Opposition in Russia

1997 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 598-613 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Barber
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Interest Groups ◽  
Small Groups ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Opposition ◽  
Ruling Elite ◽  
Political Landscape ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The 1960S

WHILE ‘REPOSITIONING’ MAY BE AN APPROPRIATE TERM TO DESCRIBE developments in political opposition in many contemporary societies, it falls some way short of capturing the significance of changes in Russia, where in a few years the political landscape has changed out of all recognition. Until little more than a decade ago, political opposition in the Soviet Union was barely visible and, with rare exceptions, of little consequence. In the decades following Stalin's death in 1953, the existence of interest groups and lobbies within the party and state apparatuses was persuasively argued by foreign observers; and occasionally fractional opposition within the ruling elite surfaced. The latter aimed at reversing specific policies and, twice, at replacing the country's leader — Khrushchev on both occasions, unsuccessfully in 1957 and successfully in 1964. From the 1960s onwards, dissent from the regime's values and goals was reflected in the statements and actions of individuals and small groups, often described as the ‘Soviet dissident movement’, though lacking either common objectives and strategy, or impact on the Soviet Union's rulers.

Orthodox Dissidence as De-Atomization: Father Dmitrii Dudko and His Battle with Razobshchennost’

2013 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 90-114
Author(s):  
Nicholas Ganson
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Opposition ◽  
Potential Threat ◽  
Soviet State ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Political Implications

On June 20, 1980, after more than five months of imprisonment, grueling interrogation, and emotional anguish, Fr. Dmitrii Dudko appeared on Soviet television and disavowed his earlier “anti-Soviet” statements. Dudko’s televised repudiation of his activities appeared to put the last nail in the coffin of an Orthodox dissident movement, which had shown promise as a political opposition to the Soviet state. Based on the case of Fr. Dmitrii, this article advances the idea that the characterization of the movement in political terms misrepresents the motives of its participants. Far from dismissing the political implications of the churchmen’s actions, the article, building on Fr. Dmitrii’s expressed struggle with razobshchennost’ (social atomization or isolation), explains his “dissidence” on its own terms, while considering its consequences and potential threat to the Soviet state. Seeking to grasp some of the nuance of the Orthodox dissident movement in the Soviet Union, this article employs the paradigm of atomization, de-atomization, and re-atomization to connect the religiously motivated activities of Fr. Dmitrii Dudko with the political implications of his actions for the Soviet state.

scholarly journals The First Major Reform

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jasmine Patricia Hafso
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Alcohol Policy ◽  
Soviet Society ◽  
The Political ◽  
Mikhail Gorbachev ◽  
Political Landscape ◽  
Government Transparency ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Major Reform ◽  
General Secretary

During the 1980s, the General Secretary of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev implemented extensive reforms prohibiting alcohol. The reform had distastrous results and is widely regarded as a failure. Although Gorbachev's alcohol reform was ultimately reversed and regarded as unsuccessful, the alcohol policy is revealing in regards to changes taking place in Soviet society during the 1980s. The reform demonstrated changes in the political landscape, economics, and government transparency. 

USSR: Pluralist Monolith?

1979 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 445-464 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander J. Groth
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
Western Countries ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Differences Of Opinion ◽  
The Common ◽  
The 1960S

Since the 1960s, when the concept of totalitarianism began to be critically assailed, Western, and particularly academic, interpreters of the Soviet Union have increasingly moved in the direction of a new convergence. Many scholars have portrayed the political systems of the Soviet Union and of Western countries as increasingly alike, viewing them through the common perspective of ‘pluralism’. Basically, it has been said, conflict and differences of opinion are characteristic of all these political systems. To be sure, the conflicts and differences may be expressed through rather different institutions, and with somewhat different styles or nuances in each case, but they are there just the same.

Pereira, Carmen

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ângela Sofia Benoliel Coutinho
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Leadership Skills ◽  
Health Sector ◽  
The Political ◽  
Far Right ◽  
Humid Climate ◽  
Guinea Bissau ◽  
Independence Movement ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The 1960S

Born in Bissau in 1936, Carmen Pereira was the daughter of a Guinean lawyer (one of only two Guinean lawyers at the time). She studied at the primary school in Bissau, and married in that city in 1957. In 1961, following her husband’s flight to Senegal to avoid being arrested as a political agitator, Carmen joined the independence movement led by the PAIGC (African Party for the Independence of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde), with three small children in her charge. Guinea-Bissau was then a Portuguese colony, with a far-right dictatorship based in the metropole. So-called Portuguese Guinea was about the size of Belgium or Haiti, and had a tropical, hot, and humid climate; most of its inhabitants, who belonged to more than twenty different peoples, were dedicated to agriculture. In the 1960s the majority of Guinea-Biassau’s inhabitants were Animists; there was also a significant Muslim population, and a few, like Carmen Pereira herself, were Catholics. The guerilla war began in Guinea-Bissau in 1963, and lasted until independence was declared in 1974. During this period Carmen travelled to the Soviet Union, where she studied to be a nurse. On her return to Africa she was given responsibility for the Health sector in the South region, where she also became the Political Commissioner for the areas controlled by the PAIGC, as a consequence of her proven leadership skills, and in accordance with the PAIGC’s policy of giving women equal opportunities and rights within the movement. Carmen Pereira is an important figure in African history, principally because she was the only woman to be elected a member of the Executive Committee (formerly the Political Bureau) of the PAIGC, which is itself significant as one of the few African movements for political liberation that led a successful war for independence. In the new state of Guinea-Bissau, Carmen Pereira was elected President of the Parliament, and appointed Health Minister, Minister for Social Affairs, and State Council member. She died in Bissau in June 2016.

Translation and Transformation: English-Language Children's Literature in (Soviet) Russian Guise

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith Inggs
Keyword(s):  
Children's Literature ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
English Language ◽  
Children’S Literature ◽  
Socialist Realism ◽  
The Political ◽  
Philosophy Of Action ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Free Translation ◽  
Soviet Russia

This article investigates the perceived image of English-language children's literature in Soviet Russia. Framed by Even-Zohar's polysystem theory and Bourdieu's philosophy of action, the discussion takes into account the ideological constraints of the practice of translation and the manipulation of texts. Several factors involved in creating the perceived character of a body of literature are identified, such as the requirements of socialist realism, publishing practices in the Soviet Union, the tradition of free translation and accessibility in the translation of children's literature. This study explores these factors and, with reference to selected examples, illustrates how the political and sociological climate of translation in the Soviet Union influenced the translation practices and the field of translated children's literature, creating a particular image of English-language children's literature in (Soviet) Russia.

Coalitional Presidentialism in Cross-Regional Perspective

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Chaisty ◽  
Nic Cheeseman ◽  
Timothy J. Power
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Former Soviet Union ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Landscape ◽  
Case Selection ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Empirical Material ◽  
Regional Perspective

This chapter introduces the three regions—sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and the Former Soviet Union—and the nine countries—Armenia, Benin, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Kenya, Malawi, Russia, and Ukraine—that provide the empirical material for the book. It introduces the two criteria used for case selection: 1) democratic competitiveness; 2) de jure and de facto constitutional provisions that empower presidents to be coalitional formateurs. It also introduces a variable that measures the salience of cross-party cooperation: the Index of Coalitional Necessity. Finally, it sketches the political landscape that has shaped the dynamics of coalitional presidentialism within each region, and it draws attention to important contextual differences between the nine country cases.

scholarly journals The All-Buryat Congress for the Spiritual Rebirth and Consolidation of the Nation: Siberian politics in the final year of the USSR

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 62-71
Author(s):  
Melissa Chakars
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
The Political ◽  
Socialist Republic ◽  
Soviet Socialist Republic ◽  
Political Issues ◽  
People's Party ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Russian State ◽  
General Goals

This article examines the All-Buryat Congress for the Spiritual Rebirth and Consolidation of the Nation that was held in the Buryat Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in February 1991. The congress met to discuss the future of the Buryats, a Mongolian people who live in southeastern Siberia, and to decide on what actions should be taken for the revival, development, and maintenance of their culture. Widespread elections were carried out in the Buryat lands in advance of the congress and voters selected 592 delegates. Delegates also came from other parts of the Soviet Union, as well as from Mongolia and China. Government administrators, Communist Party officials, members of new political parties like the Buryat-Mongolian People’s Party, and non-affiliated individuals shared their ideas and political agendas. Although the congress came to some agreement on the general goals of promoting Buryat traditions, language, religions, and culture, there were disagreements about several of the political and territorial questions. For example, although some delegates hoped for the creation of a larger Buryat territory that would encompass all of Siberia’s Buryats within a future Russian state, others disagreed revealing the tension between the desire to promote ethnic identity and the practical need to consider economic and political issues.

scholarly journals Reassessing the Standard of Living in the Soviet Union: An Analysis Using Archival and Anthropometric Data

2010 ◽  
Vol 70 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Brainerd
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Infant Mortality ◽  
Physical Growth ◽  
Standard Of Living ◽  
The Political ◽  
Archival Data ◽  
Anthropometric Data ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Child Height ◽  
Adult Stature

This article uses anthropometric and archival data to reassess the standard of living in the Soviet Union. In the prewar period, the population was small in stature and sensitive to the political and economic upheavals experienced in the country. Significant improvements in child height, adult stature, and infant mortality were recorded from approximately 1945 to 1970. While this period of physical growth was followed by stagnation in heights, the physical growth record of the Soviet population compares favorably with that of other European countries at a similar level of development in this period.

Genesis, essence and structure of pedagogical technology “Cooperative learning”

2021 ◽  
pp. 38-46
Author(s):  
Nikita I. Khmarenko
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Cooperative Learning ◽  
Education System ◽  
Social Order ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Traditional Education ◽  
Learning Goals ◽  
Successful Implementation ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The 1960S

The emergence of pedagogical technologies and their mass introduction dates back to the 1960s. Reformation of the American and European schools was provoked by reinterpretation of the learning goals. However, the historical roots of some pedagogical technologies are much older than studies of J. Carroll and D. Bruner – renowned authorities in this area of research. One of these technologies is cooperative learning. Initially recognized as a key component of humanistic pedagogy of J. Dewey, this technology has been further developed in works of many Soviet and foreign scholars. In the 1920s, the works by J. Dewey had a serious impact on the reformation of the Soviet education system, which aimed to educate the entire population of the Soviet Union. However, for some reasons, the gradual introduction of cooperative learning into learning process took a break in the 1930s. Since the late 1990s, a serious pedagogical crisis has emerged in the Russian Federation, which cannot be mended by traditional education system; it encourages many teachers to look at the well-studied pedagogical technologies from a different perspective. Today the social order sets new requirements concerning a major breakthrough in training a person. Teamwork and analytical thinking skills, the ability to lifelong self-education and self-develop-ment require fundamental changes in the traditional education system. At the same time, for the successful implementation of pedagogical technology, it is necessary to resolve a number of issues related to the essence of the concept of cooperative learning and the definition of components. Research relevance is indicated, the historical roots and essence of the concept of pedagogical technology of cooperative learning are determined, examples of the practical application of models of this pedagogical technology are exemplified.

In Afghanistan: Western and Soviet Methods of Counterinsurgency

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 22-40
Author(s):  
Lasha Tchantouridze
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Political ◽  
Limited Success ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The Us ◽  
Military Mission ◽  
Lasting Change

The two-decade-long U.S.-led military mission in Afghanistan ended in August 2021 after a chaotic departure of the NATO troops. Power in Kabul transferred back to the Taliban, the political force the United States and its allies tried to defeat. In its failure to achieve a lasting change, the Western mission in Afghanistan is similar to that of the Soviet Union in the 1980s. These two missions in Afghanistan had many things in common, specifically their unsuccessful counterinsurgency efforts. However, both managed to achieve limited success in their attempts to impose their style of governance on Afghanistan as well. The current study compares and contrasts some of the crucial aspects of counterinsurgency operations conducted by the Soviet and Western forces during their respective missions, such as special forces actions, propaganda activities, and dealing with crucial social issues. Interestingly, when the Soviets withdrew in 1988, they left Afghanistan worse off, but the US-backed opposition forces subsequently made the situation even worse. On the other hand, the Western mission left the country better off in 2021, and violence subsided when power in the country was captured by the Taliban, which the United States has opposed.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document