Pub Date : 2023-02-10DOI: 10.1080/21599165.2023.2176304
Yulia Karpich
ABSTRACT Existing studies leave open many questions about the link between religiosity and the conservative political attitudes of Orthodox believers in Russia. This article employs qualitative research to highlight the role of religiosity in individual political choice. The empirical material was collected during interviews with believers in Lipetsk Oblast in 2019–2020. The results of the study revealed three types of conservative choice, depending on an individual’s level of religiosity. Although religious beliefs and practices play different roles at different levels of religiosity, they are not crucial to believers’ political choices.
{"title":"“Conservative” voting in Russia: the religiosity and the political choice of orthodox believers","authors":"Yulia Karpich","doi":"10.1080/21599165.2023.2176304","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21599165.2023.2176304","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Existing studies leave open many questions about the link between religiosity and the conservative political attitudes of Orthodox believers in Russia. This article employs qualitative research to highlight the role of religiosity in individual political choice. The empirical material was collected during interviews with believers in Lipetsk Oblast in 2019–2020. The results of the study revealed three types of conservative choice, depending on an individual’s level of religiosity. Although religious beliefs and practices play different roles at different levels of religiosity, they are not crucial to believers’ political choices.","PeriodicalId":46570,"journal":{"name":"East European Politics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2023-02-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"73417617","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-02-01DOI: 10.1080/21599165.2023.2164849
Ivan Grek
ABSTRACT This article attempts to explore three illiberal discursive practices (metaphysical state, right post-colonialism, and Orthodox pan-Slavism) that structure Putin's ideological course and help to understand why justifications of Russia's invasion of Ukraine sound logical in Russian discourse. It argues that throughout the 1990s illiberal grassroots organizations popularized these discursive practices of the Soviet right-wing intelligentsia, engaged large masses in their projects, recruited members of Putin's elites as followers, and were partially absorbed by the administration. My interviews with the representatives of the illiberal civic movement and Putin’s administration indicate that grassroots organizations successfully delivered their ideological modus operandi to the post-Yeltsin ruling class. Hence, an acute resemblance of the illiberal grassroots movement’s discursive practices with those of the Kremlin is hardly likely to be accidental. Putin and his allies engaged with this preexisting illiberal civil society and ultimately drew on its ideas and tapped into its networks for support.
{"title":"The grassroots of Putin’s ideology: civil origins of an uncivil regime","authors":"Ivan Grek","doi":"10.1080/21599165.2023.2164849","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21599165.2023.2164849","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This article attempts to explore three illiberal discursive practices (metaphysical state, right post-colonialism, and Orthodox pan-Slavism) that structure Putin's ideological course and help to understand why justifications of Russia's invasion of Ukraine sound logical in Russian discourse. It argues that throughout the 1990s illiberal grassroots organizations popularized these discursive practices of the Soviet right-wing intelligentsia, engaged large masses in their projects, recruited members of Putin's elites as followers, and were partially absorbed by the administration. My interviews with the representatives of the illiberal civic movement and Putin’s administration indicate that grassroots organizations successfully delivered their ideological modus operandi to the post-Yeltsin ruling class. Hence, an acute resemblance of the illiberal grassroots movement’s discursive practices with those of the Kremlin is hardly likely to be accidental. Putin and his allies engaged with this preexisting illiberal civil society and ultimately drew on its ideas and tapped into its networks for support.","PeriodicalId":46570,"journal":{"name":"East European Politics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2023-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"75185135","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-01-20DOI: 10.1080/21599165.2023.2164851
Petar Sorić, Andrija Henjak, M. Čižmešija
ABSTRACT This article argues that causality between economic conditions and political sentiment can be moderated by the presence of strong political polarisation based on sociocultural issues. We look at the interdependencies between economic and political sentiment in Croatia, a country characterised by strong political divisions over interpretations of history, the role of religion in society, and conflicts of traditional vs. modernist values. Our results reveal that economic variables and government support move more or less independently. Thus, we conclude that performance evaluation in general, and economic voting in particular, play a very small role in Croatian politics.
{"title":"The decoupling of government sentiment and the macroeconomy in a highly polarised political setting","authors":"Petar Sorić, Andrija Henjak, M. Čižmešija","doi":"10.1080/21599165.2023.2164851","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21599165.2023.2164851","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This article argues that causality between economic conditions and political sentiment can be moderated by the presence of strong political polarisation based on sociocultural issues. We look at the interdependencies between economic and political sentiment in Croatia, a country characterised by strong political divisions over interpretations of history, the role of religion in society, and conflicts of traditional vs. modernist values. Our results reveal that economic variables and government support move more or less independently. Thus, we conclude that performance evaluation in general, and economic voting in particular, play a very small role in Croatian politics.","PeriodicalId":46570,"journal":{"name":"East European Politics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2023-01-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"72523830","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-01-19DOI: 10.1080/21599165.2023.2164850
Jelisaveta Vukelić, Jelena Pešić
ABSTRACT The Great Recession of 2008 created a political opportunity for the mobilisation of various social groups, especially those most affected by the crisis. However, the two largest protest waves in Serbia - Against Dictatorship and One of Five Million, did not articulate economic grievances as the most pressing. The main question is why economic demands were so weakly expressed during these protests. Our contention is that the protesters' predominantly middle-class backgrounds and a lack of class solidarity hampered the framing of popular discontent in economic terms. The analysis here is based on surveys of the protest participants.
{"title":"The unusual weakness of the economic agenda at protests in times of austerity: the case of Serbia","authors":"Jelisaveta Vukelić, Jelena Pešić","doi":"10.1080/21599165.2023.2164850","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21599165.2023.2164850","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT\u0000 The Great Recession of 2008 created a political opportunity for the mobilisation of various social groups, especially those most affected by the crisis. However, the two largest protest waves in Serbia - Against Dictatorship and One of Five Million, did not articulate economic grievances as the most pressing. The main question is why economic demands were so weakly expressed during these protests. Our contention is that the protesters' predominantly middle-class backgrounds and a lack of class solidarity hampered the framing of popular discontent in economic terms. The analysis here is based on surveys of the protest participants.","PeriodicalId":46570,"journal":{"name":"East European Politics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2023-01-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"87350938","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-01-02DOI: 10.1080/21599165.2023.2183498
Katharina Bluhm, Sabine Kropp
ABSTRACT The introduction to the Symposium reassesses the role of companies as social welfare providers in Russia. Different from the mainstream, which has focused on the bilateral relations of the Russian state authorities either with civil society actors or with companies, this introductory article reconsiders the dynamics resulting from the interactions of companies with both the state authorities and NPOs. The introduction reveals how Russian companies influence the scope and nature of their involvement in social welfare provision. It summarises the four articles, which together show that social investments are part of a strategic response with which companies aim to preserve flexibility in an increasingly rigid authoritarian regime.
{"title":"Introduction to the symposium “Asymmetrical resource exchange. Business, state and social welfare provision in Russian regions”","authors":"Katharina Bluhm, Sabine Kropp","doi":"10.1080/21599165.2023.2183498","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21599165.2023.2183498","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The introduction to the Symposium reassesses the role of companies as social welfare providers in Russia. Different from the mainstream, which has focused on the bilateral relations of the Russian state authorities either with civil society actors or with companies, this introductory article reconsiders the dynamics resulting from the interactions of companies with both the state authorities and NPOs. The introduction reveals how Russian companies influence the scope and nature of their involvement in social welfare provision. It summarises the four articles, which together show that social investments are part of a strategic response with which companies aim to preserve flexibility in an increasingly rigid authoritarian regime.","PeriodicalId":46570,"journal":{"name":"East European Politics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2023-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"81750690","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-12-19DOI: 10.1080/21599165.2022.2155948
U. Pape, Stanislav Klimovich, Katharina Bluhm
ABSTRACT The Russian state requires companies to invest in welfare provision and to conclude socio-economic cooperation agreements (SECAs) with regional administrations. Based on empirical evidence from Khanty–Mansi Autonomous Okrug, this article analyses state-business interactions at the subnational level. We show that state and business actors have formalised their resource exchange in the SECAs. Because of the agreements' adaptive nature, both parties are able to manage their respective obligations and risks within an authoritarian and highly volatile environment. We identify four patterns of contractual relations, depending on the companies' production capacities and their commitment to providing social investments in the region.
{"title":"Formal contracting and state–business relations in Russia. A case study from Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug","authors":"U. Pape, Stanislav Klimovich, Katharina Bluhm","doi":"10.1080/21599165.2022.2155948","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21599165.2022.2155948","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The Russian state requires companies to invest in welfare provision and to conclude socio-economic cooperation agreements (SECAs) with regional administrations. Based on empirical evidence from Khanty–Mansi Autonomous Okrug, this article analyses state-business interactions at the subnational level. We show that state and business actors have formalised their resource exchange in the SECAs. Because of the agreements' adaptive nature, both parties are able to manage their respective obligations and risks within an authoritarian and highly volatile environment. We identify four patterns of contractual relations, depending on the companies' production capacities and their commitment to providing social investments in the region.","PeriodicalId":46570,"journal":{"name":"East European Politics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2022-12-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"82801860","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-12-08DOI: 10.1080/21599165.2022.2152798
Ana Pajvančić-Cizelj
ABSTRACT This paper brings the “scale question” into the discussion of urban movements in Southeast Europe and offers a multispatial framework for their analysis. It focuses on the shifting scale of urban movements in Serbia, which was recently united in a wider citizen's platform. The paper reveals that scaling up from the single-issue initiative to a national political alliance is a challenging process that takes place on multiple scales. The main challenges are co-optation and tension between urban issues and issues in other spaces beyond the (capital) city. My explanation considers the centralised semi-authoritarian national government and the urban-rural divide in Serbia.
{"title":"Scaling up? From urban movements to citizen's platforms in Serbia","authors":"Ana Pajvančić-Cizelj","doi":"10.1080/21599165.2022.2152798","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21599165.2022.2152798","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This paper brings the “scale question” into the discussion of urban movements in Southeast Europe and offers a multispatial framework for their analysis. It focuses on the shifting scale of urban movements in Serbia, which was recently united in a wider citizen's platform. The paper reveals that scaling up from the single-issue initiative to a national political alliance is a challenging process that takes place on multiple scales. The main challenges are co-optation and tension between urban issues and issues in other spaces beyond the (capital) city. My explanation considers the centralised semi-authoritarian national government and the urban-rural divide in Serbia.","PeriodicalId":46570,"journal":{"name":"East European Politics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2022-12-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"77888124","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-12-06DOI: 10.1080/21599165.2022.2146092
Oleksii Viedrov
ABSTRACT This discourse analysis of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his party, Servant of the People, over the period 2019–2021, provides a case study that adds to the emergent literature on technocratic populism, confirming some of its hypotheses. Technocratic populism utilises “outsider experts” and seeks “normalisation” via depoliticisation and demobilisation of the population. The political context of Ukraine was favourable to technocratic and inclusionary populism in the 2019–2021 period because the degree of trust in political parties was low and there was an association of the “old elites” with highly polarised politics structured along regional and identitarian lines.
本文对乌克兰总统泽连斯基(Volodymyr Zelensky)及其政党“人民公仆”(Servant of the People)在2019-2021年期间的话语分析提供了一个案例研究,为新兴的技术官僚民粹主义文献提供了补充,并证实了其中的一些假设。技术官僚民粹主义利用“外部专家”,并通过去政治化和人口复员来寻求“正常化”。在2019-2021年期间,乌克兰的政治环境有利于技术官僚和包容性民粹主义,因为对政党的信任程度很低,而且“旧精英”与按照地区和认同路线构建的高度两极化的政治有联系。
{"title":"Back-to-normality outsiders: Zelensky’s technocratic populism, 2019–2021","authors":"Oleksii Viedrov","doi":"10.1080/21599165.2022.2146092","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21599165.2022.2146092","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This discourse analysis of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his party, Servant of the People, over the period 2019–2021, provides a case study that adds to the emergent literature on technocratic populism, confirming some of its hypotheses. Technocratic populism utilises “outsider experts” and seeks “normalisation” via depoliticisation and demobilisation of the population. The political context of Ukraine was favourable to technocratic and inclusionary populism in the 2019–2021 period because the degree of trust in political parties was low and there was an association of the “old elites” with highly polarised politics structured along regional and identitarian lines.","PeriodicalId":46570,"journal":{"name":"East European Politics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2022-12-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"89583139","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-12-06DOI: 10.1080/21599165.2022.2152799
Ivaylo Dinev
ABSTRACT This article traces the transformation of the new left in Slovenia from a protest movement into the political force United Left/The Left during the anti-establishment protest wave against the conservative government of Janez Janša (2012–2013). Through a triangulation of the protest event dataset and qualitative analysis, this piece shows that the new left combined anti-austerity and pro-democratic messages with growing economic and political grievances early on in the cycle of protest and seised the political opportunities that emerged after the collapse of the traditional left-wing forces, thus paving the way for the successful electoral turn.
{"title":"Barricades and ballots: exploring the trajectory of the Slovenian left","authors":"Ivaylo Dinev","doi":"10.1080/21599165.2022.2152799","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21599165.2022.2152799","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This article traces the transformation of the new left in Slovenia from a protest movement into the political force United Left/The Left during the anti-establishment protest wave against the conservative government of Janez Janša (2012–2013). Through a triangulation of the protest event dataset and qualitative analysis, this piece shows that the new left combined anti-austerity and pro-democratic messages with growing economic and political grievances early on in the cycle of protest and seised the political opportunities that emerged after the collapse of the traditional left-wing forces, thus paving the way for the successful electoral turn.","PeriodicalId":46570,"journal":{"name":"East European Politics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2022-12-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"80159078","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-11-26DOI: 10.1080/21599165.2022.2150613
J. Navrátil
ABSTRACT How do political protests transform into a social movement? Analysing Czech anti-war protest events between 2002 and 2009, this study aims at identifying particular mechanisms through which the social-movement mode of coordination was established out of a fragmented field of activism through consecutive protest campaigns. The study shows how broadening collective identity and creating instrumental relationships in times with the opening of political opportunities is followed by the institutionalisation and further expansion of protest cooperation during a period of heightened political threats, which establishes a new mode of protest coordination.
{"title":"How peace movement emerges: protest networks, mechanisms and outcomes of Czech anti-war campaigns","authors":"J. Navrátil","doi":"10.1080/21599165.2022.2150613","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21599165.2022.2150613","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT How do political protests transform into a social movement? Analysing Czech anti-war protest events between 2002 and 2009, this study aims at identifying particular mechanisms through which the social-movement mode of coordination was established out of a fragmented field of activism through consecutive protest campaigns. The study shows how broadening collective identity and creating instrumental relationships in times with the opening of political opportunities is followed by the institutionalisation and further expansion of protest cooperation during a period of heightened political threats, which establishes a new mode of protest coordination.","PeriodicalId":46570,"journal":{"name":"East European Politics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2022-11-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"79988978","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}