scholarly journals Post-War Friendship Between Neighbors: An outline of Soviet-Finnish Music Exchanges from 1944 towards the collapse of the Soviet Union

2014 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 27-51 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meri Elisabet Herrala
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Soft Power ◽  
Primary Source ◽  
The West ◽  
Soviet Government ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The Republic

In this article, I will analyze the role of music in the process of building peaceful relations between the Soviet Union and the Republic of Finland after the Second World War. The role of music as a weapon of “soft power” was an important alternative in Finnish-Soviet relations in order to enhance understanding between them and to avoid further conflict. I will analyze how the leading Soviet soloists were often first “tested” in Finland before their further outreach to the West from 1944 to the collapse of the Soviet Union. Because of its position as a neutral country between the East and the West Finland was seen as a safe experimental location in which to evaluate the performers’ loyalties to the Soviet regime. However, violinist Victoria Mullova’s 1983 defection to the West via Finland showed that the Soviet power was not so overpowering any more, even towards its own citizens. The Soviet Union was already heading for a collapse due to political and economic realities. Its diminishing cultural influence on the West undermined its power, and accelerated its demise. Using primary source materials and newspapers mainly from the Finnish National Archives and Sibelius Museum as well as the former Soviet archives in Moscow, I will examine the ways in which Soviet government cooperated with Finnish non-governmental organizations such as the Finland-Soviet Union Friendship Society, the main coordinating body of Finnish-Soviet relations, Finnish concert firms etc.

On the Causes of the “Tulip Revolution” in Kyrgyzstan: the Role of the External Factor

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-18
Author(s):  
Aleksandr O. Naumov
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Support ◽  
Soft Power ◽  
External Factor ◽  
The United States ◽  
Political Life ◽  
Political Crisis ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations ◽  
The Republic

Introduction. “Colour revolutions”, which are coups using technologies, mechanisms and tools of soft power, became a notable phenomenon in the post-Soviet space at the beginning of the XXI century. Attempts to dismantle political regimes in the region using methods of non-violent struggle are still being made by Western experts in geopolitical engineering, and directly at the borders of the Russian Federation. The article examines the role of an external factor in the preparation and implementation of one of the “color revolutions” of the first wave – the “Tulip revolution” in the Republic of Kyrgyzstan. Materials and Methods. The methodological basis of the research is the system, structural-functional, comparative-political approaches, methods of analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction and observation. Results and Discussion. The article presents an analysis of the causes of the socio-political crisis in Kyrgyzstan that led to the “Tulip revolution” in 2005. Special emphasis is placed on studying the activities of the United States to form a Pro-Western civil society in the country by promoting various projects and programs of democratization. With the help of Western soft power actors operating in Kyrgyzstan since the 1990s, local non-governmental organizations and mass media were organized, and cadres opposed to the Akayev regime were trained in various spheres of social and political life. Conclusions. Even in the specific conditions of Central Asia, Washington managed to create a “revolutionary” infrastructure on the ground, helping anti-government forces in areas where they were not competent enough. The author concludes that without financial and organizational support, the Kyrgyz opposition would not have been able to implement the successful scenario of the “colour revolution”. The victory of the “Tulip revolution” did not bring the prosperity promised by its leaders to the people; on the contrary, it was this event that caused huge damage to the country’s public administration system and triggered a series of crises that still haunt Kyrgyzstan.

scholarly journals Non-Soviet Perspectives on the Great Famine: A Comparative Analysis of British, Italian, Polish, and German Sources

2019 ◽  
Vol 48 (3) ◽  
pp. 444-459 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paolo Fonzi
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Diplomatic Relations ◽  
Present Contribution ◽  
Soviet Government ◽  
Great Famine ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractThe present contribution analyzes systematically diplomatic reports written by German, Italian, British, and Polish representatives in the Soviet Union at the time of the Great Famine. Based on both published documents and unpublished archival sources, the article examines comparatively the perception of the Great Famine in these four countries. After providing a short overview of the diplomatic relations between the Soviet Union and the four countries at the time of the famine, this article examines how German, Italian, British, and Polish diplomats explained three key issues for understanding the Great Famine: (1) the role of the conflicts between state and peasantry in unleashing the famine; (2) the issue of whether the Soviet government intentionally caused the famine; and (3) the role of intentions in the development of the famine and the relationship between the nationalities policy of the Soviet government and the famine.

Labor, the UN and the Cold War

1957 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-67 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harold Karan Jacobson
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
San Francisco ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
World Federation ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Cold War

One of the significant structural differences between the organization of economic and social work under the League and under the United Nations is the extent to which non-governmental organizations (NGO's) have been allowed to participate. NGO's have been granted far greater privileges in the UN than they enjoyed in the League. Initially, they were formally recognized in Article 71 of the Charter, which gives the Economic and Social Council the right to make “suitable arrangements” for consultation with them. While defined in differing ways during different periods, consultative status under this article has, subject to various conditions, always included the right to participate in the debates of ECOSOC, its commissions and committees, and to propose items for inclusion in their provisional agenda. NGO's have made extensive use of these privileges. Their use, however, as well as the entire record of NGO action in the UN, has been inseparably linked with the cold war. Russian demands at San Francisco for privileges for the newly created, communist-controlled World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) were a contributing factor in the decision to include Article 71 in the Charter. The initial definition of this article resulted primarily from the interaction of pressures by the Soviet Union and the WFTU and the western response.

The Oil Deal: Nariman Narimanov and the Sovietization of Azerbaijan

Slavic Review ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 76 (2) ◽  
pp. 372-394
Author(s):  
Sara Brinegar
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Identity Politics ◽  
Soviet Power ◽  
The South ◽  
South Caucasus ◽  
Soviet Government ◽  
Soviet History ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Soviet Russia

This essay, with a focus on Baku, Azerbaijan, demonstrates that the need to secure and hold energy resources—and the infrastructures that support them—was critical to the formation of the Soviet Union. The Azerbaijani statesman Nariman Narimanov played a pivotal role in the establishment of Soviet power in Azerbaijan by attempting to use Baku's oil to secure prerogatives for the Azerbaijan SSR. In part, Narimanov gained his position by striking a deal with Vladimir Lenin in 1920, an arrangement that I am calling the oil deal. This deal lay the foundations of Soviet power in the south Caucasus. Lenin charged Narimanov with facilitating connections between the industrial stronghold of Baku and the rural countryside of Azerbaijan and Narimanov agreed to do what he could to help supply Soviet Russia with oil. Lenin put Narimanov in charge of the Soviet government of Azerbaijan, with the understanding that he would be granted significant leeway in cultural policies. Understanding the role of the south Caucasus in Soviet history, then, is also understanding how the extraction and use of oil and other natural resources were entangled with more familiar questions of nationalities policy and identity politics.

Professor Uluots, the Estonian Government in Exile and the Continuity of the Republic of Estonia in International Law

2000 ◽  
Vol 69 (3) ◽  
pp. 289-316
Author(s):  
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
International Law ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Legal Practice ◽  
Baltic States ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Foreign Occupation ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Baltic

AbstractInternational legal practice in the 20th century is rich in challenging cases of state continuity and extinction. One of those cases is the preservation of the continuity of the Baltic states throughout 51 years of foreign occupation and annexation. After decades of non-recognition of Soviet annexation by leading Western powers, the present-day Baltic republics have not been seen as successor states of the Soviet Union, but as identical with the independent Baltic states of 1918–1940. How could the continuity of the Baltic states be preserved, especially as the Soviet Union had effectively and seemingly “forever”established its control over the Baltic republics? This article focuses on the Estonian situation, laying out the events of 1944 which led to the proclamation of the new constitutional government, and after the country was for the second time occupied by the Soviet army, to the creation of an Estonian government in exile. One of the main questions asked in this article is whether and how the Estonian government in exile contributed to the preservation of the continuity of the Republic of Estonia. Both legal and political aspects played a role in the preservation of the continuity of the Republic of Estonia, and for various reasons, the role of the Estonian government in exile was not exactly that of “the” preserver of state continuity.

scholarly journals Voci libere in URSS

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Soviet Regime ◽  
International Level ◽  
The West ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The Many ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Conceptual Overview

Free Voices in the USSR is a project dedicated to the myriad of independent voices present in the culture of dissent in the Soviet Union in the second half of the twentieth century. Its aim is to offer a conceptual overview of the many forms of dissent by exploring two main thematic areas, the first devoted to “free voices” in the USSR and the second focused on reception in the West. The different manifestations of the USSR’s ‘Second Culture’, which was non-official and independent, spread thanks to the samizdat (the clandestine publication and circulation of texts within the USSR) and the tamizdat (the publication of texts forbidden in the USSR in the West). The reception of non-official forms of expression in the West is explored in the context of the debates arising from the Cold War; the role of the West in engaging with the literary, cultural and artistic challenges to the Soviet regime from within its own borders proved fundamental. Contributions to this website including critical essays, bio-bibliographic entries, archive information and the review and cataloguing of magazines are the result of coordinated research by a group of specialists at an international level.

scholarly journals IN MEMORY OF THE LEGENDARY COUNTRYMAN DAYAN MURZIN

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 165-174
Author(s):  
Ришат Нигматуллин
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Republic Of Bashkortostan ◽  
Great Patriotic War ◽  
Red Army ◽  
The Russian Federation ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Resistance Movement ◽  
Guerrilla Movement

In our country, 2020 has been declared the Year of Memory and Glory by a decree of the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin. More than 25 million citizens of our country gave their lives for the Victory. The Republic of Bashkortostan made a significant contribution to the victory over fascist Germany. The names of such heroes of the Great Patriotic War as Minigali Shaimuratov, Musa Gareev, Tagir Kusimov, Dayan Murzin, Alexander Matrosov and Minigali Gubaidullin became known outside the republic and country. The article is devoted to the combat path of Dayan Bayanovich Murzin, who was an active participant in the guerrilla movement and the Resistance Movement in Czechoslovakia, the hero of Czechoslovakia. The assistance of the Red Army to the Slovak popular uprising is examined, the role of the Soviet Union in the organization of the Resistance Movement in Eastern Europe is shown.

The Role of Islam in Chechen National Identity

2009 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-88 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanna Swirszcz
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
The Caucasus ◽  
Religious Influence ◽  
Bolshevik Revolution ◽  
Islamic Tradition ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Mountainous Landscape

Uncovering the importance of Islam in Chechen national identity is not necessarily difficult. Alexei Malashenko has noted that Chechen identity today cannot be considered outside the context of Islamic tradition. Chechnya today is not an independent Muslim state. Its embracing of Islam came about during a time of colonization, when Chechens were struggling to halt Russian encroachment on their lands. Many works pertaining to Islam in Chechnya suggest that, at the time of Russian advancement in the eighteenth century, most Chechens were “nominally” Muslim. This has been attributed to the geographic isolation of the Caucasus. While the rugged mountainous landscape and thick forests which cover the region provided protection from invaders, it also hindered interaction among the various mountain peoples as well as the strength of outside religious influence. Soon after their defeat to the tsarist Russians, the Bolshevik Revolution occurred and Chechens spent the following 80 years under Soviet rule. After the fall of the Soviet Union, the Republic of Chechnya declared independence alongside the full-fledged Soviet Socialist Republics, though their independence was not recognized by the UN. The Chechen victory over the Russian Federation in the first war in 1994–1996 has been considered a remarkable military defeat. However, a weak economy, high unemployment, and criminality caused the young nation to fall into a state of lawlessness and radicalism, eventually causing it to suffer a defeat to the Russians in the second war, which began in 1999. The present day is characterized by exhaustion and a desire for peace, a desire that ultimately has meant deference to Russian rule.

Crime in the Republic of Kazakhstan: Socio-Economic, Sociocultural and Migration Factors

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 82-95
Author(s):  
Dauren Zhampeissov ◽  
Duman Zhampeissov
Keyword(s):  
Information Service ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations ◽  
Criminal Offenses ◽  
Internal Migrants ◽  
Migration Factors ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Republic ◽  
And Migration

The article discusses the problematic issues of preventing crimes committed by both international and internal migrants in the Republic of Kazakhstan, analyzes the causes and conditions that contribute to the commission of crimes by migrants, draws conclusions and provides recommendations for the development of new ways and means of preventing crime of migrants. The authors analyze the official statistics of migrant crime over the past three years (2017–2019) through the Information Service of the Committee on Legal Statistics and Special Accounts of the General Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Kazakhstan and pointed out the need for more detailed regulation of some quantitative and qualitative indicators of statistical information. It is concluded that it is necessary to differentiate statistics on criminal offenses committed by migrants. The authors substantiate the important role of improving the moral and legal culture of the population by involving the media and non-governmental organizations as a measure to prevent the crime of migrants. In order to reduce the crime rate of migrants, measures are needed that create favorable socio-economic conditions and a positive moral climate in society. Among the criminologically significant factors in the crime of migrants, the presence of negative phenomena, such as the existence of corruption in government bodies, is indicated. The authors propose to approve the temporary registration of migrants, which would be necessary when receiving various services and social assistance, and not an obligation, in case of violation of which legal liability arises.

Was There a Soviet Policy for Evacuating the Jews?: The Case of the Annexed Territories

Slavic Review ◽  
1980 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ben-Cion Pinchuk
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Large Population ◽  
World War ◽  
Soviet Government ◽  
Soviet Policy ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The Holocaust ◽  
The Baltic

As a result of the Soviet annexation of the Baltic States, eastern Poland, Bessarabia, and Northern Bucovina in 1939-40, the Soviet Union was left with the largest Jewish population in Europe. Given this large population, the fact that the Soviet Union had the greatest number of Jews who survived World War II has aroused the interest of researchers and drawn attention to the role of Soviet policy in the rescue of Jews during the Holocaust. Some of the reasons for the survival of Jews in Soviet-annexed territories seem obvious. In contrast to other European countries, only part of the USSR was occupiéd by German armies. Therefore, Jews could find refuge in the unoccupied regions. This simple and generally sufficient explanation is not the only one which has been offered, however. Some Western scholars have argued that the Soviet government had a specific policy designed to rescue Jews from the danger of annihilation. Soviet propaganda, particularly that aimed at Western audiences, maintained that millions of Jews owed their lives to Soviet rescue operations during the Holocaust.

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