This title was first published in 2000. The years 1975 to 2000 are characterized by fundamental changes in the global political landscape. Perhaps the biggest change was the collapse of certain communist regimes. This text analyzes what that meant for the USSR and Europe. It looks at the cause of change, the social forces behind them and future prospects.

Originally published in 2004. The collapse of the USSR and the emergence of 15 new states from its ashes presents another challenge to the global economy: how to reintegrate the post-Soviet space into the international economy. The spread of liberal market ideology and integration of national economic spaces into a global marketplace faces unique difficulties in the former USSR. This insightful volume explains these challenges, showing how Soviet legacies have worked against a smooth re-entry of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus into the global economy. It also demonstrates how and why global economic forces have had very uneven effects in the area, how the area differs from other parts of the post-communist world where reintegration has proceeded more smoothly, and what the future prospects and political implications are for the region in the global economy.

In Putin's Labor Dilemma, Stephen Crowley investigates how the fear of labor protest has inhibited substantial economic transformation in Russia. Putin boasts he has the backing of workers in the country's industrial heartland, but as economic growth slows in Russia, reviving the economy will require restructuring the country's industrial landscape. At the same time, doing so threatens to generate protest and instability from a key regime constituency. However, continuing to prop up Russia's Soviet-era workplaces, writes Crowley, could lead to declining wages and economic stagnation, threatening protest and instability. Crowley explores the dynamics of a Russian labor market that generally avoids mass unemployment, the potentially explosive role of Russia's monotowns, conflicts generated by massive downsizing in "Russia's Detroit" (Tol'yatti), and the rapid politicization of the truck drivers movement. Labor protests currently show little sign of threatening Putin's hold on power, but the manner in which they are being conducted point to substantial chronic problems that will be difficult to resolve. Putin's Labor Dilemma demonstrates that the Russian economy must either find new sources of economic growth or face stagnation. Either scenario—market reforms or economic stagnation—raises the possibility, even probability, of destabilizing social unrest.

This edited collection provides a comprehensive overview of the major changes and transformations in Ukrainian society, from its independence in 1991, through to 2018. Based on solid empirical quantitative data generated by local institutions such as the monitoring survey Ukrainian Society, produced by the Institute of Sociology of National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (IS NASU), the contributions explore transitions in values, occupational structure, education, inequality, religiosity, media, and identity, as well as the impact of the “Revolution of Dignity” (Euromaidan) and the Donbas conflict. Covering more than 25 years of Ukrainian history and complemented by qualitative research carried out by authors, Ukraine in Transformation will be invaluable to upper level students and researchers of sociology, political science, international relations and cultural studies, with a particular interest in post-Soviet Eastern Europe.

This book is a unique contribution to scholarship on the sources of the conflict in Ukraine. The volume brings together writers from Russia, Ukraine, Canada, the United States, Europe and Australia, many of whom attended a gathering of scholars and activists from all over Ukraine, held in Yalta, Crimea, just after the conflict in Eastern Ukraine erupted. Challenging both the demonization of Russia, which has become standard for Western writing on the topic, and the simplistic discourse of official Russian sources, this book scrutinises the events of the conflict and the motives of the agents, bringing to the fore the underlying causes of the most critical flashpoints of the post-Soviet world order. This volume offers a refreshing, profound perspective on the Ukraine conflict, and will be an indispensable source for any student or researcher. This book was originally published as a special issue of the journal International Critical Thought.

An examination of post-Soviet society through ethnic, religious, and linguistic criteria, this volume turns what is typically anthropological subject matter into the basis of politics, sociology, and history. Ten chapters cover such diverse subjects as Ukrainian language revival, Tatar language revival, nationalist separatism and assimilation in Russia, religious pluralism in Russia and in Ukraine, mobilization against Chinese immigration, and even the politics of mapmaking. A few of these chapters are principally historical, connecting tsarist and Soviet constructions to today's systems and struggles. The introduction by Dominique Arel sets out the project in terms of new scholarly approaches to identity, and the conclusion by Blair A. Ruble draws out political and social implications that challenge citizens and policy makers. Rebounding Identities is based on a series of workshops held at the Kennan Institute in 2002 and 2003.