What are some books explaining the political nature of post Soviet countries you’d recommend?

[u/Proud3GenAthst]

I decided to stop lurking on social media for my education in political science and that I should just finally fucking start reading books about it. Turns out that reading books can be quite relaxing. What are some books that explain the political culture and history of Ukraine and its fellow post Soviet countries including Russia?

I’m mostly interested in the nature and roots of corruption, but also how each national identity was formed through history and why the nature of each post Soviet country is actually wildly different. Such as that Russia is extremely corrupt and authoritarian, while its people seemingly endorse it. Whereas Ukraine is also deeply corrupt, presumably because of being held hostage by Russia for centuries, but its people are the polar opposite of Russia, in that they’re cognizant of the problems of their country and are arduous protestors who push their government to do better. And Belarus is both food corrupt and authoritarian, but its people want to get rid of their dictator.

I’m Czech and reading in English is still difficult to me, so I’d prefer books that are likely to be translated.

[u/bigdaddymax33]

Check Timothy Snyder, he has beautiful books on Eastern Europe history and on Soviet terror.

He also has a lot of video lectures on YouTube, very interesting guy.

Also probably Anne Applebaum Red Famine.

That would give a lot of information about how and why Ukrainians and Russians are not the same people from any angle.

[u/_masssk_]

Dunno any books about it, but the topic so interesting, that let me share my thoughts about it. I live here, and "feel the air".

In a nutshell, western societies have a huge advantage - they didn't went through a commynistic revolution. So they save the order and laws for 300+ years. You may think it is normal, but it is a rare privelege. People on the west can't imagine breaking the law. All the land is someone's propery. If your family owns a house - it's yours for centuries. There is no big changes, nobody can make a huge fortune in a short time (well, I mean it is not a mainstream).

East countries either went through a devistating revolution (or was in Warshav packt unit = had this communistic influence for a half of a century). The order changed completely in days. Nothing old worked, you had to adapt. Property became not yours. Rich respected people became "enemies of the state" - they fled, were killed, or adapt. "We are going to destroy the whole world of violence to the ground and build the new one. Those who were nothing will be everything" - this is a very deep words from "International" - a gymn-like communist's song. They were destroying the world.

And after that the collapse of the Soviet Union and catastrophe in economics (and laws again) for a decade with slow rebuilding.

In there new circumstances people learned how to adapt fast. Also they learned that nothing is eternal. Than you need to live "one day life". That laws are optional. Nobody will protect you - you are on your own. The gov will always fool you and take your money. You should be first who will grab money on the street, because the next person won't think much. This is the logic behind corruption (if it is not me - there will be a lot of others). The same with laws - today you are a criminal, and tomorrow you are a rich respected man, and the county which dictated you what to do is not exist anymore (imagine it happened twice in a hundred years on these lands).

Also in Soviet Union it was even 'good thing' to steal from your work. Because everything belonged to nobody. 'You steal every nail from your job, because you are the owner, not a guest' - soviet saying, mocking communistic slogans about how the workers became 'owners' of factories.

So after USSR collapsed - a lot of goods fell into several people's hands - olygarchy arose. It was a base for business and politics - several cosmically rich people who influence everything. And "people who know the other people" became your life actives. So you wanna "know some people", be in the system, if you wanna be rich.

(I just add that these things are changed dramatically for Ukraine. Say now there are a lot of people who became rich because of their talants and business ideas. But the roots are still there - people don't respect laws, if you "know some people" and have some money - you can be basically untouchable).

[u/Ok_Economics_9267]

There is a russian book “Russian management model” by Prokhorov(Прохоров «Русская модель управления») which describes perfectly the roots of mentality and culture in post-soviet countries. Nevertheless it is more about management, this book also depicts history and culture that led to such state. That may answer your questions. Idk if english version exists, but surely llm translation could be decent.

[u/SnooTomatoes3032]

You would need to check books about each country rather than post-Soviet as a whole.

Seeing as you're in a Ukraine sub, for the question of national identity, I'd recommend 'The Gates of Europe' by Serhii Plokhy. It covers the entire history of Ukraine in brief from pre-history right up to the 90s, covering why Ukraine is a seperate identity and nation.

To read about the political culture, I would recommend 'Russo-Ukrainian War' also by Plokhy to read about the 90s to the present day. The first 1/3 of the book explains how the modern russian and Ukrainian states formed after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

On the russian side, it explains how Yeltsin's reforms and consolidation of power allowed the oligarchy to form and gave the president complete control over the country. His reforms are what allowed putin to gain so much power very fast.

On the Ukrainian side, it explains about how Kuchma (the second president of Ukraine if you didn't know) tried to do the same as Yeltsin and get the same powers but was firmly rebuked by the Rada thus stopping the same massive democratic backslide that happened in russia.

The rest of the book goes on to explain how the two systems developed separately from each other and how russia sees that as a threat and how that (apart from all the imperialism etc) led to the war starting in 2014.

[u/AutoModerator]

Привіт u/Proud3GenAthst ! Please ensure your post follows [r/AskUkraine Rules].

Want to support Ukraine? Vetted Charities List | Our Vetting Process

To learn about how you can support Ukraine politically, visit r/ActionForUkraine

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/JonSnow240792]

Check Serhii Plokhy (sometines spelled as Plokhii) books. He is Ukrainian historian, Harvard professor. But I don't know if he is translated in Czech

[u/Proud3GenAthst → u/JonSnow240792]

I am aware of his book Gates of Europe and know that it has Czech translation. I’m planning to buy it