Military And Society in Post-soviet Russia

Webber (Russian and East European studies, U. of Birmingham, UK) and Mathers (international politics, U. of Wales-Aberystwyth, UK) present ten papers that explore civil-military relations in post-Soviet Russia, going beyond a focus on elite-level politico-military reaction and attempting a holistic approach that brings together all aspects of the interaction between civilian society and the military sphere, from high politics to the portrayal of the military and warfare in rock music (for example). Opening papers discuss the army as an institutional model, media-military relations, and representations of war in film. More explicit political and economic interfaces are discussed in chapters that look at civil reactions to the wars in Chechnya, connections between military reform and regional politics, and the economics of society-military relations. Questions of citizenship and identity are explored in the final set of papers, including the role of women soldiers, soldiers' mothers and the Chechen wars, and the integration of the Cossacks within the Russian army. Distributed in the US by Palgrave Macmillan. Annotation c2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)