Alexander Motyl – författare

'

How must Sovietology change as a result of the Soviet Union's collapse? Motyl and his colleagues suggest that the first step in reorientation of the field must involve recognizing the non-Russians and their republics as central to both Soviet politics and to the post-Soviet reality. The authors, all leading Sovietologists, illustrate how nationality interacted with and shaped ideology, law, elite recruitment, political repression, modernization, participation, political economy, and class. Each of the articles traces the relationship between nationality and aspects of the Soviet system up to the collapse of the USSR and the emergence in its stead of the Commonwealth of Independent States. The contributors not only provide a coherent interpretation of the demise of Soviet Communism, but they also sugest what dangers and opportunities lie in store for the Soviet Union's successor states.

-- Michael D. Kennedy, associate professor of sociology, University of Michigan

In this concise, provocative, and trenchant book, Alexander J. Motyl argues that social scientists must pay more rigorous attention to the formulation of concepts, as they provide the basis for clear thinking, good research, and intelligent formulation of theories. Before even contemplating the question of whether or not theories "fit the facts" and explain what they purport to explain, it behooves us to ask whether or not theories make sense conceptually. Focusing his "conceptual explorations" on three phenomena-revolutions, nations and nationalism, and empires-Motyl challenges the sloppy thinking that so often surrounds these three interrelated concepts, and moves our understanding of them-and their implications for both theory and practice-toward greater precision.

Freedom House asked leading regional specialists and in-house experts to answer a checklist of more than 70 indicators for 27 post-communist countries in ten key areas, from political process to media. This volume contains the results, in the form of country-by-country reports.

How are democracy and market reforms faring in East Central Europe and the former Soviet Union? Is civil society expanding or shrinking? Are the media free or fettered by official constraints? To what degree are nations governed by the rule of law? Are human rights respected? Do taxation and trade policies, property rights reforms, banking laws, privatization, and macroeconomic policies encourage or encumber private sector development and economic growth?, In Nations in Transit 2001, Freedom House asked leading regional specialists and in-house experts to answer a checklist of more than 70 indicators for 27 post-Communist countries in ten key areas: political process; civil society; independent media; governance and public administration; constitutional, legislative and judicial framework; corruption; privatization; macroeconomic policy; microeconomic policy; and social sector indicators. The survey, organized in a new essay format, was reviewed by an oversight board of leading U.S. scholars and by experts from Central and Eastern and the former Soviet Union., The results are incisive, authoritative, and comprehensive country-by-country reports that assess the progress of East Central European and former Soviet countries in ridding themselves of repressive political systems and inefficient statist economies. As an added dimension, Freedom House-which for nearly 25 years has rated global political rights and civil liberties in its benchmark Freedom in the World surveys-has developed a rating system that allows for a comparative analysis of democratic and market reforms in the countries covered by the survey., Nations in Transit 2001 is an invaluable resource and reference tool for governmental and nongovernmental institutions, schools and universities, and anyone else interested in better understanding the political, economic, and legal structures and institutions that constitute the infrastructure on which the transition to open societies and markets depends.