Suchergebnisse

"This book revisits many aspects of current social science theories, such as actor-network theory and the French school of science and technology studies, to test how the theories apply in a specific situation: in this case the role of Soviet era infrastructure in the city of Cherepovets in Russia, home of Russia's second biggest steel producer, Severstal. Using political philosophy to analyse the down-to-earth details of the real techno-scientific problems facing the world, the book examines the role of things -- and urban infrastructure in particular -- in political change. It considers how the city's infrastructure, including housing, ICT networks, the provision of public utilities of all kinds, has been transformed in recent years; examines the roles of different actors including the municipal authorities, and explores citizens' differing and sometimes contradictory images of their city. It includes a great deal of new thinking on how communities are built, how common action is initiated to provide public goods, and how the goods themselves -- physical things -- are a crucial driver of community action and community building, arguably more so than more abstract social and human forces"--Provided by publisher.

Chapter Introduction: And yet another book -- chapter 1 Forms of power in international relations -- chapter 2 State- building in Russia and the choice for coercion in external relations -- chapter 3 Multilevel arrangements in EU external relations: Stimulating authority, constraining coercion -- chapter 4 Russia and the EU: From failed authority to mutual coercion -- chapter 5 Russia and the EU: No winners in the common neighborhood -- chapter 6 Belarus: Strangulation in a fraternal embrace -- chapter 7 Georgia: The story of one coercion and two authorities -- chapter 8 Ukraine: The 2battlefield3 -- chapter 9 Turkey: not- so- terrible coercion, not- so- needed authority.

The motivation for this book is the need for a renewed analysis of Russia, which, after a period of relative weakness and instability during most ofthe 1990s, has again reappeared in world politics as a major securityplayer, claiming the status of a great power. This is partly due to the factthat, with the advent of Vladimir Putin as president, Russia gainedincreased political stability, and partly because the Russian economystarted to show steady growth. Russia made skilful use of the policywindows of opportunity that were opened to it as a consequence of theterrorist attacks in the United Sta.

"This book investigates the effects of similar electoral system changes on candidate selection, election outcomes, and party development in two post-Soviet states, Russia and Ukraine, during a period when Russia's rulers were consolidating a dominant-party, electoral authoritarian regime and Ukraine appeared to be moving towards electoral democracy"--

This book outlines the complexities, contestation, and contradictions in the formal organization and contents of patriotic education in post-Soviet Russia. While the topics of patriotism and patriotic education are highly political and politicized, this study approaches them from a more sociological perspective. It is based on a variety of sources and empirical data, including the indicators and budgets of federal and regional patriotic-education programs and on field research. The book explores in depth all major agents of patriotic education in Russia, such as the government, schools, youth associations, churches, and the film/cartoon industry. It traces the development of governmental patriotic programs in recent decades, discusses how the Soviet past and political traditions influence today's system of patriotic education, and presents numerous case studies illustrating real-life processes in current patriotic education.