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The book tells about people who lived in an era of historical cataclysms, wars and revolutions, changes in political formations. The generation of the Kazakh intelligentsia responded to the historical challenge facing the Kazakhs at a turning point in history. These are people born at the end of the 19th century, educated in different countries and united by the idea of overcoming colonial dependence on the Russian Empire.The author aims to form a holistic view of a galaxy of outstanding personalities who, in an important historical period, were able to take responsibility for the people and their future. The history of the country is perceived through the prism of their destinies, views, activities and death.The material of the book is a biographical sketch and covers the history of Kazakhstan in the first third of the twentieth century, until the period of the Great Terror (1937–1938).

This book explores the postcolonial discourse and decolonization processes in modern Kazakhstan and beyond. It pays particular attention to such areas as national and religious identity, language, literature, and historical narratives. Despite the fact that the post-colonial theory initially emerged in other regions of the world, it has increasingly been applied in the scholarship on Central Asia. Exploring recent debates on post-coloniality in Kazakhstan, this book is an attempt to bring together two bodies of scholarly literature: scholarship on culture and society in post-Soviet Central Asia and research on post-colonial theory. This volume will be of interest to scholars of Eurasian studies as well as researchers and students of post-colonialism in various contexts beyond Eurasia.

The book is a unique proposal for an integral description of memory regimes in the South Caucasus region, covering both the independent states of Armenia and Georgia, but also the separatist entities created as a result of the turbulent changes of the early 1990s - Abkhazia and Nagorno-Karabakh. Being a transdisciplinary proposal, encompassing the perspectives of political science, history and social anthropology, the book may be of interest to researchers from different academic disciplines. At the same time, due to its narrative form, it can also be an interesting proposal for students of eastern studies, allowing for a fuller understanding of the dynamics of political change in the post-Soviet space. The comprehensive and integral approach to the issue of analysing and interpreting collective memory through the prism of its representation, presented in the form of an anthropological story based on case studies, may also be of interest to those not associated with institutional Academia.

The literature on the fall of communism contains numerous interpretations of the changes that took place in Central and Eastern Europe in 1989, while debates about how best to characterize the fall of the communist regimes have raged for many years. Researchers continue to ponder and argue over how ‘revolutionary', as opposed to ‘evolutionary'(or ‘reformatory') these changes were. In this new study, author Paweł Ukielski proposes the term ‘counterrevolution'to describe the historical process that took place and uses it as an analytical construct to better understand the crisis of Soviet communism and the subsequent transitions that took place.

This book explores the seemingly unstoppable turn away from Europe and towards Asian powers, notably China, on the part of the Russian state in the early 21st century. Ongoing global changes, the growing complexity of international interactions and internal political dynamics in Russia have led to what has become known in Russian official and expert discourse as the “Asian turn” or “turn to the East”. The monograph systemically analyzes all key directions of Russia's Asian turn and assesses achievements, problems and prospects of Russian strategy in Asia in a wider international context. The book might be interesting to those who are professionally studying IR, international dynamics in Asia, and Russian foreign policy in Asia.

Der Band befasst sich mit den Grundlagen der gegenwärtigen Beziehungen zwischen zivilen Akteuren und staatlichen Machtstrukturen. Der Schwerpunkt liegt auf dem Themenfeld der öffentlichen Kontrolle von Streitkräften und der Frage, warum zivile Akteure ein wachsames Auge auf die militärische Institution sowie zivile Behörden, die den Einsatz von Gewalt legitimieren, haben sollten. Am Beispiel von Wehrpflicht und Rekrutierung als Schnittstelle zwischen Militär und Gesellschaft analysiert die Studie den institutionellen Wandel im politisch-militärischen Bereich im postsowjetischen Russland. In kritischer Auseinandersetzung mit der konventionellen Militärsoziologie verlagert das Buch den Fokus weg von der exklusiven Machtbeziehung zwischen politischen und militärischen Eliten im Kontext der nationalen Sicherheit. Stattdessen berücksichtigt es die menschliche und gesellschaftliche Sicherheit, d.h. die Bedürfnisse und Forderungen von Individuen und Gruppen an der Basis, die vom Militär und der herrschenden Sicherheitslage in Russland betroffen sind. Das Buch richtet sich an Leser mit Interesse an zivil-militärischen Beziehungen, gegenwärtiger russischer Gesellschaftspolitik und Theorien sozialer Bewegungen.

Die Ukraine wird in Geschichte und Gegenwart beschrieben. Die Ost-West-Beziehungen, als Hintergrund des Krieges, werden analysiert – ebenso die innere Entwicklung Russlands zum Putinismus und Neo-Imperialismus. Das Kriegsgeschehen wird nachvollzogen und in seinen Folgen diskutiert: Opferzahlen und Schäden – politisch, wirtschaftlich und menschlich. Schließlich geht es auch um eine Kritik der Reaktionen der westlichen Bündnisse und insbesondere Deutschlands sowie um die langfristigen Perspektiven, die sich im Zusammenhang mit dem Krieg ergeben.

Dieses Buch bietet den ersten umfassenden Überblick über die Geschichte der Soziologie in der heutigen Tschechischen Republik. In sechs Kapiteln wird die institutionelle Entwicklung der Disziplin vom späten 19. Jahrhundert bis in die Gegenwart nachgezeichnet, wobei der Schwerpunkt auf den für die Institutionalisierung der Soziologie entscheidenden Perioden liegt: den Zwischenkriegsjahren, den 1960er Jahren und der Zeit nach 1989. Institutionen, Personen und Ideen, die für die Disziplin von zentraler Bedeutung waren, werden in einem breiteren sozialen und politischen Kontext dargestellt. Marek Skovajsa und Jan Balon zeigen, dass die Soziologie in der Tschechischen Republik mit den vorherrschenden politischen Projekten jeder aufeinanderfolgenden historischen Periode verbunden war: dem Aufbau der Nation und des Staates bis nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg, dem kommunistischen Experiment von 1948-1989, dem liberal-demokratischen Wiederaufbau nach 1989 und der Internationalisierung nach2000. Das Werk richtet sich sowohl an Sozialwissenschaftler als auch an eine allgemeine Leserschaft, die sich für die tschechische Kultur und Gesellschaft interessiert.

This distinctive book deconstructs the foundational elements of Russian foreign policy from a Russian perspective and with references to Russian sources, rather than the typical Western perspective. The author Olga Raluca Chiriac situates her work at the intersection of strategic studies and cognitive psychology, offering an analysis that goes deep into the roots of Russian strategic behavior, especially socio-cultural elements such as attitudes towards the West, language, culture. She highlights Russia's unique decision-making process, sometimes overt and other times covert. The book aims to present a mechanism for analysis in both strategic choices and foreign policy, but it also points out that countries and nations are complicated entities, all having a particular historical experience, generational trauma, culture and traditions.

This Open access book provides a survey of the economic, health, and somatic progress of Baltic countries during the period 1918–2018, framed by the outline of the historical-sociological theory of modern social restorations, as originally conceived by the Austrian-American comparative historian Robert A. Kann. The author reworks Kann's theory to analyse post-communist transformations in the Baltic region. The book argues that the purpose of modern social restorations is to make restoration societies safe against a recurrence of revolution. There were two waves of modern social restorations: post-Napoleonic and post-communist. Most post-Napoleonic restorations were brief, because they failed to economically and socially outperform the pre-revolutionary and post-revolutionary systems. It considers Baltic restorations as laboratory cases of second-wave modern social restorations, because they encompass a triple restoration of the nation-state, capitalism, and democracy. The bookassesses the performance success of Baltic restorations by comparing economic and social progress of Baltic countries during the periods of original independence (1918–1940), foreign-imposed state socialism (1940–1990), and restored independence (since 1990). It then elaborates the criteria to assess the ultimate performance success of these restorations by 2040, when restored Baltic states may endure longer than their ancestors in 1918–1940 and the complete foreign occupations era (1940–1990). The author, an expert in historical sociology, uses extensive historical-statistical data in cross-time comparisons to develop his analysis and create future projections. This book is of wide interest to sociologists, social demographers, political scientists, and economists studying the Baltic region. This is an open access book.

This textbook offers a wide-ranging, comprehensive analysis of the contemporary Russian economy (as it functions in the early 2020s) concentrated on the economy, economic policy, and economic governance. Chapters cover recent Russian economic history, the economic geography of Russia, natural resources, population, major sectors and industries, living standards and social policy, institutions, governance, economic policy, and Russia's role in the global economy. The book will provide a comparative cross-country context, analysing how the Russian economy and its institutions perform compared to its peers to help students and instructors understand Russia's strengths, weaknesses, and future challenges. Prepared by a team of leading Russian and international experts on the respective topics, this textbook will be of interest to those studying Russian economics. It will be valuable reading for undergraduate and graduate students of Russian studies, the Russian economy, Russian politics,the economics of transition, the economics of emerging markets, and international relations.

​This book provides a new military history of Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos's campaigns in the Balkans, during the first fourteen years of his rule. While the tactics and manoeuvres Alexios used against Robert Guiscard's Normans are relatively well-known, his strategy in dealing with Pecheneg and Cuman adversaries in the region has received less attention in historical scholarship. This book provides a much-need synthesis of these three closely linked campaigns – often treated as discrete events – revealing a surprising coherence in Alexios'response, and explores the position of Byzantium's army and navy on the eve of the First Crusade.

Dieses Buch fügt sich in die Diskussion über die Auslandshilfe ein, die durch das Aufkommen einer Vielzahl neuer Geber im Bereich der internationalen Entwicklung ausgelöst wurde, und untersucht den Wandel Kasachstans von einem Empfängerland zu einem Entwicklungshilfegeber. Auf der Grundlage von Feldforschungen in Nur-Sultan und Almaty (Kasachstan) zwischen 2016 und 2019 bewertet diese Untersuchung die Philosophie und die Kernmerkmale des von Kasachstan gewählten Entwicklungshilfemodells und erklärt die Faktoren, die für die Konstruktion der Hilfemuster der kasachischen Geberschaft verantwortlich sind. Das Buch ist von Interesse für Wissenschaftler, die sich mit Zentralasien und der aufstrebenden Politik Eurasiens befassen, sowie für Wissenschaftler, die sich mit Politik und Entwicklungshilfe befassen.

This is a translated autobiography of applied mathematician N. N. Moiseev, providing an insider's view of the history of the Soviet Union from its founding in 1917 to its collapse in 1991, as well as a little of the aftermath.We see vividly the precariousness of life just after the October Revolution; his happy family life during the years 1921-28 of Lenin's New Economic Policy; the subsequent destruction of his family by Stalin's regime; his trials as a social outcast; his student days at Moscow State University; his experiences as a Soviet Air Force Engineer in World War II, including sorties as a gunner and a brush with an NKVD agent; post-war euphoria, marriage, and another round of ostracism; and then the vicissitudes of a highly varied academic career. Here we meet many famous Soviet and Western engineers and scientists. The last several chapters are devoted more to wide-ranging reflections on God, philosophy, science, communism, modelling the biosphere, and the threat ofnuclear winter. His thoughts concerning the impending and then final collapse of the USSR, as well as hopes for Russia's future, conclude the journey through Moiseev's life.

Presenting the history of an unexplored yet significant institution in East Germany, this book analyses the development of the Parteihochschule Karl Marx (PHS), a training institute for Communist party officials and members of the functional elite. By chronicling the PHS from its establishment in 1946, the author demonstrates how it sought to implement Stalin's rule, and sheds light on the activities of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) in the German Democratic Republic. The book focuses on the leadership of Walter Ulbricht and Erich Honecker as First Secretary and General Secretary of the SED respectively, and examines key personalities within the PHS. The activities of party functionaries under the rule of Hanna Wolf and Kurt Tiedke are scrutinised, revealing the dogmatic nature of the East German regime. An essential read for anyone interested in German history and East European Communism, this book brings to light one of the key institutions in implementing Stalinism and Marxism-Leninism in the German Democratic Republic.

This book explores the dilemmas of Georgian foreign policy since independence in 1991. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Georgia—a Caucasian republic with a fiercely independent national identity—has sought its own special path to European modernity, a promised land of prosperity and peace. Foreign policy has sought to reconcile the dream of European identity with the reality of being a small, post-colonial nation that was governed from Russia for nearly two centuries and remains mired in border conflicts with Russia. In an era when Russian concerns about sovereignty are once again dominating geopolitics, this book interests historians, scholars of imperialism, and scholars of the former Soviet Union and its messy politics.

This book explores Russia's role in world politics. In recent years, Moscow has played an increasingly active and assertive role in geopolitics. Examples include Russia's takeover of Crimea and meddling in eastern Ukraine; Russia's military intervention in Syria and support for the Assad government; the Kremlin's alleged interference in the 2016 US presidential race; the pursuit of closer economic and diplomatic ties with China; and Russia's ambitious military reforms and nuclear brinkmanship.Not surprisingly, Russia's role in world politics has become the object of a spirited debate among Western policymakers, think-tank analysts, and academics. Much of this debate focuses on one central question: What are the main drivers, or causes, of Moscow's recent assertiveness? The contributions gathered here address this question by focusing on the interplay of power, ideas, and domestic influences.Previously published in International Politics Volume 56, issue 6, December 2019

This edited collection represents the first comprehensive volume in English on the crucial, but under-explored, late period in the history of East European communism. Focusing on developments in Czechoslovakia from the crushing of the Prague Spring in August 1968 to the ‘Velvet Revolution'of November 1989, the book examines a broad range of political, social and cultural issues, while also analysing external perceptions and relations. It explores the concept of ‘normalisation'in historical context and brings together British, American, Czech and Slovak experts, each with their own archival research and particular interpretations. Overall, the anthology aims to assess the means by which the Prague Spring reforms were repealed and how Czechoslovakia was returned to a ‘normal'communist state in line with Soviet orthodoxy. Key themes include the Communist Party and ideology; State Security; Slovak developments; ‘auto-normalisation'; women and gender; cultural and intellectual currents; everyday life and popular opinion; and Czechoslovakia's political and cultural relationship with the USSR, the GDR, Poland and Yugoslavia. The volume sheds light on the process of decay of the Czechoslovak communist regime and the reasons for its ultimate collapse in 1989.

The book aims to trace and explain the historical evolution of Moscow, the capital of the Tsardom of Russia, Soviet Union and Russian Federation, as a political entity and political community, and to understand what place Moscow occupied within the Russian political space and what role it played in Russian political life for centuries until 2018. The authors consistently examine the dramatic political history of the contemporary Russian capital in the Moscow (13th – 17th centuries) and St. Petersburg (18th – 19th centuries) epochs, in the Soviet period, in the post-Soviet era, and identify its key points and the most pivotal events.

Throughout their shared history, Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches have lived through a very complex and sometimes tense relationship –-not only theologically, but also politically. In most cases such relationships remain to this day; indeed, in some cases the tension has increased. In July 2019, scholars of both traditions gathered in Stuttgart, Germany, for an unprecedented conference devoted to exploring and overcoming the division between these churches. This book, the second in a two-volume set of the essays presented at the conference, explores the ecumenical and practical implications of the relationship between Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches. Like the conference, the volume brings together representatives of these Churches, as well as theologians from different geographical contexts where tensions are the greatest. The published essays represent the great achievements of the conference: willingness to engage in dialogue, general openness to new ideas, and opportunities to address difficult questions and heal inherited wounds.

This book presents key works of Boris Hessen, outstanding Soviet philosopher of science, available here in English for the first time. Quality translations are accompanied by an editors'introduction and annotations. Boris Hessen is known in history of science circles for his “Social and Economic Roots of Newton's Principia” presented in London (1931), which inspired new approaches in the West. As a philosopher and a physicist, he was tasked with developing a Marxist approach to science in the 1920s. He studied the history of physics to clarify issues such as reductionism and causality as they applied to new developments. With the philosophers called the “Dialecticians”, his debates with the opposing “Mechanists” on the issue of emergence are still worth studying and largely ignored in the many recent works on this subject. Taken as a whole, the book is a goldmine of insights into both the foundations of physics and Soviet history.

In Researching Yugoslavia and its Aftermath, a common thread is the authors'path through the time and space context in which fieldwork has taken place. Accordingly, this collection tackles problems that have always existed but have not been dealt with in a single volume. In particular, it examines a range of methodological questions arising from the contributors'shared concerns, and thus the obstacles and solutions characterising the relationship between researchers and their objects of study. Being an interdisciplinary project, this book brings together highly regarded historians, sociologists, anthropologists, political scientists, cultural and social theorists, as well as experts in architecture and communication studies. They share a belief that the awareness of the researcher's own position in fieldwork is a precondition of utmost significance to comprehend the evolution of objects of study, and hence to ensure transparency and ultimate credibility of the findings. Moreover, the contributors come from diverse backgrounds, including authors from the former Yugoslavia and others who have made their way to the region after starting their research careers; some from universities in the area, others from institutions in the Global North. Here, they explore cross-cutting issues such as the repercussions of gender, nationality, institutional affiliation and the consequences of their entry into the field. This is examined in terms of the results of the research and the ethical aspect of the relationship with the object of study, as well as the implications of the chosen time framework in the methodological design and the clash between this decision and the interests of the actors studied.

This book examines the 1984 Sarajevo Winter Olympic Games. It tells the story of the extensive infrastructural transformation of the city and its changing global image in relation to hosting of the Games. Reviewing different cultural representations of Sarajevo in the period from the 1960s to the 1980s, the book explores how the promotion of the city as a future global tourist centre resulted in an increased awareness among its populace of the city's cultural particularities. The analysis reveals how the process of modernisation relating to hosting of the Olympics provided an opportunity to re-imagine the city as a particularly environmentally progressive city. Placed within the field of studies of late socialism, the book offers important insights into Yugoslav society during the period, including those relating to the country's unique geopolitical position and its nationalities policies.

Mit der Gründung des ungarischen Staates vor 1.000 Jahren entstand im Karpatenbecken inmitten Europas eine besondere Formation aus Sprache, Sitten, Geschichte und Politik. In den letzten tausend Jahren verschmolzen die verschiedenen historischen Epochen, die Völker, die die ungarische Kultur bereichert haben, die unterschiedlichen politischen Systeme sowie die Entwicklung der Sprache und der Musik zu einem mehrschichtigen Aufbau, um den ungarischen Staat in seiner heute bekannten Form zu bilden. Das politische und rechtliche System des ungarischen Staates ist untrennbar mit der Geschichte der Ungarn und den Werten ihrer Kultur verbunden. Andererseits versucht der vorliegende Band diese Schichten voneinander zu trennen und einzeln darzustellen. Das ungarische Rechtssystem, die Politik, die Sprache, die Musik und der Alltag ungarischer Bürger wird mit wissenschaftlicher Intensität erkundet, um das zwischen den Schichten verborgene Wesentliche sichtbar machen zu können.

This volume is a comprehensive Handbook of Russian thought that provides an in-depth survey of major figures, currents, and developments in Russian intellectual history, spanning the period from the late eighteenth century to the late twentieth century. Written by a group of distinguished scholars as well as some younger ones from Russia, Europe, the United States, and Canada, this Handbook reconstructs a vibrant picture of the intellectual and cultural life in Russia and the Soviet Union during the most buoyant period in the country's history. Contrary to the widespread view of Russian modernity as a product of intellectual borrowing and imitation, the essays collected in this volume reveal the creative spirit of Russian thought, which produced a range of original philosophical and social ideas, as well as great literature, art, and criticism. While rejecting reductive interpretations, the Handbook employs a unifying approach to its subject matter, presenting Russian thought in thecontext of the country's changing historical landscape. This Handbook will open up a new intellectual world to many readers and provide a secure base for its further exploration.

This book sheds new light on the political economy of Russia under Putin's rule. The author, a former EU diplomat, presents a historical review of the Russian economy and 60 years of state-communist mismanagement, followed by oligarchic privatization. The book offers profound insights into Putin's rule and the power mechanics of the state-dominated management of the Russian economy. It identifies and assesses the lack of rule of law, together with an arbitrary and often corrupt administration that systematically discourages entrepreneurship and the emergence of an independent middle class. Furthermore, the book discusses Russia's budgetary policy, its dependence on the export of natural resources, state-owned enterprises and their privileges, and Russia's external trade. This hard-hitting, substantial analysis debunks the myth of Russia's economic might and is a must read for anyone seeking to understand the economic realities of the Eurasian continent, or considering doingbusiness with Russia.

This book looks at the different ways in which Russian historians and authors have thought about their country's first Antarctic expedition (1819-21) over the past 200 years. It considers the effects their discussions have had on Russia's Antarctic policy and may yet have on Antarctica itself. In particular, it examines the Soviet decision in 1949, in line with the cultural policies of late Stalinism, to revise the traditional view of the expedition in order to claim that it was Russian seamen that first sighted the Antarctic mainland in January 1820; this claim remains the official position in Russia today. The author illustrates, however, that the case for such a claim has never been established, and that attempts to make it damaged the work of successive Russian historians. Providing a timely assessment of Russian historiography of the Bellingshausen expedition and examining the connections between the priority claim and national policy goals, this book represents animportant contribution to the history of the Antarctic.

This book examines the local manifestation of the global temperance movement in the Balkans. It argues that regional histories of social movements in the modern period could not be sufficiently understood in isolation. Moreover, the book argues that broad transformations of social movements – for example, the power centers associated with moral/religious temperance and the later, scientifically based anti-alcohol campaigns – are more easily identifiable through a detailed regional study. For this purpose, the book begins by sketching the historical development as well as the main historiographical themes surrounding the worldwide temperance movement. The book then zooms in on the movement in the Balkans and Bulgaria in particular. American missionaries founded the temperance movement in the closing decades of the nineteenth century. The interwar period, however, witnessed the proliferation of new, professional organizations. The book discusses the various branches as well as their international and political affiliations, showing that the anti-alcohol reform movement was one of the most important social movements in the region.

Was ist an dem Blick der Autorin auf Russland anders? In diesem Buch geht es der Autorin darum, gegenwärtige Lebensformen, Denkweisen, Werte, Geschichtsbilder, Selbstbilder, Fremdbilder und russisch-deutsche bzw. deutsch-russische Wahrnehmungen zu erkennen, sie aber vor allem aus der politisch-historischen und religiös-kulturellen Entwicklung von Staat und Gesellschaft zu begreifen. Das Buch will so dem vorhandenen, je aktuellen Wissen und Kennen einen historischen Hintergrund geben und vor allem zum Können bei unseren Begegnungen mit Russland beitragen – und damit zu ihrem Gelingen!

This book tackles questions about the reception and production of translated and untranslated Russian theatre in post-WW2 Britain: why in British minds is Russia viewed almost as a run-of-the-mill production of a Chekhov play. Is it because Chekhov is so dominant in British theatre culture? What about all those other Russian writers? Many of them are very different from Chekhov. A key question was formulated, thanks to a review by Susannah Clapp of Turgenev's A Month in the Country: have the British staged a ‘Russia of the theatrical mind'?

This book situates the work of the Soviet psychologist and neurologist Alexander Luria (1902-1977) in its historical context and explores the'romantic'approach to scientific writing developed in his case histories. Luria consistently asserted that human consciousness was formed by cultural and historical experience. He described psychology as the ‘science of social history'and his ideas about subjectivity, cognition and mental health have a history of their own. Lines of mutual influence existed between Luria and his colleagues on the other side of the iron curtain, but Psychologies in Revolution also discusses Luria's research in relation to Soviet history – from the October Revolution of 1917 through the collectivisation of agriculture and Stalinist purges of the 1930s to the Second World War and, finally, the relative stability of the Brezhnev era – foregrounding the often marginalised people with whom Luria's clinical work brought him into contact. By historicising science and by focusing on a theoretical approach which itself emphasised the centrality of social and political factors for understanding human subjectivity, the book also seeks to contribute to current debates in the medical humanities.

Care of the State blends archival, oral history, interview and ethnographic data to study the changing relationships and kinship ties of children who lived in state residential care in socialist Hungary. It advances anthropological understanding of kinship and the workings of the state by exploring how various state actors and practices shaped kin ties. Jennifer Rasell shows that norms and processes in the Hungarian welfare system placed symbolic weight on nuclear families whilst restricting and devaluing other possible ties for children in care, in particular to siblings, friends, welfare workers and wider communities. In focussing on care practices both within and outside kin relations, Rasell shows that children valued relationships that were produced through personal attention, engagement and emotional connections. Highlighting the diversity of experiences in state care in socialist Hungary, this book's nuanced insights represent an important contribution to research on children's well-being and family policies in Central-Eastern Europe and beyond.

Infolge der petrinischen Umwälzung zu Beginn des 18. Jahrhunderts beschritt Russland als erstes nichtabendländisches und souveränes Land den Weg der Westernisierung. Ein beispielloser Paradigmenwechsel fand statt. Der Versuch Peters des Großen, Russland an die europäische'Normalität'anzupassen, geriet in einen eklatanten Widerspruch zu dem im Lande tief verwurzelten Glauben an die Auserwähltheit der russischen Nation. Nicht zuletzt aufgrund dieses Glaubens ist es den Nachfolgern Peters niemals gelungen, Russland in ein'normales'europäisches Land umzuwandeln. Aber auch die Widersacher Peters des Großen waren nicht imstande, die Folgen seines Werks ungeschehen zu machen. Wie spiegelt sich dieses Spannungsverhältnis zwischen den verschiedenen Wertehierachien in der Entwicklung des Landes bis heute wider? Wie wurde der Versuch der russischen Reformer, Russland an den Westen anzupassen, im Westen bewertet? Mit diesen Fragen befasst sich das vorliegende Buch.

Kiril Georgiev setzt sich mit der Ästhetik und Stilistik des Komponistenkreises „Mächtiges Häuflein“ vor dem Hintergrund der soziokulturellen Situation Russlands während der „1860er“-Jahre auseinander. Er zieht dabei ergänzend aber auch vergleichend sowohl deutsch- als auch russischsprachige Primär- und Sekundärliteratur heran. Im Zentrum seiner Studie steht die Frage nach der historischen und zeitgenössischen Interpretation des Begriffs „nationale“ bzw. „russische Musik“ am Beispiel des Komponistenkreises und dessen Rezeption in Deutschland und Russland.

This book offers an in-depth case study of Romania's land and agricultural reforms from mid-19th century and up to 2000, offering a historical account of agricultural reforms in post-communist Romania in the light of more than a century of social and economic development experiments. Taking a ‘dual economy'analytic perspective, the book examines the impact of structural and agricultural reforms on the country's economic development and provides an analysis of the ideas and models that stood behind policy reforms aiming at the modernization of an economy and society defined by dualism and late development.

Drawing on the rich trove of recently declassified Russian and Chinese archival materials, this history of Sino-Soviet relations in the 20th century sheds new light on key events during this period. It offers fresh insights into the role of ideology and national interests in the evolution of the complex and turbulent relationship between not just the two countries but also their respective Communist Parties. The chapters on the normalization of bilateral ties provide an in-depth analysis of divisions in the socialist camp that culminated in both its collapse and the disintegration of the Soviet Union. The book argues that 20th century Sino-Soviet relations reflected both long-standing and emerging political and geopolitical challenges facing members of the Cold War socialist camp, in particular tensions between the ideal of internationalism and national aspirations, between commitment to the principle of sovereignty and commitment to that of equality in international relations, and between inter-party relations and inter-state relations. This makes for a valuable addition to the reading lists of all those interested in the development of the relationship between two of the world's most important countries.

Vladimir Babitsky was born before the Second World War and migrated West after Perestroika. The theory of vibro-impact systems that he developed helped create the world's safest jackhammer and other record-breaking machines. The author has lived through a series of fascinating epochs: experiencing life under totalitarianism, witnessing the Soviet Union's collapse, and then migrating to Europe as a specialist in his field. “On the Waves of a Pulsating World” is an animated and highly engaging story about the journey of an engineer; from childhood daydreams to creating new technologies, from East to West, and from concepts to realities. It is also the story of people who outshine authoritarianism.

Translated from the original German Lenin Neuentdecken and available in English for the first time, this volume rediscovers Lenin as a strategic socialist thinker through close examination of his collected works and correspondence. Brie opens with an analysis of Lenin's theoretical development between 1914 and 1917, in preparation for his critical decision to dissolve the Constituent Assembly in January 1918 in a struggle for power. This led from the dialectics of revolutionary practice and social analysis to a new understanding of socialism, which is compared and contrasted to the alternative Marxist ideas and conceptions of the state posited by Karl Kautsky and Rosa Luxemburg. Rediscovering Lenin then moves to 1921, when Lenin begins a new stage of his theoretical development concerned with resolving the reversal of the revolution's aims and its results. This process remains unfinished, and the questions raised a hundred years ago remain: How can one intervene successfully and responsibly in social and political crises? What role do social science theories, ideological frameworks, and other practices play in transforming the economic, political and cultural power structures of a society? Brie concludes with a retrospective on the ideas developed by Marx and in the Second International, and their impact on Lenin's strategic thinking. Placing Lenin's writing itself in the foreground and arguing from inside his own self-learning, Rediscovering Lenin focuses on the reflective relationship between ideology, theory, and practice. ​

This book examines the contention that current US-Russia relations have descended into a ‘New Cold War'. It examines four key dimensions of the original Cold War, the structural, the ideological, the psychological, and the technological, and argues that the current US-Russia relationship bears little resemblance to the Cold War. Presently, the international system is transitioning towards multipolarity, with Russia a declining power, while current ideological differences and threat perceptions are neither as rigid nor as bleak as they once were. Ultimately, when the four dimensions of analysis are weighed in unison, this work argues that the claim of a New Cold War is a hyperbolic assessment of US-Russia relations.

​This volume explores the bilateral treaties concluded after 1990 between the Republic of Poland and its neighbouring states (Germany, then-Czechoslovakia, Ukraine, the Russian Federation, Belarus and Lithuania), known as treaties on neighbourly relations or good neighbourhood treaties. These treaties, through which Poland and its neighbours were able to establish their political, security and social relations, were extremely significant in that they provided a unique way for them to organise their interstate post-Cold War relations. This book analyses the consequences of these treaties and addresses a variety of issues, including security policy and cooperation, migration, national minority rights, economic cooperation, education, and cross-border cooperation.

This book is the first English-language study of the social, intellectual and institutional history of sociology and the social sciences in Hungary. Starting with the emergence of the discipline in the early 20th century, Karady and Nagy chart its development throughout various transformations of Hungarian society: from the liberal Dual Monarchy, through the respective Christian and Stalinist regimes, and culminating in the modern scholarly field today. Drawing on large-scale prosopographical materials, the authors use empirically-based socio-historical analysis to measure the impact of successive and radical regime changes on the country's intellectual life. This will be an important and original point of reference for scholars and students of historical sociology, and Eastern European intellectual history.

Was ist an dem Blick der Autorin auf Russland anders? In diesem Buch geht es der Autorin darum, gegenwärtige Lebensformen, Denkweisen, Geschichtsbilder, Werte, Selbstbilder, Fremdbilder und russisch-deutsche bzw. deutsch-russische Wahrnehmungen zu erkennen, sie aber vor allem aus der politisch-historischen und religiös-kulturellen Entwicklung von Staat und Gesellschaft zu begreifen. Das Buch will so dem gewiss oft vorhandenen, je aktuellen Wissen und Kennen einen historischen Hintergrund geben und vor allem zum Können bei unseren Begegnungen mit Russland und damit zu ihrem Gelingen beitragen.

This book offers a comparative analysis of value and identity changes in several post-Soviet countries. In light of the tremendous economic, social and political changes in former communist states, the authors compare the values, attitudes and identities of different generations and cultural groups. Based on extensive empirical data, using quantitative and qualitative methods to study complex social identities, this book examines how intergenerational value and identity changes are linked to socio-economic and political development. Topics include the rise of nationalist sentiments, identity formation of ethnic and religious groups and minorities, youth identity formation and intergenerational value conflicts.

Where nostalgia was once dismissed a wistful dream of a never-never land, the academic focus has shifted to how pieces of the past are assembled as the elements in alternative political thinking as well as in artistic expression. The creative use of the past points to the complexities of the conceptualization of nostalgia, while entering areas where the humanities meet the art world and commerce. This collection of essays shows how this bond is politically and socially visible on different levels, from states to local communities, along with creative developments in art, literature and religious practice. Bringing together scholars from a range of disciplines, the book offers analyses from diverse theoretical perspectives, united by an interest in the political and cultural representations of the past in South-East Europe from a long-term perspective. By emphasising how the relationship between loss and creative inspiration are intertwined in cultural production and history writing,these essays cover themes across South-East Europe and provide an insight into how specific agents – intellectuals, politicians, artists – have represented the past and have looked towards the future.

This book highlights the quantitative methods of data mining and information visualization and explores their use in relation to the films and writings of the Russian director, Dziga Vertov. The theoretical basis of the work harkens back to the time when a group of Russian artists and scholars, known as the “formalists,” developed new concepts of how art could be studied and measured. This book brings those ideas to the digital age. One of the central questions the book intends to address is, “How can hypothetical notions in film studies be supported or falsified using empirical data and statistical tools?” The first stage involves manual and computer-assisted annotation of the films, leading to the production of empirical data which is then used for statistical analysis but more importantly for the development of visualizations. Studies of this type furthermore shed light on the field of visual presentation of time-based processes; an area which has its origin in the Russian formalist sphere of the 1920s and which has recently gained new relevance due to technological advances and new possibilities for computer-assisted analysis of large and complex data sets. In order to reach a profound understanding of Vertov and his films, the manual or computer-assisted data analysis must be combined with film-historical knowledge and a study of primary sources. In addition, the status of the surviving film materials and the precise analysis of these materials combined with knowledge of historical film technology provide insight into archival policy and political culture in the Soviet Union in the 1920s and 30s.

This collection of thirteen essays examines reactions in Eastern Europe to the Prague Spring and Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968. Countries covered include the Soviet Union and specific Soviet republics (Ukraine, Moldavia, the Baltic States), together with two chapters on Czechoslovakia and one each on East Germany, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Yugoslavia and Albania. The individual contributions explain why most of these communist regimes opposed Alexander Dubček's reforms and supported the Soviet-led military intervention in August 1968, and why some stood apart. They also explore public reactions in Eastern Europe to the events of 1968, including instances of popular opposition to the crushing of the Prague Spring, expressions of loyalty to Soviet-style socialism, and cases of indifference or uncertainty. Among the many complex legacies of the East European ‘1968'was the development of new ways of thinking about regional identity, state borders, de-Stalinisation and the burdens of the past.

This is Volume 2 of Dangerous Language. This book examines the rise of the international language Esperanto, launched in 1887 as a proposed a solution to national conflicts and a path to a more tolerant world. The chapters in this volume examine the position of Esperanto in Eastern Europe during the Cold War; in particular it explores Stalin's final years and the gradual re-emergence of the Esperanto movement. At first, its revival was limited to the satellite countries, especially Bulgaria and Poland, but, with Stalinism's gradual retreat, Esperanto organizations reappeared in most East European countries and eventually in the Soviet Union itself. The progress was uneven, and its details reveal the stresses and strains that became apparent as the solidarity of the Soviet bloc declined. This book will appeal to a wide readership, including linguists, historians, political scientists and others interested in the history of the twentieth century from the unusual perspective of language. This volume is complemented by the sister volume Dangerous Language — Esperanto under Hitler and Stalin which offers a concentration on the creation and early emergence of Esperanto as an international language.

This book is open access under a CC BY license.In this book, Nika Gilauri reveals his formulas for government reform and economic recovery, including how to fight against corruption, reform fiscal policy and tax systems, privatize state-owned enterprises, build a welfare system for those most in need, create a competitive education and healthcare system, and streamline procurement. All formulas are corroborated by practical experience and empirical evidence gathered during Mr Gilauri's term as a cabinet member (2004-2009) and prime minister (2009-2012) of Georgia, and provide an in-depth view of what worked in the case of Georgia since 2003, and how lessons learned could be applied in other parts of the world.

This book reveals the primary causes of Habsburg defeat both in the Austro-Prussian War and the First World War. The choice of offensive strategy and tactics against an enemy possessing superior weaponry in the Austro-Prussian War, and opponents with superior numbers and weapons in the Great War, resulted in catastrophe. The inferiority of the Habsburg forces in both conflicts stemmed from imprudent spending decisions during peacetime, rather than conservatism or parliamentary stinginess. The desire to restore the sunken prestige of Austria-Hungary and prove Habsburg's great power status drove the military to waste money on an expensive fleet, and choose offensive tactics to win great victories. This study shows the civil-military interaction in regard to funding and procurement decisions as well as the deep intellectual debates within the army, which refute the idea that the Habsburg military remained opposed to technology or progress

Russia's experiences during the Civil War determined the framework within which the Russian people were governed throughout the Soviet period. These newly released documents reveal how the events of 1918-22 reflected struggles and tensions in Russian society that were more complex than the simple Red-White propaganda war. In this collection the authors have sought out documents which highlight the complexities of the struggle, exploring episodes which shed light on what was a multifaceted struggle which left wounds on Russian society which never healed.