institutions and practices that go by the label of 'democratic' may vary widely from accepted norms. As a result, respondents are likely to interpret survey questions on democratic concepts in unpredictable ways. This article examines some of the ways respondents in non-democratic or imperfectly democratic countries may misinterpret the meaning of survey questions and consequently how their answers may mislead researchers. Previous research has focused on problems with abstract concepts like 'democracy'. Evidence presented here - from interviews with Russians - shows that the problem is broader and covers more kinds of questions than previously thought. A strong potential for miscommunication also exists with more concrete questions about institutions and values, forced choices that encourage respondents to change the meaning of questions, and questions about trust in institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the dynamics of subnational authoritarianism of the Russian state from 1990 to 2010. Subnational authoritarianism is customarily viewed as a stage of state and institution building in modern societies as a result of its political development, conditioned by the spread of universal suffrage and competitive elections. Meanwhile, the proposed model about political machines presented by James C. Scott to study subnational authoritarianism is also discussed.

In the post-Soviet economic environment, new opportunities arose attendant with market reform. Rural households had to choose whether to continue past behaviors - to subsist - or to adapt, the latter requiring a degree of risk. This paper analyzes risk-averse and risk-taking households by addressing three main questions: (a) which households are risk-averse and which are risk-takers?; (b) what are the characteristics of those different types of households?; and (c) which factors have greatest causal properties in explaining household risk-taking? Typologies of risk-averse and risk-taking households are presented. Using survey data, statistical analysis disaggregates peasant households, showing that households with higher total income are more likely to take on risk. Land expansion is important mainly for commercially oriented households. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For the first 10 years of competitive elections, Russian party development remained behind party development in many Central and East European states, let alone the rest of Europe. Perhaps not surprisingly then, one of President Putin’s first reforms entailed requiring political parties to register regional branches in a majority of Russia’s 89 regions. While the declared intent of the law was to spur the development of a national party system, the requirement – 100 registered members in at least 45 regions – appeared more like a formality than either a carrot or a stick motivating parties to develop regional organization. Moreover, the Putin administration has pursued various other reforms widely considered undemocratic. Given the ambiguity of Putin’s actions while president of the Russian Federation, this paper takes a closer look at one of the most commonly overlooked presidential reforms – the 2001 law on political parties – to determine whether the legislation correlated with greater party organization during the 2003 Duma election. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses divergent patterns of responses using survey data from rural households in three region of Russia. The purpose of this article is to explore how household responses to reform differ in geographically distinct regions. Second, the goal is to compare regional response patterns using a standardized set of reform dimensions: perceptions about winners and losers, responses to land reform opportunities, the structure of household income, and the use of economic assistance networks. The article concludes that factors other than geography and climate influence responses to reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The introduction to this collection discusses Russia's agrarian relations in a historical and contemporary context, placing questions of current economic development firmly within the political economy issues that were relevant in the early twentieth century in Russia. The analysis focuses on the question of peasant adaptation and resistance. The concept of resistance is discussed comparatively and as it pertains to contemporary Russia. Survey data from 800 households in five regions are used to explore rural adaptation according to economic strata. Specifically, data are presented on business income, total landholdings and total household income in order to address the issue of who adapted. Statistical analysis is presented to explore the relationship between household affluence and the use of social networks, and between household affluence and household satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT: This article examines the factors commonly thought to influence first marriage entry in industrialized countries, formulating a theoretical framework that identifies the ways in which these factors are modified by Soviet conditions. Using survey data collected in Voronezh, Russia, I utilize event history techniques to evaluate the influence of these factors on marital entry and timing among never-married pregnant women. Results indicate that education exerts a strong positive influence on marital entry. Household wealth and the baptismal status and religiosity of the respondent also influence marital entry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The movement toward the rationalization of the world, as conceived by Max Weber, has culminated in the 20th century with the rationalization and the professionalization of politics. It is a process by which human beings attempt to transform decision-making into a public service, independent of class and other interests, and based upon a systematic body of knowledge about man. The development of professionalized politics becomes possible when the practitioners themselves set out to manipulate charismatic symbols and create a social order compatible with professionalized decision-making, as exemplified by the Soviet Union and other socialist countries. The major social problems of such a new social order can be traced to the structural tensions which come about as a result of political professionalization. The paper contains an outline of the major tensions existing in Soviet society, which require further study by sociologists: 1) intraprofessional tensions; 2) practitioner-client tensions; and 3) interprofessional tensions. Proposals are made as to the sources of these tensions and the ways in which they are resolved. It is suggested that the survival of professionalized politics is based on the Party's capacity to manage these tensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]