Offering a reflection of the complexities of the situation in Russia today, this book aims to show how glasnost provided citizens with an initially intoxicating freedom and glut of information, yet in a context of failed economic reform also brought some extreme reactions.

Having been fully revised and updated to reflect the considerable changes in Russia over the last decade, the fourth edition of this classic text builds on the strengths of the previous editions to provide a comprehensive and sophisticated analysis on Russian politics and society. New to this edition: extended coverage of electoral laws, party development and regional politics new chapter on the ‘phoney democracy’ period, 1991-93 historical evaluation of Yeltsin’s leadership full coverage of Putin’s presidency discussion of the development of civil society and the problems of democratic consolidation latest developments in the Chechnya conflict more on foreign policy issues the re-introduction of the Russian Constitution as an appendix an updated Select Bibliography more focus on the challenges facing Russia in the twenty-first century. Written in an accessible and lively style, this book is packed with detailed information on the central debates and issues in Russia’s difficult transformation. This makes it the best available textbook on the subject and is essential reading for all those concerned with the fate of Russia, and with the future of international society.

This collection provides international perspectives on the evolution of Russia's foreign relations and analyses official Russian responses to major regional and international developments, including NATO and EU enlargement and the post-September 11 international "war on terrorism".

This bibliography, first published in 1957, provides citations to North American academic literature on Europe, Central Europe, the Balkans, the Baltic States and the former Soviet Union. Organised by discipline, it covers the arts, humanities, social sciences, life sciences and technology.

Roselle analyzes how political leaders of powerful states use media to explain military defeats. The cases of the United States in Vietnam and the Soviet Union in Afghanistan highlight the role of great power identity, domestic politics, and media structure.

Nato intervention in Kosovo marked a major turning point in post cold war international relations. While some western commentators argued that it was the first war to be fought on purely moral grounds, Serbian, Russian and Chinese assessments were sharply different.This highly original addition to the literature on Kosovo highlights the importance of perspective to an understanding of both the causes and consequences of war. It makes clear that the conceptual lenses, paradigms or frameworks through which political actors view reality in turn affect their understanding of the behaviour of others and their reactions to it. The authors, a team of regional experts on the countries covered, examine the way the war has been understood in countries involved in and peripheral to the conflict. Their aim is to provide a broad yet highly nuanced picture of this focal point of Balkan unrest.The book opens with an introduction to the historical and regional context of the conflict. The authors go on to present twelve case-studies, ranging from Serbia, and the other former Yugoslav republics, to the USA and to China. These detailed regional studies highlight the considerable variation in the key states' perceptions of their national interest and their perceptions of what constitutes legality or legitimacy. In each case, domestic constraints are explored and the ways in which differing perspectives of political and military leadership fed into the crisis are examined. Further thematic chapters determine the war's consequences and the lessons to be drawn in terms of the wider issues of refugees, humanitarian intervention, European security, and geopolitics.

Both Russia and Turkey were pioneering examples of feminism in the early 20th Century, when the Bolshevik and Republican states embraced an ideology of women's equality. Yet now these countries have drifted towards authoritarianism and the concept of gender is being invoked to reinforce tradition, nationalism and to oppose Western culture. Gökten Dogangün's book explores the relationship between the state and gender equality in Russia and Turkey, covering the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 and the Republican Revolution of 1923 and highlighting the very different gender climates that have emerged under the leaderships of Putin and Erdogan. The research is based on analysis of legal documents, statistical data and reports, as well as in-depth interviews with experts, activists and public officials. Dogangün identifies a climate of 'neo-traditionalism' in contemporary Russia and 'neo-conservatism' in contemporary Turkey and examines how Putin and Erdogan's ambitions to ensure political stability, security and legitimacy are achieved by promoting commonly held 'family values', grounded in religion and tradition. The book reveals what it means to be a woman in Turkey and Russia today and covers key topics such as hostility towards feminism, women's employment, domestic violence, motherhood and abortion. Dogangün provides the first comparative study that seeks to understand the escalation of patriarchy and the decline of democracy which is being witnessed across the world.

Of course we watched it all on television, day by day, as the Evil Empire transmuted into the Circus Bear, but seeing it and knowing what to think about it are not the same. Scholars from eastern and western Europe and North America help out, in 14 papers from an April 1992 conference in Naples.

The reforms of the Soviet and Chinese communist regimes were unparalleled-both in the radical, precedent-setting reforms attempted by the two countries and in the outcomes of these attempts. While the Soviet Union collapsed quickly in the midst of its reforms, more than a decade later China, the world's most populous country, still stands as a testament to the resilience of Communist rule. It is this phenomenon that Christopher Marsh explores in Unparalleled Reforms. Marsh goes beyond simply discussing the differing initial conditions, the sequencing of reform, and cultural differences to also consider the objectives and intentions of the policy makers and leaders that directed the reform processes and the interdependent nature of politics on the world stage. Unparalleled Reforms offers the reader a sophisticated understanding of the nature of political reform and develops a theoretical model that can account for commonly overlooked factors that affect political processes in all types of political systems. In a class all its own, this is an important work for scholars interested in comparative politics, international relations, economics, Asian studies, and Russian studies.

This collection of essays looks at the impact on women of the political changes which have taken place in East-Central Europe since the 1930s. It is unusual in combining a strong contemporary focus with re-evaluations of what the socialist experience has meant for women. It brings together specialists from both East and the West to offer insights into women's lives and responses to change in countries which have a shared legacy of state socialism yet are as culturally diverse as Russia and Germany, Poland and Estonia.