The Post-Soviet Potemkin Village

The Post-Soviet Potemkin Village PDF Author: Jessica Allina-Pisano
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780511354731
Category : Business
Languages : en
Pages : 215

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Book Description
Explains how the introduction of rural private property rights in Ukraine and Russia generated poverty.

The Post-Soviet Potemkin Village

The Post-Soviet Potemkin Village PDF Author: Jessica Allina-Pisano
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780511354731
Category : Business
Languages : en
Pages : 215

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Book Description
Explains how the introduction of rural private property rights in Ukraine and Russia generated poverty.

The Post-Soviet Potemkin Village

The Post-Soviet Potemkin Village PDF Author: Jessica Allina-Pisano
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521879385
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 246

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Book Description
In the 1990s, as the Soviet Empire lay in ruins, the Russian and Ukrainian governments undertook a project to dismantle the collective farm system that was created under Stalin and in the process privatize an expanse of farmland larger than Australia. Ordinary people were supposed to benefit from the reform, but local government leaders quietly rebelled against it. The end result was the dispossession of millions of rural people. This is the first book to explain why and how this happened through the perspective of a firsthand observer in the Black Earth region.

Post-Soviet Power

Post-Soviet Power PDF Author: Susanne A. Wengle
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107072484
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 311

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Book Description
Examines the transformation of the Russian electricity system during post-Soviet marketization, arguing for a view of economic and political development as mutually constitutive.

The Global Encyclopaedia of Informality, Volume 2

The Global Encyclopaedia of Informality, Volume 2 PDF Author: Alena Ledeneva
Publisher: UCL Press
ISBN: 1787351890
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 571

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Book Description
Alena Ledeneva invites you on a voyage of discovery to explore society’s open secrets, unwritten rules and know-how practices. Broadly defined as ‘ways of getting things done’, these invisible yet powerful informal practices tend to escape articulation in official discourse. They include emotion-driven exchanges of gifts or favours and tributes for services, interest-driven know-how (from informal welfare to informal employment and entrepreneurship), identity-driven practices of solidarity, and power-driven forms of co-optation and control. The paradox, or not, of the invisibility of these informal practices is their ubiquity. Expertly practised by insiders but often hidden from outsiders, informal practices are, as this book shows, deeply rooted all over the world, yet underestimated in policy. Entries from the five continents presented in this volume are samples of the truly global and ever-growing collection, made possible by a remarkable collaboration of over 200 scholars across disciplines and area studies. By mapping the grey zones, blurred boundaries, types of ambivalence and contexts of complexity, this book creates the first Global Map of Informality. The accompanying database (www.in-formality.com) is searchable by region, keyword or type of practice, so do explore what works, how, where and why! Praise for Global Encyclopaedia of Informality ‘The Global Informality Project unveils new ways of understanding how the state functions and ways in which civil servants and citizens adapt themselves to different local contexts by highlighting the diversity of the relationships between state and society. The project is of great interest to policymakers who want to imagine solutions that are benefi cial for all, but sufficiently pragmatic to ensure a seamless implementation, particularly in the field of cross-border trade in developing countries.’ - Kunio Mikuriya, Secretary General of the World Customs Organisation, Brussels ‘An extremely interesting and stimulating collection of papers. Ledeneva’s challenging ideas, first applied in the context of Russia’s economy of shortage, came to full blossom and are here contextualized by practices from other countries and contemporary systems. Many original and relevant practices were recognized empirically in socialist countries, but this book shows their generality.’ - János Kornai, Allie S. Freed Professor of Economics Emeritus at Harvard and Professor Emeritus at Corvinus University of Budapest ‘Alena Ledeneva’s Global Encyclopedia of Informality is a unique contribution, providing a global atlas of informal practices through the contributions of over 200 scholars across the world. It is far more rewarding for the reader to discover how commonalities of informal behavior become apparent through this rich texture like a complex and hidden pattern behind local colors than to presume top down universal benchmarks of good versus bad behavior. This book is a plea against reductionist approaches of mathematics in social science in general, and corruption studies in particular and makes a great read, as well as an indispensable guide to understand the cultural richness of the world.’ - Alina Mungiu-Pippidi, Professor of Democracy Studies, Hertie School of Governance, Berlin ‘Transformative scholarship in method, object, and consequence. Ledeneva and her networked expertise not only enable us to view the informal comparatively, but challenge conventionally legible accounts of membership, markets, domination and resistance with these rich accounts from five continents. This project offers nothing less than a social scientific revolution… if the broader scholarly community has the imagination to follow through. And by globalizing these informal knowledges typically hidden from view, the volumes’ contributors will extend the imaginations of those business consultants, movement mobilizers, and peace makers who can appreciate the value of translation from other world regions in their own work.’ Michael D. Kennedy, Professor of Sociology and International and Public Aff irs, Brown University and author of Globalizing Knowledge ‘Don’t mistake these weighty volumes for anything directory-like or anonymous. This wonderful collection of short essays, penned by many of the single best experts in their fields, puts the reader squarely in the kinds of conversations culled only after years of friendship, trust, and with the keen eye of the practiced observer. Perhaps most importantly, the remarkably wide range of offerings lets us “de-parochialise” corruption, and detach it from the usual hyper-local and cultural explanations. The reader, in the end, is the one invited to consider the many and striking commonalities.’ Bruce Grant, Professor at New York University and Chair of the US National Council for East European and Eurasian Research

What is Soviet Now?

What is Soviet Now? PDF Author: Thomas Lahusen
Publisher: LIT Verlag Münster
ISBN: 3825806405
Category : Former Soviet republics
Languages : en
Pages : 330

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Book Description
Economists and political scientists wrestle with the challenges faced by Russian officials and public alike in adapting to a market economy and democracy, including the fragility of property rights and elections still rooted in old institutional structures. This book examines the reforms of health and welfare, and the hierarchy of privilege and access, and consider how Putin's statist approach to mythmaking compares to that of previous Soviet and post-Soviet regimes. Historians and anthropologists explore the issue of nostalgia, gender, punishment, belief, and how history itself is being created and perceived today. The book concludes with a journey through the ruined landscape of real socialism.

The Political Economy of Human Rights in Armenia

The Political Economy of Human Rights in Armenia PDF Author: Simon Payaslian
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 0857720058
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 440

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Book Description
Since its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, Armenia has experienced a reversal from democratization to a Soviet-style authoritarian regime and has been accused of repressive approaches to human rights. Here, Simon Payaslian juxtaposes a masterful survey of the history of the Armenian people from the nineteenth century through the first republic (1918-21) and Sovietization to the present, with the evolution of international human rights standards, and argues that a statist and authoritarian political culture has impeded political liberalization and institutionalization of human rights principles. Highlighting the clash between sovereignty on one side and human rights and democracy on the other, this comprehensive and in-depth analysis is essential for all those interested in human rights, democratization, political repression and the former Soviet republics.

Historical Legacies of Communism in Russia and Eastern Europe

Historical Legacies of Communism in Russia and Eastern Europe PDF Author: Mark Beissinger
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 113999302X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 259

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Book Description
This book takes stock of arguments about the historical legacies of communism that have become common within the study of Russia and East Europe more than two decades after communism's demise and elaborates an empirical approach to the study of historical legacies revolving around relationships and mechanisms rather than correlation and outward similarities. Eleven essays by a distinguished group of scholars assess whether post-communist developments in specific areas continue to be shaped by the experience of communism or, alternatively, by fundamental divergences produced before or after communism. Chapters deal with the variable impact of the communist experience on post-communist societies in such areas as regime trajectories and democratic political values; patterns of regional and sectoral economic development; property ownership within the energy sector; the functioning of the executive branch of government, the police, and courts; the relationship of religion to the state; government language policies; and informal relationships and practices.

Stalin's Peasants

Stalin's Peasants PDF Author: Sheila Fitzpatrick
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 9780195104592
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 420

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Book Description
Drawing on Soviet archives, especially the letters of complaint with which peasants deluged the Soviet authorities in the 1930s, this work analyzes peasants' strategies of resistance and survival in the new world of the collectivized village

Land Bargains and Chinese Capitalism

Land Bargains and Chinese Capitalism PDF Author: Meg E. Rithmire
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 131644533X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 237

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Book Description
Land reforms have been critical to the development of Chinese capitalism over the last several decades, yet land in China remains publicly owned. This book explores the political logic of reforms to land ownership and control, accounting for how land development and real estate have become synonymous with economic growth and prosperity in China. Drawing on extensive fieldwork and archival research, the book tracks land reforms and urban development at the national level and in three cities in a single Chinese region. The study reveals that the initial liberalization of land was reversed after China's first contemporary real estate bubble in the early 1990s and that property rights arrangements at the local level varied widely according to different local strategies for economic prosperity and political stability. In particular, the author links fiscal relations and economic bases to property rights regimes, finding that more 'open' cities are subject to greater state control over land.

Transition to Agricultural Market Economies

Transition to Agricultural Market Economies PDF Author: Andrew Schmitz
Publisher: CABI
ISBN: 178064535X
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 278

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Book Description
It is believed that the major countries of the former Soviet Union—specifically Kazakhstan, Russia, and Ukraine (KRU region)—are the part of the world with the most potential to increase food supplies and strengthen world food security. This book examines the future of the KRU countries in global agricultural markets and will examine a number of agricultural sectors, including meat, dairy, fruits, and vegetables. However particular attention is paid to the region’s potential expansion of the grain sector and why the KRU region emerged during the 2000s as a major grain exporter, and its potential to further expand grain production and exports. It also examine the issues of environmental constraints and trade-offs for agriculture, sustainability, and the possible effects of climate change