Commune Democracy and Gorbachev's Reforms

1989 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 224-243 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Sakwa
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
The State ◽  
Reform Process ◽  
Democratic Ideal ◽  
The Soviet Union

The process of democratic restructuring in the Soviet Union since 1986 can be understood in terms of a revival of the democratic ideal of a participatory and self-managing society. The concept of commune democracy espoused by Marx and Lenin, however, is problematical, not least because of ambiguities in its relationship to the state, the role of the dictatorship of the proletariat and the dirigisme of the party. Gorbachev's reforms are developing within the context of an attempt to regenerate commune democracy, and some of the hesitancies of the reform process can be attributed to the contradictions in the theory. The scope for a reconstituted civil society is limited by the inclusive tendencies of traditional commune democracy. The reform process may ultimately be able to exploit the ambiguities in commune democracy sufficiently to allow the development of a law-governed state.

The Role of Informal Groups and Independent Associations in the Evolution of Civil Society in the Soviet Union

1990 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 50-55
Author(s):  
Mark Pomar
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
The State ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
One Year ◽  
Informal Groups

There has been a tremendous proliferation of informal groups in the Soviet Union, by which I mean any organization that comes into being that is independent of the state, where citizens come together, create a group, promote their various intersts, be they political or nonpolitical. Pravda estimates approximately 60,000 of them this year alone; it gave a figure of 30,000 just one year ago. This phenomenon is hard to measure and most Soviet commentators, writers and sociologists basically throw up their arms and say that there are thousands and thousands of these various groups popping up everywhere: some small, some obviously larger with greater networks. I would like to sketch out some of the problems that I found, some of the areas that are worth investigating, and put forward some proposals that we may want to tackle in the discussion subsequent to this panel presentation.

The Role of Historical Memory in the Socio-Political Processes of Chechnya (1986—1994)

Istoriya ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (10 (108)) ◽  
pp. 0
Author(s):  
Cécile Druey
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Historical Memory ◽  
Mikhail Gorbachev ◽  
Relational Approach ◽  
Political Processes ◽  
Local Newspapers ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Autonomous Republic

During the years that preceded and followed the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the Autonomous Republic of Chechnya in the south of Russia has experienced an intensive movement of civil society mobilisation, nationalist radicalisation and armed conflict. Referring to the case of the society “Kavkaz” as an example for the emerging movement of civil society, this paper traces the mobilising role of history and historical memory during the period of reform under Mikhail Gorbachev in the late-1980s, until the onset of the first Chechnya War in 1994. It argues, that the use of historical memory is not that much a cause, than it is an indicator of conflict and radicalisation in society, and that these processes of radicalisation are closely linked to their context at a local, national and international level. Drawing on data collected from interviews with representatives of the Chechen national movement, from local newspapers and legal acts, the paper tracks the evolution of civil society movements in Chechnya in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Doing so, it departs from a relational approach to conflict analysis (della Porta, 2018; Alimi, Bosi, and Demetriou, 2012; Tilly and Tarrow, 2015; Hughes and Sasse, 2016). Located at the intersection between conflict- and memory studies, the paper thus adds insights to the study of the pre-war period in post-Soviet Chechnya, and in general to the conceptual discussion about the link between historical memory, mobilisation, radicalisation and conflict.

scholarly journals What Is the Collapse of the USSR?

2021 ◽  
Vol 101 (2) ◽  
pp. 183-201
Author(s):  
D.S. Shevsky
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
The State ◽  
Fiscal Crisis ◽  
October Revolution ◽  
Mass Mobilization ◽  
Load Bearing ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Main Culprit ◽  
Ussr State

The article justifies why the collapse of the Soviet Union should be analyzed as the intersection of a number of diverse processes and phenomena. According to the author, the existing discord within the discussion about the reasons for the collapse of the USSR can be largely explained by the fact that researchers are not trying to determine the essence of the phenomenon they are studying and to reveal the totality of its features. The lack of the reflection on what exactly the end of the existence of the USSR was and when it happened, leads to isolating individual components of the process. As a result, some authors associate the collapse of the USSR with the dire economic straits, others consider the rise of nationalism to be the main culprit, others emphasize the role of specific actors, etc. In order to determine what exactly the collapse of the USSR meant and when it happened, the author identifies the fundamental characteristics of the entity itself, dividing it into the USSR-system and the USSR-state, and traces how these characteristics changed. His research shows that the collapse of the USSR can be divided into at least two different, albeit related processes: the collapse of the system and the collapse of the state. The collapse of the system meant a change in a self-describing narrative, the most important elements of which were the discourse of the indisputable achievements of the 1917 October Revolution, the CPSU’s monopoly of power and its monolithic nature, confrontation with the capitalist countries and the socialist (state-owned) economy. It is the breakdown of these “load-bearing structures” that predetermined the future collapse of the state, making it possible for destructive factors to materialize in the form of a fiscal crisis, intra-elite conflict and mass mobilization.

Popular Opinion Under Communist Regimes

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sheila Fitzpatrick
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
The State ◽  
Popular Opinion ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Collapse Of Communism ◽  
Over Time

The totalitarian nature of communist states is generally understood to exclude the existence of a public sphere sufficiently independent of the state to allow the expression of a range of opinions. However, popular opinion, if not a public sphere, did exist and it was monitored extensively by these states, since leaders needed to know about popular responses to their policies and campaigns. This essay explores the limits on the expression of popular opinion in the Soviet Union, China, and Eastern Europe, and the ways in which those limits shifted—and were challenged—over time. If it may be argued that the transformation of popular opinion into a ‘public sphere’ followed the collapse of communism in Poland, and possibly Hungary, ‘civil society’ was relatively insignificant in the collapse elsewhere (or indeed its persistence in the case of China).

Effects of Change During the Soviet Era

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robin P. Harris
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Performance Practice ◽  
The State ◽  
Historical Narrative ◽  
Historical Overview ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Slow Decline

This chapter begins the historical narrative of the book, recounting Sakha descriptions of olonkho performance practice during the pre-Revolutionary years and throughout the Soviet era. This historical overview reveals constant pendulum swings in the policies of the state, from support of folklorized versions of olonkho to marginalization and even brutal suppression. The gripping accounts documented in this chapter reveal the role of orality in the lives of the early olonkhosuts, the continuing influence of one set of olonkho recordings, and the slow decline of olonkho performance until its virtual disappearance before the demise of the Soviet Union.

Aiming to Overthrow the State (Without Using the State): Political Opportunities for Anarchist Movements

2012 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 558-593 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dana M. Williams ◽  
Matthew T. Lee
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Social Transformation ◽  
The State ◽  
State Repression ◽  
Political Factors ◽  
Political Opportunities ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Political Opportunity Theory ◽  
Future Work

Abstract The anarchist movement utilizes non-statist and anti-statist strategies for radical social transformation, thus indicating the limits of political opportunity theory and its emphasis upon the state. Using historical narratives from present-day anarchist movement literature, we note various events and phenomena in the last two centuries and their relevance to the mobilization and demobilization of anarchist movements throughout the world (Bolivia, Czech Republic, Great Britain, Greece, Japan, Venezuela). Labor movement allies, failing state socialism, and punk subculture have provided conditions conducive to anarchism, while state repression and Bolshevik success in the Soviet Union constrained success. This variation suggests that future work should attend more closely to the role of national context, and the interrelationship of political and non-political factors.

scholarly journals The Impact of Civil Society on Control of Corruption: A Comparative Study of Russia and Iran

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amir H. Estebari
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The Status ◽  
Historical Developments ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Control Of Corruption ◽  
Civil Societies

This paper studies the role of civil society in controlling corruption in public services in two developing countries: Russia and Iran. Research on the relationship between civil society and corruption control in these two countries is insufficient. Selecting Russia and Iran for comparison is based on similarities between them in terms of economic and political systems, and the developments of their civil societies. This paper compares the historical developments and the status of corruption and civil society in both countries; the efforts that civil society actors have made in battling corruption; and the state’s reaction to these attempts. This study covers a period of almost three decades from the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 to 2020. The findings of the study show that the civil societies in both countries have had limited impact on controlling corruption over the period. Although these findings do not support a prominent role for civil society in control of corruption in past, the author argues that, according to some evidence, there is a possibility of a stronger role for civil society in combatting corruption in both countries in the future.

THE IMPACT OF THE INTERNATIONAL FACTOR OF CONFLICT IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (6) ◽  
pp. 1879-1886
Author(s):  
Hatidza Berisha
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Bosnia And Herzegovina ◽  
The United States ◽  
International Community ◽  
The State ◽  
The Other ◽  
The European Union ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The Impact

The events that took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the unification of Germany, as well as the attitudes of the international factor towards the Bosnian crisis, should be considered in the process of disintegration of the former Yugoslavia, and secession of its republics. Due to the impossibility of a peaceful agreement on the resolution of state status and the organization of the state by political factors in B&H, it was necessary for the international community to intervene in resolving the state's status and relations in it.The aim of the paper is to analyze the impact of an international factor on developments in B&H right before the outbreak of the conflict, as well as during the course of the 1992-1995 period. years. The impact of the international factor has been viewed through the role of Europe (the European Community, since 1993 - the European Union and West European countries) on the one hand and the United States of America on the other, as the main and determining factors of the international community in resolving the Bosnian issue. The United Nations Organization (OUN) remained in the other plan in this process, while the role of the Soviet Union was not significant, because the Soviet Union was solving its own growing problems that arose at the end of the Cold War by the breakup of the Warsaw Pact, and later after the collapse of the state.

scholarly journals Titoism, dissidents and culture of dissent

2018 ◽  
Vol 58 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Albert Bing
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
The State ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Real Socialism ◽  
Mutual Relations

Abstract: The paper deals with the issue of Yugoslav dissidents with regard to the system of governance and the functioning of the state led by Josip Broz Tito. In the wider context the role of critical intelligence - a culture of dissent - is analyzed within distinctive Yugoslav frameworks. The paper includes a shorter overview of the particularity of Yugoslav dissidents, above all the differences in their perceptions, type of criticism, their mutual relations - as the opponents to the regime, and different destinies of individuals. Special emphasis was put on the West's position of Yugoslav dissidents which differed considerably in comparison with dissidents from the Soviet Union and other states of real socialism.

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