Is the Soviet Present China's Future?

1987 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 203-230 ◽  
Author(s):  
Constance Squires Meaney
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Economic Restructuring ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Industrial Society ◽  
The Political ◽  
Dynamic Nature ◽  
Economic Growth And Development ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Revolutionary Regime

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, scholars in the fields of Soviet politics and comparative communism began to reexamine the political and social character of the Soviet Union and Soviet-type regimes in the wake of more than a decade of de-Stalinization. They questioned the validity of the totalitarian model (at least in its more rigid forms) that suggested a static image of politics and society in communist systems, and proposed concepts more cognizant of the dynamic nature of these systems. A prominent theme in much of this literature was that social differentiation resulting from economic development and the emergence of modern industrial society would prove incompatible with continued dictatorial rule by a “vanguard party” following a militant, Utopian ideology. In particular, the rise of a large elite stratum of skilled technical and professional personnel was expected to militate against the long-term viability of a revolutionary regime. Analysts proposed that, under pressure from this group, whose contributions are indispensable to economic growth and development, the party leadership would eventually be compelled to abandon radical social and economic restructuring through revolutions from above in favor of more legal-rational modes of operation, and see its own role as the balancer of the various interests typical of a modern society.

scholarly journals Musikgeschichte der DDR: Ein Pilotprojekt zur digitalen Musikvermittlung

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthias Tischer
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Historical Analysis ◽  
The Political ◽  
Federal Republic Of Germany ◽  
Musical Life ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Musical Discourse ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Cold War

Thirty years after the so-called ‚Wende‘, a fundamental and comprehensive study of the musical history of the GDR - encompassing both the music itself and the political and cultural contexts (i.e. the musical relations) - still represents a desideratum. The same is true for a long-term comparative music history of the divided Germany, for which the our project develops some essential prerequisites. The research project presented here is an informed cultural-historical analysis of the musical discourse of the GDR under the auspices of the Cold War. It is not about a revised version of national history only, because despite a relatively strong national and regional self-centredness of the musical life of the GDR, it can hardly be understood without the political and cultural references to the Soviet Union, the Federal Republic of Germany and the neighbouring European states.

scholarly journals Political Warfare: The People's Republic of China's Strategy "to Win without Fighting"

MCU Journal ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 64-93
Author(s):  
Kerry K. Gershaneck
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Marine Corps ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Political ◽  
Republic Of China ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Political Warfare

The Commandant of the Marine Corps has identified the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as an existential threat to the United States in the long term. To successfully confront this threat, the United States must relearn how to fight on the political warfare battlefield. Although increasingly capable militarily, the PRC employs political warfare as its primary weapon to destroy its adversaries. However, America no longer has the capacity to compete and win on the political warfare battlefield: this capacity atrophied in the nearly three decades following the collapse of the Soviet Union. Failure to understand China’s political warfare and how to fight it may well lead to America’s strategic defeat before initiation of armed conflict and to operational defeat of U.S. military forces on the battlefield. The study concludes with recommendations the U.S. government must take to successfully counter this existential threat.

Translation and Transformation: English-Language Children's Literature in (Soviet) Russian Guise

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith Inggs
Keyword(s):  
Children's Literature ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
English Language ◽  
Children’S Literature ◽  
Socialist Realism ◽  
The Political ◽  
Philosophy Of Action ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Free Translation ◽  
Soviet Russia

This article investigates the perceived image of English-language children's literature in Soviet Russia. Framed by Even-Zohar's polysystem theory and Bourdieu's philosophy of action, the discussion takes into account the ideological constraints of the practice of translation and the manipulation of texts. Several factors involved in creating the perceived character of a body of literature are identified, such as the requirements of socialist realism, publishing practices in the Soviet Union, the tradition of free translation and accessibility in the translation of children's literature. This study explores these factors and, with reference to selected examples, illustrates how the political and sociological climate of translation in the Soviet Union influenced the translation practices and the field of translated children's literature, creating a particular image of English-language children's literature in (Soviet) Russia.

scholarly journals Frontier Dynamics: Reflections on Evangelical and Tablighi Missions in Central Asia

2021 ◽  
Vol 63 (1) ◽  
pp. 212-241
Author(s):  
Mathijs Pelkmans
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Central Asia ◽  
Kyrgyz Republic ◽  
Missionary Work ◽  
Ethnographic Fieldwork ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Successes And Failures

AbstractMissionaries have flocked to the Kyrgyz Republic ever since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Evangelical-Pentecostal and Tablighi missions have been particularly active on what they conceive of as a fertile post-atheist frontier. But as these missions project their message of truth onto the frontier, the dangers of the frontier may overwhelm them. Based on long-term ethnographic fieldwork amongst foreign and local Tablighis and evangelical-Pentecostals, this article formulates an analytic of the frontier that highlights the affective and relational characteristics of missionary activities and their effects. This analytic explains why and how missionaries are attracted to the frontier, as well as some of the successes and failures of their expansionist efforts. In doing so, the article reveals the potency of instability, a feature that is particularly evident in missionary work, but also resonates with other frontier situations.

scholarly journals The All-Buryat Congress for the Spiritual Rebirth and Consolidation of the Nation: Siberian politics in the final year of the USSR

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 62-71
Author(s):  
Melissa Chakars
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
The Political ◽  
Socialist Republic ◽  
Soviet Socialist Republic ◽  
Political Issues ◽  
People's Party ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Russian State ◽  
General Goals

This article examines the All-Buryat Congress for the Spiritual Rebirth and Consolidation of the Nation that was held in the Buryat Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in February 1991. The congress met to discuss the future of the Buryats, a Mongolian people who live in southeastern Siberia, and to decide on what actions should be taken for the revival, development, and maintenance of their culture. Widespread elections were carried out in the Buryat lands in advance of the congress and voters selected 592 delegates. Delegates also came from other parts of the Soviet Union, as well as from Mongolia and China. Government administrators, Communist Party officials, members of new political parties like the Buryat-Mongolian People’s Party, and non-affiliated individuals shared their ideas and political agendas. Although the congress came to some agreement on the general goals of promoting Buryat traditions, language, religions, and culture, there were disagreements about several of the political and territorial questions. For example, although some delegates hoped for the creation of a larger Buryat territory that would encompass all of Siberia’s Buryats within a future Russian state, others disagreed revealing the tension between the desire to promote ethnic identity and the practical need to consider economic and political issues.

scholarly journals Reassessing the Standard of Living in the Soviet Union: An Analysis Using Archival and Anthropometric Data

2010 ◽  
Vol 70 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Brainerd
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Infant Mortality ◽  
Physical Growth ◽  
Standard Of Living ◽  
The Political ◽  
Archival Data ◽  
Anthropometric Data ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Child Height ◽  
Adult Stature

This article uses anthropometric and archival data to reassess the standard of living in the Soviet Union. In the prewar period, the population was small in stature and sensitive to the political and economic upheavals experienced in the country. Significant improvements in child height, adult stature, and infant mortality were recorded from approximately 1945 to 1970. While this period of physical growth was followed by stagnation in heights, the physical growth record of the Soviet population compares favorably with that of other European countries at a similar level of development in this period.

SOVIET-CHINESE COOPERATION IN THE FIELD OF SPORTS AFTER THE NORMALIZATION OF BILATERAL RELATIONS ON THE EXAMPLE OF THE IRKUTSK REGION

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 141-149
Author(s):  
A.V. Surzhko ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Republic Of China ◽  
Bilateral Relations ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Irkutsk Region ◽  
Ping Pong ◽  
Bilateral Cooperation ◽  
Sports Officials

The article examines the main aspects of Soviet-Chinese cooperation in the field of sports after the normalization of bilateral relations in the late 1980s — early 1990s. Sport was one of the factors that contributed to overcoming the consequences of the thirty-year split between the USSR and the PRC at the state, regional and informal levels. During this period, the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China actively exchanged numerous sports delegations, adopting each other's successful experience in organizing and conducting competitions, as well as training athletes. In the USSR, Chinese national sports were popularized, primarily wushu and ping-pong. More traditional for the Soviet side was football, matches in which Soviet and Chinese athletes repeatedly played. Also, the article reveals some economic aspects of sports bilateral cooperation. A common thing for this period was the conclusion of various kinds of agreements and contracts at the interregional level, including those related to the sports component. The personal role of regional party functionaries, sports officials and athletes in the development of Soviet-Chinese relations is shown. There is a certain continuity between the perestroika period and the "golden age" of Soviet-Chinese cooperation in the 1950s. The experience of cooperation in sports gained at the end of perestroika had a beneficial effect on the development of Russian-Chinese relations in the 1990s. The study is carried out on the example of the Irkutsk region, which, due to objective reasons, has developed long-term and strong relations with a number of Chinese cities. The main source of the research was the Irkutsk regional periodicals.

In Afghanistan: Western and Soviet Methods of Counterinsurgency

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 22-40
Author(s):  
Lasha Tchantouridze
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Political ◽  
Limited Success ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The Us ◽  
Military Mission ◽  
Lasting Change

The two-decade-long U.S.-led military mission in Afghanistan ended in August 2021 after a chaotic departure of the NATO troops. Power in Kabul transferred back to the Taliban, the political force the United States and its allies tried to defeat. In its failure to achieve a lasting change, the Western mission in Afghanistan is similar to that of the Soviet Union in the 1980s. These two missions in Afghanistan had many things in common, specifically their unsuccessful counterinsurgency efforts. However, both managed to achieve limited success in their attempts to impose their style of governance on Afghanistan as well. The current study compares and contrasts some of the crucial aspects of counterinsurgency operations conducted by the Soviet and Western forces during their respective missions, such as special forces actions, propaganda activities, and dealing with crucial social issues. Interestingly, when the Soviets withdrew in 1988, they left Afghanistan worse off, but the US-backed opposition forces subsequently made the situation even worse. On the other hand, the Western mission left the country better off in 2021, and violence subsided when power in the country was captured by the Taliban, which the United States has opposed.

The Role of National Diversity in Political Reform A Comparative Study between the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and the British Northern Ireland Region

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tareq Kakarash ◽  
Alnasir Doraid
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Ethnic Diversity ◽  
Active Role ◽  
Political Reform ◽  
Political Conflict ◽  
Careful Examination ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The Difference

The issue of national diversity is considered one of the most important points in studying the development of political systems in our time. Many scholars and researchers have noticed that there is rarely a people or nation in the world today that does not possess different national or ethnic diversity, some of which succeed in forcibly obliterating them, which leads to its ignition and the division of nations and states. (As happened in the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, the Eight State, the Empire of Austria-Hungary, etc.) and as it will happen in the future in other repressive countries, no matter how long their repression takes, and some of them succeed in preserving them through assimilation and understanding, as happened in Switzerland and a few other countries. While there are countries that have been striving for decades to arrange their national situations (such as India, Belgium and Spain), with varying degrees of success. The element of national diversity sometimes plays an active role in reforming the political system, and at other times this national diversity hinders the entire political reform. On the basis of the difference and contrast between the two models in terms of the degree of modernity and development, however, a careful examination of the two models confirms that they are not different to this degree. Only years (1998 in Britain and 2003 in Iraq) and the political conflict still exists in the two countries, leading to a final solution to this crisis.

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