Search

According to elite and mass surveys, the late-Soviet sociopolitical and economic order was largely perceived as the only viable alternative to domestic political and economic status quo in Russia before 2022. Political elites invested significant efforts and funds into deliberative promotion of a complex of ideational legacies through different tools (including cinematography). This complex, labeled a "Good Soviet Union," is an imagined sociopolitical and economic order, which somehow resembles that of the late-Soviet past, while lacking its inherent flaws. Elements of the Soviet legacy were selectively chosen for the sake of preservation of the politico-economic status quo. They include the hierarchical mechanism of governance, low circulation of elites and their privileged status, state control over media, and repressions toward organized dissent. Meanwhile, other elements of the late-Soviet past, such as relatively low inequality and certain state social guarantees, have been discarded. A "Good Soviet Union" model includes not only market economy and no shortages of goods and services, but also a lack of institutional constraints on rent-seeking and legalization of wealth and status of elites. In this article, we consider a "Good Soviet Union" as a socially constructed legacy of the past and focus on mechanisms of translation of this legacy into Russia's current agenda through the use of modern Russian cinematography and analysis of policy preferences on the part of political elites. We further consider its effects on politics and policy-making, as well as its limitations and constraints. Some implications of the social construction of Soviet legacies are discussed in the conclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fifth, another radical change in environmental regional governance involves the increased importance of China as a leading partner for Russia and most Central Asian states. The year 2022 has witnessed highly turbulent changes in all aspects of world politics and socioeconomic development, directly affecting global environmental politics and posing new challenges to the sustainable development agenda.[1] This concluding essay places the articles of this special issue into this new dynamic global context, accounting for the rising importance of new actors and changes in regional environmental governance in Eurasia. Using discourse analysis, Dubuisson ([16]) demonstrates that these protests, by appealing to the legal frameworks of the UN I and i to the historical legacies of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), have led the government to revoke policies affecting land use and natural resources management. International (Dis-)engagement and Image-Building International influence and engagement have been the key triggers, not only in shaping the environmental standing of post-Communist states - including huge energy exporters such as Russia and Kazakhstan (Dubuisson [16]; Kochtcheeva [35]) - but also in the diffusion of democratic liberal values. [Extracted from the article]

Small hydropower plants (SHPs), despite being a renewable energy source, could have negative environmental effects. Nonetheless, many countries have promoted and subsidised them, leading to a rise in the number of environmental conflicts. How was the issue of SHPs framed in Serbia by the proponents and the opponents? How did the framing strategy change over time and why? And which factors increased attention to the topic, eventually leading a change of governmental policy? To address these questions, we analyse the Serbian mass media's environmental framing of SHPs and conduct a content analysis of 359 articles written between 2000–2020 and published by major national online newspapers and news portals. We use the Discourse Network Analyser to demonstrate changes in framing strategies that, together with increased public pressure, contributed to a re-evaluation of the impact of SHPs and ultimately changed the government's and the public's standing on this issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the ideational interaction underlying attempts at regional integration and cooperation in Eurasia. While the ideas and values of the European Union have been relatively well-studied within the theory of Europeanisation, the key concepts, ideas, values and principles driving Eurasian regionalism have remained out of the main focus of Western scholarship. This paper aims to shed more light on this ideational basis of Eurasian regionalism by unveiling the discourse developed in Russian scholarship and available only in Russian. Understanding interactions between institutions will always remain partial as long as the ideational interaction is not addressed. Such concepts as 'integrative mentality', as a segment of the wider category 'foreign policy mentality', and the theory of neo-Eurasianism have been incorporated into Russian political discourse and therefore affect public opinion through specific interpretation of economic, political and cultural processes in the EU's near neighbourhood and the EU as an actor. The analysis presented in this paper indicates the development of new ideational competition, in addition to the well-documented geopolitical one. The paper also aspires to contribute to emerging research on public support to governmental strategic choices and self-legitimation of international organisations in Eurasia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Does corruption influence trust in national institutions in the same way as trust in international institutions? Did this influence change over the economic crisis 2008? Using data from the European Social Survey, we examined the association between corruption and trust in national and European parliaments before and after the start of the Great Recession 2008. We found that over the Crisis, the effect of corruption on trust in national parliament became more negative than it was before 2008. We also discovered a positive association between corruption and trust in the EU before the Crisis. That is, states with a higher level of national corruption seem to have more trust in international institutions, such as the EU. However, this relationship disappears after 2008. Our findings contribute to the debates on the impact of corruption on trust in national and international institutions, and on the consequences of the Great Recession. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]