Ken Jowitt – författare

Communism, or as Ken Jowitt prefers, Leninism, has attracted, repelled, mystified, and terrified millions for nearly a century. In his brilliant, timely, and controversial study, "New World Disorder", Jowitt identifies and interprets the extraordinary character of Leninist regimes, their political corruption, extinction, and highly unsettling legacy. Earlier attempts to grasp the essence of Leninism have treated the Soviet experience as either a variant of or alien to Western history, an approach that robs Leninism of much of its intriguing novelty. Jowitt instead takes a 'polytheist' approach, Weberian in tenor and terms, comparing the Leninist to the liberal experience in the West, rather than assimilating it or alienating it. Approaching the Leninist phenomenon in these terms and spirit emphasizes how powerful the imperatives set by the West for the rest of the world are as sources of emulation, assimilation, rejection, and adaptation; how unyielding premodern forms of identification, organization, and action are; how novel, powerful, and dangerous charisma as a mode of organized identity and action can be. The progression from essay to essay is lucid and coherent.The first six essays reject the fundamental assumptions about social change that inform the work of modernization theorists. Written between 1974 and 1990, they are, we know now, startlingly prescient. The last three essays, written in early 1991, are the most controversial: they will be called alarmist, pessimistic, apocalyptic. They challenge the complacent, optimistic, and self-serving belief that the world is being decisively shaped in the image of the West - that the end of history is at hand.

Revolutionary Breakthroughs and National Development: The Case of Romania, 1944–1965, by Kenneth Jowitt, offers a pioneering study of nation building through the lens of Romania’s transformation under a Leninist regime. Jowitt situates his work within the tradition of “theoretical case study,” combining comparative analysis with intensive examination of a single polity. He argues that without such comparative frameworks, processes like revolution, elite formation, and political integration risk being misunderstood as either unique anomalies or uniform occurrences. By drawing on broader theories of political development and then applying them to Romania, Jowitt is able to both refine the conceptual vocabulary of nation building and provide a detailed account of the distinctive features of a Leninist system grappling with the demands of modernization.At the heart of the book lies a dual inquiry: how Leninist regimes, as unique configurations of ideology, elites, and political communities, address the challenges of nation building, and how Romania specifically managed to redefine itself from a Soviet “satellite” to a largely self-directed state between 1944 and 1965. Jowitt dissects the Romanian Communist Party’s strategies, the ways its leadership framed questions of legitimacy, and the institutional adjustments that shaped political, social, and cultural integration. By situating Romania’s experience within a comparative framework, he highlights both the competencies and limitations of Leninist nation-building projects, showing how ideology and political organization mediated rapid social transformation. This volume thus speaks to political scientists, historians of Eastern Europe, and theorists of development alike, offering a rich model of how comparative case analysis can illuminate universal processes while also attending to the specificity of national experience.This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1971.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1971.

Revolutionary Breakthroughs and National Development: The Case of Romania, 1944–1965, by Kenneth Jowitt, offers a pioneering study of nation building through the lens of Romania’s transformation under a Leninist regime. Jowitt situates his work within the tradition of “theoretical case study,” combining comparative analysis with intensive examination of a single polity. He argues that without such comparative frameworks, processes like revolution, elite formation, and political integration risk being misunderstood as either unique anomalies or uniform occurrences. By drawing on broader theories of political development and then applying them to Romania, Jowitt is able to both refine the conceptual vocabulary of nation building and provide a detailed account of the distinctive features of a Leninist system grappling with the demands of modernization.At the heart of the book lies a dual inquiry: how Leninist regimes, as unique configurations of ideology, elites, and political communities, address the challenges of nation building, and how Romania specifically managed to redefine itself from a Soviet “satellite” to a largely self-directed state between 1944 and 1965. Jowitt dissects the Romanian Communist Party’s strategies, the ways its leadership framed questions of legitimacy, and the institutional adjustments that shaped political, social, and cultural integration. By situating Romania’s experience within a comparative framework, he highlights both the competencies and limitations of Leninist nation-building projects, showing how ideology and political organization mediated rapid social transformation. This volume thus speaks to political scientists, historians of Eastern Europe, and theorists of development alike, offering a rich model of how comparative case analysis can illuminate universal processes while also attending to the specificity of national experience.This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1971.