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Why are some authoritarian regimes highly competitive and others highly unified? Do they function differently? And what does it mean for our understanding of democracy and democratization? In The Social Roots of Authoritarianism, Natalia Forrat describes two models of authoritarianism: the first in which people see the state as their team leader and the other where they trust informal (non-state) leaders and see the state as a source of perks or punishment. Depending on which vision of the state is dominant in society, she argues that autocrats must use different tools to consolidate their regimes or risk a pushback. If people view the state as their team leader, autocrats rely on social con...
In this book, Natalia Forrat describes two models of authoritarianism: the first in which people see the state as their team leader and the other where they trust informal (non-state) leaders and see the state as a source of perks or punishment. Forrat compares the structures of political machines in four Russian regions, finding that the two maintaining unity-based authoritarianism demonstrated a stable performance across multiple elections, while the other two delivered less stable results. Carefully crafted and sophisticated, Forrat's theory of authoritarian power sheds new light on state-society relations in Russia and helps explain the divergent patterns of regime maintenance strategies in authoritarian countries throughout the world.
An accessible and nuanced introduction to contemporary Russian politics using the theme of stability versus fragility as its overarching framework. This innovative textbook explores core themes as well as path-breaking insights into the politics of race, class, gender, sexuality, and the environment.
This book highlights the important creative work of Belarusian theatre and filmmakers seeking to raise awareness of the Pro-democracy movement and human rights abuses in Belarus and to build communities of care and mourning following the fraudulent 2020 presidential elections in Belarus. Examining the work of the Belarus Free Theatre, Andrei Kureichik, and the Kupalautsy Theatre, it demonstrates how documentary theatre, adaptation, and digital theatre have enabled displaced, dissident artists to form international communities to support Belarusian dissidents in these fraught times.
This truly international book brings together authors from different regions of the world including North America, South Africa, Europe, Iran and Russia all of whom are concerned with aspects of the challenges involved in the expansion of higher education, both in student numbers and areas of study. Some are concerned about the loss of guiding principles which steered university education for centuries. The traditional purposes of higher education have come under such pressure that we have achieved “conflicting models of the university” (Claes) and “ambiguity” in regard to teaching and research (Simons et al). For others, the problems are at a different stage. Contributions from Sout...
An assessment of Russia that suggests that we should look beyond traditional means of power to understand its strength and capacity to disrupt international politics. Too often, we are told that Russia plays a weak hand well. But, perhaps the nation's cards are better than we know. Russia ranks significantly behind the US and China by traditional measures of power: GDP, population size and health, and military might. Yet 25 years removed from its mid-1990s nadir following the collapse of the USSR, Russia has become a supremely disruptive force in world politics. Kathryn E. Stoner assesses the resurrection of Russia and argues that we should look beyond traditional means of power to assess it...
It has long been assumed that the historical legacy of Soviet Communism would have an important effect on post-communist states. However, prior research has focused primarily on the institutional legacy of communism. Communism's Shadow instead turns the focus to the individuals who inhabit post-communist countries, presenting a rigorous assessment of the legacy of communism on political attitudes. Post-communist citizens hold political, economic, and social opinions that consistently differ from individuals in other countries. Grigore Pop-Eleches and Joshua Tucker introduce two distinct frameworks to explain these differences, the first of which focuses on the effects of living in a post-com...
Why do autocrats hold political trials when outcomes are presumed known from the start? Focusing on sub-Saharan Africa since independence, this book provides insight into the role of judiciaries in authoritarian regimes: how courts can be used to repress political challengers, institutionalize punishment, and undermine the rule of law.
Shows how domestic politics creates incentives for political actors to surrender sovereignty to outside powers.
Introduction -- Theory of stratified expansion of social welfare -- Overview of China's social health insurance -- The center's distributive strategy and fund allocation -- Local motivation and distributive choices -- Understanding subnational variation in Chinese social health insurance -- Who gets what, when and how from Chinese social health insurance expansion? -- Conclusion.