Synoptic Thinking and Political Culture in Post-Soviet Russia

Slavic Review ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 54 (3) ◽  
pp. 630-641 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Zimmerman
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Political Culture ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Work Experience ◽  
Predictor Variable ◽  
The Other ◽  
Soviet System ◽  
Secular Changes ◽  
Soviet Russia

There are two basic and conflicting views among scholars about the malleability of political culture—a group or nation's basic orientations to politics. By one account, culture is a relatively stable, ethnically or spatially specific predictor variable that shapes a nation's political institutions. In Russian studies, this is an approach that has emphasized the connection between the Russian autocratic past and the similarities between tsarist and bolshevik political institutions. Those attracted by this assessment of political culture are prone to think a statist, authoritarian political economy in Russia will be a constant regardless of the collapse of the Soviet system in 1991. The other approach views political culture as being more malleable. It has two variants. One snares with the first approach the assumption that culture is a predictor variable, but emphasizes the effects of secular changes in education and changes in work experience on the distribution of attitudes in a society.

scholarly journals POLITIK RELASI ETNIK: MATRILINEALITAS DAN ETNIK MINORITAS CINA DI PADANG, SUMATRA BARAT

2014 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 136-150
Author(s):  
Laila Kholid Alfirdaus ◽  
Eric Hiariej ◽  
Farsijana Adeney Risakotta
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Qualitative Methods ◽  
Political Culture ◽  
The Other ◽  
Residential Areas ◽  
Mass Violence ◽  
Depth Interview ◽  
West Sumatra

Relasi etnik Minang dan etnik Cina di Padang, Sumatra Barat, menarik untuk dikaji. Melalui desk-study atas kajian Minang dan Cina, yang diperkuat dengan penelitian lapangan pada 2010 dan 2013 secara kualitatif dengan wawancara dan observasi, tulisan ini menemukan bahwa tidak cukup melihat relasi etnik Minang dan Cina dari perspektif ekonomi politik. Kita perlu memberikan perhatian terhadap faktor budaya dan budaya politik masyarakat Minang di Padang yang bercorak matrilineal. Jika literatur yang ada cenderung deterministik, menghasilkan dua pandangan yang secara ekstrem berbeda, yang dalam artikel ini disebut pandangan manis dan sinis, tulisan ini berargumen sebaliknya. Relasi etnik Minang dan etnik Cina tidak bisa secara buru-buru disebut manis hanya karena etnik Cina telah menetap dan berpartisipasi dalam kehidupan sosial ekonomi Padang sejak zaman penjajahan, atau karena Padang relatif minim kerusuhan dibandingkan kota lainnya. Demikian juga, ia tidak bisa serta merta dilihat secara sinis hanya karena segregasi sosial terlihat lebih kentara. Tulisan ini berargumen bahwa dua wajah yang secara bersamaan terjadi tidak lepas dari bentukan budaya Minang yang lekat dengan nilai-nilai matrilineal yang tertuang dalam ide feministik Bundo KanduangInter-etnic relations between Minang and Chinese in Padang, West Sumatra, that looks different compared to other societies in Indonesia is interesting to discuss. Through a desk study about Minang and Chinese, being strengthened with fieldworks in 2010 and 2013 using qualitative methods in which in-depth interview and non-participatory observations, this article found that political economy perspective being used to explain Minang-Chinese relations is not enough. We need to pay attention on culture and political culture of Minangkabau society in Padang, that is matrilineal in the nature. While the existing lieratures tend to strictly classify the relations into sweet and cynical (good and bad relations), this article argue the contrary. The relatively long encounter of Chinese with Minang in Padang as well as the less conflicts (mass violence) against Chinese compared to the other regions could not be simply categorized as manis (sweet relations). Similarly, we should not undermine the good relations between Minang and Chinese, existing in some ocassions merely as formalistic practices just because of segregation in Minang and Chineses residential areas. This article argues that the twocontrary but inseparable faces of Minang-Chineses relations are inseparable from the Minangkabau culture that is matrilineal in the nature, as manifested in Bundo Kanduang containing the idea of femininity.

scholarly journals The Incomprehension of Terror as a Harbinger of “Post-Truth”?

Stan Rzeczy ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 55-77
Author(s):  
Anna Shor-Chudnovskaya
Keyword(s):  
Political Culture ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
Literary Texts ◽  
Open Book ◽  
Soviet System ◽  
Soviet History ◽  
Political Subject ◽  
Political Interests ◽  
Political Epistemology ◽  
Soviet Russia

This article is devoted to the attitude to truth as a part of political epistemology and of political culture in post-Soviet Russia. It considers the extent to which the Great Terror contributed to the development of a specific political epistemology, which is also largely characteristic of later periods of Soviet history and perhaps even of today. Of particular interest is the population’s perception of the terror as inaccessible or poorly accessible to logical understanding. As main sources, the article relies on two literary texts: Lydia Chukovskaya’s Sofia Petrovna and Veniamin Kaverin’s The Open Book. Despite all the apparent differences between the Soviet system and today’s Russia, one important similarity is striking: over the last two decades (after 1999) there has been a visible increase in the belief that it is impossible for a political subject to separate truth from lying and that the sphere of public administration and political interests is, by definition, a place where deception prevails. This article discusses the potential historical roots of this certainty.

scholarly journals La figura teórica de Bolívar Echeverría: crítica de la economía política y crítica a la modernidad capitalista / The theoretical figure of Bolívar Echeverría: criticism of political economy and criticism of capitalist modernity

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-37
Author(s):  
Alejandro Fernando González Jiménez
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Political Culture ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Karl Marx ◽  
The Other ◽  
Structural Elements ◽  
Theoretical Structure ◽  
Theoretical Figure ◽  
The One

Este trabajo pretende dejar de manifiesto la existencia de una figura o estructura teórica dentro de la obra del marxista latinoamericano Bolívar Echeverría, que muestre su organicidad interna y lógica argumental. A través de cuatro momentos (los fundamentos, núcleo, ramales o derivas y resultados), se recorre la totalidad de su producción teórica, siguiendo dos elementos estructurales; por un lado, el modo especifico en que el autor leyó la "crítica de la economía política" de Karl Marx, y, por el otro, su intento por desarrollar una crítica a la modernidad capitalista desde la cultura política, a partir de los fundamentos de su lectura de Marx. This work tries to show the existence of a figure or theoretical structure within the work of the Latin American Marxist Bolívar Echeverría, which shows its internal organicity and logical argument. Through four moments (foundations, nucleus, branches or drifts and results), the entirety of its theoretical production is covered, following two structural elements; on the one hand, the specific way in which this author read Karl Marx's critique of political economy, and, on the other, his attempt to develop from it, a critique from political culture to capitalist modernity.

Willard Hurst and the Archipelago of American Legal Historiography

2000 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 197-204 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara Y. Welke
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Political Economy ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
Political Culture ◽  
Common Law ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Political ◽  
Administrative State ◽  
Regulatory State ◽  
The Welfare State

Leading works published since the 1980s relating to law and the modern administrative state that privilege economy and politics—work by scholars like William Novak tracing the nineteenth-century common law roots of the modern regulatory state, Stephen Skowronek on the construction of a national administrative state, and Martin Sklar on the intersection of reform with the rise of corporate capitalism in reshaping the political economy of the American state—remain intensely engaged with the work of Willard Hurst. Leading works published in the same period relating to law and the modern administrative state that privilege gender—work by scholars like Kathryn Kish Sklar on Florence Kelley and women's political culture, Linda Gordon on the welfare state, and Leslie Reagan on abortion—do not cite Hurst in the footnotes or, for the most part, in their bibliographies. For that matter, those from one subfield do not cite the other and vice versa. There is a simple, innocuous explanation for these silences—we all have too much to read.

Roman Political Culture

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurens E. Tacoma
Keyword(s):  
Political Culture ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Social Dynamics ◽  
Specific Form ◽  
The Other ◽  
Sixth Century ◽  
City Councils ◽  
Institutional Landscape ◽  
The One ◽  
The City

This book offers an analysis of Roman political culture in Italy from the first to the sixth century AD on the basis of seven case studies. Its main contention is that, during the period in which Italy was subject to single rule, Italy’s political culture had a specific form. It was the product of the continued existence of two traditional political institutions: the senate in the city of Rome and the local city councils in the rest of Italy. Under single rule, the position of both institutions was increasingly weakened and they became part of a much wider institutional landscape. Nevertheless, they continued functioning until the end of the sixth century AD. Their longevity must imply that they retained meaning for their members, even when society was undergoing significant changes. As their powers and prerogatives shrank considerably, their significance became social rather than political: they allowed elites to enact and negotiate their own position in society. The tension between the fact that the institutions were at heart participatory in nature, but that their power was restricted, generated complex social dynamics. On the one hand, participants became locked in mutual expectations about each other’s behaviour and were enacting social roles, while on the other hand they retained a degree of agency. They were encapsulated in an honorific language and in a set of conventions that regulated their behaviour, but that at the same time offered them some room for manoeuvre.

Western Communists, Mikhail Gorbachev and the 1989 Revolutions

2009 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 349-362 ◽  
Author(s):  
SILVIO PONS
Keyword(s):  
Political Culture ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
The Other ◽  
Soviet System ◽  
Berlin Wall ◽  
Mikhail Gorbachev ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Over Time

AbstractWestern communists reflected two opposing responses to the final crisis of communism that had matured over time. The French communists represented a conservative response increasingly hostile to Gorbachev's perestroika, while the Italians were supporters of a reformist response in tune with his call for change. Thus Gorbachev was the chief reference, positive or negative, against which Western communists measured their own politics and identity. In 1989 the French aligned with the conservative communist leaderships of eastern Europe, and ended up opposing Gorbachev after the collapse of the Berlin Wall. Accordingly, the PCF became a residual entity of traditional communism. On the other hand, the Italian communists agreed with all Gorbachev's choices, and to some extent they even inspired his radical evolution. But they also shared Gorbachev's illusions, including the idea that the fall of the Berlin Wall would produce a renewal of socialism in Europe. Unlike the PCF, the PCI was able to undertake change in the aftermath of the 1989 revolutions, thus standing as a significant ‘post-communist’ force. However, if conservative communism was destined to become marginal, reform communism also failed in its objective of renewing the Soviet system and the communist political culture

The Political Economy of Local Governance in Yemen

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 45-69
Author(s):  
Benoit Challand ◽  
Joshua Rogers
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Political Culture ◽  
Local Governance ◽  
Local Development ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Past ◽  
Strong State ◽  
Self Help ◽  
Local Initiatives ◽  
Self Rule

This paper provides an historical exploration of local governance in Yemen across the past sixty years. It highlights the presence of a strong tradition of local self-rule, self-help, and participation “from below” as well as the presence of a rival, official, political culture upheld by central elites that celebrates centralization and the strong state. Shifts in the predominance of one or the other tendency have coincided with shifts in the political economy of the Yemeni state(s). When it favored the local, central rulers were compelled to give space to local initiatives and Yemen experienced moments of political participation and local development.

TRENDS AND PROSPECTS FOR THE EVOLUTION OF THE INSTITUTION OF POLITICAL PARTIES IN MODERN RUSSIA

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (5) ◽  
pp. 87-95
Author(s):  
D.L. TSYBAKOV ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Russian Federation ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Party System ◽  
Sources Of Information ◽  
Party Elites ◽  
The Russian Federation ◽  
State Bureaucracy ◽  
Soviet Russia ◽  
Post Industrial

The purpose of the article is to assess the nature of the evolution of the institution of political parties in post – Soviet Russia. The article substantiates that political parties continue to be one of the leading political institutions in the modern Russian Federation. The premature to recognize the functional incapacity of party institutions in the post-industrial/information society is noted. It is argued that political parties continue to be a link between society and state power, and retain the potential for targeted and regular influence on strategic directions of social development. The research methodology is based on the principles of consistency, which allowed us to analyze various sources of information and empirical data on trends and prospects for the evolution of the party system in the Russian Federation. As a result, the authors come to the conclusion that in Russian conditions the convergence of party elites with state bureaucracy is increasing, and there is a distance between political parties and civil society.

Comparative Political Economy

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Georg Menz
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
International Political Economy ◽  
Adam Smith ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Comparative Political Economy ◽  
Technological Parameters ◽  
Private Debt

This new and comprehensive volume invites the reader on a tour of the exciting subfield of comparative political economy. The book provides an in-depth account of the theoretical debates surrounding different models of capitalism. Tracing the origins of the field back to Adam Smith and the French Physiocrats, the development of the study of models of political-economic governance is laid out and reviewed. Comparative Political Economy (CPE) sets itself apart from International Political Economy (IPE), focusing on domestic economic and political institutions that compose in combination diverse models of political economy. Drawing on evidence from the US, the UK, France, Germany, Sweden, and Japan, the volume affords detailed coverage of the systems of industrial relations, finance, welfare states, and the economic role of the state. There is also a chapter that charts the politics of public and private debt. Much of the focus in CPE has rested on ideas, interests, and institutions, but the subfield ought to take the role of culture more seriously. This book offers suggestions for doing so. It is intended as an introduction to the field for postgraduate students, yet it also offers new insights and fresh inspiration for established scholars. The Varieties of Capitalism approach seems to have reached an impasse, but it could be rejuvenated by exploring the composite elements of different models and what makes them hang together. Rapidly changing technological parameters, new and more recent environmental challenges, demographic change, and immigration will all affect the governance of the various political economy models throughout the OECD. The final section of the book analyses how these impending challenges will reconfigure and threaten to destabilize established national systems of capitalism.

Soviet Policy Toward Germany During the Russo-Polish War, 1920

Slavic Review ◽  
1976 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 665-682 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Himmer
Keyword(s):  
Weimar Republic ◽  
The Other ◽  
Apparent Contradiction ◽  
German Government ◽  
Soviet Policy ◽  
Economic Problems ◽  
Red Army ◽  
History Of ◽  
Communist Revolution ◽  
Soviet Russia

The Russo-Polish War occasioned some of the most anxious moments in the history of relations between Soviet Russia and the Weimar Republic. Within Germany, the advance of the Red Army toward Warsaw in 1920 aroused strong, but contradictory emotions. First, it led many Germans to anticipate the destruction of Poland and to hope for the restoration of the Reich’s former eastern territories. Simultaneously, however, the westward Russian march raised fears of the invasion of Germany by Bolshevik forces. Within Russia, a similar dichotomy of views about Germany existed. On one hand, the German government was considered a hostile, though negligible and temporary—a Communist revolution there was thought imminent—factor in Russia’s situation. On the other, Germany was held important enough to Russia that serious proposals of a far-reaching alliance against Poland and the Entente were made to her. The former view rested on a fundamentally optimistic assessment of Russia’s prospects; the latter, on a sober one. Grounds for concern were afforded by the Soviet Republic’s grave economic problems and by worry about whether the weary Red Army could defeat Pilsudski’s forces, whose offensive capacity had been demonstrated by their capture of Kiev in May 1920. If Germany, which had had military forces in the field against the Bolsheviks only a year before, should actively assist the Poles, Russia’s situation could be appreciably worsened. Surprisingly, therefore, although there are several recent, excellent studies of Soviet-Polish affairs and the Russo-Polish War, and a voluminous literature on relations between the Soviets and the Weimar Republic, little attention has been paid to Soviet policy toward Germany during the conflict with Poland. To explain that policy, and its apparent contradiction, is the purpose of this article.

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