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Gorbachev and Yeltsin as Leaders also compares these men with Khrushchev and Brezhnev, yielding new insight into the nature of Soviet and post-Soviet politics and into the dynamics of "transformational" leadership more generally. The book is an important contribution to the analysis and evaluation of political leadership. It is well written and accessible to the nonspecialist."--Jacket.
Translated from the Spanish by Norman Thomas di Giovanni and Susan Ashe and co-published with the Woodrow Wilson Center Press. Bonet arrived in the Soviet Union as a correspondent for El Pais, the Madrid daily, in January 1984. These sketches and profiles, based on interviews and observations made during the course of seven years, depict the day-to-day human drama of the transition from regimentation to freedom and insecurity. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
In the wake of the USSR's breakup, the eighty-nine constituent subjects of the Russian Federation emerged as political players, grasping power for local policies from a weakened central authority and electing the legislators who have altered the complexion of the central government. Beyond the Monolith examines the impact of Russia's emerging regionalism on the political, economic, and social transformation of the largest of the successor states of the Soviet Union. The authors explore significant variations between and similarities among different provinces; the development of federalism in Russia; the effectiveness of local government; the power relationships between the center and the regions; the differential impact of privatization outside Moscow and St. Petersburg; and the role of environmental, public health, and labor market factors in regional economies. Contributors are Cynthia Buckley, Carol Clark, Robert V. Daniels, Mark. G. Field, Alexander A. Galkin, Nail Midkhatovich Moukhariamov, Demosthenes James Peterson, Greg Poelzer, Don K. Rowney, Darrell Slider, and John F. Young.
The Russian Federation on December 12, 1993, held its first national election since the collapse of Soviet Communism. The election, to a new, two-chamber parliament, was accompanied by a constitutional referendum. It followed months of wrangling over political and economic reform and a violent showdown in Moscow between President Boris Yeltsin and his opponents. After a bitter campaign in which the government frequently changed the rules of the game, Russians narrowly endorsed Yeltsin's draft constitution, but turned out in large numbers for nationalistic and socialistic opposition parties, leaving Russia's Choice, the party favored by the president, with a small minority of the seats. The c...
For centuries, dictators ruled Russia. Tsars and Communist Party chiefs were in charge for so long some analysts claimed Russians had a cultural predisposition for authoritarian leaders. Yet, as a result of reforms initiated by Mikhail Gorbachev, new political institutions have emerged that now require election of political leaders and rule by constitutional procedures. Michael McFaul traces Russia's tumultuous political history from Gorbachev's rise to power in 1985 through the 1999 resignation of Boris Yeltsin in favor of Vladimir Putin. McFaul divides his account of the post-Soviet country into three periods: the Gorbachev era (1985-1991), the First Russian Republic (1991-1993), and the S...
In separate chapters covering Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, this book examines the impact of the radical social, economic, and political transformations enacted upon them by both Czarist Russia and then the Soviet Union. With the demise of communist rule, Alaolmolki explores the efforts of the United States,Russia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey to influence the newly independent republics, specifically in connection with oil and natural gas concessions and pipelines. Included is a summary of recent developments and the prospect for economic and political progress in the republics.
Religion and Secular Modernity in Russian Christianity, Judaism, and Atheism is a multifaceted account of the engagement between religion and the secular in Russia's Christian, Jewish, and atheist traditions. Ana Siljak brings together an interdisciplinary group of leading scholars to present unique perspectives on the secularization dynamic in Russia and the Soviet Union, telling stories about theologians, sects, churches, poets, and artists. From the Jewish Christian priest Alexander Men, to the cross-dressing poet Zinaida Gippius, to the Soviet promoter of Yiddish theater Solomon Mikhoels, Religion and Secular Modernity in Russian Christianity, Judaism, and Atheism gives a voice to a variety of actors who have grappled with the possibilities of faith and unbelief in an industrialized, modern, and seemingly secular world. Now more than ever, as one narrative of Russia's religious history dominates official Russian accounts, alternative perspectives of the relationship between Russian religion and secularism should be highlighted and emphasized.