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.

“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.

Corporatism, Totalitarianism, and Transitions to Democracy

1994 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 108-136 ◽  
Author(s):  
BAOHUI ZHANG
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Authoritarian Regimes ◽  
The Other ◽  
Institutional Conditions ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Transitions To Democracy ◽  
Institutional Legacies

Recent studies of democratization generally emphasize the role of elites and political pacts in transitions to democracy. They usually give little attention to the institutional conditions for elite's successful pact making. This article argues that although choices by elites are important, pact making does require certain institutional conditions. By examining the democratization experiences of Spain, Brazil, the Soviet Union, and China in 1989, this article argues that only some types of authoritarian regimes have the historical possibility of following a pacted transition. Specifically, the author argues that corporatist regimes have unique advantages in following such a path. On the other hand, the totalitarian institutional legacies of once-entrenched communist regimes left democratic oppositions as broadly based social movements and their leaders with strong populist tendencies. These, the author argues, create structural obstacles to democratization through elite's pactmaking for these regimes.

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.

Majority Rule and Minority Rights: American Federalism and African Experience

1994 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 411-427 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara Thomas-Woolley ◽  
Edmond J. Keller
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Minority Rights ◽  
Authoritarian Regimes ◽  
Western World ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
African Experience ◽  
Democratic Revolution ◽  
Historical Moment ◽  
American Federalism

Withthe demise of the Soviet Union and the fall of many authoritarian régimes, some observers suggest that we are in the midst of what can be called a worldwide democratic revolution. Although questions remain as to the durability of these changes, particularly in Africa, it is clear that we are at a cross-roads. Nations are considering what kinds of political institutions they want to replace those they are trying to dismantle. What, at this historical moment, is the special appeal of democracy in the non-Western world? Is it the promise of individual freedom? or popular elections designed to give all citizens a say in who governs? or the prospect of guaranteed individual and group rights?

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

Discipline, Terror, and the State

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Hagenloh
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Lived Experiences ◽  
Social Transformation ◽  
Authoritarian Regimes ◽  
Single Model ◽  
European State ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
State Administration ◽  
Interwar Europe

Violence was key to state administration and politics in interwar Europe, particularly in the major authoritarian regimes on the Continent: Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and the Soviet Union. Yet the nature and level of violence varied substantially among these three regimes, as did the importance of violence in daily policing operations and in people’s lived experiences. This chapter examines the role of violence in state administration in these three dictatorships between 1919 and 1939, focusing on surveillance, political policing, and mass repression. Each regime utilized violence in highly different ways, and it is difficult to speak of a single model of interwar authoritarianism. All three are similar, however, within a broader context of modern European state practices and especially military practices: each promoted a particular vision of social transformation that made sense only in the broader field of military conquest and the framing experiences of two totalizing global wars.

Vanguard of the Revolution

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. James McAdams
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Communist Party ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
North Korea ◽  
Karl Marx ◽  
Modern World ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Revolution

This book is a sweeping history of one of the most significant political institutions of the modern world. The communist party was a revolutionary idea long before its supporters came to power. The book argues that the rise and fall of communism can be understood only by taking into account the origins and evolution of this compelling idea. It shows how the leaders of parties in countries as diverse as the Soviet Union, China, Germany, Yugoslavia, Cuba, and North Korea adapted the original ideas of revolutionaries like Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin to profoundly different social and cultural settings. The book is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand world communism and the captivating idea that gave it life.

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