Edwin Bacon | University of Lincoln (original) (raw)

Books by Edwin Bacon

Is there more to Russian politics than Putin? Inside Russian Politics is an intelligent, critica... more Is there more to Russian politics than Putin?

Inside Russian Politics is an intelligent, critical and engaging account of the realities of contemporary Russian politics. It is distinctive in widening our view of Russia beyond the standard account of global power plays and resurgent authoritarian menace. Putin matters, but he is not Russia. Russian military adventurism has had a major effect on contemporary international affairs, but assessing its aims and projecting future intentions and impacts requires analysis within a context deeper than the stock ‘Cold War renewed’ story.

The holistic approach of this book facilitates our understanding of power politics in and beyond the Kremlin and of Russian policy on the international stage. Revealing the Russia beyond Moscow and the central figures around Putin, Edwin Bacon focuses on Russia’s political present, not to ignore the past but to move beyond cliché and misleading historical analogy to reveal the contemporary – and future – concerns of Russia’s current generation of politicians.

The third edition of Contemporary Russia is fully revised to provide a comprehensive introduction... more The third edition of Contemporary Russia is fully revised to provide a comprehensive introduction to the society, politics and culture of one of the most important countries in global affairs today. The author details Russia's historical background as well as the nation's current concerns and distinctive features in this accessible analysis.

The world’s largest country, Russia is a major player in global affairs. Contemporary Russia now... more The world’s largest country, Russia is a major player in global affairs. Contemporary Russia now in its second edition – provides an up-to-date introduction to Russian society politics, and culture, and to developments in its economy, social policy and international relations.

Contemporary Russia is written in an accessible manner by an acknowledged expert on today’s Russia with many years experience in explaining this vast and important land to students and interested professionals alike.

Few countries have experienced such dramatic changes in recent decades as Russia. Contemporary Russia tackles the stereotypes and presents a realistic picture of Russia in the 21st century. Today’s Russia is neither a western democracy nor the Soviet Union Mark II. Both burdened and blessed by its size, history and unique culture, Russia is developing its own path to the future. Where that path leads is of great importance to Russia and the rest of the world.

Review of first edition:

'[A]n excellent introductory text... well-informed, up-to-date and clearly written... authoritative in its command of both detail and perspective, over a wide range of topics... it would be hard to imagine a better short introduction to Russia's society and the contemporary Russian state.' - Phil Hanson, Slavonica

Securitising Russia shows the impact of twenty-first-century security concerns on the way Russia ... more Securitising Russia shows the impact of twenty-first-century security concerns on the way Russia is ruled. It demonstrates how President Putin has wrestled with terrorism, immigration, media freedom, religious pluralism, and economic globalism, and argues that fears of a return to old-style authoritarianism oversimplify the complex context of contemporary Russia.

The book focuses on the internal security issues common to many states in the early twenty-first-century, and places them in the particular context of Russia. Detailed analysis of the place of security in Russia’s political discourse and policy-making reveals nuances often missing from overarching assessments of Russia today. To characterise the Putin regime as the ‘KGB-resurgent’ is to miss vital continuities, contexts, and on-going political conflicts which make up the contemporary Russian scene.

Securitising Russia draws together current debates about whether Russia is a ‘normal’ country developing its own democratic and market structures, or a nascent authoritarian regime returning to the past.

The world’s, and Europe’s, largest country, Russia is a major player in global affairs. Contempor... more The world’s, and Europe’s, largest country, Russia is a major player in global affairs. Contemporary Russia provides an up-to-date introduction to Russian society, politics, and culture, and to developments in its economy, social policy and international relations.
Contemporary Russia is written in an accessible manner by an acknowledged expert in today’s Russia with many years experience in explaining this vast and important land to students and interested professionals alike.
Few countries have experienced such dramatic changes in recent decades as Russia. Contemporary Russia tackles the stereotypes and presents a realistic picture of Russia in the first decade of the 21st century. Today’s Russia is neither a western democracy nor the Soviet Union Mark II. Both burdened and blessed by its size, history and unique culture, Russia is developing its own path to the future. Where that path leads is of great importance to Russia and the rest of the world.

Leonid Brezhnev was leader of the Soviet Union for almost two decades when it was at the height o... more Leonid Brezhnev was leader of the Soviet Union for almost two decades when it was at the height of its powers. This book is a long overdue reappraisal of Brezhnev the man and the system over which he ruled. By incorporating much of the new material available in Russian, it challenges the received wisdom about the Brezhnev years, and provides a fascinating insight into the life and times of one of the twentieth century's most neglected political leaders.

'Edwin Bacon's first hand access to the archives has enabled him not only to unravel many of the ... more 'Edwin Bacon's first hand access to the archives has enabled him not only to unravel many of the mysteries of population figures but also conditions in the camps and the contribution of the labour camp system to the Soviet war economy...a work of singular importance and harrowing illumination.' John Erikson The Times Higher Education Supplement
'Bacon's contribution is of great value...almost unique as a serious contribution to the sounding and measuring of the abysses of Stalinist falsification and terror.' Robert Conquest, The Times Literary Supplement
The Gulag at War reveals for the first time official documents kept in the archives of the Soviet forced labour system. An assessment of previous western and Russian studies of the Gulag is followed by a description of its origins. The bulk of the book then concentrates on the labour camps during the Second World War years. New information is revealed regarding prisoner numbers, living conditions, the organisation of forced labour, economic production, and rebellion in the camps.

Papers by Edwin Bacon

Politics , 2018

The growth of applied politics teaching in recent years is often conflated by academics, institut... more The growth of applied politics teaching in recent years is often conflated by academics, institutions, and professional associations with the employability agenda increasingly promoted by government. Many academics – politics faculty to the fore – object to the imposition of neo-liberal values on universities, the commodification of higher education, and a focus on employability in their teaching. These developments, coupled with a sense that the teaching of practical politics lacks intellectual rigour, undermine the growth of applied politics courses and programmes. There is, however, no reason why applied politics teaching must embrace neo-liberal norms. Nor is the alternative the introduction, as has happened in a few institutions, of courses teaching the practice of radical activism. Norms and values in applied politics can come from students, producing content and knowledge as they develop skills and approaches to practical politics. Applied politics itself represents a bridge between political science and political life beyond the university, and serves the needs of students across the ‘careerist-activist’ spectrum. Far from being intellectually light, a values-focused approach to applied politics has a pedagogical depth beyond that offered in much of the current politics curriculum. It offers a pedagogy not just of information, but of formation and transformation.

Journal of Soviet and Post-Soviet Politics and Society, 2015

President Putin’s Crimea Speech of 18th March 2014 represents a pivotal moment in the development... more President Putin’s Crimea Speech of 18th March 2014 represents a pivotal moment in the development of the post-Soviet world. Marking the annexation of Crimea by Russia, the speech, whilst containing elements familiar from Putin’s discourse in recent years, simultaneously changed fundamental assumptions about Russia’s place in the world order. Analysed from the perspective of political narrative, Putin’s speech shows marked differences from the standard narrative employed since he came to power in 2000. Aside from the momentous international impact that they represent, these differences have opened up a new complexity and uncertainty in Russia’s domestic politics.

A chapter in the edited volume "Ukraine and Russia: people, politics, propaganda and perspectives... more A chapter in the edited volume "Ukraine and Russia: people, politics, propaganda and perspectives", published online 5th March 2015.

Part One of 'Russia As A Neighbour', edited by Hanna Smith, Helsinki: Parliament of Finland, 2014

University staff are their institutions’ key resource. They are an intelligent, articulate and hi... more University staff are their institutions’ key resource. They are an intelligent, articulate and highly educated group. Despite this, university staff in the UK have little say in how their institutions are managed. As the survey in this paper shows, they would like a more decisive and influential voice. It is over two decades since the collegiality of yesteryear was deemed unviable for modern universities and a new managerial approach became the norm. However, the managerial initiatives which seemed shiny and new then have lost both lustre and novelty now. Current management research argues that hierarchical models are outdated and inappropriate in knowledge-based sectors. Technological advances offer previously undreamed of ways for staff across universities to influence, interact and take decisions. Flatter structures enable greater autonomy and flexibility serving more effectively the needs of student and academic, teaching and research. Neo-collegiality is not about a return to some largely imagined cloistered past. It recognises the necessity of many of the changes wrought by the New Public Management reforms of previous decades. However, neocollegiality asserts that the time is now ripe for managerial paradigms to shift. Neo-collegiality offers the restoration of broader, more collegial decision-making processes to create a professional, efficient and appropriately 21st century management approach. Such processes engage academic and professional staff across institutions, adopting and adapting a range of flexible and innovative means as appropriate to the distinctive features of individual universities in the UK’s large and varied higher education sector.

The place of narrative in political science is an issue that resurfaces with regularity, usually ... more The place of narrative in political science is an issue that resurfaces with regularity, usually focusing on the questions of generalisability, evidence, and causality which lie at the heart of the discipline. Most such debate concerns the use of narrative by political scientists. Far less attention has been devoted to the use of narrative by political actors, despite its relative ubiquity. Even where such attention has been given, it concentrates less on the narrative per se, and more on its performance and impact. However, the ontological nature of public political narratives means that analysis of them facilitates an holistic understanding of their narrators’ politics. A public political narrative consists of a sequential account given by political actors connecting selected, specific developments so as to impose a desired order on them. Taking contemporary Russia as an exploratory case, narrative analysis draws out the motivations, worldview, and inconsistencies within the Putin-Medvedev regime. Recurring motifs and symbols identify the regime’s political priorities, explaining policy choices and revealing future concerns. Narrative has a predictive aspect, identifying likely policy responses to unexpected events. Narratives capture time, and shifts in their temporalities indicate changes in self-conceptualisation and political priorities. Temporal appropriations include or exclude particular agential and causal explanations. The relationship between their plots and subplots represents a political signalling process. Public political narratives provide temporally and spatially specific exceptionalist accounts, but their combinatory quality also facilitates comparative analysis. The approach essayed here provides methodological generalisability, arguing that the neglect of public political narratives merits correcting.

Abstract: The development of prediction and forecasting in the social sciences over the past cent... more 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 capabilites, 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.

The predictive ability of scholars of politics has long been a subject of theoretical debate and ... more 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 has 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.

Russia’s parliamentary election of December 2011 once more brought to global attention the role o... more Russia’s parliamentary election of December 2011 once more brought to global attention the role of electoral manipulation in that country’s political system. The methods of manipulation alleged in 2011 are familiar from earlier elections. Most notably, the regional elections of October 2009 resulted in an overwhelming victory for the ‘party of power’, United Russia, followed by a walk-out from the State Duma by the three other parliamentary parties, in protest at fraud and electoral manipulation. Multi-layered questions surround the role of electoral manipulation in Russia’s political system. Why would a regime which apparently still enjoys substantial popular support engage in electoral manipulation? In electorally authoritarian states elections constitute the central element of legitimacy. Although electoral manipulation helps secure power, it reduces legitimacy. The trade-off between legitimacy and power plays out in other levels too. The opacity of Russia’s political system obfuscates the behavioural drivers of other players. Regional leaders formally owe their positions to the President. If they feel obliged to deliver the correct electoral results, there is less clarity on what those results are, especially with the ‘tandem’ leadership of Medvedev and Putin sending out mixed signals on the nature of democracy in Russia. Opposition parties must weigh up the benefits of participating in flawed elections. The distinction between outright opposition, and ‘within regime’ semi-opposition again obfuscates. Participation in elections provides opposition with the opportunity to de-legimitise the regime, by highlighting electoral manipulation. For ‘within regime’ opposition, this opportunity must be weighed against the benefits of gaining some representation in legislatures, albeit at low levels and with no chance of real power.

The youth movement Nashi was established in Russia with the support of the Putin regime in 2005. ... more The youth movement Nashi was established in Russia with the support of the Putin regime in 2005. The success of anti-regime demonstrators in Ukraine’s ‘Orange Revolution’ in 2004 had been noted in Moscow, and Nashi’s role was to serve as a pro-regime force to be mobilised against 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. Nashi’s role has developed to include facilitating young people’s 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 problematic its identification as a component of democratic civil society.

Chapter in A. Kocho-Williams (ed.) The Twentieth Century Russia Reader (2011) Routledge

An emerging literature is beginning to create a theoretical framework for analysing the role of p... more An emerging literature is beginning to create a theoretical framework for analysing the role of professional managers – that is, those without an ongoing academic background – in the context of UK higher education. Here I argue, drawing on my own experience in a range of higher education institutions, that this literature misses a crucial distinction amongst professional managers, namely that between generic HE professionals, and specialists from professions which exist outside the world of higher education (for example, human resources professionals, lawyers, marketing professionals). Building on this distinction to analyse the professional identities of higher education professional services staff, I recommend ways in which institutions can reduce the professional- academic divide in university management.

Is there more to Russian politics than Putin? Inside Russian Politics is an intelligent, critica... more Is there more to Russian politics than Putin?

Inside Russian Politics is an intelligent, critical and engaging account of the realities of contemporary Russian politics. It is distinctive in widening our view of Russia beyond the standard account of global power plays and resurgent authoritarian menace. Putin matters, but he is not Russia. Russian military adventurism has had a major effect on contemporary international affairs, but assessing its aims and projecting future intentions and impacts requires analysis within a context deeper than the stock ‘Cold War renewed’ story.

The holistic approach of this book facilitates our understanding of power politics in and beyond the Kremlin and of Russian policy on the international stage. Revealing the Russia beyond Moscow and the central figures around Putin, Edwin Bacon focuses on Russia’s political present, not to ignore the past but to move beyond cliché and misleading historical analogy to reveal the contemporary – and future – concerns of Russia’s current generation of politicians.

The third edition of Contemporary Russia is fully revised to provide a comprehensive introduction... more The third edition of Contemporary Russia is fully revised to provide a comprehensive introduction to the society, politics and culture of one of the most important countries in global affairs today. The author details Russia's historical background as well as the nation's current concerns and distinctive features in this accessible analysis.

The world’s largest country, Russia is a major player in global affairs. Contemporary Russia now... more The world’s largest country, Russia is a major player in global affairs. Contemporary Russia now in its second edition – provides an up-to-date introduction to Russian society politics, and culture, and to developments in its economy, social policy and international relations.

Contemporary Russia is written in an accessible manner by an acknowledged expert on today’s Russia with many years experience in explaining this vast and important land to students and interested professionals alike.

Few countries have experienced such dramatic changes in recent decades as Russia. Contemporary Russia tackles the stereotypes and presents a realistic picture of Russia in the 21st century. Today’s Russia is neither a western democracy nor the Soviet Union Mark II. Both burdened and blessed by its size, history and unique culture, Russia is developing its own path to the future. Where that path leads is of great importance to Russia and the rest of the world.

Review of first edition:

'[A]n excellent introductory text... well-informed, up-to-date and clearly written... authoritative in its command of both detail and perspective, over a wide range of topics... it would be hard to imagine a better short introduction to Russia's society and the contemporary Russian state.' - Phil Hanson, Slavonica

Securitising Russia shows the impact of twenty-first-century security concerns on the way Russia ... more Securitising Russia shows the impact of twenty-first-century security concerns on the way Russia is ruled. It demonstrates how President Putin has wrestled with terrorism, immigration, media freedom, religious pluralism, and economic globalism, and argues that fears of a return to old-style authoritarianism oversimplify the complex context of contemporary Russia.

The book focuses on the internal security issues common to many states in the early twenty-first-century, and places them in the particular context of Russia. Detailed analysis of the place of security in Russia’s political discourse and policy-making reveals nuances often missing from overarching assessments of Russia today. To characterise the Putin regime as the ‘KGB-resurgent’ is to miss vital continuities, contexts, and on-going political conflicts which make up the contemporary Russian scene.

Securitising Russia draws together current debates about whether Russia is a ‘normal’ country developing its own democratic and market structures, or a nascent authoritarian regime returning to the past.

The world’s, and Europe’s, largest country, Russia is a major player in global affairs. Contempor... more The world’s, and Europe’s, largest country, Russia is a major player in global affairs. Contemporary Russia provides an up-to-date introduction to Russian society, politics, and culture, and to developments in its economy, social policy and international relations.
Contemporary Russia is written in an accessible manner by an acknowledged expert in today’s Russia with many years experience in explaining this vast and important land to students and interested professionals alike.
Few countries have experienced such dramatic changes in recent decades as Russia. Contemporary Russia tackles the stereotypes and presents a realistic picture of Russia in the first decade of the 21st century. Today’s Russia is neither a western democracy nor the Soviet Union Mark II. Both burdened and blessed by its size, history and unique culture, Russia is developing its own path to the future. Where that path leads is of great importance to Russia and the rest of the world.

Leonid Brezhnev was leader of the Soviet Union for almost two decades when it was at the height o... more Leonid Brezhnev was leader of the Soviet Union for almost two decades when it was at the height of its powers. This book is a long overdue reappraisal of Brezhnev the man and the system over which he ruled. By incorporating much of the new material available in Russian, it challenges the received wisdom about the Brezhnev years, and provides a fascinating insight into the life and times of one of the twentieth century's most neglected political leaders.

'Edwin Bacon's first hand access to the archives has enabled him not only to unravel many of the ... more 'Edwin Bacon's first hand access to the archives has enabled him not only to unravel many of the mysteries of population figures but also conditions in the camps and the contribution of the labour camp system to the Soviet war economy...a work of singular importance and harrowing illumination.' John Erikson The Times Higher Education Supplement
'Bacon's contribution is of great value...almost unique as a serious contribution to the sounding and measuring of the abysses of Stalinist falsification and terror.' Robert Conquest, The Times Literary Supplement
The Gulag at War reveals for the first time official documents kept in the archives of the Soviet forced labour system. An assessment of previous western and Russian studies of the Gulag is followed by a description of its origins. The bulk of the book then concentrates on the labour camps during the Second World War years. New information is revealed regarding prisoner numbers, living conditions, the organisation of forced labour, economic production, and rebellion in the camps.

Politics , 2018

The growth of applied politics teaching in recent years is often conflated by academics, institut... more The growth of applied politics teaching in recent years is often conflated by academics, institutions, and professional associations with the employability agenda increasingly promoted by government. Many academics – politics faculty to the fore – object to the imposition of neo-liberal values on universities, the commodification of higher education, and a focus on employability in their teaching. These developments, coupled with a sense that the teaching of practical politics lacks intellectual rigour, undermine the growth of applied politics courses and programmes. There is, however, no reason why applied politics teaching must embrace neo-liberal norms. Nor is the alternative the introduction, as has happened in a few institutions, of courses teaching the practice of radical activism. Norms and values in applied politics can come from students, producing content and knowledge as they develop skills and approaches to practical politics. Applied politics itself represents a bridge between political science and political life beyond the university, and serves the needs of students across the ‘careerist-activist’ spectrum. Far from being intellectually light, a values-focused approach to applied politics has a pedagogical depth beyond that offered in much of the current politics curriculum. It offers a pedagogy not just of information, but of formation and transformation.

Journal of Soviet and Post-Soviet Politics and Society, 2015

President Putin’s Crimea Speech of 18th March 2014 represents a pivotal moment in the development... more President Putin’s Crimea Speech of 18th March 2014 represents a pivotal moment in the development of the post-Soviet world. Marking the annexation of Crimea by Russia, the speech, whilst containing elements familiar from Putin’s discourse in recent years, simultaneously changed fundamental assumptions about Russia’s place in the world order. Analysed from the perspective of political narrative, Putin’s speech shows marked differences from the standard narrative employed since he came to power in 2000. Aside from the momentous international impact that they represent, these differences have opened up a new complexity and uncertainty in Russia’s domestic politics.

A chapter in the edited volume "Ukraine and Russia: people, politics, propaganda and perspectives... more A chapter in the edited volume "Ukraine and Russia: people, politics, propaganda and perspectives", published online 5th March 2015.

Part One of 'Russia As A Neighbour', edited by Hanna Smith, Helsinki: Parliament of Finland, 2014

University staff are their institutions’ key resource. They are an intelligent, articulate and hi... more University staff are their institutions’ key resource. They are an intelligent, articulate and highly educated group. Despite this, university staff in the UK have little say in how their institutions are managed. As the survey in this paper shows, they would like a more decisive and influential voice. It is over two decades since the collegiality of yesteryear was deemed unviable for modern universities and a new managerial approach became the norm. However, the managerial initiatives which seemed shiny and new then have lost both lustre and novelty now. Current management research argues that hierarchical models are outdated and inappropriate in knowledge-based sectors. Technological advances offer previously undreamed of ways for staff across universities to influence, interact and take decisions. Flatter structures enable greater autonomy and flexibility serving more effectively the needs of student and academic, teaching and research. Neo-collegiality is not about a return to some largely imagined cloistered past. It recognises the necessity of many of the changes wrought by the New Public Management reforms of previous decades. However, neocollegiality asserts that the time is now ripe for managerial paradigms to shift. Neo-collegiality offers the restoration of broader, more collegial decision-making processes to create a professional, efficient and appropriately 21st century management approach. Such processes engage academic and professional staff across institutions, adopting and adapting a range of flexible and innovative means as appropriate to the distinctive features of individual universities in the UK’s large and varied higher education sector.

The place of narrative in political science is an issue that resurfaces with regularity, usually ... more The place of narrative in political science is an issue that resurfaces with regularity, usually focusing on the questions of generalisability, evidence, and causality which lie at the heart of the discipline. Most such debate concerns the use of narrative by political scientists. Far less attention has been devoted to the use of narrative by political actors, despite its relative ubiquity. Even where such attention has been given, it concentrates less on the narrative per se, and more on its performance and impact. However, the ontological nature of public political narratives means that analysis of them facilitates an holistic understanding of their narrators’ politics. A public political narrative consists of a sequential account given by political actors connecting selected, specific developments so as to impose a desired order on them. Taking contemporary Russia as an exploratory case, narrative analysis draws out the motivations, worldview, and inconsistencies within the Putin-Medvedev regime. Recurring motifs and symbols identify the regime’s political priorities, explaining policy choices and revealing future concerns. Narrative has a predictive aspect, identifying likely policy responses to unexpected events. Narratives capture time, and shifts in their temporalities indicate changes in self-conceptualisation and political priorities. Temporal appropriations include or exclude particular agential and causal explanations. The relationship between their plots and subplots represents a political signalling process. Public political narratives provide temporally and spatially specific exceptionalist accounts, but their combinatory quality also facilitates comparative analysis. The approach essayed here provides methodological generalisability, arguing that the neglect of public political narratives merits correcting.

Abstract: The development of prediction and forecasting in the social sciences over the past cent... more 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 capabilites, 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.

The predictive ability of scholars of politics has long been a subject of theoretical debate and ... more 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 has 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.

Russia’s parliamentary election of December 2011 once more brought to global attention the role o... more Russia’s parliamentary election of December 2011 once more brought to global attention the role of electoral manipulation in that country’s political system. The methods of manipulation alleged in 2011 are familiar from earlier elections. Most notably, the regional elections of October 2009 resulted in an overwhelming victory for the ‘party of power’, United Russia, followed by a walk-out from the State Duma by the three other parliamentary parties, in protest at fraud and electoral manipulation. Multi-layered questions surround the role of electoral manipulation in Russia’s political system. Why would a regime which apparently still enjoys substantial popular support engage in electoral manipulation? In electorally authoritarian states elections constitute the central element of legitimacy. Although electoral manipulation helps secure power, it reduces legitimacy. The trade-off between legitimacy and power plays out in other levels too. The opacity of Russia’s political system obfuscates the behavioural drivers of other players. Regional leaders formally owe their positions to the President. If they feel obliged to deliver the correct electoral results, there is less clarity on what those results are, especially with the ‘tandem’ leadership of Medvedev and Putin sending out mixed signals on the nature of democracy in Russia. Opposition parties must weigh up the benefits of participating in flawed elections. The distinction between outright opposition, and ‘within regime’ semi-opposition again obfuscates. Participation in elections provides opposition with the opportunity to de-legimitise the regime, by highlighting electoral manipulation. For ‘within regime’ opposition, this opportunity must be weighed against the benefits of gaining some representation in legislatures, albeit at low levels and with no chance of real power.

The youth movement Nashi was established in Russia with the support of the Putin regime in 2005. ... more The youth movement Nashi was established in Russia with the support of the Putin regime in 2005. The success of anti-regime demonstrators in Ukraine’s ‘Orange Revolution’ in 2004 had been noted in Moscow, and Nashi’s role was to serve as a pro-regime force to be mobilised against 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. Nashi’s role has developed to include facilitating young people’s 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 problematic its identification as a component of democratic civil society.

Chapter in A. Kocho-Williams (ed.) The Twentieth Century Russia Reader (2011) Routledge

An emerging literature is beginning to create a theoretical framework for analysing the role of p... more An emerging literature is beginning to create a theoretical framework for analysing the role of professional managers – that is, those without an ongoing academic background – in the context of UK higher education. Here I argue, drawing on my own experience in a range of higher education institutions, that this literature misses a crucial distinction amongst professional managers, namely that between generic HE professionals, and specialists from professions which exist outside the world of higher education (for example, human resources professionals, lawyers, marketing professionals). Building on this distinction to analyse the professional identities of higher education professional services staff, I recommend ways in which institutions can reduce the professional- academic divide in university management.

Chapter in 'The UK and Russia - A Troubled Relationship' (2007) edited by Andrew Monaghan, Confli... more Chapter in 'The UK and Russia - A Troubled Relationship' (2007) edited by Andrew Monaghan, Conflict Studies Research Centre.

Religion, State and Society, 1997

The Journal of Slavic Military Studies, 1993

The Journal of Slavic Military Studies, 1992