scholarly journals Introduction

1998 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-14
Author(s):  
Michael F. Hamm
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
The Other ◽  
Political Organization ◽  
Mikhail Gorbachev ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Boris Yeltsin ◽  
Difficult Issue

In June 1990, following the example set by Boris Yeltsin and the Russian Republic, the Supreme Soviet in Chişinău declared Moldova sovereign. Henceforth, Moldovans would recognize only those laws approved by their own parliament and maintain relations with the other republics only within “an association of sovereign states.” Formal independence came a year later, on 27 August 1991, following the failure of the Moscow coup that sought to unseat Mikhail Gorbachev and preserve the Soviet Union. In the heady times that followed, Moldovans debated basic questions of political organization and, inevitably, the difficult issue of Moldova's relationship with neighboring Romania.

Yeltsin and Gorbachev: The Politics of Confrontation

2003 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 128-164 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc Zlotnik
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Mikhail Gorbachev ◽  
Soviet State ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Key Factor ◽  
History Of ◽  
Personal Interactions ◽  
Boris Yeltsin ◽  
Comparable Magnitude

The confrontation between Mikhail Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin was a key factor in the collapse of the Soviet Union. Perhaps no event of comparable magnitude has been more affected by the personal interactions of two men. The history of the Gorbachev-Yeltsin relationship during the ªnal years of the USSR is largely the story of the collapse of the Soviet state. The passionate dislike and animosity that developed between the two leaders made compromise difªcult and accelerated the collapse of the union. Gorbachev's initial unwillingness to deal seriously with the new Russian leader probably did more to contribute to the disintegration of the Soviet Union than did Yeltsin's bluster and thirst for revenge. It was only when the tables were turned after the failed coup of August 1991, and when Yeltsin clearly had gained control of the situation, that he allowed his intense dislike of Gorbachev to drive his actions.

scholarly journals Traumatization of the Past and Martyrological Thinking in the Soviet Union and the Post-Soviet Space

2021 ◽  
Vol 83 ◽  
pp. 47-62
Author(s):  
Daniil Anikin ◽  
◽  
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Collective Identity ◽  
Social Space ◽  
The Other ◽  
Political Organization ◽  
Soviet Society ◽  
Russian Society ◽  
Historical Responsibility ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The One

The purpose of the article is to analyze the mechanisms of the transformation of martyrological thinking in the Soviet Union and in post-Soviet Russia. The methodological basis of the study is constituted by the works written by the representatives of functionalism (E. Durkheim, M. Halbwachs, P. Bourdieu, J.C. Alexander), who raise the issue of the important role of religious rituals and forms of thinking in social space. Martyrological thinking creates martyrdom cults, performing an ambivalent function. On the one hand, this thinking is a way to maintain a collective identity, and on the other, a way to damage and destroy it. The author concludes that in Soviet society two main stages that formed martyrdom cults can be distinguished: the periods of the Civil War and the Great Patriotic War. In both cases, martyrological thinking was an important factor in the consolidation of the society. In post-Soviet society, martyrological thinking becomes a factor that causes the deconstruction of the symbolic space and a hidden factor in the destabilization of the political organization. The perception of the conservative part of the Russian society is expressed in the formation of the cult of the last Russian emperor, Nicholas II, which, on the one hand, allows to mitigate the historical responsibility, and on the other becomes a moral justification for criticizing the continuity of modern Russian power in relation to the Soviet Union.

scholarly journals Nato and turkey: where is the partnership headed

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 238
Author(s):  
Vinod Saighal
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Central Asia ◽  
Turn Of The Century ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
State Of Affairs ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Vladimir Putin ◽  
Boris Yeltsin

The parting of ways had to take place at some time or the other. The differences had started emerging almost since the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union. In the disastrous Yeltsin years, even Russia bereft of the Soviet possessions in Central Asia appeared to be falling apart. This state of affairs continued till almost the turn of the century when Boris Yeltsin nominated Vladimir Putin as his successor. It has to be noted, however, that to this day Mr. Putin having pulled Russia up by the bootstraps has never spoken ill of his erstwhile benefactor.

A Sacred Space Is Never Empty

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victoria Smolkin
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Sacred Space ◽  
Russian Revolution ◽  
Mikhail Gorbachev ◽  
Soviet Leadership ◽  
Sacred Spaces ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Communist Ideology ◽  
History Of ◽  
Soviet Experiment

When the Bolsheviks set out to build a new world in the wake of the Russian Revolution, they expected religion to die off. Soviet power used a variety of tools—from education to propaganda to terror—to turn its vision of a Communist world without religion into reality. Yet even with its monopoly on ideology and power, the Soviet Communist Party never succeeded in overcoming religion and creating an atheist society. This book presents the first history of Soviet atheism from the 1917 revolution to the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. The book argues that to understand the Soviet experiment, we must make sense of Soviet atheism. It shows how atheism was reimagined as an alternative cosmology with its own set of positive beliefs, practices, and spiritual commitments. Through its engagements with religion, the Soviet leadership realized that removing religion from the “sacred spaces” of Soviet life was not enough. Then, in the final years of the Soviet experiment, Mikhail Gorbachev—in a stunning and unexpected reversal—abandoned atheism and reintroduced religion into Soviet public life. The book explores the meaning of atheism for religious life, for Communist ideology, and for Soviet politics.

Gorbachev, ideology, and the fate of Soviet communism

2000 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 457-474
Author(s):  
R. Judson Mitchell ◽  
Randall S. Arrington
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Communist Party ◽  
Party Leader ◽  
Mikhail Gorbachev ◽  
Party Leaders ◽  
Democratic Centralism ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Party Elites ◽  
Basic Source ◽  
The Russian Federation

The collapse of the Soviet Union has spurred much scholarly debate about the reasons for the rapid disintegration of this apparently entrenched system. In this article, it is argued that the basic source of ultimate weakness was the obverse of the system’s strengths, especially its form of organization and its relation to Marxist–Leninist ideology. Democratic centralism provided cohesion for the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) but also gave inordinate control over ideology to the party leader. Mikhail Gorbachev carried out an ideological revision that undercut the legitimacy of party elites and his restructuring of the system left the party with no clear functional role in the society. The successor party, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF), has made a surprising comeback for communism, utilizing the Leninist model of party organization, which has proved to be highly effective in the Russian political culture. Furthermore, the CPRF, under party leaders like Gennadi Zyuganov, has avoided Gorbachev’s ideological deviations while attempting to broaden the party’s base through the cultivation of Russian nationalism.

scholarly journals Mental health services in Azerbaijan

2004 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 16-17
Author(s):  
Fuad Ismayilov
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Mental Health Services ◽  
Health Services ◽  
Caspian Sea ◽  
Total Population ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Caspian Sea ◽  
The North ◽  
The Soviet Union

Azerbaijan is a nation with a Turkic population which regained its independence after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. It has an area of approximately 86 000 km2. Georgia and Armenia, the other countries comprising the Transcaucasian region, border Azerbaijan to the north and west, respectively. Russia also borders the north, Iran and Turkey the south, and the Caspian Sea borders the east. The total population is about 8 million. The largest ethnic group is Azeri, comprising 90% of the population; Dagestanis comprise 3.2%, Russians 2.5%, Armenians 2% and others 2.3%.

scholarly journals Dal nostro inviato in Unione Sovietica

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alberto Zava
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Travel Literature ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Close Relationship ◽  
The Many ◽  
Newspaper Articles

Writings by three Italian journalist-authors provide an evocative picture of the Soviet Union during the ’50s and ’60s, interpreted through different personal styles, analytical systems and reporting techniques. In close relationship with the many-sided reality of the Soviet landscape, the meeting with the ‘other’ (geographically, culturally and in personal terms) allows Enrico Emanuelli, Carlo Levi and Guido Piovene to realise individual volumes of reportage (Emanuelli and Levi) or newspaper articles (Piovene) poised between travel literature and the informative-journalistic dimension.

scholarly journals Mikhail Gorbachev's First Visit to Britain: 30 Years on

2014 ◽  
pp. 95-101
Author(s):  
K. V. Shlykov
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
The United States ◽  
Mikhail Gorbachev ◽  
Margaret Thatcher ◽  
Strategic Stability ◽  
Bilateral Relations ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Uk ◽  
New Political Thinking

The article explores the significance of Mikhail Gorbachev's first journey to the UK in December 1984 for the East-West relations. The visit was initiated by Margaret Thatcher who wanted to get acquainted with the potential Soviet leader as she hoped to become a trusted intermediary between Moscow and Washington. The revitalization of contacts with the USSR was a part of Britain's resurgence as a major world player after the Falklands victory. The discussions in London focused on the issue of strategic stability, though they could only serve to give the parties a better understanding of each other's position, as no political agreement could be reached due to the nature of the visit and the fact that any agreement on the subject had to be between the Soviet Union and the United States. The bilateral relations issues being discussed included mostly economic cooperation and such problems as human rights in the USSR and Soviet assistance to the British miners' strike. Gorbachev's speech on "new political thinking" and "a common European home", expressions first used during the visit to Uk, rang hollow to London, however Thatcher had the impression that she could deal with the Soviet politician in future. The British public opinion also saw Mikhail Gorbachev and his wife favourably. Later statements of Lady Thatcher and Gorbachev's critics on the meeting being defining for the foreign policy of the perestroika era should be seen as exaggerated, as the demise of the Communist system and the USSR were not foreseen by anyone in 1984, either in London or in Moscow.

The Helsinki Accord: A Growth Industry

1990 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 53-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Korey
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Ronald Reagan ◽  
The United States ◽  
Jimmy Carter ◽  
Mikhail Gorbachev ◽  
Negotiation Strategies ◽  
Security Issues ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Growth Industry

Despite conservative opposition, in the late 1970s, Jimmy Carter turned the tide in favor of the Helsinki Accord by taking a strong stand in fostering U.S. participation in it. Korey focuses on the U.S. delegation to the Commission on Security and Cooperation (CSCE) in Europe and credits the success of the Helsinki Accord to U.S. adroit negotiation strategies, beginning with the Carter administration. By 1980, U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev came to embrace the “humanitarianism” of the treaty. The Vienna review conference's (1986–89) effort peaked when a milestone was reached in the human rights process, linking it directly to security issues equally pertinent to the East and the West. The author contends that the United States' ardent participation in the monitoring of compliance was particularly effective in putting pressure on the Soviet Union to uphold the agreement within its territory, yielding enormous progress in human rights

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