Eastern European Studies

Ministerial and Parliamentary Elites in an Executive-Dominated System: Post-Soviet Russia 1991-2009

by Elena Semenova

Comparative Sociology, Volume 10, Issue 6, pages 908 – 927

This article analyzes the recruitment and circulation of ministerial and parliamentary elites in Russia from the... more This article analyzes the recruitment and circulation of ministerial and parliamentary elites in Russia from the Soviet Union’s collapse in 1991 until 2009. The social backgrounds and careers of all ministers in 13 cabinets (1991–2009) and all members of the State Duma during its five terms after 1993 are studied. Especially during Vladimír Putin’s presidency (2000–2008), a shift toward super-presidentialism altered the circulation and composition of ministerial and parliamentary elites. Cabinets in Moscow consisted increasingly of ministers recruited from state bureaucracies, while the State Duma more and more contained businessmen, party politicians, and celebrities who appeared to treat MP service as simply an episode in their wider careers.

Continuities in the formation of Russian political elites

by Elena Semenova

in press (Historical Social Research)

The article investigates continuities in the formation and careers of political elites in post-Soviet Russia. Data on... more The article investigates continuities in the formation and careers of political elites in post-Soviet Russia. Data on the recruitment and careers of MPs (from 1993 until 2003), cabinet ministers (1991 until 2011) and governors (from 1991 until 2011) were used. We identified a partial reproduction of the political elite which may be defined as reproduction circulation. The first form is structural reproduction that is evident in continuities of the socio-demographic profile of political elites. The second-strongest form of path dependency is functional reproduction that was found in career paths of political elites. Finally, individual reproduction was prominent. This reproduction should decrease over time, while functional and structural reproduction are likely to remain.

The Mongol Cause: Russia and ‘The Oriental’ in Andrey Bely’s Petersburg

by Sean Guynes

This paper examines Russian identity as a composite of European and 'Oriental' themes and history, espoused by Bely in... more This paper examines Russian identity as a composite of European and 'Oriental' themes and history, espoused by Bely in the novel "Petersburg."

Atzoko eta gaurko harresiak

by Asier Blas Mendoza

Blas Mendoza, Asier (2004): Atzoko eta gaurko harresiak. Bilbo: Txalaparta.

Utopiez mintzo da liburu hau: mundua aldatu nahi zuten komunisten utopiaz; hauen buruzagiek sortutako utopia errealaz;... more Utopiez mintzo da liburu hau: mundua aldatu nahi zuten komunisten utopiaz; hauen buruzagiek sortutako utopia errealaz; stalinisten iruzurra eta hilketak borrokatu zituztenen utopiaz; eta, estatuek baztertutako nazio eta hizkuntza gutxituen utopiaz. Horiek guztiak, eta bat gehiago azaltzen da. Idazleak bere nortasunaren inguruko zalantzak argitzeko duen nahia. Horregatik, utopia horien bila joaten da. Berlingo harresia erori, eta hamar urte beranduago burututako bidaia da honakoa. Baina ez da bidaia fisikoa bakarrik, izan ere, honen kontakizuna aitzakia bihurtzen da Europa Ekialdeko zenbait atal historiko gogora ekartzeko, eta alde honetako herri eta hizkuntzak ezagutzeko. Tartean, egungo egoera soziala eta politikoa ditu hizpide. Bereziki, Demokrazia berriak sortu duen etsipena eta frustrazioa tratatzen ditu bertakoen ahotik.

Romania and European Funds

by Gratian Mihailescu

What's in a parade? The function of parade in East European Socialist culture

by p walsh

The Stalin Cult between Center and Periphery: Structures of the Cult Community in the Empire of Socialism, 1949-1956 – the Case of GDR, in: Ennker B., Hein-Kircher H. (ed.), Der Führer im Europa des 20. Jahrhunderts, Marburg: Herder-Institut, 2010, pp.297-321.

by Alexey Tikhomirov

Migration since World War I [up to the 21st Century]

by Mark Tolts

The YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe / Online Edition, 2010

This article is a broad overview of migration processes among the Jewish populations of Poland, Romania, Hungary,... more This article is a broad overview of migration processes among the Jewish populations of Poland, Romania, Hungary, Czechoslovakia (Czech Republic and Slovakia), Baltic States, the Soviet Union, the Russian Federation and the other European Successor States.

Population since World War I [up to the 21st Century]

by Mark Tolts

The YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe / Online Edition, 2010

This article is a broad overview of numerical dynamics, demographic processes and mixed marriage among the Jewish... more This article is a broad overview of numerical dynamics, demographic processes and mixed marriage among the Jewish populations of Poland, Romania, Hungary, Czechoslovakia (Czech Republic and Slovakia), Baltic States, the Soviet Union as a whole and the Russian Federation, Ukraine, Belorussia, and Moldavia separately.

The language and value of things under Communism and Capitalism

by Alise Tifentale

Published in 'Dizaina Studija,' 2008

The photographs published in Soviet era magazines and newspapers eloquently describe for the next generation the grain... more The photographs published in Soviet era magazines and newspapers eloquently describe for the next generation the grain and sugar-beet harvests in collective farms; the increase in production in significant manufacturing facilities; the huge volume of milk gained from cows and the accomplishment of the five-year plan over a period of three or four years in factories; the triumph of the will of the people over the elements of nature and the continually increasing prosperity of the proletariat. Examining the visual material in chronological order, a gradual change in emphasis, both in the choice of scene and in the formal structures of photographs can be discerned – from the depiction of growth, which was ideologised and idealised in the Stalin era, to the final tiredness of the period of stagnation (which is illustrated by the inexpressive portraits of members of the politbureau and other officials frequently publicised in the press) and the unrest of perestroika.

Ostalgia at the New Museum (Review Article)

by Alise Tifentale

Published in ARTMargins, 2012

Public Policy Dissatisfaction and Political Alienation in Central Europe

by Lukasz Jackiewicz

The following paper was being presented at international conference 1st Copernicus Graduate School General Conference: "Central Europe on the Threshold of the 21st Century. Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Challenges in Politics and Society. 

Political and societal changes and developments in Central Europe within last twenty years cause so many questions in... more Political and societal changes and developments in Central Europe within last twenty years cause so many questions in classical fields of political sociology like political behaviour. Dissatisfaction with outcomes of public policy plays a important role to explain intensity of political activism of citizens (Miller 1974, Lockerbie 1993, Oskarson 2007, Norris 2006). Dissatisfaction with public policy in socialism states generated one of the biggest political and social movements in the history of the world called “Solidarity” and lead to transformation of the political system in Poland and at least in Central and Eastern Europe. On the one hand public policies has been democratized, changed and restructured within increased complexity of decision-making and needed skills to understand political process.
Independently from the location of the country the system of decision-making becomes more complex and political accountability more dispersed. On the other hand it is observed in young democracies that a significant part of society is distancing from the state, the state apparatus and political elites (Smolar, 1996, Howard 2002, Jarosz 2005). Because political alienation is a phenomenon of fundamental importance to political system (Schwartz 1973), the main question which comes of that research paper is: if Central Europe states follow the same paths and links between dissatisfaction with
public policy and political alienation like welfare states of Western Europe?
(Dis)Satisfaction with public policy is rooted in social and economic conditions and individual experiences with political and governmental institutions (Powell and Whitten 1993). Real or noticed changes in policies may incite dissatisfaction with public policy. On the one hand sometimes we observed that after radical or fundamental reforms of public institutions the perception of performance of this didn’t change. This case is often observed in new and young democratic systems after collapse of old regime. On the other hand the same public system is still present, but do not deliver what they once did. There are some evidences to suggest that this may be exactly what we have seen in Europe, for example dissatisfaction with public education in Sweden, Germany or France. This leads to a question about differences between Western and Central Europe relating path and link between dissatisfaction with policy outcomes and political alienation?

Who gets in? Ideology and government membership in Central and Eastern Europe

by Lee Savage

Ukraine’s Credibility Gap as a Perennial Foreign Policy Problem

by Serhiy Kudelia

This essay argues that the key reason for Ukraine’s ineffective foreign policy over the last two decades has been a... more This essay argues that the key reason for Ukraine’s ineffective foreign policy over the last two decades has been a persistent credibility gap, which emerged out of its frequent failure to live up to its international commitments. This essay demonstrates that the reasons for its credibility problem varied and were tightly linked to the distribution of political power inside the country.

Review of Melissa Feinberg, Elusive Equality: Gender, Citizenship, and the Limits of Democracy in Czechoslovakia, 1918-1950 (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2006) in: Aspasia no. 3 (2009): 250-252

by Anna Hajkova

The road: An ethnography of the Albanian-Greek cross-border motorway. In American Ethnologist vol 37

by Dimitris Dalakoglou

This article is an ethnographic study of a 29-kilometer stretch of cross-border highway located in South Albania and... more This article is an ethnographic study of a 29-kilometer stretch of cross-border highway located in South Albania and linking the city of Gjirokaster with the main checkpoint on the Albanian–Greek border. The road, its politics, and its poetics
constitute an ideal point of entry for an anthropological analysis of contemporary South Albania. The physical and social construction, uses, and perceptions of this road uniquely encapsulate three phenomena that dominate social life in postsocialist South Albania: the transition to a market economy, new nationalisms, and massive emigration (mainly to Greece). Taking this cross-border road section as my main ethnographic
point of reference, I suggest the fruitfulness of further discussion of the relationship between roads, narratives, and anthropology.

[roads, globalization, transnationalism, development, postsocialism, materiality, Albania]

East? West? Or Both?' Foreign perceptions of architecture in Socialist Yugoslavia

by Vladimir Kulić

Journal of Architecture (RIBA) 14, no. 1 (2009): 87-105.

Europia_Mapping_Exercise

by Ewa Duda-Mikulin

Translations: Lenin's Statues, Post-communism and Post-apartheid

by Monica Popescu

The Yale Journal of Criticism 16.2 (2003); republished in _Marginal Spaces: Reading Ivan Vladislavic_, Ed. Gerald Gaylard, Wits University Press, 2011

Using Ivan Vladislavic's short story "Propaganda by Monuments" as a starting point, this article explores... more Using Ivan Vladislavic's short story "Propaganda by Monuments" as a starting point, this article explores the trope of the spatial and cultural "translation" of a statue representing Lenin from one socio-political and historical background into another. This movement illuminates the connections and dissimilarities between post-communist Russia and post-apartheid South Africa. The statue's imaginary voyage not only reveals the workings of an increasingly globalized market, it also brings into contact two cultures at a time of transition (South Africa and the post-soviet world of the 1990s) and two critical discourses (post-colonialism and post-communism) at a time of theoretical revamping.

Imaging the Past: Cultural Memory in Dubravka Ugresic's The Museum of Unconditional Surrender.'

by Monica Popescu

Published in Studies in the Novel 39.3 (Fall 2007)