Russia's Revolution from Above, 1985-2000

Reform, Transition and Revolution in the Fall of the Soviet Communist Regime

Nonfiction, History, European General
Cover of the book Russia's Revolution from Above, 1985-2000 by Gordon Hahn, Taylor and Francis
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Gordon Hahn ISBN: 9781351326186
Publisher: Taylor and Francis Publication: April 27, 2018
Imprint: Routledge Language: English
Author: Gordon Hahn
ISBN: 9781351326186
Publisher: Taylor and Francis
Publication: April 27, 2018
Imprint: Routledge
Language: English

The fall of the Soviet communist regime in 1991 offers a challenging contrast to other instances of democratic transition and change in the last decades of the twentieth century. The 1991 revolution was neither a peaceful revolution from below as occurred in Czechoslovakia nor a negotiated transition to democracy like those in Poland, Hungary, or Latin America. It was not primarily the result of social modernization, the rise of a new middle class, or of national liberation movements in the non-Russian union republics. Instead, as Gordon Hahn argues, the Russian transformation was a bureaucrat-led, state-based revolution managed by a group of Communist Party functionaries who won control over the Russian Republic (RSFSR) in the mid-1990s.Hahn describes how opportunistic Party and state officials, led by Boris Yeltsin, defected from the Gorbachev camp and proceeded in 1990-91 to dismantle the institutions that bound state and party. These revolutionaries from above seized control of political, economic, natural and human resources, and then separated the party apparatus from state institutions on Russian Republic territory. With the failed August 1991 hard-line coup, Yeltsin banned the Communist Party and decreed that all Union state organs, including the KGB and military were under RSFSR control. In Hahn's account, this mode of revolutionary change from above explains the troubled development of democracy in Russia and the former Soviet republics.Hahn shows how limited mobilization of the masses stunted the development of civil societies and the formation of political parties and trade unions with real grass roots. The result is a weak society unable to nudge the state to concentrate on institutional reforms society needs for the development of a free polity and economy. Russia's Revolution from Above goes far in correcting the historical record and reconceptualizing the Soviet transformation. It should be read by historians, economists, political scientists, and Russia area scholars.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

The fall of the Soviet communist regime in 1991 offers a challenging contrast to other instances of democratic transition and change in the last decades of the twentieth century. The 1991 revolution was neither a peaceful revolution from below as occurred in Czechoslovakia nor a negotiated transition to democracy like those in Poland, Hungary, or Latin America. It was not primarily the result of social modernization, the rise of a new middle class, or of national liberation movements in the non-Russian union republics. Instead, as Gordon Hahn argues, the Russian transformation was a bureaucrat-led, state-based revolution managed by a group of Communist Party functionaries who won control over the Russian Republic (RSFSR) in the mid-1990s.Hahn describes how opportunistic Party and state officials, led by Boris Yeltsin, defected from the Gorbachev camp and proceeded in 1990-91 to dismantle the institutions that bound state and party. These revolutionaries from above seized control of political, economic, natural and human resources, and then separated the party apparatus from state institutions on Russian Republic territory. With the failed August 1991 hard-line coup, Yeltsin banned the Communist Party and decreed that all Union state organs, including the KGB and military were under RSFSR control. In Hahn's account, this mode of revolutionary change from above explains the troubled development of democracy in Russia and the former Soviet republics.Hahn shows how limited mobilization of the masses stunted the development of civil societies and the formation of political parties and trade unions with real grass roots. The result is a weak society unable to nudge the state to concentrate on institutional reforms society needs for the development of a free polity and economy. Russia's Revolution from Above goes far in correcting the historical record and reconceptualizing the Soviet transformation. It should be read by historians, economists, political scientists, and Russia area scholars.

More books from Taylor and Francis

Cover of the book The Phenomena of Awareness by Gordon Hahn
Cover of the book Queer Environmentality by Gordon Hahn
Cover of the book Sports Chaplaincy by Gordon Hahn
Cover of the book The Organizational Life of Psychoanalysis by Gordon Hahn
Cover of the book Out of the Mainstream: Helping the children of parents with a mental illness by Gordon Hahn
Cover of the book The Academic Profession by Gordon Hahn
Cover of the book Ideas and Frameworks of Governing India by Gordon Hahn
Cover of the book International Institutions in World History by Gordon Hahn
Cover of the book Husserl’s Phenomenology of Intersubjectivity by Gordon Hahn
Cover of the book Buddhist Studies from India to America by Gordon Hahn
Cover of the book Criminal Law by Gordon Hahn
Cover of the book Citizenship and Democracy in an Era of Crisis by Gordon Hahn
Cover of the book Japan's Peace-Building Diplomacy in Asia by Gordon Hahn
Cover of the book Developing Cultural Capability in International Higher Education by Gordon Hahn
Cover of the book Foundations of Consciousness by Gordon Hahn
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy