Dealing with Territorial Cleavages

2019 ◽  
pp. 292-311 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucan Ahmad Way
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Regional Differences ◽  
Violent Conflict ◽  
Historical Background ◽  
Local Autonomy ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Constitutional System

This chapter examines how territorially concentrated populations and interests in Ukraine negotiated the constitutional process after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, with particular emphasis on the so-called Faustian bargain between Ukrainian President Leonid Kravchuk and western Ukrainian nationalists. It first considers the historical background on the ethnic divisions in the Ukraine, especially between “Ukrainophiles” and “Russophiles,” before discussing the period of constitutional engagement from 1991 to 1996, which saw efforts to create a constitutional system that accommodates the country’s stark regional differences. It then analyzes the outcome of the Faustian pact, focusing on the violent conflict that erupted in 2014 following its breakdown and the collapse of Viktor Yanukovych’s regime. It also reflects on the lessons that can be drawn from the Ukrainian experience, with reference to how the nature of politics at the center affects politically salient demands for local autonomy.

The Evolution of Russian Government Priorities for Scientific and Technological Development: 1990s — 2010s

Istoriya ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (11 (109)) ◽  
pp. 0
Author(s):  
Denis Sekirinskiy
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Technology Policy ◽  
Technological Development ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
Science And Technology Policy ◽  
Historical Background ◽  
Russian Government ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Scientific Potential ◽  
Scientific And Technological Development

As the Soviet Union collapsed, science and technology policy in Russia turned out to be out of the decision-makers’ attention focus. The socio-economic transformations of the early 1990s negatively affected the scientific and research organizations, which led to a gradual stagnation in the development of scientific knowledge. By the mid-1990s it had posed a threat to the whole scientific potential of the country. Such a crisis triggered debates on what measures should be taken to reorganize state science and technology policy. The reorganization was marked by the practice of goal-setting, a process based on both historical background and socio-economic tasks of a specific time period with all the participants sharing common perspective of the future. This article is an overview of the key program and strategic documents adopted in the period from the mid-1990s till the late 2010s. These documents reflect the evolution of state priorities for scientific and technological development. The analysis of these documents allows us to trace how the scientific and technical policy of the Russian Federation has been transformed from the principle of preserving and supporting the already existing scientific potential to the principle of finding response to specific challenges.

Intervention, 1956

1957 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 257-276 ◽  
Author(s):  
Quincy Wright
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Historical Background ◽  
Military Interventions ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Legal Justification ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
The Military

The military interventions initiated by Israel, the United Kingdom, and France in Egypt and by the Soviet Union in Hungary, during October and November, 1956, have different historical backgrounds and different political purposes. They may have been politically connected with one another, and in any case they were connected by the fact that they occurred at the same time and were all dealt with by the United Nations. It is the purpose of this article to examine the legal justification for these interventions with only the minimum historical background necessary for that purpose. The criteria for aggression which the writer developed in the July, 1956, number of this Journal will be assumed and for their justification the reader is referred to that article.

Regional Political Divisions in Ukraine in 1991–2006

2006 ◽  
Vol 34 (5) ◽  
pp. 507-532 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivan Katchanovski
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Regional Differences ◽  
Major Effect ◽  
Correlation Factor ◽  
Electoral Behavior ◽  
National Elections ◽  
Presidential Candidates ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Negative Effect

This article examines determinants of persistent regional political cleavages in post-Communist Ukraine. The question is how significant the role of culture is compared to ethnic, economic, and religious factors in the regional divisions. This study employs correlation, factor, and regression analyses of regional support for the Communist/pro-Russian parties and presidential candidates and pro-nationalist/pro-independence parties and candidates in all national elections held from 1991 to 2006, the vote for the preservation of the Soviet Union in the March 1991 referendum, and the vote for the independence of Ukraine in the December 1991 referendum. This study shows that the pattern of these regional differences remained relatively stable from 1991 to 2006. Historical experience has a major effect on regional electoral behavior in post-Communist Ukraine. The legacy of Austro-Hungarian, Polish, Romanian, and Czechoslovak rule is positively associated with the pro-nationalist and pro-independence vote; the same historical legacy has a negative effect on support for pro-Communist and pro-Russian parties and presidential candidates and on the vote for the preservation of the Soviet Union.

Reason and Nuclear Deterrence

1986 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 129-159
Author(s):  
Alan Gewirth
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
The United States ◽  
Arms Race ◽  
Historical Background ◽  
Current Status ◽  
Nuclear Deterrence ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Technological Developments ◽  
Nuclear Arms Race

The nuclear arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union has reached a stage of unparalleled destructive potential. Fueling the race are not only an immense series of mighty technological developments but also each side's unremitting quest for both security and power. Thus, each side is animated by intense competitiveness with and deep distrust of the other.My primary purpose in this essay is not to examine the historical background or the current status of this murderous competition but rather to inquire into what can and should be done to avoid its dangers. For this purpose, we must make the most intensive possible use of reason. For reason gives us the surest way to attain truth, including practical truth about what ought to be done in the various predicaments that confront human beings.

THE POLITICAL HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF THE 1989 GDR REFUGEES PASSING THROUGH HUNGARY

2021 ◽  
Vol 79 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-16
Author(s):  
Stelian TAMPU
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
The United States ◽  
Historical Background ◽  
The Political ◽  
World War ◽  
National Interests ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Raising Awareness ◽  
German Nation

Raising awareness on the political-historical background of the popular movements of the 20th century is very important because behind the stories there were often ill-considered political decisions. It is interesting to see how the last century leaders of the great powers represented their self-interests, and what political games they had developed to achieve their political goals. The interests of nations living in countries were often not interesting to take into consideration. The Soviet Union was not a nation-state, but neither was the United States of America, while at that time most of the European states were nationstates, and along this were nations that sought to assert their national interests, by force when necessary. However, the post-World War II political settlements did not serve the interests of the German nation, but divided its population and turned them against one other. This is why the movement of German citizens within Germany has occurred.

scholarly journals Disintegration of the USSR in Historiography: Collapse or Dissolution

2021 ◽  
Vol 66 (1) ◽  
pp. 132-147
Author(s):  
Boris N. Mironov ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Historical Background ◽  
Natural Phenomenon ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Short Period ◽  
Points Of View ◽  
Natural Result ◽  
External Causes ◽  
Large Groups

Over the period of 30 years various scientists representing different fields have been studying disintegration of the USSR with unflagging interest. As of August 1, 2020, more than 300 books, 3000 articles, and 20 dissertations have been written in Russia alone. Generalization and critical analysis of this literature requires a monograph. But this task is so complex that for the time being the case is limited to historiographical articles. The purpose of this article is to identify the most popular points of view expressed by well-known experts on the problem of the disintegration of the Soviet Union. The analysis enables to draw the following conclusions. The existing explanations can be divided into two large groups. The first one includes works whose authors consider disintegration as the product of a combination of random circumstances, external causes, and mistakes of party and Soviet leaders, and therefore focus first on the study of the role of subjective and external factors, and, second, on the short period of time, 1985–1991, immediately preceding the disintegration. The second group includes works whose authors consider disintegration as a natural result of long-developed processes, search for its historical background, study trends in the development of the Soviet Union and the Union republics, and look at the disintegration systemically and comprehensively. In other words, the former consider disintegration to be a random phenomenon generated mainly by the events of 1985–1991, while the latter consider it to be a natural phenomenon with deep historical, economic, political, cultural, and social prerequisites and causes.

scholarly journals Book Review: Red Famine: Stalin's War on Ukraine

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 164-165
Author(s):  
Natalia Paola Crocco
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Historical Background ◽  
The Soviet Union

The article is a review of the book "Red famine. Stalin´s war on Ukraine" by Anne Applebaum. The book takes a tour of the process of artificial famine that Ukraine suffered in the early 1930s by the Soviet Union, its historical background and its consequences today.

scholarly journals SLAVIC COMMUNITIES IN AUSTRALIA: THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND AND THE CURRENT SITUATION

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 14-23
Author(s):  
Olena Romanenko
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Historical Memory ◽  
South Australia ◽  
Historical Background ◽  
Median Income ◽  
National Unity ◽  
South Wales ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Australian Continent

Migration to the Australian continent has ancient origins. On 1 January 1901, the Federation of the Commonwealth of Australia included six former colonies: New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania, Queensland, and Western Australia. The British origin had 78% of those who were born overseas. The immigration was high on the national agenda. The most ambitious nation-building plan based on immigration was adopted in Australia in the post-World War II period. The shock of the war was so strong that even old stereotypes did not prevent Australians from embarking on immigration propaganda with the slogan “Populate or Perish”. In the middle 1950s, the Australian Department of Immigration realized that family reunion was an important component of successful settlement. In 1955 the Department implemented “Operation Reunion” – a scheme was intended to assist family members overseas to migrate to the continent and reunite with the family already living in Australia. As a result, 30000 people managed to migrate from countries such as Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, the Soviet Union, and the former Yugoslavia under this scheme. Today Australia’s approach to multicultural affairs is a unique model based on integration and social cohesion. On governmental level, the Australians try to maintain national unity through respect and preservation of cultural diversity. An example of such an attitude to historical memory is a database created by the Department of Home Affairs (DHA). For our research, we decided to choose information about residents of East-Central European origin (Ukraine-born, Poland-born, and Czech Republic-born citizens) in Australia, based on the information from the above mentioned database. The article provides the brief historical background of Polish, Ukrainian and Czech groups on the Continent and describes the main characteristics of these groups of people, such as geographic distribution, age, language, religion, year of arrival, median income, educational qualifications, and employment characteristics.

scholarly journals A Comparative Study of Russian Political Warfare against the West and the Western (NATO & EU) Counteractions

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-12
Author(s):  
Hasan Suzen ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Public Diplomacy ◽  
Hybrid Methods ◽  
Interdisciplinary Approach ◽  
Strategic Communication ◽  
Historical Background ◽  
The West ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Response Capacity ◽  
Political Warfare

Since eruption of the Ukraine crisis, the world has witnessed a well-developed Russian political warfare strategy and the hybrid model, utilised by Kremlin, which have had destabilising consequences and as well as wide-ranging implications for international security, in particular for Europe. While the concept seems like a novelty, in fact, Putin has built up current Russian political warfare strategy against the West on a valuable historical background and experiences dates back to the Bolsheviks and the Soviet Union (Dickey, 2015). On the other hand, in the aftermath of the Cold War, the West mostly focus on public diplomacy and strategic communication to influence the foreign audience rather than political warfare (Boot and Doran, 2013). From my perspective, this shift creates a gap in all aspects of political warfare and makes the West vulnerable to political warfare waged by particularly one-man ruled states and non-state enemies. Therefore, it is high time to analyse the reasons behind the West, notably NATO’s and the EU’s, poor reaction against new forms of political warfare as well as to find ways to improve their response capacity and capabilities through a variety of mechanisms. In this paper, the first in a series of three articles, I will define political warfare and its new forms such as hybrid methods and blurring war, which is to be basis for the rest of the study. Then, I will develop a new conceptual framework which provides an interdisciplinary approach to understand the specifics of political warfare against the West, and to explore how and why the West has failed in countering and undermining political warfare employed by especially one-man ruled states. Finally, I will propose ways and means that I will go in detail in my further studies in order to explain how to counter political warfare in the future.

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