Putin v the People: The Perilous Politics of a Divided Russia

Author(s): Samuel Greene, and Graeme Robertson

Yale University Press, New Haven, Connecticut, 2019, pp. 296

The authors, academic experts on Russian politics, draw on surveys, social media, interviews and leaked documents to examine why there has been such long term popular support for Putin. They examine his changing tactics, his handling of the 2012 protests against electoral manipulation, and the role of the annexation of Crimea in 2014 that made pride in Russia the main pillar of his support. The authors argue that attempts to secure change are undermined by belief that it is impossible, but suggest there are limits to public acquiescence and Putin's power. The potential fragility of his rule is revealed for example by demonstrations by thousands of pensioners against pension reforms that raised the retirement age.

Sonderheft Soziale Verteidigung

No 98/99, November

Editor(s): Graswurzelrevolution

Graswurzelrevolution1985

‘Grassroots Revolution’ is a nonviolent-libertarian-anarchist magazine. This special issue focuses on an anarchistic approach to ‘social defence’ as opposed to proposals for governments to adopt civilian-based defence.

Hiroshima In America. A Half Century Of Denial

Author(s): Robert Lifton, and Greg Mitchell

Avon Books, New York, 1995, pp. 427

The authors examine President Truman’s motives for authorizing and then defending the use of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. They also discuss the moral concern of many of the scientists that directed the Manhattan Project, and expose the official attempts by historians and the media to suppress or distort the information about it.

The 1998 Parliamentary Election and Democratic Rebirth in Slovakia

Editor(s): Sharon Fisher, Martin Butora, Zora Butrova, and Grigorij Meseznikov

Institue for Public Affairs, Bratislava, 1999, pp. 215

Written by protagonists and supporters of the anti-Meciar campaign. Chapters on mobilization of trade unions, Slovak churches and other civil society bodies to turn out the vote for the anti-Meciar coalition, especially among the young (10% of the electorate were first time voters).

See also: Martin Butora, Zora Butrova, Slovakia’s Democratic Awakening, 1999 , pp. 80-93 ; and Martin Butora, OK’98: A Campaign of Slovak NGOs for Free and Fair Elections, In Joerg Forbrig, Pavol Demes, Reclaiming Democracy: Civil Society and Electoral Change in Central and Eastern Europe (D. II.1. Comparative Assessments) Washington DC, German Marshall Fund of USA, 2007 , pp. 21-52 . Butora was a founder member of Public Against Violence and a former Slovak ambassador to the USA.

They’re uncompromising”: How the young transformed Poland’s abortion protests

Author(s): Grzegorz Piotrowski, and Magdalena Muszel

In: Open Democracy, 2020

The authors discuss the new cross-generational alliance behind the militant October/November 2020 mass protests against government implementation of the Constitutional Court ruling excluding foeatal abnormalities as a reason to have an abortion.

See also Torrisi, Claudia, ‘Abortion Without Borders: a bold, feminist reply to Poland’s draconian laws’, OpenDemocracy, 28 September 2020.
https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/5050/abortion-without-borders-a-bold-fe...

Highlights initiatives to help women exercise their limited abortion rights in Poland. These include Abortion Without Borders (which offers advice and funds to women seeking abortion abroad), Abortion Dream Team and Kobiety w Sieci (Poland’s first online forums for unbiased abortion information).

Available online at:

https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/can-europe-make-it/theyre-uncompromising-how-the-young-transformed-polands-abortion-protests/

The Unquiet Woods: Ecological Change and Peasant Resistance in the Himalayas

expanded edition

Author(s): Guha Ramachandra

Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2000, pp. 244

Emphasizes local roots of movement. including development of ‘non-secessionist regionalism’ in Uttarakhand. The epilogue, written in 1998, adds historical perspective on the movement’s achievements and reports on-going struggles. Seeks to offer ‘corrective’ to romanticized western and ecofeminist interpretations.

Whither feminist alliance? Secular feminists and Islamist women in Turkey

Author(s): Hulya Simga, and Gulru Goker

In: Asian Journal of Women's Studies, Vol 23, No 3, 2017, pp. 273-293

Inquires into the viability of an alliance between secular feminists and Islamists through the proliferation of deliberative platforms, where civil society organizations can meet at a safe distance from partisan politics and enter productive dialogue and generate policies to resolve the crucial problems women are facing in Turkey.

Environmental NGOs and Institutional Dynamics in China

Author(s): Guobin Yang

In: China Quarterly, Vol 181, No March, 2005, pp. 46-66

Argues environmental NGOs becoming more visible in Chinese environmental politics and seizing opportunities offered by the media, internet and international NGOs. Author concludes environmental NGOs both sites and agents of democratic change.

Kenyatta and the Politics of Kenya

Author(s): Guy Arnold

Dent, London, 1974, pp. 226

Study of the political figure who was central to the struggle for independence from 1928 and became head of Kenya’s first African government.

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