Synopses & Reviews
The aftereffects of the February 2014 Uprising in Ukraine are still reverberating around the world. The consequences of the popular rebellion and Russian President Putin’s attempt to strangle it remain uncertain. In this book, Andrew Wilson combines a spellbinding, on-the-scene account of the Kiev Uprising with a deeply informed analysis of what precipitated the events, what has developed in subsequent months, and why the story is far from over.
Wilson situates Ukraine’s February insurgence within Russia’s expansionist ambitions throughout the previous decade. He reveals how President Putin’s extravagant spending to develop soft power in all parts of Europe was aided by wishful thinking in the EU and American diplomatic inattention, and how Putin’s agenda continues to be widely misunderstood in the West. The author then examines events in the wake of the Uprising—the military coup in Crimea, the election of President Petro Poroshenko, the Malaysia Airlines tragedy, rising tensions among all of Russia's neighbors, both friend and foe, and more. Ukraine Crisis provides an important, accurate record of events that unfolded in Ukraine in 2014. It also rings a clear warning that the unresolved problems of the region have implications well beyond Ukrainian borders.
Review
and#8220;This is a splendid study that captures the essence of post-Soviet politics, getting to the core of Putinand#8217;s Russia and showing the authorand#8217;s unmatched command of Ukrainian political life. It is a book to be read by anyone with an interest in the machinations of contemporary politicsand#8221;and#8212;James Gow, Kingand#8217;s College London
Review
and#8220;. . . .a systematic and intelligent discussion of a generally neglected or misunderstood part of the post-Soviet political process."
Review
‘. . .this excellent account of what led up to the February uprising and the annexing of Crimea, as well as the background to the shooting down of the Malaysian Airlines plane, is timely and scholarly, full of hard-to-contest facts.’—Lesley McDowell, The Sunday Herald
Review
'As Andrew Wilson points out in his vivid study of the Ukraine crisis, nobody could have predicted what happened next. . .This is a lively account of a crisis that poses fundamental challenges for the west and may not be over yet.'—Luke Harding, The Guardian
‘. . .this excellent account of what led up to the February uprising and the annexing of Crimea, as well as the background to the shooting down of the Malaysian Airlines plane, is timely and scholarly, full of hard-to-contest facts.’—Lesley McDowell, The Sunday Herald
Review
'As Andrew Wilson points out in his vivid study of the Ukraine crisis, nobody could have predicted what happened next. . .This is a lively account of a crisis that poses fundamental challenges for the west and may not be over yet.'—Luke Harding, The Guardian
Synopsis
States like Russia and Ukraine may not have gone back to totalitarianism or the traditional authoritarian formula of stuffing the ballot box, cowing the population and imprisoning the oppositionand#150;or not obviously. But a whole industry of and#147;political technologyand#8221; has developed instead, with shadowy private firms and government and#147;fixersand#8221; on lucrative contracts dedicated to the black arts of organizing electoral success.
This book uncovers the sophisticated techniques of the and#147;virtualand#8221; political system used to legitimize post-Soviet regimes: entire fake parties, phantom political rivals and and#147;scarecrowand#8221; opponents. And it exposes the paramount role of the mass media in projecting these creations and in falsifying the entire political process.
Wilson argues that it is not primarily economic problems that have made it so difficult to develop meaningful democracy in the former Soviet world. Although the West also has its and#147;spin doctors,and#8221; dirty tricks, and aggressive ad campaigns, it is the unique post-Bolshevik culture of and#147;political technologyand#8221; that is the main obstacle to better governance in the region, to real popular participation in public affairs, and to the modernization of the political economy in the longer term.
Synopsis
Why has democracy gone wrong in the states of the former USSR? This penetrating book uncovers the sophisticated techniques of a and#147;virtualand#8221; political system used to legitimize post-Soviet regimes: entire fake parties, phantom political rivals, and scarecrow opponents. The book also exposes the paramount and problematic role of mass media in the political process.and#160;
Synopsis
A leading Ukraine specialist and firsthand witness to the 2014 Kiev Uprising analyzes the world’s newest flashpoint
About the Author
Andrew Wilson is senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations and reader in Ukrainian Studies at the School of Slavonic and Eastern European Studies, University College London. He has published widely on the politics of Eastern Europe, and his book
The Ukrainians is now in its third edition. He lives in Oxford, UK.