(2021). Exploring Varieties of Governance in Russia: In Search of Theoretical Frameworks. Europe-Asia Studies: Vol. 73, Good and Bad Governance in Russia: Actors and Institutions, pp. 971-988.

Abstract We examined the role of peer review in the quality assurance system developed for the regulation of higher education institutions in Russia. Given their negative attitude towards the state’s attempts to increase control over universities, how can the participation of academics in regulatory activity be explained? This essay applies resource allocation theory to suggest that engagement in academic

Abstract Does electoral support affect the quality of public goods provision? In this study, we explore the variety of governance patterns on the level of Russian municipalities from 2012 to 2018. We estimate the effects of budget autonomy and electoral loyalty during federal elections on public goods provision and explore whether elected heads provide better services. Our findings suggest that since

Abstract How does centralisation affect public goods provision in Russian municipalities? Drawing on the evidence from 68 interviews with municipal elites in four Russian regions, we demonstrate that, first, centralisation through excessive regulation encourages the provision of a higher quantity of public goods but does not encourage their quality. Short time horizons and haste lower the quality of

Abstract This essay is focused on the analysis of several success stories of state-directed developmental projects and programmes in Russia, which are designed and implemented amid conditions of bad governance. I argue that these success stories do not serve as exceptions to the general rules of bad governance but rather confirm its overall tendencies. The prioritisation of state support for successful

Abstract This essay examines the role of civic tech in contemporary Russian governance through a data-driven analysis of the ‘Active Citizen’ platform deployed in Moscow. It shows that the way in which polls are conducted on the platform has various consequences, from serving the city administration’s PR needs to shuffling the power balance in various policy areas and effectively disempowering certain

Abstract Since 2012, with a view to strengthen the development of strategically important regions, Russia has established several federal agencies responsible for these territories. The essay investigates one of these agencies: the Ministry for the Development of the Far East (Ministerstvo Rossiiskoi Federatsii po razvitiyu Dal’nego Vostoka). We identify two main trade-offs associated with the governance

Abstract This essay considers how the tensions inherent to authoritarian politics structure urban governance in the city of Moscow. The focus here is on urban development policy and the housing renovation programme introduced in 2017. The essay demonstrates a flexible governance arrangement that responds to the interests and ideas of the country’s leadership and involves city-level bureaucratic decision-making

Abstract Russian authorities have been increasingly willing to facilitate apolitical collective action to deal with day-to-day problems. A case in point is community self-organisation, known as ‘territorial self-management’ (TSM), supported by local administrations through cost-sharing and other means. We use a unique dataset on TSM in the city of Kirov to study the causes and consequences of this

(2021). List of Contributors. Europe-Asia Studies: Vol. 73, Good and Bad Governance in Russia: Actors and Institutions, pp. 1210-1214.

Abstract With the 2013 Brussels Agreement, Serbia met the EU’s expectations in order to advance its membership bid. However, the Agreement was embedded in anti-EU rhetoric on a domestic level, which included criticising EU mediation and previous actions in the EU integration process. Based on Riker’s rational choice discourse analysis and by using a spatial metaphor of competition, the article attempts

Abstract This article discusses the ‘red yurt’ campaigns in early Soviet Kazakhstan, in which party and state institutions sponsored mobile centres of Soviet culture in nomadic pastoralist communities. In conversation with other literature on nomadic encounters with the Soviet state, this article considers how red yurts sought to exemplify Soviet ‘culturedness’ (kul’turnost’) within nomadic ‘everyday

Abstract This article presents findings from an original survey and a set of paired focus groups completed in 2019, tapping into current Mongolian perceptions of economic, social and political globalisation. While there was overwhelming support for the economic opportunities associated with globalisation, there was critical concern over the distributional implications of those gains. Respondents were

(2021). Interwar East Central Europe, 1918–1941. The Failure of Democracy-Building, the Fate of Minorities. Europe-Asia Studies: Vol. 73, No. 5, pp. 954-956.

(2021). The Geopolitics of Memory. A Journey to Bosnia. Europe-Asia Studies: Vol. 73, No. 5, pp. 956-958.

(2021). Everyday Life in the Balkans. Europe-Asia Studies: Vol. 73, No. 5, pp. 958-959.

(2021). The Regional World Order. Transregionalism, Regional Integration, and Regional Projects across Europe and Asia. Europe-Asia Studies: Vol. 73, No. 5, pp. 961-962.

(2021). Semi-presidentialism, Parliamentarism and Presidents. Presidential Politics in Central Europe. Europe-Asia Studies: Vol. 73, No. 5, pp. 962-964.

(2021). Russia. Europe-Asia Studies: Vol. 73, No. 5, pp. 964-965.

(2021). Russia’s New Authoritarianism. Putin and the Politics of Order. Europe-Asia Studies: Vol. 73, No. 5, pp. 965-967.

(2021). Books Received. Europe-Asia Studies: Vol. 73, No. 5, pp. 968-970.

Abstract The article deals with the intersecting topics of liberty, democracy, and contentious politics in Czechia in the 1990s. After the fall of the Iron Curtain, Czechoslovakian citizens could once again freely enter the public space and articulate their demands. But what if contentious claim-making acquires intolerant or even violent forms? The author chooses a specific case of skinhead violence

Abstract The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of study abroad on identity development among Azerbaijani academics. The results suggest that study abroad has had a transformative impact on the new generation of academic professionals, who have become local agents, practitioners, and transmitters of values and professional conduct at home. This study shows that the location of study

Abstract Research on status-seeking in international politics offers valuable insights into why countries of various sizes may and sometimes do act in unexpected and apparently irrational ways. This article applies a status-seeking theoretical framework, that of Social Identity Theory, to explain a small, materially weak state’s unconventional foreign policy choices. Our case study focuses on Lithuania’s

Abstract Uzbekistan’s unique post-independence experiment with development was led by Islam Karimov until his sudden death in September 2016. Despite defying international advice on structural reforms, under Karimov’s rule, Uzbekistan achieved an average annual growth rate of 5% in the period 1996–2016, which was particularly impressive (over 8%) in 2004–2016. Karimov also left behind strong macroeconomic

Abstract The article explores how transport networks in the Western Balkans are transformed from physical infrastructures into political instruments. It concentrates on two case studies: the construction of the ‘Brotherhood and Unity’ Highway and the EU connectivity agenda in the Western Balkans. It examines how the first was part of the process of constructing a Yugoslav ‘community of nations’ and

Abstract The article contributes to a better understanding of ‘Traditional Islam’ (TI), a state-led project in Azerbaijan to establish an alternative narrative promoting a specific local understanding of Islam that builds on its non-political, non-sectarian and national features to prevent ‘non-traditional’ religious variants from gaining popular traction. The phenomenon has not appeared in a vacuum

Abstract This article evaluates the relationships among state-framed and alternatively territorialised narratives of identity and belonging in Kazakhstan. Using survey data from 2017 and 2018, we argue that collective identity among Kazakhstan’s citizens is negotiated not just in terms of balancing ethnic and civic forms of state-centric national belonging, but also through varied forms and scales

(2021). The Putin Paradox. Europe-Asia Studies: Vol. 73, No. 4, pp. 766-767.

(2021). The Use of History in Putin’s Russia. Europe-Asia Studies: Vol. 73, No. 4, pp. 767-768.

(2021). International Law and the Post-Soviet Space II. Essays on Ukraine, Intervention, and Non-Proliferation. Europe-Asia Studies: Vol. 73, No. 4, pp. 770-771.

(2021). Ukraine in Transformation. From Soviet Republic to European Society. Europe-Asia Studies: Vol. 73, No. 4, pp. 772-773.

(2021). The Burden of the Past. History, Memory, and Identity in Contemporary Ukraine. Europe-Asia Studies: Vol. 73, No. 4, pp. 773-775.

(2021). Thirty Years of Political Campaigning in Central and Eastern Europe. Europe-Asia Studies: Vol. 73, No. 4, pp. 775-776.

(2021). Soviet Signoras. Personal and Collective Transformations in Eastern European Migration. Europe-Asia Studies: Vol. 73, No. 4, pp. 776-778.

(2021). Socioeconomic Justice. International Intervention and Transition in Post-war Bosnia and Herzegovina. Europe-Asia Studies: Vol. 73, No. 4, pp. 778-780.

(2021). Frontbeziehungen. Geschlechterverhältnisse und Gewaltdynamiken in der Roten Armee 1941–1945. Europe-Asia Studies: Vol. 73, No. 4, pp. 780-781.

(2021). Maoism. A Global History. Europe-Asia Studies: Vol. 73, No. 4, pp. 783-784.

(2021). Books Received. Europe-Asia Studies: Vol. 73, No. 4, pp. 785-785.

Abstract Russia has enlisted the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) and instrumentalised it as part of what can be described as a dynamic ‘soft-power offensive’. Its aim is to consolidate hierarchical power as a means to insulate an emerging Kremlin-centric political order and, subsequently, reassert its hegemonic influence over its periphery. This article argues that a strategy of using the Orthodox Church

Abstract Based on expert interviews (n = 75) conducted between October 2018 and July 2019 in selected Russian regions, the authors identify several types of strategies used by businesses while dealing with the government. These include collusion, revolving-door affiliations, conflict of interest, ‘voluntary’ donations and other forms of support to the ruling party (and sometimes the opposition parties)

Abstract The development of regulatory frameworks has accelerated in Russia after the ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2012. Using public opinion poll data and interviews with school administrators, teachers, assistants and parents, the authors show the challenges of moving towards inclusive education in contemporary Russia. The development of an inclusive

Abstract This article deploys national anthem and national currency as analytical lenses to disentangle the connection between symbolic politics and nation-building, national identity formation and regime legitimation in Kazakhstan. The study emphasises the role of national symbols—in particular, the national anthem and national banknotes—as important elements of a larger discourse about the nature

Abstract The pro-Russian protests that spread across the east and south of Ukraine in the aftermath of the Euromaidan Revolution set largely similar regions on starkly different trajectories. While Donbas saw a successful rebellion and later slid into war, Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk managed to avoid a separatist scenario. In this article, I examine the critical early stages of the pro-Russian unrest

Abstract Holidays can unite a population under the regime’s national narrative, thereby enhancing regime support. In Russia, there are all-Russia holidays and regional holidays, leading to potential variation in their nation-building capacity. Using media coverage and observations from fieldwork in Tatarstan (2014, 2016) and Karelia (2015–2016), I compare how regional governments, public figures, and

Abstract National research evaluation systems that use metrics for the assessment of academic institutions are usually regarded as exemplifying the same neoliberal model of governance that, with minor variations, is implemented worldwide. This essay argues, however, that despite apparent similarities, metrics are used for different aims in different national cases. It compares the use of figures in

Abstract One of the core principles of social democracy is equality between citizens. However, in Europe, several social democratic parties have recently supported referendums against same-sex marriage. This article aims to examine the factors which drove left-wing parties to disregard the principle of equality by comparing the four most recent same-sex marriage referendums—in Croatia, Romania, Slovakia

(2021). Rising Subjects. The 1905 Revolution and the Origins of Modern Polish Politics. Europe-Asia Studies: Vol. 73, No. 3, pp. 582-583.

(2021). Diffusing Human Trafficking Policy in Eurasia. Europe-Asia Studies: Vol. 73, No. 3, pp. 588-590.

(2021). LGBTQ+ Activism in Central and Eastern Europe. Resistance, Representation and Identity. Europe-Asia Studies: Vol. 73, No. 3, pp. 590-592.

(2021). Rocking the State. Rock Music and Politics in Eastern Europe and Russia. Europe-Asia Studies: Vol. 73, No. 3, pp. 592-593.

(2021). National Identity in Serbia. The Vojvodina and a Multi-Ethnic Community in the Balkans. Europe-Asia Studies: Vol. 73, No. 3, pp. 594-595.

(2021). Political Culture in the Baltic States. Between National and European Integration. Europe-Asia Studies: Vol. 73, No. 3, pp. 595-596.

(2021). The February 2015 Assassination of Boris Nemtsov and the Flawed Trial of his Alleged Killers. An Exploration of Russia’s ‘Crime of the 21st Century’. Europe-Asia Studies: Vol. 73, No. 3, pp. 597-598.

(2021). The Lands in Between. Russia vs. the West and the New Politics of Hybrid War. Europe-Asia Studies: Vol. 73, No. 3, pp. 598-600.

(2021). Armenia and Azerbaijan. Anatomy of a Rivalry. Europe-Asia Studies: Vol. 73, No. 3, pp. 600-601.

(2021). Books Received. Europe-Asia Studies: Vol. 73, No. 3, pp. 602-602.

Abstract This article provides a comprehensive analysis of Ukraine’s adoption of four decommunisation laws in April 2015, their implementation and the controversy they generated. The first section analyses changes in Ukrainian memory politics prior to 2014. In 2006, the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance (Ukrainskyi Instytut Natsionalnoi Pamiat—UINP) was established but given meagre resources

Abstract In response to international concerns about ongoing rights violations, this study presents a comparative analysis of state and civil society organisations’ discourse on the early phase implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (PWD) in the Commonwealth of Independent States. The findings show that PWD continue to experience rights-denial and

Abstract Why does Russia seem simultaneously powerful and weak? This article finds the answer in a geopolitical analysis of the structural incentives for and impediments to Russian alliance policy that vary across regions in ways that elude realist, liberal and constructivist explanations of Russia’s conduct. We demonstrate that those explanations miss fundamental changes in Russia’s geographical position