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Politics in Russia
A Reader
Edited by:
- Joel M. Ostrow - Benedictine University, USA
Other Titles in:
Russian Politics
Russian Politics
August 2012 | 512 pages | CQ Press
Covering the major contours of any Russian politics course, and comprehensive enough to serve as a core text, this new Reader includes sections from the Soviet political system and its collapse, to the debate about post-Communist transition and efforts toward political and economic reform. Ostrow's choice of readings is guided by a central insight: To understand contemporary Russia, and to bring the study of Russian politics to life, students need to know that there are strongly competing interpretations of Russian politics past and present—and these interpretations are best represented by watershed examples of the voices in the debate.
A former journalist who worked in Russia, Ostrow's substantial headnotes blend needed background with insights from his experience, to create a nuanced treatment of Russian politics.
PART ONE: AN INTRODUCTION TO THE SOVIET POLITICAL SYSTEM
Mary McCauley
"Introduction," from Soviet Politics, 1917-1991
Merle Fainsod
"Terror as a System of Power"
Seweryn Bialer
"Soviet Stability and its Sources"
PART TWO: THE COLLAPSE OF THE SOVIET UNION
Katherine Verdery
"What Was Socialism and Why Did it Fail?"
Joel M. Ostrow
"Glasnost Gutted the Party, Democratization Destroyed the State"
Alexander Dallin
"Causes of the Collapse of the USSR"
PART THREE: CORE TASKS FOR POSTCOMMUNIST RUSSIA
Joel M. Ostrow, Georgiy A. Starov, and Irina M. Khakamada
"Crucial Junctures and the Demise of Democracy in Russia"
Zvi Gitleman
"The Democratization of Russia in Comparative Perspective"
David Foglesong and Gordon Hahn
"Ten Myths About Russia: Understanding and Dealing with Russia’s Complexity and Ambiguity"
PART FOUR: THE ECONOMY: MARKET CAPITALISM OR INSTITUTIONALIZED CORRUPTION?
Andrei Shliefer and Daniel Triesman
"A Normal Country: Russia after Communism"
Lilia Shevtsova
"The Triumph of Bureaucratic Capitalism"
Steven Handleman
Excerpts from "Comrade Criminal" and "The Criminal State"
PART FIVE: THE EXECUTIVE AND THE LEGISLATURE
Lilia Shevtsova
"Liberal Technocrats as an Adornment of the State"
Olga Kryshtanovskaya and Stephen White
"Inside the Putin Court: A Research Note"
Paul Chaisty
"Majority Control and Executive Dominance: Parliament–President Relations in Putin's Russia"
PART SIX: POLITICAL PARTIES
Vladimir Gel’man
"Party Politics in Russia: From Competition to Hierarchy"
Vladimir Gel’man
"Political Opposition in Russia: A Dying Species?"
Stephen White
"Russia’s Client Party System"
M. Steven Fish
Selection from "Symptoms of the Failure of Democracy in Russia"
PART SEVEN: ELECTIONS
Joel M. Ostrow, Georgiy A. Starov, and Irina M. Khakamada
Excerpts from “Corrupting the Elections: Enter the Oligarchs” and “Abandoning Democracy: Anointing a Successor”
Misha Myagakov and Peter Ordeshook
"Russian Elections: An Oxymoron of Democracy"
M. Steven Fish
Selection from "Symptoms of the Failure of Democracy in Russia"
PART EIGHT: NATIONALISM AND CHECHNYA
Rafael Khachaturian
"The Spectre of Russian Nationalism"
Anna Politkovskaya
"Chechnya: A Dirty War 1999-2002"
Marlene Laurelle
"Conclusion: Nationalism as Political Posture"
PART NINE: THE MEDIA
Joel M. Ostrow, Georgiy A. Starov, and Irina M. Khakamada
"Dictatorship Becomes the Only Game in Town"
M. Steven Fish
Selections from "Symptoms of the Failure of Democracy in Russia"
Masha Lipman
"Constrained or Irrelevant: The Media in Putin’s Russia"
Oleg Panfilov
"Russia: Why Do Journalists Die?"
Oleg Panfilov
"Rebirth of Russian Nationalism: State Control of the Mass Media Is the Principal Cause Of the Growth of Xenophobia in Russia"
David Satter
"Journalism of Intimidation"
Dmitriy Sidorov
"All the News the Kremlin Thinks is Fit to Print"
Very useful book
Dept of Political Sciences, John Cabot University
October 1, 2014