R&L Logo R&L Logo
  • GENERAL
    • Browse by Subjects
    • New Releases
    • Coming Soon
    • Chases's Calendar
  • ACADEMIC
    • Textbooks
    • Browse by Course
    • Instructor's Copies
    • Monographs & Research
    • Reference
  • PROFESSIONAL
    • Education
    • Intelligence & Security
    • Library Services
    • Business & Leadership
    • Museum Studies
    • Music
    • Pastoral Resources
    • Psychotherapy
  • FREUD SET
Cover Image
Hardback
eBook
share of facebook share on twitter
Add to GoodReads

The Post-Communist World in the Twenty-First Century

How the Past Informs the Present

Edited by Barbara Ann Chotiner and Linda J. Cook - Foreword by Jack Snyder - Contributions by Andrea Chandler; Barbara Ann Chotiner; Linda J. Cook; Gerald M. Easter; Michael S. Klecheski; Bruce Parrott; Cynthia Roberts; Mikael Sandberg; Kate Schecter; Andrew Sherlock; Thomas Sherlock; Peter H. Solomon Jr.; Susan Gross Solomon and Stephen Wegren

The Post-Communist World in the Twenty-First Century presents studies by senior scholars and practitioners that are highly relevant to contemporary political challenges. The democratic vision that accompanied the collapse of communist regimes in the Soviet Union and East Central Europe has been replaced by a range of authoritarian, semi-authoritarian and democratic regimes, and growing division between Western and Russian influence. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has led to renewed tensions and international crisis. China, which presents major challenges to the US, Europe, and the global order, has emerged as a critical actor in the international conflict. The need to understand the internal dynamics and international behavior of communist and authoritarian regimes is more urgent at this time. The expertise provided by the volume’s contributors is especially timely, offering new insights into the past and contemporary politics of these states, the agendas driving their behavior, regimes’ domestic strengths and weaknesses, and the role of leaders’ differing perceptions in exacerbating international conflict. Practitioners demonstrate how such knowledge can inform effective policy and ameliorative efforts.

  • Details
  • Details
  • Author
  • Author
  • TOC
  • TOC
  • Reviews
  • Reviews
Lexington Books
Pages: 328 • Trim: 6⅜ x 9
978-1-7936-3609-6 • Hardback • June 2022 • $126.00 • (£97.00)
978-1-7936-3610-2 • eBook • June 2022 • $45.00 • (£35.00)
Subjects: Political Science / Political Ideologies / Communism, Post- Communism & Socialism, Political Science / International Relations / General, History / Slavic Studies / Political Science

Barbara Ann Chotiner is professor emerita of political science at The University of Alabama.

Linda J. Cook is professor emerita of political science and Slavic studies at Brown University.

Foreword: To Bialer’s Successors: How the Soviet Past Informs the Post-Soviet Present by Jack Snyder

Acknowledgments

Introduction: Seweryn Bialer: Scholar, Teacher, Mentor by Linda J. Cook

Part I: The Study of Leaders and Leadership in Domestic and International Politics

Chapter 1: Haunted: Cold War Ghosts and the United States in an Era of Disruption by Bruce Parrott

Chapter 2: The Russo-Georgian War and the Turn to Great Power Rivalry by Thomas Sherlock and Andrew Sherlock

Chapter 3: Trapped on the Eve of War, 1941: Stalin and His Generals Failing Separately and Together by Cynthia Roberts

Chapter 4: Recovering Institutional Authenticity: Redeveloping the Central Organs of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, 1953-64, and Effects by Barbara Ann Chotiner

Chapter 5: Populism in Power? Discourses of Leadership in Putin’s Russia, 2000-2020 by Andrea Chandler

Chapter 6: Avoiding the Succession Trap: Leadership Change in Survivor Communist Regimes by Gerald M. Easter

Chapter 7: Russia and Post-Soviet Political Institutions: An Evolutionary Comparison of Regime Types by Mikael Sandberg

Part II: The Realms of Policy and Practice

Chapter 8: East European Public Health and the Cold War: In Search of Circulation by Susan Gross Solomon

Chapter 9: Food Security and Stability in Contemporary Russia by Stephen Wegren

Chapter 10: Applied Sovietology: Refugee Claims from the Post-Soviet Space by Peter H. Solomon Jr.

Chapter 11: The Tenacity of Conscience in the Face of Global Upheaval by Kate Schecter

Chapter 12: Studying under Professor Seweryn Bialer: Recollections and Lessons Gleaned for Career in Diploma by Michael S. Klecheski

Seweryn Bialer would be proud. His distinguished former students have produced a posthumous Festschrift that is intellectually coherent, rigorous in its scholarship, novel in its interpretations, and yet highly readable. The chapters cover a wide range of topics in the domestic and foreign policies of Russia, post-communist states, and authoritarian regimes more generally. A welcome contribution is made by chapters that focus on the careers of Bialer's students who did not enter academia, but instead worked in the diplomatic and NGO realms. Also welcome are stimulating chapters that focus on issues of public health and legal questions that are not usually discussed in books on "high" politics. Specialists will learn a great deal from this stimulating volume.


— George Breslauer, University of California, Berkeley


The Post-Communist World in the Twenty-First Century consists of provocative essays by distinguished former students of the great Sovietologist Seweryn Bialer. Touching as they do on different aspects of Soviet and post-Soviet life, together the essays faithfully reflect Bialer’s wide range of interests and expertise, the perceptiveness and creativity of his scholarship, his ability to bring the lessons of the past to bear on the problems of the present and the future, and his capacity for using both history and the social sciences to analyze the issues that mattered most for Russia and the rest of the world.


— Michael Mandelbaum, author of The Four Ages of American Foreign Policy: Weak Power, Great Power, Superpower, Hyperpower


This book is a wonderful tribute to one of the most important scholars of the Soviet system. Weaving together significant historical, political, and social analysis, it provides insights into a range of topics bearing on current debates including military doctrine, political succession, Russia’s relations with the West, populism, the nature of elite politics, public health, food security, and refugees. And it provides those of us who did not have the good fortune to study directly with Dr. Seweryn Bialer a deeper understanding of his importance to his students and colleagues.


— James Goldgeier, American University


This volume takes on the critical issues of leadership and transformation in Russia from World War II to the present by viewing it through the lens of the evolution of leadership in the Soviet Union and the post-Soviet space. It looks at how critical policy issues—including food security and refugee claims—have been dealt with in Eastern Europe and the post-Soviet space. This volume fills what have been vast gaps in our understanding of this crucial area, and it is a fitting tribute by leading scholars to one of key unsung mentors who helped shape this field of scholarship.


— Jane Leftwich Curry, Santa Clara University


In the first chapter, Bruce Parrott analyzes political—international and domestic—dimensions of the Cold War, providing a precise and comprehensive array of sources and evidence, particularly important now, when we often hear grandiose conclusions politically palatable to one side or the other. This book is unusual in its commitment to examine ‘grand strategy’ and go beyond: to the granular life and tensions of everyday life, such as equality and justice in the legal system, inter-ethnic relations, domestic violence, for these, too are part of the system, even if leaders often fail to see them from their perches in the Kremlin. Leadership decisions on the Cold War fail all of us if they rush to conclusions based on obsolete or incomplete information. This book is both wide-ranging and solidly grounded: Barbara Ann Chotiner’s and Linda Cook’s fitting tribute to the late Professor Seweryn Bialer. These are the well-written sources we shall turn to in times of great moment. We cannot afford to adopt superficial or bombastic arguments, when this must-read book shows a landscape far more sophisticated and complex and, at the same time, fraught with real-world outcomes.


— Ellen Mickiewicz, Sanford School of Public Policy and Political Science Department at Duke University


The Post-Communist World in the Twenty-First Century: How the Past Informs the Present is a comprehensive and impressive collection of essays linking the Soviet past to the contemporary period. The team of authors assembled by Cook and Chotiner represents some of the most experienced and creative analysts of the Soviet system and the post-communist world. This authoritative collection is a must read for those who want to know more about the complex ways in which the communist past informs and influences the leadership decisions and policies of the present.


— Kathryn Stoner, Stanford University


In this impressive and wide-ranging volume, students of Seweryn Bialer explore the continuing importance of his work on leadership, war, and policymaking in the Soviet Union and contemporary Russia. These closely argued and deeply researched essays not only pay respect to a giant of the study of Soviet politics, they also combine personal and political reflections to inform ongoing academic and policy debates in the style that Bialer practiced so well. A remarkable volume dedicated to a remarkable scholar.


— Timothy Frye, Columbia University


The Post-Communist World in the Twenty-First Century

How the Past Informs the Present

Cover Image
Hardback
eBook
Summary
Summary
  • The Post-Communist World in the Twenty-First Century presents studies by senior scholars and practitioners that are highly relevant to contemporary political challenges. The democratic vision that accompanied the collapse of communist regimes in the Soviet Union and East Central Europe has been replaced by a range of authoritarian, semi-authoritarian and democratic regimes, and growing division between Western and Russian influence. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has led to renewed tensions and international crisis. China, which presents major challenges to the US, Europe, and the global order, has emerged as a critical actor in the international conflict. The need to understand the internal dynamics and international behavior of communist and authoritarian regimes is more urgent at this time. The expertise provided by the volume’s contributors is especially timely, offering new insights into the past and contemporary politics of these states, the agendas driving their behavior, regimes’ domestic strengths and weaknesses, and the role of leaders’ differing perceptions in exacerbating international conflict. Practitioners demonstrate how such knowledge can inform effective policy and ameliorative efforts.

Details
Details
  • Lexington Books
    Pages: 328 • Trim: 6⅜ x 9
    978-1-7936-3609-6 • Hardback • June 2022 • $126.00 • (£97.00)
    978-1-7936-3610-2 • eBook • June 2022 • $45.00 • (£35.00)
    Subjects: Political Science / Political Ideologies / Communism, Post- Communism & Socialism, Political Science / International Relations / General, History / Slavic Studies / Political Science
Author
Author
  • Barbara Ann Chotiner is professor emerita of political science at The University of Alabama.

    Linda J. Cook is professor emerita of political science and Slavic studies at Brown University.

Table of Contents
Table of Contents
  • Foreword: To Bialer’s Successors: How the Soviet Past Informs the Post-Soviet Present by Jack Snyder

    Acknowledgments

    Introduction: Seweryn Bialer: Scholar, Teacher, Mentor by Linda J. Cook

    Part I: The Study of Leaders and Leadership in Domestic and International Politics

    Chapter 1: Haunted: Cold War Ghosts and the United States in an Era of Disruption by Bruce Parrott

    Chapter 2: The Russo-Georgian War and the Turn to Great Power Rivalry by Thomas Sherlock and Andrew Sherlock

    Chapter 3: Trapped on the Eve of War, 1941: Stalin and His Generals Failing Separately and Together by Cynthia Roberts

    Chapter 4: Recovering Institutional Authenticity: Redeveloping the Central Organs of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, 1953-64, and Effects by Barbara Ann Chotiner

    Chapter 5: Populism in Power? Discourses of Leadership in Putin’s Russia, 2000-2020 by Andrea Chandler

    Chapter 6: Avoiding the Succession Trap: Leadership Change in Survivor Communist Regimes by Gerald M. Easter

    Chapter 7: Russia and Post-Soviet Political Institutions: An Evolutionary Comparison of Regime Types by Mikael Sandberg

    Part II: The Realms of Policy and Practice

    Chapter 8: East European Public Health and the Cold War: In Search of Circulation by Susan Gross Solomon

    Chapter 9: Food Security and Stability in Contemporary Russia by Stephen Wegren

    Chapter 10: Applied Sovietology: Refugee Claims from the Post-Soviet Space by Peter H. Solomon Jr.

    Chapter 11: The Tenacity of Conscience in the Face of Global Upheaval by Kate Schecter

    Chapter 12: Studying under Professor Seweryn Bialer: Recollections and Lessons Gleaned for Career in Diploma by Michael S. Klecheski

Reviews
Reviews
  • Seweryn Bialer would be proud. His distinguished former students have produced a posthumous Festschrift that is intellectually coherent, rigorous in its scholarship, novel in its interpretations, and yet highly readable. The chapters cover a wide range of topics in the domestic and foreign policies of Russia, post-communist states, and authoritarian regimes more generally. A welcome contribution is made by chapters that focus on the careers of Bialer's students who did not enter academia, but instead worked in the diplomatic and NGO realms. Also welcome are stimulating chapters that focus on issues of public health and legal questions that are not usually discussed in books on "high" politics. Specialists will learn a great deal from this stimulating volume.


    — George Breslauer, University of California, Berkeley


    The Post-Communist World in the Twenty-First Century consists of provocative essays by distinguished former students of the great Sovietologist Seweryn Bialer. Touching as they do on different aspects of Soviet and post-Soviet life, together the essays faithfully reflect Bialer’s wide range of interests and expertise, the perceptiveness and creativity of his scholarship, his ability to bring the lessons of the past to bear on the problems of the present and the future, and his capacity for using both history and the social sciences to analyze the issues that mattered most for Russia and the rest of the world.


    — Michael Mandelbaum, author of The Four Ages of American Foreign Policy: Weak Power, Great Power, Superpower, Hyperpower


    This book is a wonderful tribute to one of the most important scholars of the Soviet system. Weaving together significant historical, political, and social analysis, it provides insights into a range of topics bearing on current debates including military doctrine, political succession, Russia’s relations with the West, populism, the nature of elite politics, public health, food security, and refugees. And it provides those of us who did not have the good fortune to study directly with Dr. Seweryn Bialer a deeper understanding of his importance to his students and colleagues.


    — James Goldgeier, American University


    This volume takes on the critical issues of leadership and transformation in Russia from World War II to the present by viewing it through the lens of the evolution of leadership in the Soviet Union and the post-Soviet space. It looks at how critical policy issues—including food security and refugee claims—have been dealt with in Eastern Europe and the post-Soviet space. This volume fills what have been vast gaps in our understanding of this crucial area, and it is a fitting tribute by leading scholars to one of key unsung mentors who helped shape this field of scholarship.


    — Jane Leftwich Curry, Santa Clara University


    In the first chapter, Bruce Parrott analyzes political—international and domestic—dimensions of the Cold War, providing a precise and comprehensive array of sources and evidence, particularly important now, when we often hear grandiose conclusions politically palatable to one side or the other. This book is unusual in its commitment to examine ‘grand strategy’ and go beyond: to the granular life and tensions of everyday life, such as equality and justice in the legal system, inter-ethnic relations, domestic violence, for these, too are part of the system, even if leaders often fail to see them from their perches in the Kremlin. Leadership decisions on the Cold War fail all of us if they rush to conclusions based on obsolete or incomplete information. This book is both wide-ranging and solidly grounded: Barbara Ann Chotiner’s and Linda Cook’s fitting tribute to the late Professor Seweryn Bialer. These are the well-written sources we shall turn to in times of great moment. We cannot afford to adopt superficial or bombastic arguments, when this must-read book shows a landscape far more sophisticated and complex and, at the same time, fraught with real-world outcomes.


    — Ellen Mickiewicz, Sanford School of Public Policy and Political Science Department at Duke University


    The Post-Communist World in the Twenty-First Century: How the Past Informs the Present is a comprehensive and impressive collection of essays linking the Soviet past to the contemporary period. The team of authors assembled by Cook and Chotiner represents some of the most experienced and creative analysts of the Soviet system and the post-communist world. This authoritative collection is a must read for those who want to know more about the complex ways in which the communist past informs and influences the leadership decisions and policies of the present.


    — Kathryn Stoner, Stanford University


    In this impressive and wide-ranging volume, students of Seweryn Bialer explore the continuing importance of his work on leadership, war, and policymaking in the Soviet Union and contemporary Russia. These closely argued and deeply researched essays not only pay respect to a giant of the study of Soviet politics, they also combine personal and political reflections to inform ongoing academic and policy debates in the style that Bialer practiced so well. A remarkable volume dedicated to a remarkable scholar.


    — Timothy Frye, Columbia University


ALSO AVAILABLE

  • Cover image for the book Historical Dictionary of Socialism, Fourth Edition
  • Cover image for the book The Party Leads All: The Evolving Role of the Chinese Communist Party
  • Cover image for the book What Was Soviet Ideology?: A Theoretical Inquiry
  • Cover image for the book Dragon in the Tropics: Venezuela and the Legacy of Hugo Chavez, Second Edition
  • Cover image for the book Historical Dictionary of the Chinese Communist Party, Second Edition
  • Cover image for the book Historical Dictionary of Marxism, Second Edition
  • Cover image for the book In the Marxian Workshops: Producing Subjects
  • Cover image for the book China's Youth: Increasing Diversity amid Persistent Inequality
  • Cover image for the book The Political Theory of Che Guevara
  • Cover image for the book Rethinking Mao: Explorations in Mao Zedong's Thought
  • Cover image for the book Protest Movements and Parties of the Left: Affirming Disruption
  • Cover image for the book The Heroic and Creative Meaning of Socialism
  • Cover image for the book Intellectuals and Apparatchiks: Russian Nationalism and the Gorbachev Revolution
  • Cover image for the book Crisis and Commonwealth: Marcuse, Marx, McLaren
  • Cover image for the book The Marx Machine: Politics, Polemics, Ideology
  • Cover image for the book Marxist Theory, Black/African Specificities, and Racism
  • Cover image for the book B.D. Amis, African American Radical: A Short Anthology of Writings and Speeches
  • Cover image for the book Crisis and Change Today: Basic Questions of Marxist Sociology, Second Edition
  • Cover image for the book Zhu Rongji on the Record: The Shanghai Years, 1987-1991
  • Cover image for the book A 'Dress Rehearsal' For Revolution: John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon's Works in Eighteenth-Century British America
  • Cover image for the book Historical Dictionary of Socialism, Third Edition
  • Cover image for the book Extraterritorial Citizenship in Postcommunist Europe
  • Cover image for the book Political Action in Václav Havel's Thought: The Responsibility of Resistance
  • Cover image for the book Historical Dictionary of Socialism, Fourth Edition
  • Cover image for the book The Party Leads All: The Evolving Role of the Chinese Communist Party
  • Cover image for the book What Was Soviet Ideology?: A Theoretical Inquiry
  • Cover image for the book Dragon in the Tropics: Venezuela and the Legacy of Hugo Chavez, Second Edition
  • Cover image for the book Historical Dictionary of the Chinese Communist Party, Second Edition
  • Cover image for the book Historical Dictionary of Marxism, Second Edition
  • Cover image for the book In the Marxian Workshops: Producing Subjects
  • Cover image for the book China's Youth: Increasing Diversity amid Persistent Inequality
  • Cover image for the book The Political Theory of Che Guevara
  • Cover image for the book Rethinking Mao: Explorations in Mao Zedong's Thought
  • Cover image for the book Protest Movements and Parties of the Left: Affirming Disruption
  • Cover image for the book The Heroic and Creative Meaning of Socialism
  • Cover image for the book Intellectuals and Apparatchiks: Russian Nationalism and the Gorbachev Revolution
  • Cover image for the book Crisis and Commonwealth: Marcuse, Marx, McLaren
  • Cover image for the book The Marx Machine: Politics, Polemics, Ideology
  • Cover image for the book Marxist Theory, Black/African Specificities, and Racism
  • Cover image for the book B.D. Amis, African American Radical: A Short Anthology of Writings and Speeches
  • Cover image for the book Crisis and Change Today: Basic Questions of Marxist Sociology, Second Edition
  • Cover image for the book Zhu Rongji on the Record: The Shanghai Years, 1987-1991
  • Cover image for the book A 'Dress Rehearsal' For Revolution: John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon's Works in Eighteenth-Century British America
  • Cover image for the book Historical Dictionary of Socialism, Third Edition
  • Cover image for the book Extraterritorial Citizenship in Postcommunist Europe
  • Cover image for the book Political Action in Václav Havel's Thought: The Responsibility of Resistance
facebook icon twitter icon instagram icon linked in icon NEWSLETTERS
ABOUT US
  • Mission Statement
  • Employment
  • Privacy
  • Accessibility Statement
CONTACT
  • Company Directory
  • Publicity and Media Queries
  • Rights and Permissions
  • Textbook Resource Center
AUTHOR RESOURCES
  • Royalty Contact
  • Production Guidelines
  • Manuscript Submissions
ORDERING INFORMATION
  • Rowman & Littlefield
  • National Book Network
  • Ingram Publisher Services UK
  • Special Sales
  • International Sales
  • eBook Partners
  • Digital Catalogs
IMPRINTS
  • Rowman & Littlefield
  • Lexington Books
  • Hamilton Books
  • Applause Books
  • Amadeus Press
  • Backbeat Books
  • Bernan
  • Hal Leonard Books
  • Limelight Editions
  • Co-Publishing Partners
  • Globe Pequot
  • Down East Books
  • Falcon Guides
  • Gooseberry Patch
  • Lyons Press
  • Muddy Boots
  • Pineapple Press
  • TwoDot Books
  • Stackpole Books
PARTNERS
  • American Alliance of Museums
  • American Association for State and Local History
  • Brookings Institution Press
  • Center for Strategic & International Studies
  • Council on Foreign Relations
  • Fairleigh Dickinson University Press
  • Fortress Press
  • The Foundation for Critical Thinking
  • Lehigh University Press
  • United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
  • Other Partners...