Search results

Erik Kulavig reviews The Russian Revolutions of 1917: The Northern Impact and Beyond edited by Kari Aga Myklebost, Jens Petter Nielsen and Andrei Rogatchevski.

Abstract: Armenia and Europe: Foreign Aid and Environmental Politics in the Post-Soviet Caucasus Lene Wetteland (Norwegian Helsinki Committee) reviews Armenia and Europe: Foreign Aid and Environmental Politics in the Post-Soviet Caucasus by Dr. Pål Wilter Skedsmo. The book is a revised version of his 2017 PhD thesis in Social Anthropology. Skedsmo uses his personal experience from a project on environmental rights in Armenia in the early 2010s and Armenian civil society's application of the Aarhus Convention as case studies to discuss the issue of Europeanization of Armenia in this context.

Abstract: An East-West divide in late-life wellbeing in Europe? A comparative study of 12 countries This study explores late-life loneliness and depression in European countries, noting the role of micro-level differences in socioeconomic status, health, and social variables. Findings from cross-sectional, nationally representative data from 12 countries and 36,000 individuals in the Generations and Gender Survey show a marked East–West divide among older but not among younger adults. Among older adults (aged 60–80) loneliness and depression are as much as three to four times more prevalent in Eastern European (20–40%) than in Northwest European countries (10–15%). These patterns reflect economic, social, and societal issues which in turn affect the conditions for active and healthy aging. There is considerable variation among Eastern European countries, correlating with macro-level economic development and welfare spending. Generous welfare states seem to offer a buffer against, or postpone, the risk of late-life depression and loneliness. Cultural factors may also play a role: because of high expectations as to strong family and community ties, Eastern Europeans may have a lower loneliness threshold than other Europeans.

Abstract: The Collapse of the Planned Economy – and Other Widespread Misconceptions of the Transitions in Russia and Eastern EuropeAccording to the prevailing view, the Soviet planned economy collapsed around 1990; it was a failure, because a planned economy cannot work. Comparing this common view, as it appears in numerous quotations from special and general sources, with basic empirical evidence reveals deep discrepancies. This also applies to other common conceptions regarding the transition in Russia and Eastern Europe e.g. environmental problems, agricultural crisis, poverty and inequality. The command economies in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union did not collapse; they were dismantled, and until then they functioned and delivered growth rates comparable to those of western countries. The transition after 1989 was driven by marketliberalistic enthusiasm as a short cut to imitation of western prosperity and entailed a refusal of economic planning in the East and in the West. A more realistic evaluation of the planned economy is important for how we politically and economically address our two great challenges, the global environment, and the global distribution.

Kapitlene i Greg Simons (red.), The Image of Islam in Russia drøfter ulike sider av forholdet mellom muslimer og staten i Russland siden 1990-årene og holder høy akademisk standard. Boken er et opptrykk av to-tre år gamle utgaver av tidsskriftet Religion, State and Society.
The chapters in Greg Simons (ed.), The Image of Islam in Russia discuss various aspects of Muslim–state relations in Putin's Russia and are of high academic quality. This collected volume is a massive reprint of 2 to 3-year-old issues of the journal Religion, State and Society.

Mens journalister har lett for å ty til adjektiver for å beskrive et økologisk katastrofeområde, er det vanskeligere å se og formidle årsakssammenhenger. Hvorfor fikk ikke sovjetiske, senere russiske, myndigheter i samarbeid med sine nordiske naboland stanset de grenseoverskridende svovelskyene fra østsiden av Pasvikelven? Det er disse spørsmålene Lars Rowe på en systematisk og beundringsverdig godt dokumentert måte gir svar på i boken Pollution and Atmosphere in Post-Soviet Russia: The Arctic and the Environment.
Journalists easily find adjectives to describe environmental catastrophes; it is more difficult, however, to ascertain and convey their causes. Why, for example, didn't Soviet, and later Russian, authorities collaborate with Nordic neighbors and manage to put a stop to the sulphur clouds emanating from the eastern side of the Pasvik River? Lars Rowe looks at this question in a systematic and admirably well-documented way and provides answers in his book, Pollution and Atmosphere in Post-Soviet Russia: The Arctic and the Environment.

Moderne ortodokse kirker har blivit både inaktuell och ohyggligt aktuell i och med den ryska invasionen av Ukraina 24 februari 2022, då frågor om olika ortodoxa samhörigheter kommit i fokus. Volymen består nio kapitel och behandlar nästan samtliga stora ortodoxa kyrkor i världen och många centrala frågor som nationalism, jurisdiktion, teologi och gudstjänstutövning. Boken är pålitlig när det gäller fakta, författarna är eminent kunniga, men den kan ibland bli en smula svårläst i all sin faktarikedom.
The volume has become both outdated and eerily topical after the Russian invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, as issues concerning various Eastern Orthodox affiliations have come into focus. This nine-chapter volume deals with almost all major Orthodox Churches in the world, and takes up such central questions such as nationalism, jurisdiction, theology and worship. The book is a reliable source of information, and the authors are eminently competent, but the sheer mass of facts presented can make it somewhat difficult to read.

Abstract in English"That kind of mother": Stigmatisation by the Russian child protection servicesHow does stigma influence the extent to which the child protection services in Russia undertake preventative work with vulnerable families in order to avoid taking the child out the family? Based on an analysis of previous research and my own fieldwork from St. Petersburg and Moscow, I note the gap between expectations towards vulnerable families, and their actual living conditions and potential for meeting these expectations. This gap results in a stigmatising categorisation of families who find themselves marginalised as neblagopolutsjnye – socially disadvantaged. Although Russia's officially 'family-oriented' child protection system is expected to base its work on objective methods, stigmatisation influences the decisions of social workers, making the system risk-oriented in practice. This is due to little or inadequate specialised education among social workers, resulting in the strong presence of the human factor: subjective, non-professional evaluations are made. With scant intersectional cooperation among state actors, there is little space to counteract or modify subjective evaluations. Thus, stigmatisation serves to limit the extent to which vulnerable families in Russia receive help, thus creating and upholding 'social orphanhood'.

Abstract: The Dynamics of Identity Negotiation in a Border Region: The Case of Georgian Azeri-Tukrs of Kvemo KartliIn The Dynamics of Identity Negotiation in a Border Region: The Case of Georgian Azeri-Tukrs of Kvemo Kartli Karli-Jo T. Storm studies collective identities among Georgian Azeri-Turks in relation to officially propagated narratives of national identity in Georgia and Azerbaijan. Storm's ambitious work offers us insights into the complexities of the social and spatial positions of minority populations in the post-Soviet nation building projects.

Abstract: Post Post-Soviet, style and rebellion: Symbolism and subversive nationalism in Gosha Rubchinskiy's 'new Russia'This article explores the resonance enjoyed by streetwear designer Gosha Rubchinskiy among young Russians, and the extensive network that has emerged under his wings and refers to itself as 'the new Russia'. Analysis of Rubchinskiy's work, with Dick Hebdige's semiotic approach as the epistemological context, supplemented by insights from Simon Reynolds, Michel Foucault and Michel Maffesoli, reveals a continuous deconstruction of the Russian regime's hegemonic narrative of Russianness – so-called 'Putinism'. At the same time, Rubchinskiy constructs a countercultural form of Russian national belonging, one with room to accommodate those who feel alienated by mainstream Russian nationalism. From a social science perspective, a countercultural inclusive nation-building project is in itself a paradox – so how are we to understand Gosha Rubchinskiy's 'new Russia'?

Abstract: Security and Vulnerability After Armenia's Velvet Revolution: Elite Perceptions on Gender Equality, Human Rights and Conflict ResolutionThe Velvet Revolution in spring 2018 and the snap elections that followed in December 2018 shook Armenia. This article examines the country's new political elite and other central social elites, and their affective and evaluative beliefs with respect to human security, drawing on an elite survey conducted in 2017 and 2019, complemented by in-depth interviews. The aim is to shed light on whether Armenia's elite-level political culture is headed for progressive change concerning the rights of disadvantaged groups, primarily women and sexual minorities – an expectation among the young and educated in Yerevan. This study finds that, as regards reducing vulnerability and increasing the security and freedom of choice for those traditionally disadvantaged in Armenian society, the values and judgments of the new elites have remained basically traditional.

Abstract in English: Close and Distant. Political Executive-Media Relations in Four CountriesElin Strand Larsen reviews Close and Distant. Political Executive-Media Relations in Four Countries. Edited by Karl Magnus Johansson and Gunnar Nygren, the book is based on a three-year long research project and analysis of the relationship between politicians, press secretaries and journalists in four countries – Finland, Lithuania, Poland and Sweden. By conducting thorough, well-coordinated research and numerous research interviews (20–25 from each country), the research group has studied the interplay between government and media in the period 2014–2017. The anthology contains four country-specific chapters, as well as the following cross-national themes: government communication, social media, source-journalist relationships, mediatisation and political communication cultures.

Abstract: 'The Politics of Uncertainty' in Practice: The 2020 Presidential Election that Changed BelarusUp until 2020 Aleksandr Lukashenka's authoritarian regime had ruled Belarus for 26 years without major challenges. Thus, the popular mobilization that took shape in connection with the August 2020 presidential election came as a surprise. It was not the first time that elections in Belarus were not fair – but it was the first time that large sectors of the population reacted openly. Six months later, Belarusians all over the country were still contesting the falsified results. What contributed to this mobilization and politicization of a previously largely apolitical society? Why does that development represent such a serious threat to the authoritarian system? This study sees the Belarusian presidential election and its aftermath as illustrating the 'politics of uncertainty' of electoral authoritarian regimes. Because of the intrinsic insecurity of authoritarian systems, all regular elections in that context entail risks, which in theory might lead to change. In Belarus, the emergence of latent threats to the regime's legitimacy in the form of social cleavages and an economic crisis, combined with the fundamental dynamics of the 'election game', amplified this instability. The election served as the starting point for a process of transformation that became the most serious threat ever faced by the Lukashenka regime.

Armenia's Velvet Revolution - Why So Overdue? In early April 2018 Armenia completed the transition from semi-presidential rule to a parliamentary republic. Under the slogan 'More power to the people', the ruling Republican Party had paved the way for the incumbent president, Serzh Sargsyan, to continue in power, now as prime minister as his second and final term of presidency was drawing to an end. However, the ensuing events ended with popular protests, the 'Velvet Revolution', which forced Sargsyan and the Republicans out of office. The new administration, led by the former opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan, has ousted several influential leaders and initiated an ambitious anti-corruption programme. Nonetheless, one significant issue remains: early elections that are supposed not only to reflect the prevailing political landscape in Armenia but also reform the country's election laws. What triggered the spring 2018 uprising, when corruption and social discontent have been both well-known and prevalent in Armenia over the past two decades? This article offers insights into the background to the popular uprising, and the relation between Armenia and its large and influential diaspora, citing two main factors for the delay since independence in 1991 – the historical legacy of the perils of internal disunity, together with the effects of the unresolved Karabakh conflict. It concludes with some reflections on the way forward.