Vladimir Gel Research Articles

The Russian Path: Ideas, Interests, Institutions, Illusions

The Russian Path: Ideas, Interests, Institutions, Illusions by Dmitry Travin, Vladimir Gel'man, Otar Marganiya, is reviewed by Ingerid M. Opdahl, associate professor at the Norwegian Institute for Defence Studies.

«ОСОБЫЙ ПУТЬ»? МОДЕРНИЗАЦИОННЫЙ ВЗГЛЯД НА ИСТОРИЮ НОВОЙ РОССИИ

The article is an analytical review of the book The Russian Path: Ideas, Interests, Institutions, Illusions by Dmitry Travin, Vladimir Gel'man and Andrei Zaostrovtsev, published by the European University at St. Petersburg Press. Its focus is on breakthroughs and failures of Russian modernization over the past few decades. The authors of the book use their own approach to analyze political and economic transformation processes based on four ‘I’s – Ideas, Interests, Institutions and Illusions. The review examines all these interrelated elements and demonstrates their connection to the character of the reforms in post-Soviet Russia. It also describes some of the institutional foundations of the economic and political development of modern Russia as stated by the authors of the book and analyzes how the changes were implemented in ‘technocratic’ reforms. Finally, some conclusions on the political and economic prospects of Russia are made in the review. The nine chapters of the book draw a versatile picture of the last thirty years – from ‘perestroika’ and collapse of the USSR to the contemporary ‘post-Crimean’ political regime. In the conclusion, some limitations of the reviewed book are outlined, such as its disciplinary isolation connected with the prevalence of the ideas and methods of political science and economics, and the persisting ideological bias of the authors. The publication is interesting for its universalistic view on the issues discussed and can be recommended not only to political scientists, economists or sociologists but also to a wide readership. DOI: 10.17072/2218-1067-2019-4-116-121

Authoritarian Russia: Analyzing Post-Soviet Regime Changes, written by Vladimir Gel’man

Authoritarian Russia: Analyzing Post-Soviet Regime Changes, written by Vladimir Gel’man

Sannikov, Andrei Catherine A. Fitzpatrick (review)

SEER, 94, 4, October 2016 776 achieved in consolidating their power and their system, there were always challenges. Gel´man demonstrates the centrality of Vladimir Putin to this system, and he notes no one besides Putin has been able to manage that system. As Gel´man reveals, the experience of one-time-president Dmitri Medvedev is telling, as are the realities of the complicated manoeuvrings and rivalries of the elements comprising the Putin team. Given the thrust of the arguments set out by Gel´man, the reader struggles to understand the continuing power of the Putin system and team minus its hegemonic leader. There is a large cottage industry of observers offering thoughts about the current state of the Russian polity and its future, but relatively few of them provide creative insights. Vladimir Gel´man, in contrast, does, and this intellectually satisfying volume can serve as a sort of lodestone as one attempts to understand an evolving Russia that continues to be too prone to simplistic analysis and judgment. School of Government and Public Policy John P. Willerton University of Arizona Sannikov, Andrei. My Story: Belarusian Amerikanka or Elections under Dictatorship. Translated by Catherine A. Fitzpatrick. East View Press, Minneapolis, MN, 2015. 347 pp. Illustrations. Index. $32.95. Belarus has attracted considerable scholarly attention in recent years, generally concentrated on the political authoritarianism that has existed there since 1994. Brian Bennett wrote entirely and Andrew Wilson partially on the Leader in their groundbreaking books (SEER, 2012, 90, 4, pp. 782–84), and there have also been several books about political imprisonment, including the harrowing prisoner’s diary by anarchist Ihar Alinievič, Jedu ŭ Mahadan (On the Way to Magadan, 2014). The book under review, however, is worthy of notice as the first in English to describe vividly and in detail the reality of imprisonment by the Belarusian KGB, including physical and mental torture as well as threats to family and friends. Andrei Sannikov (in Belarusian Andrej Sannikaŭ) was already part of the government, as Deputy Foreign Minister, when Alieksandr Lukašenka came to power in 1994, but left his post two years later to join the opposition after a disastrous ‘referendum’ which abolished the nascent parliamentary democracy, making the presidency renewable and potentially permanent, as well as effectively reducing the status of the already beleaguered Belarusian language. Protests against electoral fraud had taken place in 2001, 2006 and 2008, but the events that unfolded on 19 December 2010, widely known in Belarus simply REVIEWS 777 as ‘Plošča’ (The Square), exceeded in numbers and height of expectation, or at least hope, that change might finally come. On the contrary, however, it was met by the most vicious crackdown of all, with not only brutality but also cynical attempts to create the impression that this peaceful process was in fact violent and destructive. The celebrated poet Uladzimir Niakliajeŭ who had presented himself as one of the presidential candidates, was severely beaten and hospitalized, almost before the demonstration had begun. Andrej Sannikaŭ was certainly the most politically astute and widely supported of the candidates, and his outspokenness before election day and his refusal to make a ‘confession’ while under extreme pressure in jail is the main focus of this book. At the centre of My Life is a detailed account of the life of Belarusian political prisoners and the cunning and ruthless behaviour of those into whose hands they were delivered by the police. At that level this book should open many eyes, especially of those who see cruel dictatorship with its torture and Stalinstyle kangaroo courts as a distant abstraction rather than an existential nightmare experienced by people like us. Sannikaŭ’s account of the notorious Amierikanka and Valadarka prisons in Miensk are at the centre of his posttrial experiences which included two other jails and three labour colonies as well as eight transports in so-called Stolypin cars. Each had its own particular brand of capricious viciousness, but Viciebsk, Babruisk and Mahilioŭ excelled in tormenting their captives without, in Sannikaŭ’s case at least, actually killing them and attracting unwanted publicity. It may be mentioned that a very talented member of his campaign team, Alieh Biabienin, died in mysterious circumstances on...

Book Review: Vladimir Gel’man, Otar Marganiya and Dmitry Travin, Re-examining Economic and Political Reforms in Russia, 1985–2000: Generations, Ideas and Changes

Book Review: Vladimir Gel’man, Otar Marganiya and Dmitry Travin, <i>Re-examining Economic and Political Reforms in Russia, 1985–2000: Generations, Ideas and Changes</i>

Reexamining Economic and Political Reforms in Russia, 1985–2000: Generations, Ideas, and Changes. By Vladimir Gel’man , Otar Marganiya and Dmitry Travin. Lanham: Lexington Books, 2014. x, 180 pp. Notes. Bibliography. Index. $80.00, hard bound. - Authoritarian Russia: Analyzing Post-Soviet Regime Changes. By Vladimir Gel’man. Pitt Series in Russian and East European Studies. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh, 2015. xvi, 208 pp.

Reexamining Economic and Political Reforms in Russia, 1985–2000: Generations, Ideas, and Changes. By Vladimir Gel’man , Otar Marganiya and Dmitry Travin. Lanham: Lexington Books, 2014. x, 180 pp. Notes. Bibliography. Index. $80.00, hard bound. - Authoritarian Russia: Analyzing Post-Soviet Regime Changes. By Vladimir Gel’man. Pitt Series in Russian and East European Studies. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh, 2015. xvi, 208 pp. Notes. Index. $25.95, soft bound. - Volume 75 Issue 2

Authoritarian Russia: Analyzing Post-Soviet Regime Changes by Vladimir Gel’man

Authoritarian Russia: Analyzing Post-Soviet Regime Changes by Vladimir Gel’man

Re-examining economic and political reforms in Russia, 1985-2000: generations, ideas, and changes. By Vladimir Gel'man, Dmitry Travin and Otar Marganiya

Re-examining economic and political reforms in Russia, 1985-2000: generations, ideas, and changes. By Vladimir Gel'man, Dmitry Travin and Otar Marganiya

State against Civil Society: Contentious Politics and the Non-Systemic Opposition in Russia

1. State against Civil Society: Contentious Politics and the Non-Systemic Opposition in Russia Cameron Ross 2. Political Opposition in Russia: A Troubled Transformation Vladimir Gel'man 3. Questioning Control and Contestation in Late Putinite Russia Richard Sakwa 4. The Calculus of Non-Protest in Russia: Redistributive Expectations from Political Reforms Irina Busygina and Mikhail Filippov 5. Lost in Transition? The Geography of Protests and Attitude Change in Russia Mikhail Dmitriev 6. Competing Ideologies of Russia's Civil Society Elena Chebankova 7. The Middle Class and Democratisation in Russia Evgeny Gontmakher and Cameron Ross 8. Mind the Gaps: Media Use and Mass Action in Russia Regina Smyth and Sarah Oates 9. Ethnicities, Nationalism and the Politics of Identity: Shaping the Nation in Russia Irina Semenenko 10. New Data on Protest Trends in Russia's Regions Tomila Lankina and Alisa Voznaya

The Intelligentsia Meets the Enemy: Educated Soviet Officers in Defeated Germany, 1945

She Is, Accursed Germany! Major Lev Kopelev entered East Prussia on a Ford truck. There were no markers, so he had to distinguish border himself: had already been agreed upon earlier: as soon as we crossed border, we would mark it in an appropriate fashion. Having stopped precisely on line according to map, I commanded, 'Here is Germany, get out and relieve yourselves!' It seemed witty to us, standing right next to cuvette, to mark initial entry into enemy territory in precisely way. (1) Germany welcomed Vladimir Gel'fand, commander of a mortar platoon, in an ungracious manner, a snow storm, ferocious wind, and empty, almost extinct villages. (2) war correspondent Vasilii Grossman entered German territory toward evening. It was foggy and rainy, and scent of forest rot was in air. Dark pine trees, fields, farms, service buildings, houses with sharp edged stretched out along highway. was great charm in scenery, Grossman wrote, the small but very thick woods were nice, with bluish-gray asphalt and brick roads running through them. His notes might seem like those of a tourist if not for reference to huge sign on shoulder of road: Soldier, here it is--the lair of fascist beast. (3) commander of a cannon platoon, Lieutenant Boris Itenberg, crossed border of East Prussia in region of Gumbinnen on an armored train. He saw Germany, this accursed country, for first rime on 25 March 1945. (4) Three weeks later, Lance-Corporal David Kaufman crossed German border: From Birnbaum to Landsberg runs a narrow highway with trees planted accurately alongside Approaching Schwerin, a wide placard across road read: 'Here was border of was Germany. I involuntarily felt anxious crossing unseen border. Tiled roofs of settlements reddened welcomingly amid clear winter crops on brilliant and green backdrop of a spring morning. serenity of morning smoothed over emptiness of villages and ugliness of ruins. It introduced a certain simplicity to regular and tidy landscape, small pine groves, rolling hills, even, cultivated fields. (5) Lieutenant Elena Kogan entered Germany along same highway: Outside Birnbaum there was a control-admission point (KPP). A large arch read, 'Here was border of Germany.' Everyone who in those days traveled on Berlin highway read yet another inscription, made with tar by some soldier on a half-destroyed house closest to arch, in huge curved letters: Here she is, accursed Germany! (6) Major Boris Slutskii ended war not in Germany but in Austria. For men in his unit, however, there was no difference between Germans and Austrians: The army could sense a German. We didn't know German well enough to distinguish between Prussian and Styrian dialects. We knew too little about world history to assess autonomy of Austria within Great German system.... soldiers listened attentively to admonitions about difference between Germany and Austria and didn't believe a word of it. (7) This article was written on basis of letters, diaries, and memoirs of Soviet servicemen who ended war in territory of Third Reich. youngest of them, Evgenii Plimak, a sergeant-major and translator for army intelligence, turned 20 in 1945; oldest, already well-known writer Vasilii Grossman, was 40. majority were between ages of 22 and 34, with ranks from junior lieutenant to major. (8) They were not typical representatives of Soviet officer corps. First, majority came from Moscow; second, they had either completed or interrupted their studies in institutions of higher education, and third, many of them could communicate in German--some haltingly, some excellently. For several of them, work with enemy became a military profession: they were either translators or propagandists. …

Introduction

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Notes 1. On the weakness of the Russian state under Yeltsin, see Neil Robinson, Russia: A State of Uncertainty (Routledge, 2002). On Russian oligarchy, see Peter Rutland, ‘Introduction: Business and State in Russia’, in Peter Rutland (ed.), Business and the State in Contemporary Russia (Westview, 2001), pp. 1–32. 2. For the causes of the August 1998 crisis, see Neil Robinson, ‘The Global Economy, Reform and Crisis in Russia’, Review of International Political Economy, Vol. 6, No. 4 (1999), pp. 531–64. For the political turmoil at the end of the Yeltsin era, see Lilia Shevtsova, Putin's Russia (Carnegie Endowment, 2005), chs 1 & 2. 3. Archie Brown, ‘Introduction’, in Archie Brown & Lilia Shevtsova (eds), Gorbachev, Yeltsin, and Putin. Political Leadership in Russia's Transition (Carnegie Endowment, 2001), p. 4. 4. Central Bank of Russia, http://www.cbr.ru/eng/statistics/credit_statistics/print.asp? file = liquidity_e.htm (accessed 13 November 2007). 5. On the collapse of political opposition and the centralisation of power in Russia, see Vladimir Gel'man, ‘Political Opposition in Russia. A Dying Species?’, Post-Soviet Affairs, Vol. 21, No. 3 (2005), pp. 226–46, and ‘Vozrashchenie Leviafana? (Politka retsentralizatsii v sovremennoi Rossii)’, Polis, No. 2 (2006), pp. 90–109. 6. The most comprehensive review of Russian politics under Putin can be found in Richard Sakwa, Putin: Russia's Choice, 2nd edn (Routledge, 2008). 7. For arguments that Putin is building a form of state capitalism, see A. Radygin, ‘Rossiya v 2000–2004: na puti k gosudarstvennomu kapitalizmu?’, Voprosy ekonomki, No. 4 (2004), pp. 42–65; Vladimir Shlapentokh, ‘Wealth versus Political Power: The Russian Case’, Communist and Post-Communist Studies, Vol. 35, No. 2 (2004), pp. 135–60; Andrei Illarionov, Press conference, 21 December 2005, www.fednews.ru/ (accessed 5 January 2006). 8. OECD, Russian Federation (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2006), p. 32; Philip Hanson, ‘The Russian Economic Puzzle: Going Forwards, Backwards or Sideways?’, International Affairs, Vol. 83, No. 5 (2007), pp. 869–89. 9. Growth in 1999 and 2000 was prompted by devaluation of the ruble, but thereafter it was driven by oil price rises, sometimes directly and sometimes indirectly through energy revenues raising consumer good demand. See Hanson, ‘The Russian Economic Puzzle’. The precise degree to which changing oil prices affects Russian GDP is hard to pin down, but there is consensus that its influence is considerable. For example, a recent study estimates that Russia's GDP would be 12 per cent lower if oil prices had remained at their 2001 levels and that, without the impact of oil prices on domestic demand, GDP growth for 2006 might have been as low as 1 per cent, that is, 6 points lower than it actually was. See Paavo Suni, ‘Oil Prices and the Russian Economy. Some Simulation Studies with NiGEM’, ETLA Discussion Papers, No. 1088 (2007), p. 6. It is easier to see how dependent the Russian budget is on oil revenue: without oil revenue the budget would consistently be in deficit. See the figures in IMF, Russian Federation: 2007 Article IV Consultation – Staff Report; Staff Statement; and Public Information Notice on the Executive Board Discussion (International Monetary Fund, 2007), p. 27. 10. Neil Robinson, ‘So What Changed? The 1998 Economic Crisis in Russia and Russia's Economic and Political Development’, Demokratizatsiya. A Journal of Post-Soviet Democratization, Vol. 15, No. 2 (2007), pp. 245–59; Julian Cooper, ‘Can Russia Compete in the Global Economy?’, Eurasian Geography and Economics, Vol. 47, No. 4 (2006), pp. 407–26. Additional informationNotes on contributorsNeil RobinsonNeil Robinson, Department of Politics and Public Administration, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland.

Resisting the State: Reform and Retrenchment in Post-Soviet Russia by Kathryn Stoner-Weiss (review)

393 Ab Imperio, 4/2007 Marina PEUNOVA Kathryn Stoner-Weiss, Resisting the State: Reform and Retrenchment in Post-Soviet Russia (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006). 182 pp. Bibliography, Index. ISBN: 0-521-82463-7 (hardcover edition). The scholarly analysis of postcommunist Russia during the 1990s особенно важно, так как прак- тически все статьи Виноградова по “русской проблеме” носили публицистический характер, были написаны, что называется, “на злобу дня” и не могут рассматри- ваться отвлеченно, а тем более из них не создашь коллаж с помощью “ножниц и клея”. has been characterized by intellectual battles between “particularists” and “universalists” that produced clashing avalanches of literature ranging from multidisciplinary area studies-style accounts of post-Soviet transformation to theory-based “transitological” works that viewed Russia from a comparative perspective as a case study of the transition to democracy and capitalism.1 A decade later, these deliberations largely resulted in the triumph of the comparative approach. In bitter criticism of area studies and the miscalculations of Sovietology, the majority of prominent scholars, most notably, political scientists, moved away from historical, cultural, and social explanations and into the world of abstract theories.2 Kathryn Stoner-Weiss is a wellrecognized figure of the “transition to democracy” – comparative and universalistic – paradigmatic landscape . Currently at the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law at Stanford University, 1 For a debate on transitology, see: Philippe Schmitter, Terry Karl. The Conceptual Travels of Transitologists and Consolidologists: How Far to the East Should They Attempt to Go? // Slavic Review. 1994. Vol. 53. Pp. 173-185; Valery Bunce. Should Transitologists be Grounded? // Slavic Review. 1995. Vol. 54. Pp. 109-127; Philippe Schmitter, Terry Karl. From an Iron Curtain to a Paper Curtain: Grounding Transitologists or Students of Postcommunism? // Ibid. Pp. 965-978; Valery Bunce. Paper Curtains and Paper Tigers // Ibid. Pp. 979-987. 2 This is not to say that “transitology” does not inspire a bitter criticism of its own, especially among Russian scholars. See Boris Kapustin. Modernity’s Failure/Postmodernity ’s Predicament: The Case of Russia // Critical Horizons. 2003. Vol. 4. Pp. 99-145; Andrei Mellville. Russia in the 1990s: Democratization, Postcommunism, or Something Else? // Demokratizatsiya: The Journal of Post-Soviet Democratization. 1999. Vol. 7. Pp. 165-187. 394 Рецензии/Reviews points out the necessity to evaluate “not just the kind of government in any particular state (democratic or authoritarian)… but the degree of government and the state’s actual capacity to govern” (P. 12).5 The Soviet state was hyper-centralized and governed effectively, contends the author. In contrast, the author notes that post-1991 Russia has endured “rapid decentralization” (Pp. 45, 96), and suffers from a “weak state syndrome” that exemplifies a broader pattern of ineffective governance in young and still-imperfect democracies (P. 12). With skepticism consistent with the discipline of political science, Stoner-Weiss disregards ethnicity, culture, and nationalism as plausible causes of the center-periphery conflict that plagues post-Soviet Russia.6 She focuses instead on politico-economic factors, more specifically, on the “business-government nexus” (Pp. 98, 155), and argues that regional Stoner-Weiss previously taught at Princeton, Columbia and McGill Universities, and held fellowships at Harvard University (where she received her Ph.D. in Government) and the Kennan Institute. Among her numerous publications is an important volume After the Collapse of Communism (2004),3 which Stoner-Weiss co-edited with the maharishi of democratization discourse, Michael McFaul. Resisting the State: Reform and Retrenchment in Post-Soviet Russia, Stoner-Weiss’ second single -authored volume, is a “transitological ” work that addresses Russian regionalism.4 The Russian case, argues the author, provides a wealth of lessons learned that reiterate how imperative politicoeconomic institution-building is for good governance (P. 155). Since state power is contingent upon the state’s ability to govern successfully across its territory, Stoner-Weiss 3 Michael McFaul, Kathryn Stoner-Weiss. After the Collapse of Communism: Comparative Lessons of Transition. Cambridge, 2004. 4 For a bibliography of works dealing with Russian regionalism in the 1990s, see: John Löwenhardt, Stephen White. Beyond the Garden Ring: A Bibliography. Glasgow, 1999. For Russian sources, see: Vladimir Gel’man, Sergei Ryzhenkov. Politicheskaia regionalistika Rossii: istoriia i sovremennnoe razvitie // Iu. Pivovarov (Ed.). Politicheskaia nauka sovremennoi Rossii: tendentsii razvitiia. Moscow, 1999. Pp. 173-255; A. Makarychev. Vliianie zarubezhnykh kontseptsii na razvitie rossiiskogo regionalizma: vozmozhnosti i predely zaimstvovaniia // A. Makarychev (Ed.). Sravnitel’nyi regionalism: Rossiia – SNG – Zapad. Nizhnii Novgorod, 1997. Pp. 9-129. 5 See Michael Mann. The Autonomous Power of...

The Politics of Local Government in Russia by Alfred B. Evans, Jr. , Vladimir Gel'man (review)

REVIEWS 379 Evans,AlfredB.Jr. and Gel'man,Vladimir(eds).7The Politics ofLocalGovernment in Russia.Rowman and Littlefield, Lanham, MD, Boulder, CO and Oxford, 2004. vii + 300 pp. Notes. Tables. Bibliography.Index. /57.oo. LocALgovernment in post-Soviet Russia has been a much neglected field of study,and it is this gap in the literaturethat this editedvolume aims to fill. In contrastto the Soviet period, where local self-governmentdid not exist, local autonomy was one of the fundamentalsof the 1993 Russian constitution.Yet, despitethis, local governmentand local democracyhave failed to take root in Russia. T7ePoliticsof LocalGovernment in Russiaexamines why this has happened . The volume is divided into three main sections.The firstsection looks at the historicalroots of local government in the zemstvo reformsof the late tsarist era. Successive authors grapple with the main issue underlying the developmentof local government,namely the balancebetween centralcontrol and local autonomy. Porterand Seregnynote the contradictionat the heartof the zemstvo movement, between the intention of centre to deconcentrate power in orderto retaincontrolover the localities,and the desireof society to pursue its own intereststhroughindependent activityand civic initiative.The balance between these opposing two forces in tsarist Russia was ultimately decided by the central authorities.Deason outlines how the conflicts within centralgovernmentand lack of ministerialconsensuson provincialreformleft local government in a no-man's land. Evans's contribution focuses on how scholars have re-evaluated the character of elected local government in the post-Soviet period. While Soviet scholars saw the emergence of zemstvos as part of the process of transforminga feudal monarchy into a bourgeois one, more recent studies have noted that the tsaristbodies of local government had a number of advantages, including greater independence and a higher degree of professionalism,over local government in both the Soviet period and in contemporary Russia. This has led to the revival of the myth of the 'democratic' zemstvo as an alternative path of development for local government. The second section looks at the politics of local reform from a national perspectivein post-Soviet Russia. Gel'man examines the influence of various groupingsat the federallevel on the institutionaldevelopmentof local government in the El'tsin era. He concludes that inconsistency in implementation has hinderedthe developmentof local governmentand has allowedindividual regional governments to diminish the status of government at the municipal and districtlevel. Young's chapter looks at the issue of the financing of local government, noting that, while post-Soviet reforms have concentrated on a societal mode of development, the federal government has failed to assign local government revenues sufficientto cover the responsibilitiesdelegated to it, leaving it dependent upon regionalgovernment.This fiscalsqueeze has left local governmentunable to operate properly. The thirdand final section is a more detailed analysisof local government. Slider looks at governor-mayorrelations in Russia and the means, legal or otherwise, used by regional governors to undermine an autonomously functioning local government and the ways in which mayors of larger towns and cities have attempted to fight back. Matsuzatobuilds on this analysis,proposing a typology of relationshipsbetween local and regional politics and using 380 SEER, 84, 2, 2006 five case studyregions,coming to the conclusionthat the growthof competent and independent local government has in fact been impeded where regional governmenthas proved competent. Brie uses the concept of 'machine'politics to analyse the dynamics of the Moscow City regime where Mayor Luzhkov successfullyutilized the power of the city government to fashion a winning voter coalition and construct alliances to prevent opposition from gaining power. The strength of this coalition and federal weakness enabled Moscow to pursue a privatizationprogramme significantlydifferentfrom that implemented at the federal level. While giving a useful insight into the dynamic of power in Russia's largest city, Moscow's special status as a subject of the RussianFederationmeans that it is partof the second tier of government,and it is debatablewhether it should be included in a book on local government. A more substantivecriticismof this book is not so much the content of its contributors'chapters, which are excellent, but the absence from the main body of the volume of work on the Putin era. While the editor's conclusion does go some way in correcting this omission, it seems probable that this volume will need updatingalmostimmediately.These criticismsnotwithstanding...

The Legacy of the Soviet Union by Wendy s&gt; Slater Andrew Wilson (review)

REVIEWS 55I co-operation between the US and Russia in the War on Terror;Washington rethinking its unilateralistapproach to security issues can provide the only basisforfutureprogress. In the author'sopinion, Russiafaced the bruntof internationalterrorismin the North Caucasusbefore the US was compelled to takeseriouslythe nature of the global threat posed by such militant groups and their decentralized networksin disparate geographical locations. Russia's terroristproblem has been rooted in Chechnya, and though Primakov does not examine the contribution of the overwhelming use of force by Russian armed forces in Chechnya since I994, he readily admits that mistakes have been made. Nonetheless, he is not a proponent of finding a negotiated settlement to Chechen ambitions to secure independence. This he justifies by detailed reference to Chechen terrorism. Having met with those responsible for the Nord-Ost theatresiege in Moscow in October 2002 as the situationunfolded, he concludes that their fanaticism cannot be reasoned with, offering only bleak hope that Russian authorities will foster talks with more moderate Chechen leaders. However, Primakovwrote before the terroristattackon the school in Beslan, North Ossetia in September 2004, which has provoked a security response from Moscow that makes the prospect of talks even less likely. Primakov's book will prove essential reading to academics and political plannersalike,seekingto understandfromwithin the natureof contemporary Russian perspectives on the radically altered international security environment and especially to gain insight into Russia's views on terrorismin the twenty-firstcentury. University ofKent atCanterbugy ROGER N. McDERMOTT Slater,WendyandWilson,Andrew(eds). 7heLegacy oftheSoviet Union. Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke and New York, 2004. xii + 275 pp. Tables. Notes. Index. ?5?.??. THIS is an excellent collection of essays seeking to outline the effects of the Soviet legacy ten years afterthe fall of the Soviet Union. The essaysgenerally are thoughtful,based on deep familiaritywith those aspectsof Soviet/Russian life with which each essay is concerned, and thought-provoking. In the Introduction, Sheila Fitzpatricklooks over the decade since I99I, arguing that the end of the Soviet Union means that important new perspectivesare brought to bear on both particularaspects of the Soviet experience and that experience as a whole, and that this has importantimplicationsfor Russians' understandingof both theircontemporarysituationand how they got therein the first place. Four essays look at issues of national identity. Vera Tolz exploresthe dynamicsof the differencebetween conceiving Russiaasa nationstate and as a multi-national state, and the implications this has for the conception of Russia's future. This is nicely complemented by Andrew Wilson's discussion of the differentviews of the nature of Eastern Slavdom held in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus.Dov Lynch explores the role played by de facto states in generating conflict in the post-Soviet space, focusing on 552 SEER, 83, 3, 2005 Nagorno-Karabakh, South Ossetia, Pridnestriaand Abkhazia, but surprisingly not Chechnya. Bhavna Dave explains how the Nazarbaev government has been able to manage ethnic relations in Kazakhstan. There are three essays on economic matters. Janine R. Wedel summarizes her arguments about the corruptway in which US aid has been deliveredinto Russiaand the implications this has had, while Alena Ledeneva looks at the survival in changed form of many of those informalpracticesthat had been so centralto citizens' survivalduringthe Soviet period. Philip Hanson analysesthe impact of the administrativeregionson economic performance,andfindsthatdespite the close linksbetween regional politicians and local businessmen, economic difficultiesare not a resultof the politico-administrativestructure.There are five essays on politics, law and foreign policy. W. E. Butler charts the substantialchanges that therehave been in the legal sphere,althoughthishas not led to a strengthening of civil society, while Martin Dewhirst focuses mainly on perestroika-eraGlavlit and its post-Soviet descendant. Vladimir Gel'man surveysthe literatureon politics in the regions, and Peter Duncan analyses the foreign policies of many of the Soviet successor states. Finally, Wendy Slater uses the fiftieth anniversary of Stalin's death to review the ambiguous image he currently has among Russian citizens and political leaders. Although the principalfocus of the book is upon Soviet legacies, there is no attempt to spell out what is meant by a legacy, nor to give a weighting to the importanceof differenttypesoflegaciesinthepost-Sovietperiod.Accordingly, a range of different factors form the focus of the individual essays: formal institutions, informal patterns of action, memories and...

Easy Come, Easy Go: Ministerial Turnover in Russia, 1990 – 2004

A CABINET JOB REPRESENTS the zenith of a political career, whether in Russia or elsewhere. Yet the turnover of cabinet members is affected, albeit in varying degrees, by the duration of the government, that is, the length of its stay in office. The goal of this study is to analyse ministerial turnover in Russia. The chronological scope of the study is about 14 years, from July 1990, when the first transitional prime minister, Ivan Silaev, was appointed, to February 2004, when the cabinet of Mikhail Kas'yanov was dissolved. The study seeks to address several questions. First, I will discuss the duration of Russian governments in a comparative perspective. Second, I will analyse the turnover of ministers in Russia. Specifically, I will examine rotation across governments and types of ministerial specialisation. I will also consider the cases of short-term and long-lasting ministers. Finally, I will inquire into the turnover of deputy prime ministers and first deputy prime ministers, who constitute a 'buffer group' between prime minister and ordinary ministers in the Russian

The Politics of Local Government in Russia. Ed. Alfred B. Evans, Jr. and Vladimir Gel'man. Lanham, Md.: Rowman and Littlefield, 2004. viii, 300 pp. Notes. Index. Figures. Tables. $75.00, hard bound.

The Politics of Local Government in Russia. Ed. Alfred B. Evans, Jr. and Vladimir Gel'man. Lanham, Md.: Rowman and Littlefield, 2004. viii, 300 pp. Notes. Index. Figures. Tables. $75.00, hard bound. - Volume 64 Issue 3

Making and Breaking Democratic Transitions: The Comparative Politics of Russia's Regions. By Vladimir Gel'man, Sergei Ryzhenkov, and Michael Brie, with Vladimir Avdonin, Boris Ovchinnikov, and Igor' Semenov. The Soviet Bloc and After. Lanham, Md.: Rowman and Littlefield, 2003. ix, 310 pp. Notes. Bibliography. Index. Figures. Tables. Maps. $75.00, hard bound.

Making and Breaking Democratic Transitions: The Comparative Politics of Russia's Regions. By Vladimir Gel'man, Sergei Ryzhenkov, and Michael Brie, with Vladimir Avdonin, Boris Ovchinnikov, and Igor' Semenov. The Soviet Bloc and After. Lanham, Md.: Rowman and Littlefield, 2003. ix, 310 pp. Notes. Bibliography. Index. Figures. Tables. Maps. $75.00, hard bound. - Volume 63 Issue 3

Regional politics in Russia

Federalism, sovereignty and democracy, Richard Sakwa Regional voting patterns in post-communist Russia, Matthew Wyman, Stephen White, Ian McAllister & Sarah Oates Political parties and regional democracy, Cameron Ross The role of Russia's Governors in the 1999-2000 federal elections, Danielle N. Lussier High stakes, low chances - the failure of party politics in St Petersburg. Grigorii V. Golosov & Vadim Goncharov The development of political institutions in three regions of the Russian Far East, Jeffrey W. Hahn Regional democratisation in Russia: Some lessons from Novgorod, Nicolai N. Petro Problems of democratisation in the Komi Republic, James Alexander Democratisation, structural pluralism and fragile Bi-entrism - The case of Volgograd Oblast, Vladimir Gel'man Bashkortostan: A case of regional authoritarianism, Jorn Gravingholt Tatarstan: Syndrome of authoritarianism, Midkhat Farukshin Putin reforms the federal system, Elizabeth Teague.

Developments in Russian politics 5

In Developments in Russian 8, leading experts provide a broad-ranging assessment of Putin's third term in power. All essays are either new or comprehensively rewritten for this volume, and cover executive power, parliamentary politics, the electoral process, the rule of law, foreign policy, the economy, and the military. They also address matters concerning Russia's media and political communication in the digital age; society and social divisions; protest and challenge; and future trajectories for Russian politics. Developments in Russian Politics remains the first-choice introduction to the politics of the world s largest nation. Contributors. Vladimir Gel'man, Henry E. Hale, Philip Hanson, Kathryn Hendley, Margot Light, Jennifer Mathers, Ian McAllister, Sarah Oates, Thomas F. Remington, Graeme Robertson, Richard Sakwa, Darrell Slider, Svetlana Stephenson, Stephen White, John P. Willerton

Party politics in post-communist Russia

Party development in the regions: when did parties start to play a part in politics?, Ruth Brown regional party system gormation in Russia: the deviant case of Sverdlovsk Oblast, Vladimir Gel'man and Grigorii V. Golosov the electoral effects of presidentialism in post-Soviet Russia, Robert G. Moser party platforms: towards a definition of the Russian political spectrum, Sarah Oates ideology, uncertainty and the rise of anti-system parties in post-communist Russia, Stephen E. Hanson left or right? the CPRF and the problem of 'relevance' in a time of uncertainty, Neil Robinson should party in parliament be weak or strong? the rules debate in the Russian state duma, Moshe Haspel political conflict and institutional design: paths of party development in Russia, Thomas F. Remington where now in the study of Russian political parties?, Frederic J. Fleron, Jr., Richard Ahl and Finbarr Lane the lessons of comparative politics: Russian political parties as independent variables?, Paul Webb and Paul G. Lewis electoral statistics, 1993-96, Stephen White