The Soldier in Russian Politics, 1985-96

Description

If Russia is to become a viable democracy, it will need a viable state to make and enforce decisions that nurture societal cohesion and sustain complex economic activity. Armed forces are essential attributes of viable modern states, but what happens when states undergo major structural changes? What was the military's contribution to the end of the Soviet Union and the rise of post-Soviet... Read more

If Russia is to become a viable democracy, it will need a viable state to make and enforce decisions that nurture societal cohesion and sustain complex economic activity. Armed forces are essential attributes of viable modern states, but what happens when states undergo major structural changes? What was the military's contribution to the end of the Soviet Union and the rise of post-Soviet Russia?

The Soldier in Russian Politics is the first study to go beyond familiar accounts of the main events that brought down the Soviet state and began its reconstruction. It captures the interplay between soldier and civilian politicians in a major political history based on solid political-sociological analysis. Barylski uses the study of civil-military relations to explore new political and intellectual conditions and explain the historic relationship between changes in Western models of Russian reality and political change in the former Soviet Union.

Examining the military's participation in every major, twentieth-century, political change from 1917 to 1991, Barylski demonstrates that every deep political transformation in Russia has military dimensions. Barylski discusses how the Russian presidency's power to command and control the military without legislative checks and balances led to armed conflict with Parliament in October 1993 and to the Chechen war of 1994-1996, and is unhealthy for long term democratic development. Barylski analyzes ministers of defense Yazov, Shaposhnikov, Grachev, and Rodionov as political actors, traces the careers of ambitious political soldiers such as Aleksandr Lebed and Aleksandr Rutskoi, and describes the military's growing political alienation from the Yeltsin administration. His final chapters cover the presidential elections, the short-lived Yeltsin-Lebed political alliance, the tensions associated with Yeltsin's ailments, and Yeltsin's efforts to rebuild his personal power political effectiveness.

The Soldier in Russian Politics presents political history in an incisive and objective manner. It applauds the progressive officers, soldiers, and politicians where decisions minimized bloodshed and prevented civil war. But it also warns that civilian and military leaders can make mistakes which cause political institutional failure, violence, and dictatorship. This book will interest political scientists, political sociologists, students of Russian and soviet politics, and all military historians and professionals.

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Introduction Part I: The Military and the End of the Soviet State 1. Thinking About Civil-Military Relations in Russia 2. Gorbachev's Reforms: Political Change and Civilian Control 3. The Military, Domestic Political Violence, and the Gorbachev-Yeltsin Rivalry 4. The Double Coup of August 1991 5. The Dual Presidency 6. From Union to Commonwealth Part II: The Military and the New Russian State 7. Military Officers as a Political Force 8. Dividing the Army Monolith Responsibly 9. Presidential or Parliamentary Armed Forces? 10. The Armed Forces and Yeltsin's Presidential Putsch 11. The Military's Politics after the Crisis of September-October 1993 Part III: Testing the Russian State's Viability 12. The Chechen War and Civil-Military Relations 13. The Military's 1995 Political Offensive 14. The 1996 Presidential Campaign 15. President Yeltsin and General Lebed 16. Military Politics in Yeltsin's Presidential State 17. The Theory and Practice of Democratic Constitutional Control 18. Serving Under the Imperial Eagle 19. Postscript: Civil-Military Relations in an Ukaz-Governed State

Author(s)

Biography

Robert V. Barylski

The Soldier in Russian Politics, 1985-96

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Table of Contents

Author(s)

Biography

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