{"title":"Donbas Conflict: How Russia’s Trojan Horse Failed and Forced Moscow to Alter Its Strategy","authors":"Adam Potočňák, M. Mareš","doi":"10.1080/10758216.2022.2066005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10758216.2022.2066005","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The article deals with Russia’s strategic approach to the frozen conflict in Donbas and the two de facto states it generated, which differs from Russia’s previous practices. It argues that the “Trojan Horse strategy” was tailored explicitly to Donbas due to the second-generation nature of the conflict which was driven by Moscow’s interests in the confrontation with the West. However, when the strategy failed and created a stalemate, Russia had to adjust it. This resulted in Moscow’s recognition of the two people’s republics in the Donbas as independent, followed by an outright invasion of the rest of Ukraine.","PeriodicalId":46824,"journal":{"name":"Problems of Post-Communism","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2022-05-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43497396","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}
{"title":"Students’ School and Political Participation in a Former Socialist Country","authors":"Aleš Kudrnáč, Airi-Alina Allaste","doi":"10.1080/10758216.2022.2062001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10758216.2022.2062001","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Former socialist states made great progress in the institutional set up and development of civil societies after the fall of their non-democratic regimes. However, the gap in levels of political participation between former socialist states and old democracies remains. Using two-wave panel data, this study explores how four different types of participation are related to each other and whether a sense of internal political efficacy is a prerequisite or a product of these types of participation. The results imply that facilitation of a sense of internal political efficacy is the key for enhancing the level of youth political participation.","PeriodicalId":46824,"journal":{"name":"Problems of Post-Communism","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2022-05-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47802398","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}
{"title":"Securitization and Coping Strategies of Women Sex Workers in Tajikistan","authors":"Karolina Kluczewska","doi":"10.1080/10758216.2022.2062002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10758216.2022.2062002","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This article analyzes why and how women’s sex work is securitized in Tajikistan. It argues that state actors view sex work as a threat to the nation in the context of two simultaneous processes: nation-building, centered around the family unit, and the fight against HIV/AIDS. The article explores the narratives, laws, and practices that are deployed to limit sex work. It also analyzes how security frameworks are experienced and navigated by women sex workers on a very local level. Three coping strategies are identified: hiding techniques, developing networks and befriending influential clients, and seeking companionship with other sex workers.","PeriodicalId":46824,"journal":{"name":"Problems of Post-Communism","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2022-04-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45375686","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}
{"title":"The Politics of Giving Voice: Media Framing of Extremist Groups in the 2010 Pride Parade in Serbia","authors":"A. Krstić, Filip Ejdus, N. Vladisavljević","doi":"10.1080/10758216.2022.2050926","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10758216.2022.2050926","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Serbia was highly polarized ahead of the 2010 Pride parade in Belgrade, an event marred by violence. It is often assumed that the media played a negative role by uncritically giving voice to anti-LGBT activists. To investigate this claim, we conducted a quantitative and qualitative analysis of media reporting as well as 25 in-depth interviews with journalists. We conclude that the media denied extremists direct access to the media. However, due to the high polarization, the media did empower nonviolent opponents of the parade, and hence indirectly contributed to the stereotypical and sometimes derogatory representation of the LGBT population.","PeriodicalId":46824,"journal":{"name":"Problems of Post-Communism","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2022-04-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45797213","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}
Anna Diedkova, E. Shestopal, Christ’l De Landtsheer
{"title":"An Ideal President’s Personality: Understanding the Expectations of Russian Citizens","authors":"Anna Diedkova, E. Shestopal, Christ’l De Landtsheer","doi":"10.1080/10758216.2022.2043757","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10758216.2022.2043757","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Little is currently known about how voters arrive at their vision of an ideal president. Along with an ideal president’s traits, this study examines the domains Russian voters draw upon when formulating these expectations. 20 in-depth interviews allowed an initial list of qualities that fall into broad categories of leadership effectiveness, morality, qualifications, and sociability. The domains from which voters derive their expectations include comparative, contextual, functional sources, and leadership style domain. Furthermore, 450 interviews examined the commonness of personality expectations in a quantitative sample. The respondents were more likely to discuss specific leadership traits than social skills or qualifications.","PeriodicalId":46824,"journal":{"name":"Problems of Post-Communism","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2022-04-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41337908","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}
{"title":"Routing or Rerouting Europe? The Civilizational Mission of Anti-Gender Politics in Eastern Europe","authors":"M. Mos","doi":"10.1080/10758216.2022.2050927","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10758216.2022.2050927","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The European Union is often seen as a bulwark of progressive values, including LGBTI rights. By restricting such rights, politicians thus appear to reject the EU’s fundamental principles. This paper argues, however, that anti-gender politics is often a surprisingly pro-European phenomenon. Many of its practitioners rebuff accusations of Euroskepticism. For them, rights restrictions are less an attempt to reject European integration than to redirect its trajectory. They aim to reconnect the EU with Europe’s civilizational roots. The paper illustrates this argument by analyzing the discourse actors have used to justify anti-gender policies in three countries: Hungary, Lithuania, and Slovakia.","PeriodicalId":46824,"journal":{"name":"Problems of Post-Communism","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2022-04-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42271602","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}
{"title":"Natural Allies? External Governance and Environmental Civil Society Organizations in the EU’s Eastern Partnership","authors":"A. Buzogány","doi":"10.1080/10758216.2021.2025404","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10758216.2021.2025404","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Civil society networks have received little attention when it comes to sectoral analysis of adaptation of EU rules beyond borders. This article offers a remedy by conceptualizing EU influence as an opportunity structure, a resource, and a discursive frame used by civil society organizations. Empirically, it describes how EU rules are used to support environmental reforms by civil society networks in Georgia and Ukraine. Civil society activism and mobilization can lead to high levels of policy approximation despite weak sectoral conditionality, entrenched domestic interests, and low public salience.","PeriodicalId":46824,"journal":{"name":"Problems of Post-Communism","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2022-02-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46493322","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}
{"title":"Legitimacy and Authoritarian Decline: The Internal Dynamics of Hybrid Regimes","authors":"D. Győrffy, J. Martin","doi":"10.1080/10758216.2021.2023579","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10758216.2021.2023579","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT While the literature on the definition, features, and establishment of hybrid regimes has been extensive, a gap exists about their internal dynamics. The article develops a four-stage model of the political cycle to trace changes in input and output legitimacy. Using Hungary as a case study, it shows a downward spiral of corruption and ideological degeneration due to the inherent contradictions between the initial promises and the real objectives of governance. These developments have undermined output and input legitimacy as shown by the changing composition of government supporters toward poorer, less educated, rural, older people and the increasing manipulation of the electoral process. Such dynamics imply significant vulnerabilities for the regime.","PeriodicalId":46824,"journal":{"name":"Problems of Post-Communism","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2022-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46788673","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}
N. Koval, V. Kulyk, Mykola Riabchuk, Kateryna Zarembo, Marianna Fakhurdinova
{"title":"Morphological Analysis of Narratives of the Russian-Ukrainian Conflict in Western Academia and Think-Tank Community","authors":"N. Koval, V. Kulyk, Mykola Riabchuk, Kateryna Zarembo, Marianna Fakhurdinova","doi":"10.1080/10758216.2021.2009348","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10758216.2021.2009348","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This paper examines representations of the ongoing conflict in and around Ukraine by scholars and policy analysts in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Greece, and Poland. Combining strategic narrative analysis and conceptual morphology, we deconstruct the main narratives of the conflict, identify the structural concepts of each narrative and analyze their use. We identify six key narratives of the Russian–Ukrainian conflict according to their presentation of what happened and their proposed way out of the conflict. In each country, the predominant approaches reflect a certain degree of coherence between political preferences and academic/analytical ideas.","PeriodicalId":46824,"journal":{"name":"Problems of Post-Communism","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2022-01-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43670683","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}
Constantine Boussalis, Alexander Dukalskis, Johannes Gerschewski
{"title":"Why It Matters What Autocrats Say: Assessing Competing Theories of Propaganda","authors":"Constantine Boussalis, Alexander Dukalskis, Johannes Gerschewski","doi":"10.1080/10758216.2021.2012199","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10758216.2021.2012199","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This article investigates two accounts of political propaganda in autocratic regimes. One argues that propaganda’s content does not matter substantively and that propaganda is mostly a signal of the regime’s overwhelming power over citizens. A second argues that propaganda is substantively meaningful: autocrats may communicate strategically either by attracting attention through highlighting the regime’s strengths or by distracting attention away from the regime’s malperformance. Using nearly 135,000 North Korean state-generated news articles between 1997 and 2018 we show that North Korea systematically adjusted its communication strategies following the leadership transfer from Kim Jong Il to Kim Jong Un.","PeriodicalId":46824,"journal":{"name":"Problems of Post-Communism","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2022-01-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45782189","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}