Alex Pravda - Böcker

After the turmoil following the collapse of Soviet power, post-Communist Russia has emerged as an assertively independent force in international affairs. Meanwhile, an intense debate has been underway in Moscow about Russia's national interests and foreign policy priorities. Domestic political conflicts and the close ties with former Soviet partner states have made internal factors particularly particularly important in shaping Russian foreign policy.Internal Factors in Russian Foreign Policy is the first systematic analysis of the domestic political forces which condition the international behaviour of the new Russian state. Four leading specialists examine in turn the areas of foreign policy thinking and debate, how policy is made, the public politics of foreign policy and the role of the military. They explore the changing domestic alignments associated with recent shifts in Russian foreign policy, focusing on the roles played by institutions such as the Security Council and the legislature, by military groupings and by emerging economic interests. The authors throw new light on the domestic foundations of Moscow's more assertive and sef-reliant stance.

This is the second volume in a two-volume series of books on democratic consolidation in Eastern Europe. The first volume focused on the issue of institutional engineering. This second volume analyses the external parameters of democratic consolidation in thirteen Eastern European countries: how different international actors and various economic, cultural and security types of transnational pressures have shaped democratic politics in the region.The aim is to contrast a set of democracy theories with empirical evidence accumulated in Eastern Europe over the last ten years. The volume tries to avoid complex debates about definitions, methods and the uses and misuses of comparative research. Instead it seeks to establish what has really happened in the region, and which of the existing theories are helpful in explaining these developments.The volume is divided into two parts. The first part presents a conceptual and comparative frame of analysis. The second consists of detailed studies of individual countries undergoing democratic consolidation. Case study chapters deal with the following countries: Estonia and Latvia, Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria and Macedonia, the states of formar Yugoslavia, Belarus and Ukraine, and fianlly Russia. The concluding chapter identifies a set of variables responsible for the enormous impact of external factors on democratic consolidation in Eastern Europe. It conceptualises the interplay of internal and external factors impinging upon democracy, and shows the interplay of different positive and negative types of external pressures. It also evaluates the conscious Western effort to craft or engineer democracy in Eastern Europe.

This is the second volume in a two-volume series of books on democratic consolidation in Eastern Europe. The first volume focused on the issue of institutional engineering. This second volume analyses the external parameters of democratic consolidation in thirteen Eastern European countries: how different international actors and various economic, cultural and security types of transnational pressures have shaped democratic politics in the region.The aim is to contrast a set of democracy theories with empirical evidence accumulated in Eastern Europe over the last ten years. The volume tries to avoid complex debates about definitions, methods and the uses and misuses of comparative research. Instead it seeks to establish what has really happened in the region, and which of the existing theories are helpful in explaining these developments.The volume is divided into two parts. The first part presents a conceptual and comparative frame of analysis, the second consists of detailed studies of individual countries undergoing democratic consolidation. Case study chapters deal with the following countries: Estonia and Latvia, Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria and Macedonia, the states of former Yugoslavia, Belarus and Ukraine, and finally Russia. The concluding chapter identifies a set of variables responsible for the enormous impact of external factors on democratic consolidation in Eastern Europe. It conceptualises the interplay of internal and external factors impinging upon democracy, and shows the interplay of different positive and negative types of external pressures. It also evaluates the conscious Western effort to craft or engineer democracy in Eastern Europe.

Leaders and leadership continue to dominate Russia's political development. Like his predecessors in the Kremlin, Vladimir Putin has made a crucial impact on the substance and style of Russian politics. His efforts to use traditional tools of state power to manage democracy and market capitalism have had mixed effects on both.Leading Russia investigates the ambiguities and contradictions of Putin's rule from four perspectives. The volume first considers his leadership in the context of Russia's convulsive historical cycle of revolutionary transformation, breakdown, consolidation, and stagnation. The study then analyses how normative and institutional components of democracy have fared under Putin's regime of stronger executive control. It proceeds to examine the strengths and weaknesses of presidential power vis-à-vis bureaucratic, regional, and corporate groups. The volume concludes with two assessments of the strategic direction in which Putin is taking Russia. They explore the tensions between bureaucratic-authoritarian trends and Putin's apparent commitment to electoral democracy, market capitalism, and alignment with the West. The book helps to deepen our understanding of the cultural and institutional factors shaping Putin's leadership approach and policy priorities. More widely, it sheds light on the complexity of the relationship between post-communist leadership, democracy, and economic modernization.

The official ideology of Marxism-Leninism is central to Soviet politics and yet its development in recent years has received very little scholarly attention.

The official ideology of Marxism-Leninism is central to Soviet politics and yet its development in recent years has received very little scholarly attention. In this book a group of leading specialists drawn from both sides of the Atlantic advance decisively upon all earlier discussions of this subject to provide both an authoritative and detailed picture of the development of official ideology from the early years up to Gorbachev's 1986 Party Programme, as well as a consideration of the changing role of ideology in Soviet foreign and domestic policy-making. The book will be required reading for all students of Soviet and communist politics; it should also be of interest to a wider non-specialist audience.

Written by a team of leading scholars, this book meets the need for an up-to-date account on the political system and policy progress which is amerging and an analysis of the future prospects of the "Gorbachev revolution".

This volume brings together empirical and analytical studies of the nature and evolution of Soviet-British relations during the 1980s. The relationship is placed within the wider context of Soviet policy towards the West and NATO and the pivotal security role played by Britain between the United States and its West European allies. The contributors examine the historical background; mutual perceptions and policy perspectives; Soviet and British interests, objectives and concerns; and the role of economic, political, diplomatic, non-governmental and security factors in shaping the overall relationship. A concluding section evaluates trends in relations throughout the 1980s. The work of specialists on Soviet and British policies, Soviet-British Relations since the 1970s provides perspectives for policy-makers and academic specialists concerned with Soviet and British foreign and defence policy, as well as security and international affairs.

This volume brings together empirical and analytical studies of the nature and evolution of Soviet-British relations during the 1980s. The relationship is placed within the wider context of Soviet policy towards the West and NATO and the pivotal security role played by Britain between the United States and its West European allies. The contributors examine the historical background; mutual perceptions and policy perspectives; Soviet and British interests, objectives and concerns; and the role of economic, political, diplomatic, non-governmental and security factors in shaping the overall relationship. A concluding section evaluates trends in relations throughout the 1980s. The work of specialists on Soviet and British policies, Soviet-British Relations since the 1970s provides perspectives for policy-makers and academic specialists concerned with Soviet and British foreign and defence policy, as well as security and international affairs.