The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 created a range of policy dilemmas for the Russian gover... more The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 created a range of policy dilemmas for the Russian government in both domestic and foreign affairs. In the latter, Russian policy has gone through a number of phases. The initially rather supine attitude Russia adopted toward the West in the early years of Yeltsin’s presidency changed somewhat, following the replacement of Alexander Kozyrev as foreign minister by Evgenii Primakov in January 1996, when a more independent stance became evident in Russian policy. But the real change came following the election of Vladimir Putin to the presidency in 2000. Increased attention was devoted to the former states of the USSR and to Asia than had been evident earlier, and Russia became more assertive with regard to its basic interests, especially in terms of its relationship with the West. However although the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has issued a number of ‘Foreign Policy Concepts’ outlining a framework for Russian foreign policy (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, 2013; earlier such documents appeared in 1993 and 2008). There has been no clear articulation of an ideology or vision that might provide an intellectual rationale to underpin the foreign policy process. This is in sharp contrast to the situation that had applied in the USSR when a developed meta-narrative had provided this sort of intellectual underpinning (Gill, 2011).
The Bolshevik revolution in October 1917 ushered into existence a new type of political system ve... more The Bolshevik revolution in October 1917 ushered into existence a new type of political system very different from any which had preceded it. The innovative thing about this new system was the place that the ruling Communist Party occupied in it.1 The party was dominant in the system. Its branches were found in all organizations in the USSR, its members were meant to exercise leading and guiding authority in all of those organizations, and throughout the society in general, and its leadership made all of the most important decisions for the Soviet state. It was clearly the most influential institutional body in the Soviet system. But throughout its life as the ruling institution of the Soviet Union, the party suffered from a basic tension within the rules, norms and procedures that were designed to structure the way the party worked.
The demonstrations following the December 2011 legislative election and the poorer performance of... more The demonstrations following the December 2011 legislative election and the poorer performance of United Russia in that election suggest a potential crisis in the Russian electoral authoritarian regime. Assuming the Russian leadership wishes to stabilize electoral authoritarian rule, how should it go about doing this? Increasing electoral competition and decreasing control potentially can lead to democratization, and therefore regime change. A safer course for the regime may be reform of United Russia. This article analyzes United Russia's performance, asking if it has been carrying out the tasks of a dominant party, and considers the party's best chances for long-term stabilization of electoral authoritarianism.
Most scholars of ideology have distinguished between two different types of belief systems. These... more Most scholars of ideology have distinguished between two different types of belief systems. These have been accorded various labels, including ‘pure’ and ‘practical’ ideology (theory and thought), ‘doctrine’ and ‘ideology’, and ‘fundamental’ and ‘operative’ ideology.1 The distinction which these labels reflect is between a body of philosophical principles and assumptions about the nature of reality and of historical change on the one hand, and on the other a set of tenets which are designed to link these principles and assumptions with existing reality by constituting an ‘action program’2 through which the adherents seek to realise those principles and assumptions in action. The more fundamental principles and assumptions combine together to constitute a social theory which has as its principal characteristic an explanatory orientation. The ideological tenets will be drawn from the body of social theory, but they will tend to be much less complex than the principles from which they spring. Indeed, one of their chief characteristics will be to rationalise or simplify the complex propositions of the social theory so as to enable them both to be understood and acted upon by those who may not have the philosophical training or insight to get to grips with the social theory as a whole.
Neurologie pédiatrique (3° Éd.) La pathologie neurologique infantile occupe une place majeure dan... more Neurologie pédiatrique (3° Éd.) La pathologie neurologique infantile occupe une place majeure dans la pathologie pédiatrique, en raison de sa fréquence et de la gravité de ses conséquences sur le développement psychomoteur des enfants. La 3e édition de Neurologie ...
Debatte: Journal of Contemporary Central and Eastern Europe, 2010
The failure of Gorbachev's attempt to reform the Soviet Union lies in the shape of destalinis... more The failure of Gorbachev's attempt to reform the Soviet Union lies in the shape of destalinisation as implemented by Khrushchev and the reaction to this by leading elements in the party and state. Khrushchev had sought to replace the Stalinist method of steering the state by a new one emphasising greater regularity of the institutional structure, increased threats to officials, a new range of incentives for officials, and his own personal dominance. In this sense he rejected some aspects of Stalinism while modifying others. However in their implementation, these measures produced incoherence and reluctance on the part of officials to grapple meaningfully with pressing issues. A sense of drift accompanied the reluctance to countenance reform, making Gorbachev's task even greater than it would otherwise have been.
The notion of electoral authoritarianism emerged in the post-cold war world to refer to authorita... more The notion of electoral authoritarianism emerged in the post-cold war world to refer to authoritarian systems that used seemingly democratic electoral means to stabilize non-democratic systems. This was achieved through the production of massive electoral majorities for the ruling party. However an element of uncertainty remains with such elections in that the ruling party may be either defeated or suffer a significant electoral rebuff. Such events are usually seen in terms of the loss of voter support for the party, but as the Russian case shows, this may be better seen as evidence of a basic malfunction of the electoral authoritarian mechanism itself.
Page 1. THE SOVIET UNION, DETENTE AND THE INDIAN OCEAN Graeme J. Gill * Soviet policy toward the ... more Page 1. THE SOVIET UNION, DETENTE AND THE INDIAN OCEAN Graeme J. Gill * Soviet policy toward the Western world over the last few years has. had as its central tenet the notion of detente. This was reaffirmed by General ...
Demokratizatsiya: The Journal of Post-Soviet Democratization
... in the form of the rise of questions concerning things that particular communities hold dear... more ... in the form of the rise of questions concerning things that particular communities hold dearlanguage, reli-gious beliefs ... resolved constitutionally because the sharpest manifestation of it, military con-flict, ended quickly, and because the pronationalist Moldovan government was ...
The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 created a range of policy dilemmas for the Russian gover... more The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 created a range of policy dilemmas for the Russian government in both domestic and foreign affairs. In the latter, Russian policy has gone through a number of phases. The initially rather supine attitude Russia adopted toward the West in the early years of Yeltsin’s presidency changed somewhat, following the replacement of Alexander Kozyrev as foreign minister by Evgenii Primakov in January 1996, when a more independent stance became evident in Russian policy. But the real change came following the election of Vladimir Putin to the presidency in 2000. Increased attention was devoted to the former states of the USSR and to Asia than had been evident earlier, and Russia became more assertive with regard to its basic interests, especially in terms of its relationship with the West. However although the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has issued a number of ‘Foreign Policy Concepts’ outlining a framework for Russian foreign policy (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, 2013; earlier such documents appeared in 1993 and 2008). There has been no clear articulation of an ideology or vision that might provide an intellectual rationale to underpin the foreign policy process. This is in sharp contrast to the situation that had applied in the USSR when a developed meta-narrative had provided this sort of intellectual underpinning (Gill, 2011).
The Bolshevik revolution in October 1917 ushered into existence a new type of political system ve... more The Bolshevik revolution in October 1917 ushered into existence a new type of political system very different from any which had preceded it. The innovative thing about this new system was the place that the ruling Communist Party occupied in it.1 The party was dominant in the system. Its branches were found in all organizations in the USSR, its members were meant to exercise leading and guiding authority in all of those organizations, and throughout the society in general, and its leadership made all of the most important decisions for the Soviet state. It was clearly the most influential institutional body in the Soviet system. But throughout its life as the ruling institution of the Soviet Union, the party suffered from a basic tension within the rules, norms and procedures that were designed to structure the way the party worked.
The demonstrations following the December 2011 legislative election and the poorer performance of... more The demonstrations following the December 2011 legislative election and the poorer performance of United Russia in that election suggest a potential crisis in the Russian electoral authoritarian regime. Assuming the Russian leadership wishes to stabilize electoral authoritarian rule, how should it go about doing this? Increasing electoral competition and decreasing control potentially can lead to democratization, and therefore regime change. A safer course for the regime may be reform of United Russia. This article analyzes United Russia's performance, asking if it has been carrying out the tasks of a dominant party, and considers the party's best chances for long-term stabilization of electoral authoritarianism.
Most scholars of ideology have distinguished between two different types of belief systems. These... more Most scholars of ideology have distinguished between two different types of belief systems. These have been accorded various labels, including ‘pure’ and ‘practical’ ideology (theory and thought), ‘doctrine’ and ‘ideology’, and ‘fundamental’ and ‘operative’ ideology.1 The distinction which these labels reflect is between a body of philosophical principles and assumptions about the nature of reality and of historical change on the one hand, and on the other a set of tenets which are designed to link these principles and assumptions with existing reality by constituting an ‘action program’2 through which the adherents seek to realise those principles and assumptions in action. The more fundamental principles and assumptions combine together to constitute a social theory which has as its principal characteristic an explanatory orientation. The ideological tenets will be drawn from the body of social theory, but they will tend to be much less complex than the principles from which they spring. Indeed, one of their chief characteristics will be to rationalise or simplify the complex propositions of the social theory so as to enable them both to be understood and acted upon by those who may not have the philosophical training or insight to get to grips with the social theory as a whole.
Neurologie pédiatrique (3° Éd.) La pathologie neurologique infantile occupe une place majeure dan... more Neurologie pédiatrique (3° Éd.) La pathologie neurologique infantile occupe une place majeure dans la pathologie pédiatrique, en raison de sa fréquence et de la gravité de ses conséquences sur le développement psychomoteur des enfants. La 3e édition de Neurologie ...
Debatte: Journal of Contemporary Central and Eastern Europe, 2010
The failure of Gorbachev's attempt to reform the Soviet Union lies in the shape of destalinis... more The failure of Gorbachev's attempt to reform the Soviet Union lies in the shape of destalinisation as implemented by Khrushchev and the reaction to this by leading elements in the party and state. Khrushchev had sought to replace the Stalinist method of steering the state by a new one emphasising greater regularity of the institutional structure, increased threats to officials, a new range of incentives for officials, and his own personal dominance. In this sense he rejected some aspects of Stalinism while modifying others. However in their implementation, these measures produced incoherence and reluctance on the part of officials to grapple meaningfully with pressing issues. A sense of drift accompanied the reluctance to countenance reform, making Gorbachev's task even greater than it would otherwise have been.
The notion of electoral authoritarianism emerged in the post-cold war world to refer to authorita... more The notion of electoral authoritarianism emerged in the post-cold war world to refer to authoritarian systems that used seemingly democratic electoral means to stabilize non-democratic systems. This was achieved through the production of massive electoral majorities for the ruling party. However an element of uncertainty remains with such elections in that the ruling party may be either defeated or suffer a significant electoral rebuff. Such events are usually seen in terms of the loss of voter support for the party, but as the Russian case shows, this may be better seen as evidence of a basic malfunction of the electoral authoritarian mechanism itself.
Page 1. THE SOVIET UNION, DETENTE AND THE INDIAN OCEAN Graeme J. Gill * Soviet policy toward the ... more Page 1. THE SOVIET UNION, DETENTE AND THE INDIAN OCEAN Graeme J. Gill * Soviet policy toward the Western world over the last few years has. had as its central tenet the notion of detente. This was reaffirmed by General ...
Demokratizatsiya: The Journal of Post-Soviet Democratization
... in the form of the rise of questions concerning things that particular communities hold dear... more ... in the form of the rise of questions concerning things that particular communities hold dearlanguage, reli-gious beliefs ... resolved constitutionally because the sharpest manifestation of it, military con-flict, ended quickly, and because the pronationalist Moldovan government was ...
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