Martin Kragh, Deputy Director of the Stockholm Centre for Eastern European Studies (SCEEUS) and Senior Research Fellow at the Swedish Institute of International Affairs, reviews Ingerid M. Opdahl's book, The Russian State and Russian Energy Companies, 1992–2018 (Routledge, 2020).
Political Culture in the Baltic States: Between National and European Integration är en gedigen studie av demokratins ställning i de baltiska staterna och den kritiska roll som etniska skiljelinjer kan ha i demokratiseringprocesser. Den har mycket att erbjuda både områdesspecialister och läsare med ett mer allmänt intresse för demokrati och politisk kultur.
Political Culture in the Baltic States: Between National and European Integration is a thorough study of the situation of democracy in the Baltic states, and the critical role of ethnic cleavages in processes of democratization. It has much to offer to area specialists as well as to readers more generally interested in democracy and political culture.
Abstract: Political Culture in the Baltic States. Between National and European IntegrationEglė Kesylytė-Alliks (researcher at Institute of International Relations and Political Science, Vilnius University) reviews Political Culture in the Baltic States. Between National and European Integration written by Kjetil Duvold, Sten Berglund and Joakim Ekman.
Dahlia Lenairte's Family and the State in Soviet Lithuania: Gender, Law and Society (2021) offers an account of the changing role and position of women in the family and in society under the Communist reign in Lithuania. Beginning with the first Soviet occupation before the Second World War, Lenairte details the massive changes from Catholicism to Communism with respect to gender policy, family, divorce, childcare, maternity leave, and finally housing, up until the 1980s. Importantly, she shows that, contrary to common belief about Communist policy, gender equality was in fact never achieved in Soviet Lithuania.
Dahlia Lenairtes bog Familie og stat i Sovjet Litauen: Køn, lov og samfund (2021) er en gennemgang af kvinders ændrede roller og position i samfundet og familien under det kommunistisk styre i Litauen. Med et afsæt fra den første sovjetiske besættelse før 2. Verdenskrig viser Lenairte de enorme ændringer der skete fra katolicisme til kommunisme med hensyn til ligestilling, familie, skilsmisse, børnepasning og barselsorlov, og endelig boligsituationen op til begyndelsen af 1980'erne. I modsætning til den almindelige forståelse af kommunistisk ligestillingspolitik bliver det tydeligt, at kvinder aldrig opnåede at blive ligestillet med mænd.
The Cultural Is Political. Intersections of Russian Art and State Politics, edited by Irina Anisimova and Ingunn Lunde, is an edited volume dealing with various political ideologies and the ambiguous nature of cultural practices in contemporary Russia. The volume is a good introduction to a range of topics in the field of Russian studies.
The Cultural Is Political. Intersections of Russian Art and State Politics redigeret av Irina Anisimova og Ingunn Lunde er en artikelsamling, der fokuserer på diverse politiske ideologier og de tvetydige kulturelle former og praksisser i nutidens Rusland. Artikelsamlingen er en god introduktion til russiskstudieområdet.
Abstract: Religion, Expression, and Patriotism in Russia: Essays on Post-Soviet Society and the StateYuliya Yurchuk (postdoctoral researcher, Historical and Contemporary Studies, Södertörn University) reviews Religion, Expression, and Patriotism in Russia: Essays on Post-Soviet Society and the State, edited by Sanna Turoma, Kaarina Aitamurto and Slobodanka Vladiv-Glover.
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'?
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.
Abstract: Economic growth, production and divergence in the transition countries This article examines developments in income and living standards in the post-communist transition countries. All these countries had planned economies, but differed greatly in their economic and institutional starting points at the time of transition. The extent and speed of reforms has also varied. Production has increased considerably, but many of these transition countries have experienced severe business-cycle fluctuations. Although they have generally narrowed the income gap between them and the world's richest nations, there are clear signs of divergence, with some of the poorest transition countries making very slow progress here. This is especially the case with the countries of the former Soviet Union and, to a lesser extent, the Balkan countries, but not the 11 countries that have joined the EU. Thus, the economic gains of the post-communist transition have been very uneven across countries.
Denna bok lyfter frågan om hur vilka planer som finns i Ryssland för tiden efter Putin som president. Huvudargumentet är att de strategier för att bygga politisk legitimitet nästan helt har fokuserats på Putin som Rysslands räddare och beskyddare. Därmed har också möjliga efterträdare svårt att bygga upp en egen plattform. Den nya konstitutionen som möjliggör för Putin att sitta kvar fram till 2036 visar att man inte har någon lösning på detta dilemma. Kvar finns en åldrande president och ett politiskt system som i övrigt hyser lågt förtroende hos befolkningen. This book raises the question of Russia's plans for the time after Putin as Russia's president. The main argument is that the strategies for political legitimacy in Russia has focused almost entirely on Putin himself as the saviour and protector of the Russian nation. Consequently, any potential successor has a difficult task in building up his/her own platform. The new constitution, which makes it possible for Putin to continue as president until 2036 demonstrates that this dilemma has yet no solution. What remains is an aging president and a political system with a very low level of popular trust.
Abstract: Language policy in Slovakia and the Czech Republic after 1993The establishment of the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic in 1993 sparked challenges for language policy in the two new states. From a linguistic point of view, the Czech and Slovak languages are very similar but the language situations in the two countries differ: Slovakia is home to two sizable linguistic minorities (Hungarian and Romani), whereas Czechia houses several small minority languages. Applying Robert L. Cooper's and Joshua A. Fishman's analytical categories and focusing on the activities of national politicians and prominent linguists, this article examines status and corpus planning in the two countries. In Slovakia, politicians have engaged intensely in status planning, focused on legislating Slovak as a state language. The establishment of a state language opened for political interference in corpus planning. In Czechia, status planning started out from a liberal platform in the 1990s, and interest mainly focused on corpus planning. Hotly debated questions of corpus planning put Czech linguistic authorities on the defensive. Increasingly, adaptations to the charters and conventions of the European Council have co-shaped both countries' language policy. During the period analyzed here, Slovakia has seen the linguistic standardization of Rusyn and Romani, and linguists in both countries have advanced their theoretical understanding of corpus planning.
Abstract: Yugoslavia's Downfall. The War, the Peace, the Future 1991–2017Svein Mønnesland reviews Yugoslavia's Downfall. The War, the Peace, the Future 1991–2017 by Sanimir Resic. The book explores the turbulent period from the dissolution of Yugoslavia until today in the seven successor states.
Putins Ryssland är en antologi om den moderna politiska och ekonomiska utvecklingen i landet. Regimens utveckling i alltmer auktoritär riktning och näringslivets oförmåga att ta sig ur en ensidig inriktning på råvaruproduktion är några ämnen som belyses, liksom interaktionen mellan en alltmer offensiv säkerhetspolitik och de ekonomiska sanktionerna från väst som en följd av aggressionen mot stater i det nära utlandet.
Putins Ryssland (Putin's Russia) presents contributions by Russia specialists on recent political and economic developments in the country. In particular, the authors note the tendency towards an increasingly authoritarian political system, as well as the inability of the economic sector to shift towards more diversified production, away from the focus on extraction of raw materials. One chapter is dedicated to the interaction between the Kremlin's increasingly offensive security policy and the Western economic sanctions triggered by Russian aggression towards states in its near abroad.
Abstract: Commemorating the Red Army Liberation in Kirkenes, Norway, 1954–1994This study traces the development over fifty years of the joint Norwegian–Soviet/Russian commemorations of the Red Army liberation of the eastern part of Finnmark County, Norway, in October 1944. The first commemorative events were held in October 1954 in the town of Kirkenes close to the Norwegian–Soviet border. Throughout the Cold War and into the post-Soviet period, such events have been arranged in Kirkenes every five years, with representatives of the Norwegian state authorities acting as hosts to a Soviet/Russian delegation. The focal point of these events has been a ceremony held by the Liberation Monument, unveiled in 1952 to honour the Red Army soldiers who liberated Norwegian territory by driving back the Nazi occupation forces. This article documents how the tradition of joint commemorations developed across the Iron Curtain divide as part of a predominantly diplomatic struggle over the events of October 1944, between Norway, a small state and NATO-member, and the superpower that was the Soviet Union. Our study concludes that, despite the struggle, which stemmed from Cold War tensions and competing security perceptions and interests, these joint commemorations have served as a stabilizing element in bilateral relations, producing a narrative not only about the Red Army liberation of eastern Finnmark, but also of friendship and mutual respect between the peoples of Norway and Russia, and of a long tradition of peaceful relations between the two states.
