In The Russian Quest for Peace and Democracy, Metta Spencer recounts the political and military changes that have occurred in Russia up to mid-2010. Using hundreds of interviews she conducted with officials, dissidents, and liberal intellectuals, she describes the various groups, forces, and individuals that worked to liberalize the totalitarian Soviet Union and its fellow nations behind the Iron Curtain, and which ultimately brought about the dissolution of those repressive governments. Spencer identifies four political orientations to describe Soviet society: 'Sheep,' ordinary citizens who accepted the undemocratic regime they lived in without challenging it; 'Dinosaurs,' hard-line Communist officials; 'Termites,' including Mikhail Gorbachev and his advisers and government; and 'Barking Dogs,' a few hundred dissidents who made 'a lot of noise' protesting, hoping to awaken a grass-roots demand for democracy. The strange rivalry between the Termites and Barking Dogs would ultimately doom perestroika. Spencer's research dispels the widely-held perception that US President Ronald Reagan 'won' the Cold War by standing firm until the Soviet Union 'blinked first.' There are vitally important lessons to be learned from the Soviet period, about how to assist citizens of totalitarian and authoritarian regimes around the world. The irony is that transnational civil society organizations, major sources of the progress in Soviet Russia, are still needed today in authoritarian Russia, under Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev, for totalitarianism remains a potential social trap. In The Russian Quest for Peace and Democracy, Metta Spencer suggests new ways of building urgently-needed social capital in today's Russia, where democracy has yet to flourish.

Social scientists' autobiographies can yield insight into personal commitments to research agendas and the very project of social science itself. But despite the long history of life writing, sociologists have tended to view the practice with skepticism. Canadian Sociologists in the First Person is the first book to survey the Canadian sociological imagination through personal recollections. Exploring the lives and experiences of twenty contributors from across the country, this book connects the unique and shared features of their careers to broad social dynamics while providing a guide to their own research and administrative contributions to their universities, their profession, and their broader society and communities. The contributors teach in different types of institutions, are prominent in the discipline and in their specializations, and represent significant and diverse intellectual currents, political perspectives, and life and career experiences. Aiming to start a broad conversation about what social science and the academic profession look like in Canada from an insider's perspective, Canadian Sociologists in the First Person offers invaluable lessons for younger scholars as they envision a diverse sociological imagination for the twenty-first century.

This book explains why elective affinity exists between democratic and non-democratic ideologies and why liberal socialism as a compromise between liberalism and socialism did not succeed in the 20th century. As is shown here, the main reason for such affinity is the self-incurred immaturity of both ideologies. Although both concepts diverged from the beginning, as contenders in the political scene, they gradually became more antagonistic and self-contained. Furthermore, the idea of the self-production of both liberalism and socialism system absorbed their democratic potential and expanded the elective affinity toward authoritarian ideologies and regimes. The book also provides a set of policies of liberal socialism that may serve to remove the liabilities of liberalism and socialism as separate ideologies and policies and produce conditions for democratic and economically sustainable development.

This book examines a wide range of issues that are expected to play a dominant role in shaping the 21st century. Delineating key concerns in geopolitics, democracy and peace, it studies the functions and influences of educational institutions, progressive religious and social groups, communities, international institutions such as the United Nations (UN); and forums promoting inter-faith dialogue. The author underscores how the century may be forged by a pluralist ethos: multiple and diverse nation states, centres of power, faiths, cultures, economies, and languages. He stresses the need to nurture moral strength and enlightened leadership for a life of compassion, peace and holistic development. In his second edition, the author further examines what the future holds for democracy. The volume takes stock of the recent developments in world politics, and highlights the urgent need for the Bahudha approach — inculcating a culture of dialogue and debate for peaceful resolution of conflicts. Lucid and engaging, this book will interest scholars and researchers of political studies, international relations, public policy, governance and development studies.

A rare, behind-the-scenes look at Russian military politics Why have Russian generals acquired an important political position since the Soviet Union's collapse while at the same time the effectiveness of their forces has deteriorated? Why have there been no radical defense reforms in Russia since the end of the cold war, even though they were high on the agenda of the country's new president in 2000? Democratic Breakdown and the Decline of the Russian Military explains these puzzles as it paints a comprehensive portrait of Russian military politics. Zoltan Barany identifies three formative moments that gave rise to the Russian dilemma. The first was Gorbachev's decision to invite military participation in Soviet politics. The second was when Yeltsin acquiesced to a new political system that gave generals a legitimate political presence. The third was when Putin not only failed to press for needed military reforms but elevated numerous high-ranking officers to prominent positions in the federal administration. Included here are Barany's insightful analysis of crisis management following the sinking of the Kursk submarine, a systematic comparison of the Soviet/Russian armed forces in 1985 and the present, and compelling accounts of the army's political role, the elusive defense reform, and the relationship between politicians and generals. Barany offers a rare look at the world of contemporary military politics in an increasingly authoritarian state. Destined to become a classic in post-Soviet studies, this book reminds us of the importance of the separation of powers as a means to safeguard democracy.

The political uncertainty following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the rejection of the revolutionary model has brought Russian political thought full circle as democratic forces contend with authoritarian nationalism. This volume is essential to understanding the antidemocratic tradition in Russia and the persistent danger of totalitarianism.

How can leaders craft political institutions that will sustain the peace and foster democracy in ethnically divided societies after conflicts as destructive as civil wars? This volume compares power-dividing and power-sharing solutions.

This book formulates a conceptual framework to analyse the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. It examines the strategies of the Baltic states and the attitudes of the societies of the Baltic Sea basin, directed not only towards limiting the consequences of the Russian-Ukrainian war but also towards restoring peace and ensuring future security in the region. It assesses the Baltic states during and after the conflict, discussing the problem of managing a coherent policy towards Russia and Ukraine, the challenges faced by states during and after the conflict, analysing the attitudes of societies and their evolution during and after the conflict. The volume will be of interest to scholars and researchers of European studies and war, international relations, political science, peace and conflict studies.