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Poland's EU Accession
This book examines the process of Poland’s accession negotiations to the European Union between 1998-2003. An empirical study based on Robert Putnam’s two-level game model, it charts the influence and role of key domestic actors and groups on the negotiations especially in three critical, controversial, areas - areas where EU accession threatened to bring about a profound transformation to Polish life - agriculture, with particular emphasis on direct payments and production quotas; the purchase of real estate by foreigners; and the free movement of labour. This book demonstrates the complex interaction between the domestic and international level of negotiations and furthermore, shows ho...
Business in Post-Communist Russia
It is a widely held idea that Russia has completed its revolution which brought down the Soviet economy, and that many companies after privatisation work as typical western companies. Another belief is that Russia has adopted a market economy but then reverted to authoritarianism. With these two ideas in mind, this book discusses the suggestion that the key element of post-Soviet economic and political reforms in the last two decades was the redistribution of assets from the state to oligarchs and the new elite. It looks at why most Russian companies could not achieve strong long–run corporate performance by analysing in detail a range of different Russian companies. The book is a useful tool for understanding the future prospects for Russian business.
Managing Ethnic Diversity in Russia
This book provides a comprehensive overview of the norms and practices of ethnic diversity management in the Russian Federation in the last twenty years. It examines the evolution of the legal framework, the institutional architecture and the policies intended to address the large number of challenges posed by Russia’s immense ethno-cultural diversity. It analyses the legal, social and political changes affecting ethno-cultural relations and the treatment of ethnic minorities, and assesses how ethnic diversity both influences and is shaped by transformations in Russian politics and society. It concludes by appraising how successful or otherwise policies have been so far, and by outlining the challenges still faced by the Russian Federation.
The Post-Soviet Russian Orthodox Church
In recent years, the Russian Orthodox Church has become a more prominent part of post-Soviet Russia. A number of assumptions exist regarding the Church’s relationship with the Russian state: that the Church has always been dominated by Russia’s secular elites; that the clerics have not sufficiently fought this domination and occasionally failed to act in the Church’s best interest; and that the Church was turned into a Soviet institution during the twentieth century. This book challenges these assumptions. It demonstrates that church-state relations in post-communist Russia can be seen in a much more differentiated way, and that the church is not subservient, very much having its own a...
The Transition to National Armies in the Former Soviet Republics, 1988-2005
This book looks at the militaries of the late-Soviet and post-Soviet republics. Beginning with the end of the Soviet era, it recognises that the successor states did not spring from nowhere, but inherited a legacy that influenced all that followed. The book discusses how politicians control the instruments that are the manifestation of the state’s monopoly on violence, and how society views and supports the military. By taking a bottom up empirical approach that examines the personnel, leaders, organisations and institutions, and their outlook and attitudes, the book presents a comprehensive picture of the armed forces, showing how the armed forces are very significantly shaped by the surrounding political and social environment. The book goes on to examine the armed forces in action, and highlights that to truly understand the militaries, studies need to go beyond looking at the static structures.
Boundaries of Utopia - Imagining Communism from Plato to Stalin
The idea that socialism could be established in a single country was adopted as an official doctrine by the Soviet Union in 1925, Stalin and Bukharin being the main formulators of the policy. Before this there had been much debate as to whether the only way to secure socialism would be as a result of socialist revolution on a much broader scale, across all Europe or wider still. This book traces the development of ideas about communist utopia from Plato onwards, paying particular attention to debates about universalist ideology versus the possibility for "socialism in one country". The book argues that although the prevailing view is that "socialism in one country" was a sharp break from a long tradition that tended to view socialism as only possible if universal, in fact the territorially confined socialist project had long roots, including in the writings of Marx and Engels.
EU-Russian Border Security
The land border between Russia and the European Union is one of the longest land borders in the world, with very considerable trade flowing across the border in both directions. This book examines the nature of the EU-Russia border, and the issues connected with its management. It describes the territories and the societies on each side of the border, discusses the challenges which confront border management, including migration and criminal activities, and explores how people on both sides perceive each other and perceive threats and security issues. It concludes by assessing achievements to date in managing the border and by assessing continuing unresolved challenges.
The Russian Armed Forces in Transition
Although the role of the military in Russia has changed significantly since Soviet times, it continues to exert great influence on Russian politics, economy and society. This book presents a comprehensive overview of current developments related to Russia’s military sector. It considers recent military reforms, personnel issues, the defence industry and procurement, the defence economy, changes in civil-military relations, and the continuing huge economic significance of Russia’s military-industrial complex. It explores difficulties currently faced by the Russian military, including problems of recruitment and leadership; analyses Russian security policy - including in relation to Europe and more widely; and discusses the lessons learned by the Russian military as a result of the recent war in Georgia. The book argues that reform attempts have often been thwarted by bureaucracy, economy, strategy, manpower, weapon systems and leadership. The book concludes by assessing likely future developments.
Lenin's Terror
This book explores the development of Lenin’s thinking on violence throughout his career, from the last years of the Tsarist regime in Russia through to the 1920s and the New Economic Policy, and provides an important assessment of the significance of ideological factors for understanding Soviet state violence as directed by the Bolshevik leadership during its first years in power. It highlights the impact of the First World War, in particular its place in Bolshevik discourse as a source of legitimating Soviet state violence after 1917, and explains the evolution of Bolshevik dictatorship over the half decade during which Lenin led the revolutionary state. It examines the militant nature o...
Life in Post-Communist Eastern Europe after EU Membership
This book examines how membership of the European Union has affected life in the ten former communist countries of Eastern Europe that are now members of the European Union. For each country, political, economic and social changes are described and discussed, together with people’s perceptions of the effects of EU membership. Overall, the book shows how the benefits of EU membership have differed between different countries, and how perceptions about the benefits also differ and have changed over time.
