Politics and Legitimacy in Post-Soviet Eurasia

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-x

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2. The Politics of Legitimation in Post-Soviet Eurasia

   • Martin Brusis

   Pages 1-17

3. Comparing Legitimation Strategies in Post-Soviet Countries

   • Christian von Soest, Julia Grauvogel

   Pages 18-46

4. State Capitalism in Eurasia: A Dual-Economy Approach to Central Asia

   • Joachim Ahrens, Herman W. Hoen, Martin C. Spechler

   Pages 47-71

5. Legitimation and the Party of Power in Kazakhstan

   • Adele Del Sordi

   Pages 72-96

6. Legitimacy and State-Led Economic Policy in Georgia

   • Christian Timm

   Pages 97-120

7. Legitimacy, Accountability and Discretion of the Russian Courts

   • Alexei Trochev

   Pages 121-147

8. Concepts of the Nation and Legitimation in Belarus

   • Fabian Burkhardt

   Pages 148-171

9. State Programs, Institutions and Memory in Russia

   • Philipp Bürger

   Pages 172-192

10. Cynics, Loyalists and Rebels in Recent Russian Fiction: Literary Scenarios of Legitimation and the Pursuit of ‘Sovereign Democracy’

    • Alfred Sproede, Oleksandr Zabirko

    Pages 193-222

11. Comparative Conclusions: Legitimacy and Legitimation in Eurasian Post-Communist States

    • Leslie Holmes

    Pages 223-245

12. Back Matter

    Pages 246-251

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Political legitimacy has become a scarce resource in Russia and other post-Soviet states. Their capacity to deliver prosperity has suffered from economic crisis, war in Ukraine and confrontation with the West. Will nationalism and repression enable political regimes to survive? This book studies the politics of legitimation in Post-Soviet Eurasia.

• Post-Soviet countries
• Eurasian countries
• Russia
• authoritarianism
• legitimacy
• legitimation
• political regime
• foundational myth
• dual economy
• state capitalism
• developmental state
• party of power
• constitutionalism
• state prosecutor
• historical narrative
• national identity
• politics of memory
• communism
• constitution
• democracy
• russian and post-soviet politics

“It is quite rare to find an academic publication of the same analytical depth and theoretical insight as Brusis, Ahrens, and Wessel’s edited volume. The book presents a great selection of theoretical and empirical contributions focusing on a variety of issues in the former Soviet republics.” (Aijan Sharshenova, Journal of Soviet and Post-Soviet Politics and Society, Vol. 3 (1), 2017)

“The volume consists of 10 chapters focusing on different geographical areas of post-Soviet Eurasia (PSE) that range substantively from the evaluation of party systems, political economy to national discourses, patriotic education, court systems, literature and memory politics, … the book will be of a great interest for postgraduate students and scholars in a variety of fields and will hopefully serve as a good basis for further detailed and comparative studies on legitimacy in democratic and non-democratic states.” ( Diana T. Kudaibergenova, Democratization, Vol. 25 (2), September, 2016)

“This edited volume of ten articles provides an in-depth look at various facets of the concept of institutional legitimacy, as it pertains to the states of post-Soviet Eurasia. The book’s interdisciplinary nature provides a wide scope in a variety of case studies, showcasing the different levels of interaction within the Eurasian regimes. … It is an important resource for the study of legitimacy, especially as many of the regimesunder study currently find themselves in crisis.” (Mark Teramae, Europe-Asia Studies, Vol. 68 (9), 2016)

'Brusis, Ahrens and Wessel have assembled a stimulating collection of studies on political legitimation in the CIS. The chapters combine a variety of perspectives and case studies on the challenges regimes face after the economic crises of 2008-10 and the Crimean crisis of 2014. Many chapters are important stand-alone studies.' Richard Pomfret, University of Adelaide, Australia, and The Johns Hopkins University, Bologna, Italy

'This is the remarkable outcome of an inter-disciplinary research network touching upon the fundamentals of Eurasian post-communist states: the different aspects of their politics of legitimation and legitimacy. The volume will be a leading scientific tool for international scholars of post-Soviet countries and their realities.' Jutta Scherrer, Professor of Russian History, L'École des hautes études en sciences sociales, Paris, France

'This inter-disciplinary collection explores the legitimation strategies adopted by ruling elites in post-soviet Eurasia.Combining a Weberian conceptual framework with detailed country case studies, this will be a valuable addition to the debate over the political stability of the post-soviet states in the face of widespread corruption and sluggish economic performance.' Peter Rutland, Professor of Government, Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, USA

• Institutions and Institutional Change in Postsocialism, Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich, Germany

  Martin Brusis

• Private University of Applied Sciences, Göttingen, Germany

  Joachim Ahrens

• Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Germany

  Martin Schulze Wessel

Joachim Ahrens, Professor of International Economics, Private University of Applied Sciences, Göttingen, Germany Martin Brusis, Managing Director of the project network 'Institutions and Institutional Change in Postsocialism', University of Munich, Germany Philipp Bürger, Historian and PhD candidate, University of Munich, Institute of Historiography, Germany Fabian Burkhardt, PhD student in political science, Graduate School of East and Southeast European Studies, University of Munich, Germany Adele Del Sordi, Post-Doctoral Researcher in Political Science, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands Julia Grauvogel, Research Fellow, GIGA German Institute for Global and Area Studies, Hamburg, Germany Herman W. Hoen, Professor of International Political Economy, University of Groningen, The Netherlands Leslie Holmes, Professor Emeritus of Political Science, University of Melbourne, Australia Martin Schulze Wessel, Professor for the History of East and Southeast Europe, University of Munich, Germany Martin C. Spechler, Professor of Economics at Indiana University, USA Alfred Sproede, Professor of Slavonic and Baltic Literatures, University of Münster, Germany Christian Timm, PhD student of political science and researcher, Private University of Applied Sciences in Göttingen, Germany Alexei Trochev, Associate Professor for Political Science, Nazarbayev University, Astana, Kazakhstan Christian von Soest, Senior Research Fellow, GIGA German Institute for Global and Area Studies, Hamburg, Germany Oleksandr Zabirko, PhD candidate in East European cultural studies, University of Münster, Germany

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