Edwin Bacon

The youth movement Nashi: contentious politics, civil society, and party politics

The youth movement Nashi was established in Russia with the support of the Putin regime in 2005. The success of anti-regime demonstrators in Ukraines ‘Orange Revolution’ in 2004 had been noted in Moscow, and Nashis role was to serve as a pro-regime force to be mobilised against the opposition. Its focus was the contentious politics of the street. Nashi represents an interesting theoretical case from the perspective of contentious politics and its relationship with civil society and formal party politics. Nashis role has developed to include facilitating young peoples engagement with party politics and business. Its early centralised control has been ameliorated somewhat by a reorganisation focused on local action. Nonetheless, Nashi exists with state support. Its continued role in contentious politics in support of the Putin regime, for example, countering opposition demonstrations in Moscow in December 2011, makes its identification as a component of democratic civil society problematic.

Electoral manipulation and the development of Russia's political system

The allegations of electoral manipulation surrounding Russias parliamentary election of December 2011 were nothing new. Regional elections in October 2009 resulted in victory for Putins United Russia, followed by a walkout from the State Duma by the other parliamentary parties, to protest the elections’ conduct. Multi-layered questions surround the role of electoral manipulation for different actors in Russias political system. Analysis focused on the elections of October 2009 shows that regime, opposition, and regional authorities all have conflicting motivations. For the regime, electoral manipulation helps to secure power and legitimacy, but its uncovering undermines that legitimacy. For the opposition, participation in elections provides an opportunity to both gain electoral representation and to de-legitimise the regime by declaring the ballot flawed. Regional leaders owe their positions to the regime and must balance any obligation to deliver ‘correct’ election results against mixed signals on the nature of that regime and of democracy in Russia.

Writing Russia's future: paradigms, drivers, and scenarios

Abstract The development of prediction and forecasting in the social sciences over the past century and more is closely linked with developments in Russia. The Soviet collapse undermined confidence in predictive capabilities, and scenario planning emerged as the dominant future-oriented methodology in area studies, including the study of Russia. Scenarists anticipate multiple futures rather than predicting one. The approach is too rarely critiqued. Building on an account of Russia-related forecasting in the twentieth century, analysis of two decades of scenarios reveals uniform accounts which downplay the insights of experts and of social science theory alike.

Religion and higher education in Europe and North America, edited by Kristin Aune and Jacqueline Stevenson, Routledge (Research Into Higher Education Series), Abingdon, 2017, ISBN: 9781138652941 (pbk, £28.99); 9781138652958 (hbk, £90.00); 9781315623894 (ebk, £26.09)

facets of the conflict, allowing broader understanding. The volume does not, however, include an extensive discussion of religion. This is perhaps owing to the fact that religion in the Western Balkans is often seen primarily as an ethnic identity marker that can be analysed under the category of ethnicity. When religion is mentioned, it is usually in terms of physical attacks on symbolic religious buildings or sites as part of the greater ethnic conflict. Given that these sites are so frequently targeted, it would seem that an examination of the significance of religion to the conflict would have been a useful addition. The book also suffers from a problem common to edited volumes in that each essay takes on a different perspective from the last, which at times can give a disjointed feel. However, despite this, the volume forms an important contribution to the existing literature. It certainly merits careful consideration by those undertaking serious study of the Serbia-Kosovo dispute.

Book Review: Comparative Politics: The Myth of the Strong Leader: Political Leadership in the Modern Age

MMP (mixed-member proportional representation) in 1993 would have been interesting. The authors note that there is ‘little evidence’ (p. 78) that the new system lived up to expectations, yet voters opted to retain the system in 2011. However, these are minor criticisms, and overall this book is an impressive account of electoral reform and its limits, and is highly recommended to students of electoral politics and politicians looking to advocate reform in the future.

Book Review: Comparative Politics: The Myth of the Strong Leader: Political Leadership in the Modern AgeThe Myth of the Strong Leader: Political Leadership in the Modern Age by BrownArchie. London: Bodley Head2014. 480 pp., £25.00, ISBN 9781847921758, £11.99, ISBN 978 0099554851

MMP (mixed-member proportional representation) in 1993 would have been interesting. The authors note that there is ‘little evidence’ (p. 78) that the new system lived up to expectations, yet voters opted to retain the system in 2011. However, these are minor criticisms, and overall this book is an impressive account of electoral reform and its limits, and is highly recommended to students of electoral politics and politicians looking to advocate reform in the future.

The Myth of the Strong Leader: Political Leadership in the Modern Age by Archie Brown. London: Bodley Head, 2014. 480pp., £25.00, ISBN 9781847921758, £11.99, ISBN 978 0099554851

MMP (mixed-member proportional representation) in 1993 would have been interesting. The authors note that there is ‘little evidence’ (p. 78) that the new system lived up to expectations, yet voters opted to retain the system in 2011. However, these are minor criticisms, and overall this book is an impressive account of electoral reform and its limits, and is highly recommended to students of electoral politics and politicians looking to advocate reform in the future.

Comparing political futures: the rise and use of scenarios in future-oriented area studies

The predictive ability of scholars of politics has long been a subject of theoretical debate and methodological development. In theoretical debate, prediction represents a central issue regarding the extent to which the study of politics is scientific. In methodological development, much effort and resource have been devoted to a diverse range of predictive approaches, with varying degrees of success. Expectations that scholars forecast accurately come as much from the policy and media worlds as from the academy. Since the end of the Cold War, scenario development has become prevalent in future-oriented research by area studies scholars. This approach is long due critical re-assessment. For all its strengths as a policy tool, scenario development tends towards a bounded methodology, driving the process of anticipating futures along predetermined paths into a standardised range of options, and paying insufficient attention to theoretical and contextual understandings available within the relevant scholarly disciplines.