Reviews

Karen Dawisha (ed.), The International Dimension of Post‐Communist Transitions in Russia and the New States of Eurasia. Armonk, New York: M. E. Sharpe, 1997, xvii + 462 pp., $29.95 p/b.

Peter Truscott, Russia First: Breaking with the West. London: I. B. Tauris, 1997, x + 278 pp., £24.50.

Karen Henderson & Neil Robinson, Post‐Communist Politics: An Introduction. London: Prentice Hall, 1997, xxiii + 424 pp., £14.95.

Klaus Segbers & Stephen De Spiegeleire (eds), Post‐Soviet Puzzles: Mapping the Political Economy of the Former Soviet Union, Baden‐Baden: Nomos Verlagsgessellschaft, 4 vols, 1995, 145 Dm. Vol I: Against the Background of the Former Soviet Union, 297 pp., Vol II: Emerging Geopolitical and Territorial Units, 511 pp., Vol. III: Emerging Societal Actors— Economic, Social and Political Interests, 735 pp., Vol. IV: The Emancipation of Society as a Reaction to Systematic Change, 179 pp.

Bertram Silverman & Murray Yanowitch, New Rich, New Poor, New Russia: Winners and Losers on the Russian Road to Capitalism. Armonk, New York: M. E. Sharpe, 1997, xv + 159 pp., $21.95.

Stephen Crowley, Hot Coal, Cold Steel: Russian and Ukrainian Workers from the End of the Soviet Union to the Post‐Communist Transformations. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1997, x + 273 pp., £29.95.

Andreas Pickel & Helmut Wiesenthal, The Grand Experiment: Debating Shock Therapy, Transition Theory, and the East German Experience. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1997, x + 262 pp.

Gregory Gleason, The Central Asian States—Discovering Independence. Boulder and Oxford: Westview Press, 1997, xix + 220 pp., £51.95 h/b, £15.95 p/b.

Karen Dawisha & Bruce Parrott (eds), Conflict, Cleavage and Change in Central Asia and the Caucasus. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997, xviii + 423 pp., £55.00 h/b, £19.95 p/b.

Mark Slobin (ed.), Retuning Culture. Musical Changes in Central and Eastern Europe. London: Duke University Press, 1996, vi + 310 pp., £16.95.

Karen Dawisha & Bruce Parrott (eds), Politics, Power, and the Struggle for Democracy in South‐East Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997, xx + 472 pp., £19.95.

Marju Lauristin et al. (eds), Return to the Western World. Cultural and Political Perspectives on the Estonian Post‐Communist Transition. Tartu: Tartu University Press, 1997, xvi + 388 pp.

Andrejs Plakans, Historical Dictionary of Latvia. London: Scarecrow Press, 1997, xxvi + 193 pp., £32.80.

Carl Linden & Jan S. Prybyla, Russia and China on the Eve of a New Millennium. New Brunswick: Transaction, 1997, x + 341 pp., $44.95.

Christopher Pierson, Socialism after Communism. The New Market Socialism. Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania University Press, 1995, x + 249 pp.

Nancy Ries, Russian Talk: Culture and Conversation during Perestroika. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1997, xii + 220 pp., £31.50 h/b, £13.50 p/b.

Bruce A. Elleman, Diplomacy and Deception: The Secret History of Sino‐Soviet Diplomatic Relations, 1917–1927. Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 1997, xviii + 322 pp., $72.95.

Sarah Davies, Popular Opinion in Stalin's Russia: Terror, Propaganda, and Dissent, 1934–1941. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997, xix + 236 pp., £15.95.

Michael Parrish. The Lesser Terror: Soviet State Security, 1939–1953. Westport: Praeger, 1996, xxi + 424 pp., £69.50.

Eric Naiman, Sex in Public. The Incarnation of Early Soviet Ideology. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1997, x + 307 pp., £27.50.

Petrus Buwalda, They Did Not Dwell Alone. Jewish Emigration from the Soviet Union, 1967–1990. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997, xviii + 297 pp., £31.50.

Marco Carynnyk, Lubomyr Y. Luciuk & Bohdan S. Kordan (eds), The Foreign Office and the Famine: British Documents on Ukraine and the Great Famine of 1932–1933. Kingston, ON: Limestone, 1988, lxiv + 493 pp.     

Neomercantilism and Energy Interdependence: Russian Strategies in East Asia

Abstract

This article examines the potential for Russia's Siberian and Far East energy projects to create webs of interdependence with the major energy-importing countries of East Asia. Energy policy toward Asia is analyzed with reference to Europe's problematic energy dependence on Russia, where Moscow has supported attempts by state-owned companies like Gazprom to extend control over energy supply and distribution. This analysis finds that Moscow's neomercantilist energy strategy, designed to advance Russian state power, has been marginally more successful with the weaker, more energy-dependent states of Japan and South Korea. China, Asia's major rising power, is more sensitive to the prospect of becoming too dependent on Russia as a supplier of oil and gas, because dependence could constrain Beijing's global ambitions.     

Civil society,political stability,and state power in Central Asia: cooperation and contestation

This article develops a concept of civil society in Central Asia distinct from that which emerged from the East European communist societies of the late 1980s. Kazakhstan presents a case study of a civil society that conceptually can be located between the vibrant civil society of the Baltic democracies and the civil society of the strongly repressive environments of Belarus or Uzbekistan. Kazakhstan's authoritarian structures and cultural traditions make it difficult to develop strong independent civic organizations – cooperation tends to mark state-civil society relations more than contestation, which shaped much of Eastern Europe's experience. Even in a context of relative affluence where civil society organizations are allowed some space to engage in critical activities, contestation tends to be minimized. This is only partially related to state suppression and cooptation; a political culture that views democratic processes as potentially destabilizing is also a significant factor. Kazakhstan represents a distinct Central Asian model of civil society, comparable to Russia but qualitatively different from that found in either Eastern or Western Europe, where civil society is less willing to confront the state, more cooperative with the authoritarian system, and wary of the potential for civic activism to degenerate into instability. Differentiating types of civil society is important because a key component of Western democracy assistance programmes has been providing assistance to build and strengthen civil societies. By refining our understanding of distinct civil society patterns in Central Asia, we can enhance our knowledge of political processes in this critical region, and we may improve the effectiveness of democracy assistance programmes. The study is grounded in field research, interviews, civil society workshops, survey research, and government documents.     

PARENT EDUCATION AS A DISTINCT FIELD OF PRACTICE

The proliferation of educational programs for separated and divorcing parents has created an emerging field of practice. This article examines core questions of professional responsibility, accountability, standards, and practices that must be addressed to advance the development of the field.