Utilising cutting-edge theory and unique data, this book examines the role of power, culture, and practice in Russia’s story of post-socialist economic change, and provides a framework for addressing general economic change. No other book places power and culture as centrally as this, and in doing so it provides new insights not only into how Russia came to its present state under Putin, but also how economies operate and change generally. In particular, the importance of remaking authority and culture - creating and contesting new categories and narratives of meaning - is shown as central to Russia’s story, and to the story of economies overall. Power, Culture and Economic Change in Russia is an excellent research tool for advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students of sociology, political science, economics, area studies, and other related disciplines.

Seminar paper from the year 2006 in the subject Business economics - Business Management, Corporate Governance, grade: 1,5, Reutlingen University (Production Management), language: English, abstract: The globalization of the economy and the constantly growing cooperation across national and cultural borders in education, business, science and technology foster increasing de-pendencies among nations. Furthermore, it necessitates a heightened awareness for inter-cultural issues and a substantial competence to deal with intercultural problems in political, educational, business and science organizations for the individuals involved. Political devel-opments like the unification process in Europe call into questions long established features and boundaries of national identity. Especially, the fall of the Iron curtain suddenly enabled close neighbors who had been separated for roughly two generations and who lost their knowledge of each other, if not, under the influence of the long ideological confrontation, even developed negative stereotypes of each other. The mentioned dramatic political changes in Eastern Europe make Russia an interesting point of interest. Therefore, this paper is intended to introduce and examine the historical, economical, political, societal, cultural and business developments that Russia encountered before and after this radical transition. Although, this paper provides a country overview to some extend, the main emphasis is on cross-cultural management where it is crucial to recognize and understand the covered areas besides business development, for they influence and, in the end, determine the basis of a country’s value and belief system. Finally, this paper provides a cross-cultural study by Geert Hofestede that should showcase the impact of cultural differences on management comparing Russia to other countries in the world on various cultural dimensions.

Advancing cutting-edge sociological theory and using unique data on everyday economic life, this book examines the centrality of power, culture, and practice in Russian post-socialist change - and provides a framework for addressing general economic change. The book is aimed to faculty and students in sociology, political science, economics, and area studies.

This book sheds new light on the continuing debate within political thought as to what constitutes power, and what distinguishes legitimate from illegitimate power. It does so by considering the experience of Russia, a polity where experiences of the legitimacy of power and the collapse of power offer a contrast to Western experiences on which most political theory, formulated in the West, is based. The book considers power in a range of contexts - philosophy and discourse; the rule of law and its importance for economic development; the use of culture and religion as means to legitimate power; and liberalism and the reasons for its weakness in Russia. The book concludes by arguing that the Russian experience provides a useful lens through which ideas of power and legitimacy can be re-evaluated and re-interpreted, and through which the idea of "the West" as the ideal model can be questioned.

Building on an original interpretation of social theory and an interdisciplinary approach, this book creates a new paradigm in the Russian studies. Taking a fresh view of Russia’s multiple experiences of modernization, it seeks to explain the Putin era in a completely new way. This book explores the paradoxical and contradictory aspects of Russia, analyzing the energy-dependent economy and hybrid political regime, but also religion, welfare, and culture, and their often complex interrelations. Written by a community of both Western and Russian scholars, this book re-affirms the value of social science when confronting a society that has undergone enormous and costly systematic changes. The Russian elites see modernization narrowly as economic and technological competitiveness. The contributors to this volume see contemporary Russia facing a series of antinomies, which are macro-level dilemmas that cannot be abolished, either by philosophical mediation or by immediate political decisions. As such, they are the tension fields that constitute choices for various competing agencies. This book will be of interest to scholars and students of Russian studies, transition studies, sociology, social policy, political science, energy policy, cultural studies, and stratification studies. Professionals involved in energy, ecology, and security policy will also find this publication a rich source.

This book addresses one of the fundamental problems in Russian society, and in Russia's relations with the rest of the world. Why do Russians tend to react differently from ?us? in given diplomatic or business situations? Why do they find the notion of a contract difficult to grasp? Why do they seem hostile to the principle of the level playing field? How do they see Russia's position within the globalised economy? In order to probe these issues, the author begins with a historical analysis, looking at the pattern of political and economic development since Tsarist times, always asking the questions: What is unique to Russia in all this, and which unique features tend to recur in different periods? In seeking to illuminate the interface between Russia and the world, the author also examines Russia's attitude to itself, and to its own resources ? natural and human ? to land as an agricultural resource, and later oil and gas; and to people ? as cheap labour and as highly trained scientific personnel. This book is firmly based on scholarly sources, in English, French and Russian, but aims to go beyond the academic audience to address the concerns of people encountering Russians and Russian organizations in their everyday lives.

This timely book analyses the status of hydrocarbon energy in Russia as both a saleable commodity and as a source of societal and political power. Through empirical studies in domestic and foreign policy contexts, Veli-Pekka Tykkynen explores the development of a hydrocarbon culture in Russia and the impact this has on its politics, identity and approach to climate change and renewable energy.