The New Kremlinology

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Baturo ◽  
Jos Elkink
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Basic Assumption ◽  
Democratic Politics ◽  
Political Regime ◽  
Authoritarian Rule ◽  
Personal Power ◽  
Post Cold War ◽  
Innovative Methods ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Vladimir Putin

The New Kremlinology is the first in-depth examination of the development of regime personalisation in Russia. In the post-Cold War period, many previously democratising countries experienced authoritarian reversals whereby incumbent leaders took over and gravitated towards personalist rule. Scholars have predominantly focused on the authoritarian turn, as opposed to the type of authoritarian rule emerging from it. In a departure from accounts centred on the failure of democratisation in Russia, this book's argument begins from a basic assumption that the political regime of Vladimir Putin is a personalist regime in the making. Focusing on the politics within the Russian ruling coalition since 1999, The New Kremlinology describes the process of regime personalisation, that is, the acquisition of personal power by a leader. Drawing from comparative evidence and theories of personalist rule, the investigation is based on four components of regime personalisation: patronage networks, deinstitutionalisation, media personalisation, and establishing permanency in office. The fact that Russia has gradually acquired many---but not all---of the characteristics associated with a personalist regime, underscores the complexity of political change and that we need to unpack the concept of personalism to understand it better. The lessons of the book extend beyond Russia and illuminate how other personalist and personalising regimes emerge and develop. Furthermore, the title of the book, The New Kremlinology, is chosen to emphasise not only the subject matter, the what, but also the how --- the battery of innovative methods employed to study the black box of non-democratic politics.

A Research Agenda for the Study of Peaceful Change in World Politics

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deborah Welch Larson ◽  
T.V. Paul ◽  
Harold A. Trinkunas ◽  
Anders Wivel ◽  
Ralf Emmers
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
International Relations ◽  
World Order ◽  
World Politics ◽  
Mechanisms Of Change ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Post Cold War ◽  
Conceptual Clarity ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Made In

This concluding chapter offers a summary and evaluation of the key ideas contained in the chapters of this Handbook. The chapter discusses peaceful change in terms of conceptual clarity; historical evolution of scholarship in the area, especially the interwar, Cold War, and post–Cold War era efforts at analyzing the concepts; and the policy innovations in this realm. This is followed by an evaluation of the key umbrella theories of international relations—realism, liberalism, and constructivism—and how they approach peaceful change. Some important sources and mechanisms of change are analyzed. This is followed by discussion of the policy contributions of selected great and rising powers toward peaceful change. The chapter then offers a summary of contributions and progress that various regions have made in the area of peaceful change. It concludes with some ideas for future research while highlighting the significance of the subject matter for international relations and the world order.

Politics and Populists

2021 ◽  
pp. 94-122
Author(s):  
Jussi M. Hanhimäki
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Domestic Politics ◽  
Democratic Politics ◽  
Political Space ◽  
Third Way ◽  
Post Cold War ◽  
New Era ◽  
Illiberal Democracy ◽  
The Past ◽  
Left And Right

Chapter 4 examines the transatlantic political space, with special attention to the rise of populism. Particularly since 2016, analysts have been obsessed with the dawn of a new era of post-truth politics and illiberal democracy. Refusing such pessimism, the chapter asserts that the rise of transatlantic populism is part and parcel of the reshuffling of democratic politics after 1989, when labels like “left” and “right” no longer carried the meaning they once had. Moreover, the transatlantic nature of populism—like the rise of the so-called Third Way in the 1990s—speaks volumes of the degree of interconnectivity between Europe and America in the post–Cold War world. While each country’s domestic politics can be idiosyncratic, the “macro” trends have grown increasingly similar in the past three decades. There is, the chapter contends, a transatlantic political space in which ideas resonate and “travel” at increasing speed.

The Cold War Debate Continues: A Traditionalist View of Historical Writing on Domestic Communism and Anti-Communism

2000 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 76-115 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Earl Haynes
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Cold War ◽  
The United States ◽  
Post Cold War ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Key Aspects ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Communist Countries ◽  
New Evidence ◽  
Cold War Literature

This article reviews the huge Cold War-era and post-Cold War literature on American Communism and anti-Communism in the United States. These issues have long been the subject of heated scholarly debate. The recent opening of archives in Russia and other former Communist countries and the release of translated Venona documents in the United States have shed new light on key aspects of the American Communist Party that were previously unknown or undocumented. The new evidence has underscored the Soviet Union's tight control of the party and the crucial role that American Communists played in Soviet espionage. The release of all this documentation has been an unwelcome development for scholars who have long been sympathetic to the Communist movement.

Response to Slater review ofCompetitive Authoritarianism: Hybrid Regimes after the Cold War

2011 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 388-389
Author(s):  
Steven Levitsky ◽  
Lucan A. Way
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Historical Time ◽  
Hybrid Regimes ◽  
Authoritarian Rule ◽  
Post Cold War ◽  
International Environment ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
The Cold War

Dan Slater offers thoughtful and incisive comments. We respond here to three of his points. The first is that by limiting our study to the post–Cold War period, we convert it into a “period piece,” akin to studies of fascist and communist regimes. Although this may be true, a historically bounded analysis is essential because of the changing character of the international environment. World historical time powerfully shapes regime outcomes. The prospects for democracy and authoritarianism during the Cold War, which was marked by global superpower rivalry, differed dramatically from those during periods of Western liberal hegemony. During the Cold War, for example, nearly all military coups ushered in authoritarian rule; after 1989, nearly 70 percent of coups led to multiparty elections In 1989, single-party rule predominated in Eastern Europe and sub-Saharan Africa; five years later, it had disappeared.

Democracy with Asian Characteristics

2015 ◽  
Vol 74 (4) ◽  
pp. 875-887 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark R. Thompson
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
World Religions ◽  
Authoritarian Rule ◽  
Asian Values ◽  
Post Cold War ◽  
Meiji Japan ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
Imperial Germany ◽  
Western Democracy ◽  
Democratic Rule

In the last three decades, a number of Asian thinkers supportive of, or opposed to, authoritarian rule have developed culture-based theories of democracy that challenge, or buttress, a liberal, “Western” understanding of democratic rule. The most famous expression was the “Asian values” discourse of government-linked intellectuals in Singapore and Malaysia, but there has also been a “political Confucianist” critique of “Western democracy” in China as well as claims that only “Thai-style democracy” is appropriate in Thailand. Less well known is a pro-democratic stance in Asia rooted in the region's major religious traditions. These apparently contradictory discourses have been dialectically related in the post–Cold War era: authoritarian rulers reacted to universalist claims about democracy with assertions of cultural particularism which, in turn, triggered a reaction by Asian democrats who pointed to the liberal character of world religions practiced in the region. While the civilizational critique of “Western” democracy (the origins of which can be traced to Imperial Germany and Meiji Japan) has contributed to democratic decline in the region, there has also been push back by offering an interpretation based on East Asia's major religious traditions to show that “Asian values” are not incompatible with democracy.

Manganyi, Calvin/Liebenberg, Ian/Potgieter, Thean (eds), South Africa and Romania: transition to democracy and changing security paradigms. Durban: Just Done Productions 2013, 376 pp.

2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Eckardt
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Cold War ◽  
National Security ◽  
Southern Africa ◽  
Transition To Democracy ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Security Strategy ◽  
Authoritarian Rule ◽  
Military Reform ◽  
Post Cold War

This volume is based on NRF-funded research cooperation between the Institute for Political Studies of Defence and Military History in Bucharest and the Faculty of Military Science at Stellenbosch University, dealing with the transition from authoritarian rule to democracy. It discusses the transition to multi-party democracy, the consequent changes in the security environment and the current role and defensive posture of these countries in their respective regions. All contributions are abstracted separately in the introductory chapter (pp 1-11). The specific chapters discuss the joint experiences and challenges in facing the transition from authoritarian rule to democracy (1. Liebenberg, I: "Transition from Authoritarian Rule to Democracy": 13-36; 2. Sasz, P V: "Transition to Democracy in Romania": 37-57; 4. Mangayani, C: "The Role of Youth in South Africa's Transition": 87-121), the reform of the armies (3. Ionesco, M: "Transition, Alliances and Military Reform in Romania in the post-Cold War Period": 59-86; 5. Ferreira, R: "South Africa: From Apartheid Army to a Post-Apartheid Defence Force": 123-135; 7. Mangayani, C: "Structures for Political Oversight of the Military": 171-204; 8. Otu, P: "Military Reform in Romania": 205-231) as well as the repositioning of Romania's security strategy (6. Cioculescu, S: "Romania's National Security Strategy in the Post-Cold War Period": 137-170). South Africa's change in strategy concerning its interests in the Indian Ocean is the main focus of T Potgieter in chapter 10 (pp 267-305)and Romania's status within the Euro-Atlantic security architecture after the end of the Cold War and its entry into the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and the European Union (EU) has been dealt with by Carmen Rijnoveanu in chapter 11 (pp307-340). Worthy of special attention is chapter 9 (Liebenberg, I: "The Arms Industry, Reform and Civil-Military Relations in South Africa": 233-266), bridging the purchase of arms and ammunition during the inter-war years (1919-1939) to the period of World War II (1939-1945) and even further to the establishment of South Africa's own defence industry under apartheid rule (1948-1989), emphasising the  enormous cost of maintaining a military superiority in southern Africa paving the way for South Africa's economic decline by the end of the 1980s and leading to the political demise of apartheid in the 1994 elections. In chapter 12 ("Waves of Change, Military-Political Reorientation, Economic Alliances and Uncertain Futures": 341-357), the editors make a comparison Strategic Review for Southern Africa, Vol 38, No 2 Book Reviews 181 of the different starting positions of both countries and the national security strategies that emerged from it.

scholarly journals Thucydides in Wartime: Reflecting on Democracy and its Discontents

2014 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 261-287
Author(s):  
Christine Lee
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Subject Matter ◽  
Liberal Democracy ◽  
Ancient Greece ◽  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
First Century ◽  
Democratic Politics ◽  
General Audience ◽  
Post Cold War ◽  
Close Analysis

The challenge of democratic statecraft is a recurring subject matter in twentieth- and twenty-first century wartime expositions of Thucydides’ History. This article examines the readings of two American scholars with great public presence, Donald Kagan and Victor Davis Hanson, showing how they reflect enduring anxieties about the promise and perils of liberal democracy in a hostile world. I engage in close analysis of their pre- and post-9/11 interpretations of Thucydides in order to ascertain their judgments about democracy. Kagan and Hanson both use the History to defend democracy, but in ways that are at odds with their implicit criticisms of democratic politics. We can make sense of this tension by appreciating the performative dimension of their readings of Thucydides. Beyond distilling Thucydides for a general audience, their readings enact a response to concerns about democratic weakness with an account of democratic virtues. Their hermeneutic strategies are thus implicated in rhetorical politics that may have deleterious, if unintended, consequences for the democracy they seek to defend. I conclude by illustrating how Kagan and Hanson are paradigmatic rather than idiosyncratic. Their democratic exceptionalism finds echoes in leftist interpretations of ancient Greece and post-Cold War empirical political science.1

scholarly journals A camada Pré-Sal da Costa brasileira enquanto um tema de segurança: análise de discursos e documentos provenientes do governo brasileiro e de setores relacionados ao âmbito militar nacional/The Brazilian Pre-Salt Layer as a Security Issue

2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 217-245
Author(s):  
Gabriel Campos Fernandino
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Theoretical Basis ◽  
Speech Analysis ◽  
Discursive Construction ◽  
Security Issue ◽  
Post Cold War ◽  
Analysis Methodology ◽  
Salt Layer ◽  
The Subject

Resumo: O presente artigo busca interpretar, a partir da análise de discursos e documentos oficiais do governo brasileiro, a construção discursiva do tema da camada do pré-sal da costa brasileira como um assunto de segurança. Para tal, edifica-se a análise sobretudo a partir do substrato teórico fornecido por Buzan, Waever e Wilde (1998), acerca do componentes configuradores de um processo de securitização, bem como a partir da metodologia de análise de discurso desenvolvida por Lene Hansen (2006). Para tanto, organiza-se o artigo em duas partes principais. Na primeira dessas partes, são brevemente expostas algumas das nuances do tema da Segurança no pós Guerra fria e algumas possibilidades de diálogo com o campo da Análise de Discurso. Na sequência, são analisados certos documentos e discursos brasileiros direta ou indiretamente relacionados tema da camada do pré-sal, através da perspectiva da securitização.Palavras-chave: Análise de discurso. Pré-sal. Securitização. Abstract: This article seeks to interpret, through speech and documental analysis, the discursive construction of the Brazilian pre-salt layer as a security issue. To this end, the analysis borrows the theoretical basis provided by Buzan, Waever and Wilde (1998), on the securitization process, as well as the discourse analysis methodology developed by Lene Hansen (2006). The article is organized into two main parts: In the first part, some of the nuances of the security concept in the post-Cold War period are exposed as well as some possibilities of Discourse Analysis field. In the second part Brazilian documents and speeches, direct or indirectly related to the subject of the pre-salt layer, are analyzed through the perspective of securitization.Keywords: Pre-salt layer. Securitization. Speech Analysis.

scholarly journals Chinese Peace? An Emergent Norm in African Peace Operations

2015 ◽  
Vol 01 (01) ◽  
pp. 155-181 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven C. Y. Kuo
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Security Architecture ◽  
Peace Operations ◽  
Global Order ◽  
Significant Development ◽  
Post Cold War ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Liberal Peace ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Normative Content

The steady rise in Chinese participation in peace operations in Africa is a significant development in the post-Cold War collective security architecture. An aspect of China's rise and its challenge to the liberal global order is its contribution to post-conflict peacekeeping, peacebuilding, and peace-making in Africa, areas that have been dominated by the West. The purpose of this article is to bring together literatures that do not usually speak to one another: Chinese discourses on peacebuilding and the debate on the liberal peace in Africa. The subject of this article is the emerging "Chinese peace" discourse. By examining the "Chinese peace" — both its normative content and its on-the-ground participation in a comprehensive liberal peace project — as a part of the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) — this article begins to highlight differences, identify tensions, and recognize complementarities between the dominant liberal and the emergent Chinese approach to peacebuilding.

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