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Zach Weinersmith (zachweinersmith@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 17-Aug-2023 20:39:20 JST Zach Weinersmith

Is there a big definitive book on what went wrong with Russia trying to become a liberal democracy in the 90s?

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  pettter (pettter@mastodon.acc.umu.se)'s status on Thursday, 17-Aug-2023 20:39:20 JST pettter
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  @ZachWeinersmith https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shock_Doctrine
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    The Shock Doctrine
    
    The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism is a 2007 book by the Canadian author and social activist Naomi Klein. In the book, Klein argues that neoliberal free market policies (as advocated by the economist Milton Friedman) have risen to prominence in some developed countries because of a deliberate strategy of "shock therapy". This centers on the exploitation of national crises (disasters or upheavals) to establish controversial and questionable policies, while citizens are too distracted (emotionally and physically) to engage and develop an adequate response, and resist effectively. The book advances the idea that some man-made events, such as the Iraq War, were undertaken with the intention of pushing through such unpopular policies in their wake. Some reviewers criticized the book for making what they viewed as simplifications of political phenomena, while others lauded it as a compelling and important work. The book served as the main source of a 2009 documentary feature film with the same title directed by Michael Winterbottom. Synopsis The book is divided into seven parts...
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  maxlath (maxlath@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 19-Aug-2023 18:40:20 JST maxlath
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  @ZachWeinersmith not a book, but Adam Curtis' documentary "Russia 1985–1999: TraumaZone" does a great job at addressing the question "What It Felt Like to Live Through The Collapse of Communism and Democracy" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russia_1985%E2%80%931999:_TraumaZone
  #documentary #russia
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    Russia 1985–1999: TraumaZone
    
    Russia 1985–1999: TraumaZone (subtitled in promotional media as What It Felt Like to Live Through The Collapse of Communism and Democracy) is a seven-part BBC documentary television series created by Adam Curtis. It was released on BBC iPlayer on 13 October 2022. Background Previously unused archival footage of the Soviet Union and Russia from the BBC's Moscow bureau was unearthed and digitised by a BBC employee, Phil Goodwin. Adam Curtis appeared to be the only person within the BBC interested in using the footage. In a departure from his usual style, Curtis opted not to use voiceovers or non-diegetic music, with the only commentary made via on-screen captions. Curtis, in a piece in The Guardian, explained this choice was because the footage was "so strong that I didn’t want to intrude pointlessly, but rather let viewers simply experience what was happening". In an interview with Meduza, Curtis stated that Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace served as an inspiration for him as "it appeals to my collage mind". Premise Using stock...
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  Michał "rysiek" Woźniak · 🇺🇦 (rysiek@mstdn.social)'s status on Saturday, 19-Aug-2023 18:40:27 JST Michał "rysiek" Woźniak · 🇺🇦
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  @ZachWeinersmith okay, got a recommendation of an *actual book on the actual subject* from a person whose opinion on stuff like this I tend to trust a lot:
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Oligarchs
  On my reading list now too.
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  Michał "rysiek" Woźniak · 🇺🇦 (rysiek@mstdn.social)'s status on Saturday, 19-Aug-2023 18:40:28 JST Michał "rysiek" Woźniak · 🇺🇦
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  @ZachWeinersmith not a book, and not *specifically* about this, so feel free to ignore me here, but Timothy Snyder's "Making of Modern Ukraine" course contains a lot of background and historical and context info useful here:
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJczLlwp-d8&list=PLh9mgdi4rNewfxO7LhBoz_1Mx1MaO6sw_
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  1. Timothy Snyder: The Making of Modern Ukraine. Class 1: Ukrainian Questions Posed by Russian Invasion
    
    from YaleCourses
    
    Class 1 is an introduction to the course and an exploration of questions raised by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.Timothy Snyder is the Richard C. Levin Pro...
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  Jena TransMILF (jena@eldritch.cafe)'s status on Saturday, 19-Aug-2023 18:40:46 JST Jena TransMILF
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  @ZachWeinersmith The Rachel Maddow book about Russia, oil and Rex Tillerson is very interesting on this topic.
  
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  TheSauce (thesauce@mstdn.ca)'s status on Saturday, 19-Aug-2023 18:40:48 JST TheSauce
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  @ZachWeinersmith you won't go wrong starting with any book by Mark Galeotti.
  "A Short History of Russia" gives you the broad swath perspective, but spend some time with "The Vory: Russia's supermafia."
  
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  Andrei Kucharavy (andrei_chiffa@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 19-Aug-2023 18:40:48 JST Andrei Kucharavy
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  @ZachWeinersmith
  A good starting point for western audience would be Putin’s Russia by Politkovskaya https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Putin%27s_Russia, although IMHO Putin is a symptom (and I am not sure how clear she makes it there).
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    Putin's Russia
    
    Putin's Russia is a political commentary book by the Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya about events and life in Russia under Vladimir Putin. Politkovskaya argues that Russia still has aspects of a police state or mafia state, under the leadership of Vladimir Putin. In a review, Angus Macqueen wrote: Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of this collection is that it feels like a Soviet-era dissident's book. Her pieces have that slightly desperate pitch of someone who fears no one is listening - that her own people have given up and that the outside world does not want to hear, or worse, does not care. Politkovskaya described an army in which conscripts are tortured and hired out as slaves. She described judges who are removed from their positions or brutally assaulted on the street for not following instructions "from above" to let criminals go. She describes particular areas in Russia dominated and operating under insensitive companies or cold oligarchs that resemble brutal mafia bosses, with ex-military and special services personnel to aid them. She condemns routine kidnappings, murders, rape, and...
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  clacke (clacke@libranet.de)'s status on Saturday, 19-Aug-2023 18:40:54 JST clacke
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  - PJ Coffey
  @Homebrewandhacking @ZachWeinersmith There were nonzero people who sincerely tried to make Russia a liberal democracy. If they failed to rally the rest, understanding why is an interesting and important topic.
  
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  PJ Coffey (homebrewandhacking@mastodon.ie)'s status on Saturday, 19-Aug-2023 18:40:55 JST PJ Coffey
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  @ZachWeinersmith
  Your question assumes they tried.
  kamilkazani on substack:
  1. Is a dickhead
  2. Will cost you money
  But
  3. Has made very convincing arguments that they never tried and never would.
  Very realpolitik.
  
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  Roman (r_matv@sciences.social)'s status on Saturday, 19-Aug-2023 18:41:02 JST Roman
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  @ZachWeinersmith this one fits the description: https://upittpress.org/books/9780822963684/
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  1. Authoritarian Russia - University of Pittsburgh Press
    
    from University of Pittsburgh Press
    
    |9780822963684|Analyzing Post-Soviet Regime Changes| Russia today represents one of the major examples of the phenomenon of “electoral authoritarianism” which is characterized by adopting the trappings of democratic institutions (such as elections, political parties, and a legislature) and enlisting the service of the country’s essentially authoritarian rulers. Why and how has the electoral authoritarian regime been consolidated in Russia? What are the mechanisms of its maintenance, and what is its likely future course? This book attempts to answer these basic questions. Vladimir Gel’man examines regime change in Russia from the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 to the present day,...
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  clacke (clacke@libranet.de)'s status on Saturday, 19-Aug-2023 18:41:05 JST clacke
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  - Desikner
  @desikn @ZachWeinersmith Do you mean the foreign policy direction facilitated a particular political structure?
  
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  Desikner (desikn@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 19-Aug-2023 18:41:06 JST Desikner
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  @ZachWeinersmith As I understand it, when all those satellite states became independent in the 90's the USSR lost half of it's population and a bunch of land resulting in a lesser empire. Russia is pissed this happened and wants it all back.
  
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  Jimmy Havok (jhavok@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 19-Aug-2023 18:41:07 JST Jimmy Havok
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  @ZachWeinersmith Aricle from The Nation: Harvard d Boys Do Russia
  https://www.thenation.com/article/world/harvard-boys-do-russia/
  The creation of the Russian kleptocracy was deliberate and it's no surprise Republicans look to it as their model.
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    The Harvard Boys Do Russia
    
    from https://www.thenation.com/authors
    
    After seven years of economic “reform” financed by billions of dollars in U.S.
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  clacke (clacke@libranet.de)'s status on Saturday, 19-Aug-2023 18:41:09 JST clacke
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  - KewlCat
  @KewlCat @ZachWeinersmith That leads to the second "why?".
  
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  KewlCat (kewlcat@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 19-Aug-2023 18:41:10 JST KewlCat
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  @ZachWeinersmith A book? I thought all you needed was the word "corruption"…
  
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  clacke (clacke@libranet.de)'s status on Saturday, 19-Aug-2023 22:50:20 JST clacke
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  - KewlCat
  @KewlCat Still not an explanation specific to Russia.
  
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  KewlCat (kewlcat@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 19-Aug-2023 22:50:21 JST KewlCat
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  - clacke
  @clacke @ZachWeinersmith That's Volume II: "greed"
  
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