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Category Archives: communism and post-communism
Pussy Riot: Russia’s Plastic People?
The widely criticised detention and trial of the three members of the Russian feminist punk collective Pussy Riot, now awaiting verdicts in Moscow on charges of ‘hooliganism’ for an anti-Putin protest happening at the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour has … Continue reading
Posted in communism and post-communism, Czech politics, Russia, Uncategorized
Tagged Czech, czechoslovakia, plastic people, pussy riot, putin, russia
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Populism in Central and Eastern Europe Spectres of moderation?
Radicalism and extremism, especially of the far-right variety, hold an enduring hypnotic fascination for political scientists and journalists. Extremist populism and illiberal movements more generally, we are told, relentlessly on the rise in both Western and Eastern Europe. In countries … Continue reading
“Can you recommend a good book on Czech politics?”
No trouble. I’m always happy to help people working on CEE politics, especially our former research students. And forecasting and analysis for real world organisations concerned with political risk is always an interesting challenge. But then I rather hesitate. Trouble … Continue reading
Area studies in the dock again?
In the early-mid 1990s - along with a chain of momentous social and political consequences- the fall of communism also triggered soul searching and crises in the academic world among specialists on Soviet and East European politics: Why, with the … Continue reading
Posted in academia, Arab Spring, Area studies, communism and post-communism
Tagged Arab Spring, area studies, communism, democracy, political science, universities, ussr
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Setting the seal on CEELBAS: Parties and post-communism
The Centre for East European for Language Based Area Studies (CEELBAS) research consortium which has brought researchers interested in various aspects of Russia and CEE at UCL, Birmingham, Oxford and beyond together in a variety of events and networks over … Continue reading
Posted in academia, communism and post-communism, Poland, political parties
Tagged area studies, Europe, parties, postcommunism, universities
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CEE parties: Gardeners’ World or Jurassic park?
A slow train wends it way through the tower blocks of South London to get me to plusher territory near Runnymede, where Birmingham University’s Centre for Russian and East European Studies (CREES) is holding its annual research conference. As ever … Continue reading
>Culturomics: Count me in
> ‘Denocracy’: 1800 – 2000 Between Christmas shopping and some intense research on interest groups and welfare institutions, courtesy of The Economist, I come across the excellent Culturomics site. The idea is simple: to track and visualize mention of keywords … Continue reading
>Tea parties Czech style?
> The rise of the US Tea Party party movement has held a weird fascination even for those who normally find US politics boring or incomprehensible: revolutionary but right-wing; a citizens movement, but one making inroads into party-electoral politics; leaderless, … Continue reading
>Post-communist democratization: Is your name.. Rumpelputin?
> Late at night I’ve been sitting up reading: reading Democracy and Authoritarianism in the Postcommunist World (Cambridge University Press) edited high-powered US specialists on communism and post-communism. McFaul is now a senior advisor to the Obama presidency at the … Continue reading
>Frostbitten – or just mildly chilled?
>The Cold War was not the whole story of the short C20th says this rather interesting essay in Foreign Affairs entitled Frostbitten
Posted in communism and post-communism
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