Adrian Brisku - Böcker

The Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic (TDFR) was a unique, bottom-up, and a fleeting display of political unity and federalism among the main Armenian, Azerbaijani and Georgian political factions between 22 April 1918, when it declared its independence, and 26 May 1918, when it was dissolved and replaced by the three nation-states of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. Focusing on a crucial but poorly understood moment in the modern history of the Caucasus at the end of the First World War, this book offers a systematic, contextually-rich, and multi-perspectival—Armenian, Azerbaijani, Georgian, Ottoman, German, British, American, Italian, Bolshevik, Ukrainian and North Caucasian—account of the TDFR, drawing on contributions (with the new material from archives in Tbilisi, Grozny, Yerevan, Baku, Istanbul, Berlin, London, Washington D.C.) by a new generation of historians and scholars working on the region. The book argues that despite its month-long existence in this geopolitically volatile region, the TDFR, with and its federative nature and the various discussions about federalism and federation that it provoked, continued to have an appeal for Georgians, Azerbaijanis, Armenians as well as for the Great Powers well beyond its dissolution. Moreover, the experience of the TDFR reifies federalism as a key political concept in the modern history of the Caucasus. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the Caucasus Survey.

The Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic (TDFR) was a unique, bottom-up, and a fleeting display of political unity and federalism among the main Armenian, Azerbaijani and Georgian political factions between 22 April 1918, when it declared its independence, and 26 May 1918, when it was dissolved and replaced by the three nation-states of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. Focusing on a crucial but poorly understood moment in the modern history of the Caucasus at the end of the First World War, this book offers a systematic, contextually-rich, and multi-perspectival—Armenian, Azerbaijani, Georgian, Ottoman, German, British, American, Italian, Bolshevik, Ukrainian and North Caucasian—account of the TDFR, drawing on contributions (with the new material from archives in Tbilisi, Grozny, Yerevan, Baku, Istanbul, Berlin, London, Washington D.C.) by a new generation of historians and scholars working on the region. The book argues that despite its month-long existence in this geopolitically volatile region, the TDFR, with and its federative nature and the various discussions about federalism and federation that it provoked, continued to have an appeal for Georgians, Azerbaijanis, Armenians as well as for the Great Powers well beyond its dissolution. Moreover, the experience of the TDFR reifies federalism as a key political concept in the modern history of the Caucasus. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the Caucasus Survey.

From the late nineteenth century to the post-communist period, Albanian and Georgian political and intellectual elites have attributed hopes to “Europe,” yet have also exhibited ambivalent attitudes that do not appear likely to vanish any time soon. Albanians and Georgians have evoked, experienced, and continue to speak of “Europe” according to a tense triadic entity—geopolitics, progress, culture—which has generated aspirations as well as delusions towards it and themselves. This unique dichotomy weaves a nuanced, historical account of a changing Europe, continuously marred by uncertainties that greatly affect these countries’ domestic politics as well as foreign policy decisions. A systematic and rich account of how Albanians and Georgians view Europe, this book offers a fresh perspective on the vast East/West literature and, more broadly, on European intellectual, cultural, and political history.

Throughout the ‘long 19th century’, the Ottoman and Russian empires shared a goal of destroying one another. Yet, they also shared a similar vision for imperial state renewal, with the goal of avoiding revolution, decline and isolation within Europe. Adrian Brisku explores how this path of renewal and reform manifested itself: forging new laws and institutions, opening up the economy to the outside world, and entering the European political community of imperial states.Political Reform in the Ottoman and Russian Empires tackles the dilemma faced by both empires, namely how to bring about meaningful change without undermining the legal, political and economic status quo. The book offers a unique comparison of Ottoman and Russian politics of reform and their connection to the wider European politico-economic space.

Investigating the trajectories of economic nationalisms in Cold War Europe, this open access book explores the scope and limits of small (nation-)state actors pursuing and defending national economic interests in a globalizing world. In so doing, it contributes a new perspective in the economic history, political economy and nationalism literatures on post-war Europe. With this remit underscoring the inherent vulnerabilities of smaller national economies and their strategies of economic survival beyond the constraints of Cold War alignments, Varieties of Economic Nationalism in Cold War Europe reconstructs national economic discourses and policy objectives of smaller states and sub-states on both sides of the Iron Curtain from the mid-1960s through the late 1980s. Examining the impact of economic turning points such as the simultaneous crises of Western Keynesianism and Eastern Marxism-Leninism, the oil and financial shocks of the mid-1970s or the interplay of economic liberalization and decolonization on small state economic policy-making and diplomacy, eight empirical case studies are here brought together to illustrate the variety of Cold War-era economic nationalisms and their oscillation between protectionism and free market approaches. Far from being powerless and subjected to the geo-economic binaries of the early Cold War, small states in East and West were, as the contributions demonstrate, very capable of turning smallness into a strategic asset and expanding their room for manoeuvre in a quickly shifting global economy.The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com. Open access was funded by the Austrian Science Fund.

Investigating the trajectories of economic nationalisms in Cold War Europe, this open access book explores the scope and limits of small (nation-)state actors pursuing and defending national economic interests in a globalizing world. In so doing, it contributes a new perspective in the economic history, political economy and nationalism literatures on post-war Europe. With this remit underscoring the inherent vulnerabilities of smaller national economies and their strategies of economic survival beyond the constraints of Cold War alignments, Varieties of Economic Nationalism in Cold War Europe reconstructs national economic discourses and policy objectives of smaller states and sub-states on both sides of the Iron Curtain from the mid-1960s through the late 1980s. Examining the impact of economic turning points such as the simultaneous crises of Western Keynesianism and Eastern Marxism-Leninism, the oil and financial shocks of the mid-1970s or the interplay of economic liberalization and decolonization on small state economic policy-making and diplomacy, eight empirical case studies are here brought together to illustrate the variety of Cold War-era economic nationalisms and their oscillation between protectionism and free market approaches. Far from being powerless and subjected to the geo-economic binaries of the early Cold War, small states in East and West were, as the contributions demonstrate, very capable of turning smallness into a strategic asset and expanding their room for manoeuvre in a quickly shifting global economy.The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com. Open access was funded by the Austrian Science Fund.