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.

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.

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.

Introduction

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Derek S. Hutcheson
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
The State ◽  
Parliamentary Elections ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Russian Politics

The chapter introduces the book Parliamentary Elections in Russia. It begins by outlining briefly the context of Russian politics since the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the literature about its transition. It examines the role of Russia’s parliament – the Federal Assembly – and in particular, the powers of the State Duma. It ends by mapping the content and structure of the remaining eight chapters of the book.

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.

Russian Protectionism: Problems of Institutional Heritage

2012 ◽  
pp. 96-114
Author(s):  
L. Tsedilin
Keyword(s):  
Economic Policy ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Foreign Trade ◽  
Economic Integration ◽  
The State ◽  
New Economic Policy ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
State Monopoly ◽  
The Times ◽  
Soviet Experience

The article analyzes the pre-revolutionary and the Soviet experience of the protectionist policies. Special attention is paid to the external economic policy during the times of NEP (New Economic Policy), socialist industrialization and the years of 1970-1980s. The results of the state monopoly on foreign trade and currency transactions in the Soviet Union are summarized; the economic integration in the frames of Comecon is assessed.

POST-SOVIET CITY AS A PALIMPSEST

2020 ◽  
pp. 48-68
Author(s):  
Elena A. Kosovan ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Urban Space ◽  
Publishing House ◽  
Soviet Period ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Role Of The State ◽  
Soviet Space ◽  
The Coordinator ◽  
Post Soviet Period

The author of the publication reviews the photobook “Palimpsests”, published in 2018 in the publishing house “Ad Marginem Press” with the support of the Heinrich Böll Foundation. The book presents photos of post-Soviet cities taken by M. Sher. Preface, the author of which is the coordinator of the “Democracy” program of the Heinrich Böll Foundation in Russia N. Fatykhova, as well as articles by M. Trudolyubov and K. Bush, which accompany these photos, contain explanation of the peculiarities of urban space formation and patterns of its habitation in the Soviet Union times and in the post-Soviet period. The author of the publication highly appreciates the publication under review. Analyzing the photographic works of M. Sher and their interpretation undertaken in the articles, the author of the publication agrees with the main conclusions of N. Fatykhova, M. Trudolyubov and K. Bush with regards to the importance of the role of the state in the processes of urban development and urbanization in the Soviet and post-Soviet space, but points out that the second factor that has a key influence on these processes is ownership relations. The paper positively assesses the approach proposed by the authors of the photobook to the study of the post-Soviet city as an architectural and landscape palimpsest consisting mainly of two layers, “socialist” and “capitalist”. The author of the publication specifically emphasizes the importance of analyzing the archetypal component of this palimpsest, pointing out that the articles published in the reviewed book do not pay sufficient attention to this issue. Particular importance is attributed by the author to the issue of metageography of post-Soviet cities and meta-geographical approach to their exploration. Emphasizing that the urban palimpsest is a system of realities, each in turn including a multitude of ideas, meanings, symbols, and interpretations, the author points out that the photobook “Palimpsests” is actually an invitation to a scientific game with space, which should start a new direction in the study of post-Soviet urban space.

Condition of the Armenian Apostolic Church at the Time of Coming to Authority N. S. Khrushchev

2020 ◽  
pp. 245-265
Author(s):  
Арсен Артурович Григорян
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Research Methods ◽  
Russian Federation ◽  
National Archive ◽  
The State ◽  
State Archive ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The Usa ◽  
The Russian Federation ◽  
Apostolic Church

Цель данной статьи - описать условия, в которых Армянская Апостольская Церковь вступила в эпоху правления Н. С. Хрущёва, начавшуюся в 1953 г. По содержанию статью можно поделить на две части: в первой даются сведения о количестве приходов на территории Советского Союза и за его пределами, а также о составе армянского духовенства в СССР; во второй излагаются проблемы, существовавшие внутри Армянской Церкви, и рассматриваются их причины. Методы исследования - описание и анализ. Ценность исследования заключается в использовании ранее неопубликованных документов Государственного архива Российской Федерации и Национального архива Армении. По итогам изучения фактического материала выделяются основные проблемы Армянской Апостольской Церкви на 1953 г.: финансовый дефицит, конфликт армянских католикосатов и стремление враждующих СССР и США использовать церковь в своих политических целях. The purpose of this article is to describe the conditions in which the Armenian Apostolic Church entered the epoch of the reign of N. S. Khrushchev, which began in 1953. The article can be divided into two parts: first one gives information about the number of parishes in the territory of the Soviet Union and beyond, and about the structure of the Armenian clergy in the USSR; the second one sets out the problems that existed in the Armenian Church and discusses their causes. Research methods - description and analysis. The value of the study lies in the use of previously unpublished documents of the State Archive of the Russian Federation and the National Archive of Armenia. Based on the results of studying the materials, the main problems of the Armenian Apostolic Church in 1953 are: financial deficit, the conflict of Armenian Catholicosates and the eagerness of USSR and the USA, that feuded with each other, to use the Сhurch for their political purposes.

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