“Soviet mentality?” The role of shared political culture in relations between the Armenian state and Russia's Armenian diaspora

2013 ◽  
Vol 41 (5) ◽  
pp. 709-729 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristin Cavoukian
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Political Culture ◽  
Community Organization ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Armenian Diaspora ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The One ◽  
Management Institutions ◽  
The Relationship

Russia's Armenians have begun to form diaspora institutions and engage in philanthropy and community organization, much as the pre-Soviet “established” diaspora in the West has done for years. However, the Russian Armenian diaspora is seen by Armenian elites as being far less threatening due to a shared “mentality.” While rejecting the mentality argument, I suggest that the relationship hinges on their shared political culture and the use of symbols inherited from the Soviet Union in the crafting of new diaspora and diaspora-management institutions. Specifically, “Friendship of the Peoples” symbolism appears to be especially salient on both sides. However, the difference between old and new diasporas may be more apparent than real. The Russian Armenian diaspora now engages in many of the same activities as the Western diaspora, including the one most troublesome to Armenia's elites: involvement in politics.

scholarly journals Russia’s Foreign Policy Evolution in the New Balkan Landscape

2020 ◽  
Vol 56 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 179-199
Author(s):  
Ekaterina Entina ◽  
Alexander Pivovarenko
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Regional Security ◽  
Southeast Europe ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Current Trends ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
The Difference

The article reflects on the issue of the foreign policy strategy of modern Russia in the Balkans region. One of the most significant aspects of this problem is the difference in views between Russia and the West. Authors show how different interpretations of the events in former Yugoslavia in the 1990s and the beginning of the 2000s predetermined the sense of mutual suspicion and mistrust which spread to other regions such as the post-Soviet space. Exploring differences between the Russian and the Western (Euro-Atlantic) views on the current matters, authors draw attention to fundamental differences in terminology: while the Western narrative promotes more narrow geographical and political definitions (such as the Western Balkan Six), traditional Russian experts are more inclined to wider or integral definitions such as “the Balkans” and “Central and Southeast Europe”. Meanwhile none of these terms are applicable for analysis of the current trends such as the growing transit role of the Balkans region and its embedding in the European regional security architecture. Therefore, a new definition is needed to overcome the differences in vision and better understand significant recent developments in the region. Conceptualizing major foreign policy events in Central and Southeast Europe during the last three decades (the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s), authors demonstrate the significance of differences in tools and methods between the Soviet Union and the modern Russia. Permanent need for adaptation to changing political and security context led to inconsistence in Russian Balkan policy in the 1990s. Nevertheless, Russia was able to preserve an integral vision of the region and even to elaborate new transregional constructive projects, which in right political circumstances may promote stability and become beneficial for both Russia and the Euro-Atlantic community.

Relational Rules and Communist Single-Party Regimes

2021 ◽  
pp. 90-142
Author(s):  
Graeme Gill
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Authoritarian Regimes ◽  
Major Focus ◽  
Symbolic Function ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Relational Rules ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Relationship

Relational rules structure the relationship between the oligarchs and the elite, and the oligarchs and the institutions of the regime. The chapter analyses how the 11 relational rules functioned in the Soviet Union and China over the life of the respective regimes. It explains how the oligarchs sought to insulate themselves from below and, in looking at the role of political institutions, tackles the idea that institutions serve little more than a symbolic function in authoritarian regimes. A major focus is also the power of the individual leader, its nature and bases and how this related to those institutions.

scholarly journals Non-Soviet Perspectives on the Great Famine: A Comparative Analysis of British, Italian, Polish, and German Sources

2019 ◽  
Vol 48 (3) ◽  
pp. 444-459 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paolo Fonzi
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Diplomatic Relations ◽  
Present Contribution ◽  
Soviet Government ◽  
Great Famine ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractThe present contribution analyzes systematically diplomatic reports written by German, Italian, British, and Polish representatives in the Soviet Union at the time of the Great Famine. Based on both published documents and unpublished archival sources, the article examines comparatively the perception of the Great Famine in these four countries. After providing a short overview of the diplomatic relations between the Soviet Union and the four countries at the time of the famine, this article examines how German, Italian, British, and Polish diplomats explained three key issues for understanding the Great Famine: (1) the role of the conflicts between state and peasantry in unleashing the famine; (2) the issue of whether the Soviet government intentionally caused the famine; and (3) the role of intentions in the development of the famine and the relationship between the nationalities policy of the Soviet government and the famine.

Commemorating the Soviet Deportations of 1945 and Community-Building in Post-communist Upper Silesia

2009 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 217-234 ◽  
Author(s):  
EWA OCHMAN
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Mining Industry ◽  
Regional Identity ◽  
Upper Silesia ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Collapse Of Communism ◽  
Post War ◽  
Separatist Movement ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractThis article focuses on the remembrance of the deportations of Silesians to the Soviet Union in 1945, undertaken in Upper Silesia, Poland, after the collapse of communism. It explores the relationship between local elite-sponsored official remembrance of the deportations and the formation of regional identity in the context of the Upper Silesia's borderland locality and the post-war population movement. The article also investigates the role of public commemorations of the Silesian past in the construction of a Silesian national identity undertaken by the Silesian separatist movement that gained in popularity against the backdrop of the post-1989 de-industrialisation of the region, Poland's most important centre for coal mining industry.

Bilingual Education

1989 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 103-121 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arturo Tosi
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Bilingual Education ◽  
Language Change ◽  
Western World ◽  
Republic Of China ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Language Spread ◽  
The One

In the past two decades bilingual education has become an educational movement and a field of academic inquiry of remarkable growth throughout the world. At first glance this appears to be the outcome of the increasingly hegemonic role of a few languages like English in the western world and countries economically affiliated to it, Russian in the multilingual republics of the Soviet Union, and Putonghua in the People's Republic of China. But a closer look at the first of these areas—the one better known to us—shows how complex the dynamics of language spread and language change are in diverse sociopolitical contexts.

On the Relationship between Law and Morality

2020 ◽  
pp. 87-92
Author(s):  
T. N. Pidlasko
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Russian Society ◽  
The Past ◽  
Political Transformations ◽  
Spiritual World ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The Russian Federation ◽  
Law And Morality ◽  
The One ◽  
The Relationship

The article touches on the topical issue of interaction between law and morality, caused by the fact that society is constantly developing, and this process is endless, therefore, the norms of law and morality are constantly changing in their development. This process is not easy and covers different sides. Any country is unique because it has its own specific features and uniqueness. The Russian Federation is particularly unique, because on the one hand, it is the largest in terms of area, population and territory, on the other hand, it is home to a large variety of ethnic groups. Our government has repeatedly experienced a total conversion, was confronted with a powerful crisis, not only political, but also economic. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia again experienced a crisis that affected the economy, politics, and the spiritual world of Russian society. Up to the present time Russia is trying to overcome this crisis, at the same time faced with new challenges. Political transformations, economic realities, and many other factors certainly have an impact on law and morals, because in the country, society, subjected to huge tests, regularly changes, changing its spirit and mentality. The past legislation is outdated, and the new one is still being formed, passing through a number of mistakes and entering into disagreement with the past foundations.

In conversation with Leo S. Klejn

2015 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 171-185
Author(s):  
Stephen Leach
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Forensic Science ◽  
Great Depth ◽  
History Of Archaeology ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Difference ◽  
New Archaeology

AbstractThis interview discusses the comparison that Klejn draws between archaeology and forensic science. This is a comparison that has been made many times previously by many different archaeologists (and crime writers), but Klejn is unusual in that he explores the implications of their similarity. In his view it is archaeology rather than history that is most closely related to forensic science. The difference between archaeology and history is important because when this difference was ignored, in the Soviet Union, it was to the detriment of both disciplines. Hence Klejn's continued concern – that the difference between archaeology and history is still, to some extent, ignored. Other subjects discussed include Klejn's view of the role of theory in relation to practice, his criticisms of New Archaeology and postprocessual archaeology, typology, the underlying principles of archaeology, ethnogenesis and the history of archaeology. Of course, in an interview of this length not all of these subjects are covered in great depth but it is hoped that enough is said that the reader may appreciate something of the nature and originality of Klejn's views.

Economics and Politics in a Socialist Country: Gorbachev's New Concepts

1988 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 167-185 ◽  
Author(s):  
Klaus von Beyme
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Public Enterprises ◽  
Leading Role ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
New Concepts ◽  
Social Tasks ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Economics And Politics

SINCE GORBACHEV'S COMING TO POWER THE RELATIONSHIP between economics and politics in the Soviet Union has been changing rapidly. But even from the outset one could see that there would be limits to change. The primacy of politics which characterizes the relationship between economics and politics under the conditions of socialism in power will be fully maintained in the future, too. All proposals for more decentralization meet with obstacles when they seem to call into question the leading role of the party. The party is only advised to observe a kind of ‘economic restraint’: it should stop mingling every aspect of public administration with the economy. The idea is to free the party from its responsibility for detail in order to allow it to concentrate more on its central political tasks. In this respect socialism has problems similar to those which Western governments face in the welfare state. After the end of the hegemony of social democracy it is, above all, the conservative parties in Western Europe who are ready to reduce the responsibility of the governments of the day for many economic and social tasks: this is why we find deregulation efforts, privatization of public enterprises and the transfer of political functions to non-state social organizations everywhere.

Italian Communism and Soviet Terror

2004 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 57-63
Author(s):  
Richard Drake
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Good Deal ◽  
Prisoners Of War ◽  
World War ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Before And After ◽  
New Evidence ◽  
The Relationship

The declassification of materials from the Russian archives has provided a good deal of new evidence about the relationship between the Italian Communist Party (PCI) and the Soviet Union both before and after World War II. Two newly published collections of documents leave no doubt that, contrary to arguments made by supporters of the PCI, the Italian party was in fact strictly subservient to the dictates of Josif Stalin. The documents reveal the unsavory role of the PCI leader, Palmiro Togliatti, in the destruction of large sections of the Italian Communist movement and in the tragic fate of Italian prisoners of war who were held in the Soviet Union during and after World War II. Togliatti's legacy, as these documents make clear, was one of terror and the Stalinization of the PCI.

scholarly journals Le Corbusier versus Sergei Eisenstein. La construcción de un sueño

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elena Martínez Millana
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Le Corbusier ◽  
Moving Image ◽  
Sergei Eisenstein ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Palabras Clave ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Made In

Resumen: Este artículo plantea la revisión de la relación entre el arquitecto Le Corbusier y el cineasta Sergei Eisenstein. Se lanza como hipótesis la posible influencia del cineasta en Le Corbusier. Le Corbusier versus Eisenstein en el sentido más profundo de ‘avanzar en dirección a’: Le Corbusier hacia la cinematografía, no como contraposición. Se esboza el papel de cada figura y su encuentro en el período de 1928-1936, tiempo en que Le Corbusier se aproximó a la Unión Soviética, un contexto que configura un marco complejo a partir del cual es posible entrever aquello que los vincula y que refuerza la hipótesis planteada. Por otro lado, se realiza un análisis de Poème électronique - filme de 480” que Le Corbusier hace en 1958 con motivo de la Exposición Universal en Bruselas - con la intención de visibilizar que Le Corbusier recurre a la técnica del montaje dialéctico de la que Eisenstein era maestro y por tanto la consustancial influencia. Le Corbusier reconoce el potencial de esta técnica de montaje y se sirve de ella como la estrategia clave en su aproximación al ámbito de la cinematografía. El mecanismo del montaje dialéctico forma parte de su propio pensamiento y lo materializa en su arquitectura y también en el caso de estudio que nos ocupa, en la disciplina de la imagen en movimiento, tan próxima a ésta. Pero hay más, en el Pabellón Philips la técnica del montaje oculto - sobre la que Eisenstein había teorizado en aquél periodo - está presente, pues mediante éste mecanismo construye la puesta en escena del espectáculo total. Como veremos, Poème électronique representa la construcción de un sueño. Abstract: This article reviews the relationship between the architect Le Corbusier and the filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein. When launched, it was seen to hypothesise the possible influence of the filmmaker in the work of Le Corbusier. Le Corbusier versus Eisenstein, in the deepest sense of the expression, is portrayed as "towards to": Le Corbusier towards the film, not in opposition to it. It outlines the role of each figure and their interactions during the period between 1928 and 1936, the time when Le Corbusier got closer to the Soviet Union. This context forms a complex framework from which it is possible to glimpse what it is that links them, reinforcing the hypothesis-raised. On the other hand, this work presents an analysis of the Poème électronique - 480" film Le Corbusier made in 1958 for the Universal Exhibition in Brussels - in order to exemplify that Le Corbusier uses the technique of dialectical montage, in which Eisenstein was the undisputed master, thereby highlighting an inherent influence. Le Corbusier recognises the potential of this montage technique and uses it as a key strategy in his approach to the field of cinema. The mechanism of dialectical montage is a part of Le Corbusier's own thought and this materialises both in his architecture as well as in the subsequent case study regarding the discipline of the moving image, which is closely aligned to it. There is, however, more to it. In the Philips Pavilion, the hidden montage technique - theorised by Eisenstein in that period - is present, the use of which was the mechanism to construct the stage for the spectacle as a whole. As we will see, Poème électronique represents the construction of a dream.  Palabras clave: Eisenstein; Le Corbusier; Le Poème électronique; montaje dialéctico; montaje oculto; cinematografía. Keywords: Eisenstein; Le Corbusier; Le Poème électronique; dialectical montage; hidden montage; cinematography. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4995/LC2015.2015.824

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