The first power transition in contemporary Kazakhstan started in 2019 after long-term president Nursultan Nazarbayev stepped aside. Top-down rotations of elites are one of the key methods post-Soviet leaders use to manage patronal states. The staffing policy of President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Nazarbayev’s successor, is no exception, although the process turned out to be extended over several years, since Tokayev inherited the elite network his predecessor had built over several decades. This research introduces a new dataset focused on elite rotations in Kazakhstan, which could serve as a blueprint for data collection on developing nations experiencing power transitions. The collected data contains sociodemographic and career characteristics of 136 cases of individuals who held the highest political and administrative offices in Kazakhstan during January 2019–April 2023, detailed up to precise durations spent in office. The results show that the high rate of renewal of Kazakhstan’s administrative elite during Tokayev’s first presidential term was achieved even before the controversial Kazakh unrest of 2022. The transition of power in Kazakhstan was completed between late 2022 and April 2023. The results can be compared to a “colorless revolution,” since the renewal of the administrative elite of Kazakhstan under the leadership of Tokayev exceeded 85%.

New in Advance Articles:

Colorless Revolution. Elite Rotations in Post-Nazarbayev’s Kazakhstan
by Denis Ri & Kirill Petrov

doi.org/10.1525/cpcs...

This article analyzes the activist rhetoric of Put′ Domoi (The Way Home)—a prominent, Russia-based public protest movement consisting primarily of women whose family members were “mobilized” into fighting in Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine. Using a detailed framework that describes Russia’s gender-related ideologies under Putin, we analyze Put′ Domoi’s activist rhetoric focusing primarily on the first six months of their public activism (August 2023–March 2024). We examine how the activists struggled to frame their demands in a way that would afford them some protection from repression while also allowing them to challenge the regime’s open-ended military “mobilization.” We find that this movement employed a gender-compliant framework similar to that of many grassroots wives-and-mothers movements fighting authoritarian violence within and outside of Russia, but with particular Soviet roots. Over time, Put′ Domoi became increasingly frustrated with the regime’s response to their demands and increasingly critical of the war in general. This analysis helps explain why Put′ Domoi did not immediately face repression despite engaging in regular public protests critical of Russia’s war-related policies. Our case study of Put′ Domoi also sheds light on how these kinds of women’s movements navigate the complicated repressive terrain of authoritarian rule through gender-related framing tactics.

Recently published:

The Way Home, or the Way to Prison? Gender Legacies and Anti-War Protest in Russia
by Alexandra Novitskaya, Janet Elise Johnson, Valerie Sperling & Lisa McIntosh Sundstrom

Free access for one week: doi.org/10.1525/cpcs...

This article explores the ethical and practical challenges of conducting long-term ethnographic fieldwork in conflict zones in an era of widespread smartphone and social media use. It argues that digital technology not only transforms methodological approaches but also reshapes the nature of war itself. Drawing on insights from fieldwork in various conflict zones, including Somalia, Ukraine, and South Sudan, it asks: How does rapidly acquired digital connectivity change the way we conceptualize, approach, and conduct fieldwork in conflict zones? When smartphones are both research tools and potential weapons of war (Ford and Hoskins 2022), how can we use them ethically? Reflecting on three online/offline complexities of the author’s fieldwork experiences in Somalia/Somaliland in 2021, the article suggests that participative warfare and digital research methodologies are intertwined, driven by the proliferation of connected devices. Practical, ethical, and security concerns arise from this intersection. First, researchers may become direct participants in war, whether physically present or not. Second, there is limited awareness of the security risks posed by technology, especially given the rise of mis- and disinformation in conflict settings. Finally, since the traditional notion of the “field” has collapsed, making us potentially reachable anywhere and at any time, we need to reconsider how we establish temporal boundaries to ensure safe and sustainable research practices. The article concludes that researchers must navigate a blended field of offline and online phenomena, underscoring the need to safeguard in-person fieldwork while allowing sufficient time to engage with the digital realm.

New in Advance Articles:

We Are All Netnographers Now? Fieldwork in an Age of Participatory Warfare
by Jethro Norman

doi.org/10.1525/cpcs...

Attending #BASEES2026 this weekend? CPCS editor Paul Goode @jpaulgoode.bsky.social will be happy to answer your questions about submitting your article, the review process, and publishing with us. See you in Birmingham!

@basees.bsky.social

This article focuses on the opportunities for allowing protests in contemporary Russia despite military censorship and a ban on any public action or criticism of the ongoing war against Ukraine. The research analyzes the tactics of the women’s activism that were used on Red Square in November 2023, demanding the return of their mobilized relatives. The study shows how women activists manage risks, declare demands, and avoid detention while interacting with police and officials of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (KPRF). Through the analysis of framing perspective, the study examines the demonstration and interactions in the community’s blog. Findings indicate that the actualization of several specific framings in the movement’s action—including appropriation of the KPRF’s rhetoric and self-representation as responsible and patriotic soldiers’ wives with minor support from the KPRF—presents a space for protest in Russia’s closed political system.

Recently published:

The Defending “Defenders”: Framing Public Actions in Contemporary Russian Political Opportunity Structures
by Marina Bezenkova

Free access for one week: doi.org/10.1525/cpcs...

The aim of the article is to present the results of research on the different ways in which contemporary communist parties operating in various parts of Europe treat the historical, ideological, and political legacy of communism based on examples of how this legacy is utilized in the political practice of selected communist parties. Through a qualitative analysis of the existing materials (political programs, ideological and political documents, etc.), we attempted to construct the image underpinning the current ideological and political identity of 11 communist parties operating in 11 European Union member states, and to present the use of the communist legacy by both mainstream and marginal communist parties.

New in Advance Articles (🔆Open Access🔆):

The Image of the Communist Ideo-Political Legacy: Presented in the Party Materials of Selected Contemporary European Communist Parties
by P. Obacz, A. Prusak, B. Pychowski, W. Samek & K. Sowa

doi.org/10.1525/cpcs...

This article examines the evolving identities and solidarity among Russia’s anti-war movement, particularly focusing on the convergence between feminist and decolonial activism. Using the Feminist Anti-War Resistance (FAR) and ethnic or decolonial activists as case studies, the research highlights how solidarity influences the activists’ understanding of their objectives, reshapes identities, and introduces new grassroots coalitions. In the context of Russia’s war against Ukraine, these interactions challenge traditional boundaries between movements and foster a growing solidarity. The study draws on diverse data sources, including interviews with FAR activists, interviews with ethnic/decolonial activists, and online ethnography, to explore how discursive shifts, particularly regarding ethnic discrimination and intersectionality, redefine activist identity and solidarity. The study provides a comprehensive understanding of the convergence of decolonial activism and feminism in the context of the war against Ukraine. By analyzing these changes, the article contributes to a deeper understanding of how activist identities and alliances evolve under authoritarian conditions, providing insight into the broader dynamics of civil resistance and identity politics.

Recently published:

Transformations in Russian Activism: Navigating Identity and Solidarity in Russia’s Anti-War Movement
by Vlada Baranova

Free access for one week: doi.org/10.1525/cpcs...

If only someone studied these kinds of questions...

The Russo-Ukrainian war and the deterioration of the relationship between Russia and the West made the application of traditional social science research methods, such as surveys and fieldwork, difficult for researchers. It is likely that in the foreseeable future students of Russia will have to increasingly rely on the data that can be collected online. Using these data has defined the field of computational social science and has many analytical advantages and some limitations. This article provides a review of the sources of digital trace data for Russia and of the studies that used them for the analysis of political communication and behavior, education, labor markets, discrimination, and the Russo-Ukrainian war.

New in Advance Articles:

Researching Russia with Digital Trace Data
by Alexey Bessudnov

doi.org/10.1525/cpcs...

Despite Russia’s relatively low ranking on gender equality, recent emigrants who left the country after February 2022 exhibit significantly higher levels of gender egalitarianism compared to their counterparts in Russia. This study investigates whether these attitudes are attributable to socio-demographic factors such as education and urban residence, or if deeper ideological and political factors play a role. Using data from the OutRush project on Russian emigration after 2022 and the World Values Survey, we analyze two key questions: Do recent emigrants demonstrate more egalitarian attitudes than socio-demographically similar Russians? Does gender equality of host countries influence emigrants’ attitudes? Our findings suggest that emigrants exhibit higher levels of gender egalitarianism than comparable groups in Russia, even after controlling for socio-demographic predictors. These differences persist after controlling for socioeconomic predictors, reflecting deeply ingrained values that were probably developed by the pre-migration experiences of political opposition actions and social activism. The results challenge theories of rapid acculturation and highlight the role of self-selection as a key factor underlying gender egalitarian attitudes.

Recently published:

Gender Egalitarianism of Recent Emigrants from Russia: The Effect of Emigration or a Trait of a Social Group?
by: Veronica Kostenko, Emil Kamalov & Ivetta Sergeeva

doi.org/10.1525/cpcs...

The Russian online sphere today is subjected to sophisticated forms of control, including self-censorship, legal repression, and the shutdown of global platforms such as X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, leaving state-controlled Russian platforms as the primary means of digital communication for the public. In this article, we explore the potential and limitations of using social media data to study cultural processes and societal dynamics within a non-transparent authoritarian context of wartime Russia as the government attempts to censor all explicit forms of political communication. Specifically, we discuss data provided by social media listening (SML) platforms and argue that, despite methodological and organizational challenges, SML in an authoritarian context offers unique opportunities to gauge cultural and social trends, particularly through the identification of micro triggers (signals) and macro patterns of online discourse. The huge volume of data extracted from SML enables scholars to explore deeper layers of information beyond mere text, including metadata from platforms such as author details and engagement metrics, and provides AI-driven analytical tools, such as sentiment analysis, topic modeling, and named entity recognition.

New in Advance Articles:

Social Media Listening Platforms in Wartime Russia: Limits and Opportunities
by Olga Logunova & Pavel Lebedev

doi.org/10.1525/cpcs...

New evidence suggests that the gender protest gap—the difference between male and female participation in protest events—has decreased in Russia prior to February 2022, despite the patriarchal, authoritarian regime. Following the comparative literature, we rely on a survey experiment to show that women strategically participate in activism that have limited risk of state violence or social sanctions. Distinctions between the nature of protests and protest grievances as well as strategic opportunities to choose among protest repertoires and frames allow women to engage in activism without significant costs. There are two important exceptions. First, women are still less likely to participate in overtly politicized actions that challenge the regime. They are also less likely to participate in state-sponsored actions or actions in support of traditional family values voluntarily, although they are often coerced to do so. To explore the mechanisms that support these patterns in women’s activism, we rely on two additional types of evidence: a narrative of recent developments in women’s activism and interviews with Russian women activists in exile. These data illustrate the pathways to activism that underpin the activism against Russia’s full-scale war in Ukraine that is reported in the articles in this special issue.

Recently published:

The Evolution of Women’s Activism in Russia: Evidence of a Declining Gender Protest Gap
by: Regina Smyth, Ivan Grigoriev & Anna A. Dekalchuk

Free access for one week: doi.org/10.1525/cpcs...

The evolution of Sino-Belarusian relations has acquired considerable geopolitical significance since the launch of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in 2013 and the formal establishment of a strategic partnership between the two states. This analysis seeks to demonstrate that during the COVID-19 pandemic, Sino-Belarusian relations gained a new momentum, with the global health crisis serving as a catalyst for the convergence of legitimacy claims between the two authoritarian regimes. This convergence is rooted in a shared foundational myth centered on World War II, ideological opposition to the West, personalist leadership structures, and China’s demonstrative performance in global affairs. The impact of these dynamics has persisted beyond the Belarusian political crisis of 2020 and the Russian war in Ukraine. Although Russia’s support is pivotal for ensuring the continuity of the Belarusian regime, this study argues that, unlike the Kremlin—which is perceived as a vestige of Belarusian dependencies and obligations—China provides the Lukashenko regime with a platform for “expansive” legitimacy. The findings contribute to the broader scholarly discourse on the international dimension of authoritarian legitimacy by demonstrating how China strategically expands its political influence over smaller autocratic states, not only reinforcing their legitimacy but also leveraging them as instruments to challenge Western hegemony in global politics.

New in Advance Articles:

Forged in Crises: Convergence of Authoritarian Legitimacy Claims in Sino-Belarusian Relations
by Michał Słowikowski & Bartosz Kowalski

doi.org/10.1525/cpcs...

Our special issue explores the roots, strategies, and frames that shaped women’s activism contesting Russia’s war in Ukraine. This introductory article places gendered anti-war activism in the context of the late Soviet and post-Soviet periods. This approach highlights critical changes that have occurred in Russian politics and society in the past two decades. On the one hand, we observe the rise of a new grassroots feminism and increased women’s activism, as well as the rise of horizontal protest organizations that effectively relied on new media as a tool of mobilization. On the other hand, we observe a profound change in the regimes’ repressive response to all types of wartime activism and growing societal quiescence in the face of state actions against soldiers’ wives and mothers. We conclude with a discussion of the articles included in the special issue, to highlight the debates and contributions that emerged across different approaches and empirical lenses.

Recently published:

Introduction: New Research on Russian Women’s Anti-War Activism after February 2022
by: Regina Smyth & Veronica Kostenko

Free access for one week: doi.org/10.1525/cpcs...

Table of contents for the March issue

The March issue is out! A special issue on Russian Women's Anti-War Activism After February 2022, guest edited by Regina Smyth and Veronica Kostenko.

Check it out here👇
online.ucpress.edu/cpcs/issue/5...

The “exogenous shock” provoked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022 has profoundly transformed the subfield of Russian studies, raising significant methodological and epistemological issues. Like many before them, scholars in Russian studies, mainly from Western institutions, are faced with the need to renew their research methods and sources in light of the challenging access to the research field in Russia. Rooted in discussions on the “computational turn” and digitization of area studies, this article proposes to overcome these new challenges by exploring Russia through its digital fieldwork. Over the past decade, open-source investigations have become decisive in the documentation of objects as diverse as organized crime, elite corruption, or contemporary conflicts. Generally referred to as OSINT (Open Source Intelligence), these investigative practices are made possible by the omnipresence of sensors that digitize a growing proportion of human activities and generate digital footprints. Although these sources are widely used by intelligence services, journalists, and activists, the reflections carried out to integrate them into the “toolbox” of the social scientist in Russian studies are still embryonic and deserve to be enriched. As part of this special issue, this article contributes to this effort, by reviewing the existing literature in “digital Russian studies,” highlighting key epistemological and ethical issues associated with digital investigation in authoritarian context, and proposing a draft methodological framework for potential research avenues. The result is the possibility of a fieldwork “augmented” by digital technology, the use of which proves particularly fruitful to study wartime Russian politics.

New in Advance Articles (🔆Open Access🔆):

From Restricted to Digital Fieldwork: A Renewed Methodological Framework for Russian Studies After the Full-Scale Invasion of Ukraine Open Access
by Kevin Limonier and Maxime Audinet

doi.org/10.1525/cpcs...

Weeks before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russian-led CSTO forces intervened in Kazakhstan’s January 2022 Qandy Qantar protests at the government’s request. Many observers predicted this intervention would deepen Kazakhstan’s dependence on Russia, leading to support for Moscow’s invasion. Yet Kazakhstan’s subsequent actions defied these expectations. This study examines how the Kazakhstani government strategically framed and managed domestic unrest within a shifting geopolitical context, from initially emphasizing foreign threats to justify CSTO intervention to later reframing reforms as necessary for protecting sovereignty amid global upheaval. Through analysis of evolving state narratives and policy decisions, we demonstrate how great power-centric analysis overlooks the sophisticated ways states navigate asymmetric relationships. This case illustrates the importance of examining how smaller states in asymmetric relationships strategically manage both domestic and international pressures to advance their interests.

Recently published:

Elite Narratives and State Response to Kazakhstan’s Qandy Qantar Protests
by Hannah S. Chapman and Raushan Zhandayeva

online.ucpress.edu/cpcs/article...

The full-scale war in Ukraine has had a wide-ranging impact on the nation’s children as they have been displaced, wounded, and even killed. In the context of the Russia-Ukraine war, Ukrainian children found ways and created spaces that allowed them to express their agency, ranging from narrating their experiences in diaries, poems, and art to engaging in political activities related to war. This study explores the potential of arts-based programs to empower children affected by armed conflict, with a focus on the Behind Blue Eyes initiative, implemented following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. By distributing disposable cameras, this program encouraged children affected by war to document their lives through photography, subsequently sharing their visual narratives on the Behind Blue Eyes initiative’s social media account on Instagram. Through thematic and semiotic analyses of these digital stories, this research investigates how children express agency, engage with geopolitical discourses, and navigate their traumatic experiences through their photographs during the Russia-Ukraine war. The study also examines how adults mediate children’s narratives through digital storytelling, revealing the complex dynamics of children’s agency within armed conflict contexts. The research addresses these questions and contributes to the scholarly discourse on children’s experiences in conflicts beyond Ukraine, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia. This research also advances the understanding of how arts-based programs offer a medium for children to express and transform their experiences of war, which also challenges narratives of children as passive actors in contexts of large-scale political violence.

New in Advance Articles:

Through Their Eyes: Agency and Resilience in Children’s Photography of the Russia-Ukraine War
by Iuliia Hoban

online.ucpress.edu/cpcs/article...

The introduction of a universal, egalitarian social security system was promoted by the USSR in all countries within its sphere of influence during the communist period. However, despite this rather uniform external pressure, communist countries followed different social policy routes in terms of timing and design. Bulgaria was one of the first Eastern European countries to introduce a uniform pension system within a short period of time. In this article, we argue that besides communist ideology and pressure from the USSR, pre-communist social policy legacies, national constellation of influential actors, and country-specific socioeconomic conditions during the communist era are crucial when explaining the concrete design and timing of pension reforms in communist states. Using the method of process tracing and based on archival and document research, we shed light on the two most important pension reforms targeting the rural population in communist Bulgaria. We show that the political and ideological developments in the Soviet Union in the 1960s and 1970s in combination with the demographic and economic problems of Bulgarian agriculture can explain the early establishment of a unified pension insurance system in Bulgaria.

Recently published (🔆Open Access🔆):

Communist Social Policy: Pension Policy in Bulgaria
by Maria Ignatova-Pfarr & Carina Schmitt

Free access for one week:
online.ucpress.edu/cpcs/article...

This article focuses on the opportunities for allowing protests in contemporary Russia despite military censorship and a ban on any public action or criticism of the ongoing war against Ukraine. The research analyzes the tactics of the women’s activism that were used on Red Square in November 2023, demanding the return of their mobilized relatives. The study shows how women activists manage risks, declare demands, and avoid detention while interacting with police and officials of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (KPRF). Through the analysis of framing perspective, the study examines the demonstration and interactions in the community’s blog. Findings indicate that the actualization of several specific framings in the movement’s action—including appropriation of the KPRF’s rhetoric and self-representation as responsible and patriotic soldiers’ wives with minor support from the KPRF—presents a space for protest in Russia’s closed political system.

New in Advance Articles:

The Defending “Defenders”: Framing Public Actions in Contemporary Russian Political Opportunity Structures
by Marina Bezenkova

online.ucpress.edu/cpcs/article...

Immediately before and during Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russian foreign policy experts and high-ranking officials have often employed a historical analogy with the Cuban missile crisis to argue that a “sobering” crisis would allow Russia to renegotiate its relationship with the “West.” As Russia’s war against Ukraine became prolonged, recurrent references to 1962 in Russian public forums have become interwoven into the unusually visible Russian public debate on nuclear coercion. By using the analogy with the Cuban missile crisis, Russian experts and officials have reframed Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine as a conflict between Russia and the USA, while reducing the meaning of Ukraine to the territory of Russia’s red lines (similarly to their meanings attached to Cuba in the 1962 events). Yet, the salience of the Cuban missile crisis analogies in Russia’s public forums underscores their wider significance for nuclear mythmaking in Russia’s strategic culture, particularly for Russia’s evolving approaches to nuclear coercion. This article examines how recurrent historical analogies with the Cuban missile crisis in Russia’s public debate have contributed to reinterpreting the meanings of Russia’s nuclear identity and nuclear coercion, to promoting greater tolerance for nuclear risk-taking by Russian domestic audiences and to blurring the limits of the thinkable in Russia’s approach to nuclear escalation in the eyes of foreign audiences. To answer these questions, the article undertakes narrative analysis of publicly available texts produced by members of Russia’s strategic community in the run-up to and during the invasion.

Recently published:

Historical Analogies, Nuclear Mythmaking, and Coercive Diplomacy in Putin’s Russia: Conjuring a “Sobering” Crisis
by Valentina Feklyunina

Free to access for one week: online.ucpress.edu/cpcs/article...

This article investigates how socialist legacies influence the political attitudes and integration of two post-socialist groups—former East Germans in reunified Germany and North Korean migrants in South Korea—whose experiences underscore broader challenges of transitioning to democratic societies. Drawing on choice-based conjoint experiments and supported by observational data analysis, the study examines individuals’ preferences for hypothetical politicians with varying stances on political rule, economic organization, social welfare, gender, and cultural diversity. By comparing responses between primarily native-born citizens and post-socialist subpopulations, we assess the extent of attitudinal convergence and highlight areas where socialist-era socialization likely remains influential. In Germany, the findings show that attitudes toward diversity (i.e., national identity) diverge between Western Germans—who reject nativism and support multiculturalism—and Eastern Germans and post-GDR citizens, who remain more skeptical despite formal unification. In South Korea, North Korean migrants show less enthusiastic support for democracy than native South Koreans, suggesting that early political socialization under authoritarian socialism leaves lasting imprints on democratic outlooks. This study underscores the enduring quality of formative political experiences, illustrating that effective democratic integration requires more than institutional change. It also considers how deeply held beliefs formed under socialism persist and shape contemporary political preferences—offering valuable lessons for policymakers in divided or transitioning societies.

New in Advance Articles:

From Division to Democracy: Integrating Post-Socialist Citizens in Germany and South Korea
by Robin Brehm, Tianzi Zhou & Steven Denney

online.ucpress.edu/cpcs/article...

In the 1960s and 1970s, Soviet bloc countries launched a number of automotive projects in cooperation with Western companies. One such initiative was the Small-Engine Car Factory (FSM) in Bielsko and Tychy, Poland. This article explores the involvement of regional party officials and an interest group formed around provincial party leaders in the implementation of the FSM project in the early 1970s. The analysis focuses on the role of this group in initiating the car factory project, as well as its activities during the decision-making and construction process. An examination of archival documents shows that a coalition of regional party apparatchiks and auto industry representatives played a key role in launching the project and overcoming delays and financial problems during its implementation. As a result, the implementation of FSM was one of the most effective in the Soviet bloc countries.

Recently published:

The Role of Polish United Workers’ Party (PZPR) Officials in the Investment Process: The Case of the Small-Engine Car Factory (FSM) in the Early 1970s
by Maciej Tymiński & Dariusz Standerski

Free to access for one week:
online.ucpress.edu/cpcs/article...

Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) is considered a laboratory for both democratization and democratic backsliding, but little is known still about how ordinary citizens perceive and make decisions about whether and how to civically engage. To address this gap, we use focus group interviews to supplement our data from nationally representative surveys in Poland and Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). Our fieldwork makes three contributions. First, the decisions people in both countries make about whether to engage in civic activism are shaped more by opportunities for action and impact on priority issues than by levels of acceptance of democratic norms. Second, the nature of citizen engagement tends to be through non-institutionalized, grassroots activism in response to a need or threat. Third, people in Poland are more likely to participate around abstract issues like rule of law while people in BiH are more often motivated by everyday problems. These insights suggest the use of focus groups after surveys deepens understanding of civic engagement in CEE.

Recently published:

Perceptions and Drivers of Civic Activism: The Cases of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Poland
by Dorota Pietrzyk-Reeves & Paula M. Pickering

Free to access for one week!

online.ucpress.edu/cpcs/article...

This contribution examines the relationship between historical monuments and local political identities, by investigating the connection between World War II monuments and the electoral geography of Croatia. Spatial dependence models are used to inspect the link between the presence and condition of World War II monuments and vote shares for different political options. The dataset places more than 1,000 historical monuments into roughly 500 geographical units for a variety of elections and referenda in the last decade. The empirical results point to a strong association between the presence of preserved monuments and electoral results.

Recently published:

World War II Memorials and the Electoral Geography of Croatia: A Spatial Analysis
by Marko Grdesic

Free to access for one week!

online.ucpress.edu/cpcs/article...

This article is dedicated to the ways China’s history is narrated in contemporary Russian world history textbooks. The study relies on the formal structural version of narrative analysis applied to all three series of textbooks included in the federal list of textbooks recommended for teaching world history in Russia’s secondary and high schools and aims at revealing the internal logic of China’s history narrative and its place in the overarching plot of world history narrative. The research findings show China’s history narrative presented in the Russian textbooks to considerably differ from that prevailing in the Chinese historiography and combine a relatively Eurocentric approach with projections of Russia’s own identity-related issues—technological vs. sociopolitical modernization, historical agency, and opportunities vs. risks of openness to the world. These results show how a foreign country’s history can be turned into a usable past not via shared experience or direct analogy but as an initially neutral material for addressing pivotal issues of one’s own country and ambivalent sides of its national identity.

Recently published:

Define a Dragon: China’s History Narratives in Contemporary Russian Textbooks as Usable Past
by Marharyta Fabrykant

Free to access for one week!

online.ucpress.edu/cpcs/article...

This article analyzes the activist rhetoric of Put′ Domoi (The Way Home)—a prominent, Russia-based public protest movement consisting primarily of women whose family members were “mobilized” into fighting in Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine. Using a detailed framework that describes Russia’s gender-related ideologies under Putin, we analyze Put′ Domoi’s activist rhetoric focusing primarily on the first six months of their public activism (August 2023–March 2024). We examine how the activists struggled to frame their demands in a way that would afford them some protection from repression while also allowing them to challenge the regime’s open-ended military “mobilization.” We find that this movement employed a gender-compliant framework similar to that of many grassroots wives-and-mothers movements fighting authoritarian violence within and outside of Russia, but with particular Soviet roots. Over time, Put′ Domoi became increasingly frustrated with the regime’s response to their demands and increasingly critical of the war in general. This analysis helps explain why Put′ Domoi did not immediately face repression despite engaging in regular public protests critical of Russia’s war-related policies. Our case study of Put′ Domoi also sheds light on how these kinds of women’s movements navigate the complicated repressive terrain of authoritarian rule through gender-related framing tactics.

New in Advance Articles:

The Way Home, or the Way to Prison? Gender Legacies and Anti-War Protest in Russia
by Alexandra Novitskaya, Janet Elise Johnson, Valerie Sperling, & Lisa McIntosh Sundstrom

online.ucpress.edu/cpcs/article...

This article examines the Serbian political leadership—the president and government alike—by addressing the dominant political figures’ narratives. We communicate with the theoretical aspects in the study of populism and conspiracy theories as this nexus enables us to examine the specific nature of the domestic politics in Serbia. In our view, the ruling elite complements its populist discourse with conspiracy theory to ensure its survival in power, by regularly generating fear about the threat posed to Serbian statehood and lack of apprehension for Belgrade’s geopolitical preferences and exploration of foreign policy alternatives. Our analysis fills a major gap in the literature, since there has been only sporadic research on this topic and none of it has focused on the merger of populism and conspiracy theory. The findings we have reached—largely those of the elite’s self-victimization narratives and their dissemination of anti-Western sentiments—provide for a fresh contribution to the debate concerning the power struggle and the state of democracy in Serbia, especially given the fact that the key political stakeholders draw heavily on pro-regime media outlets to readily disseminate their self-serving accounts.

Recently published:

Power Preservation, No Matter the Means: Populism and Conspiracy Theory as Instruments of Political Consolidation in Serbia
by Vladimir Vučković, Branislav Radeljić, & Vladimir Đorđević

Free to access for one week! 👇

online.ucpress.edu/cpcs/article...

This article examines the reactions of young people and, more specifically, youth activists in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Specifically, we demonstrate how online involvement bleeds into the offline political activity of young people related to the war in complex ways. While Central Asians rely on online activity to discover and interact with news about the war, the war has catalyzed a variety of political activities both online and offline, though the war is but one of many political traumas that have elicited responses from society. Our interviews with young activists reveal common themes across Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. In both cases, the war brought about conflicts within the activist community and vibrant discussions in the arenas of language politics and decolonization. This newfound youth activism may not result in increased formal political participation (e.g., voting, protesting), but it could have a lasting impact on the everyday contribution and efficacy of young people in their societies.

New in Advance Articles (🔆Open Access🔆):

Finding Space for Activism: Understanding Youth Activists in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan in the Wake of Russia’s War Against Ukraine
by Bakhytzhan Kurmanov, Brian Smith, and Caress Schenk

doi.org/10.1525/cpcs...

This article offers a comparative analysis of post-Soviet leaders’ new year addresses to the nation. As highly prominent, programmatic speeches, such texts provide a unique and valuable basis for examining insights from literatures on authoritarian political communication and regime legitimation. Collecting 152 new year addresses from across the region (Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan), we find systematic differences in leaders’ political communication depending on the openness of the regime, both in ordinary times and during global crises such as COVID-19. Autocrats’ acknowledgment of mass unrest, however, is less consistent, which we argue reflects broader uncertainties in the political as seen in our case comparisons of Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Uzbekistan. Across all our cases we find leaders increasingly using new year addresses to articulate claims about the identity of the state and the nation, (re)interpreting its history, past achievements, as well as defining a vision of the future. Moreover, these visions coalesce around unitary understandings of the nation, replacing multiethnic narratives of the immediate post-Soviet period. The unique status of the new year as one of the most enduring “invented traditions” of the Soviet Union provides an important lens to assess continuity and change across the region.

Recently published:
Dear Compatriots: New Year Speeches as Sites for Post-Soviet Political Communication Available
by Adam Lenton & Akbota Karibayeva

Free to access for one week! 👇

doi.org/10.1525/cpcs...