Title from title page of PDF (University of Missouri--St. Louis, viewed February 22, 2010). Includes bibliographical references (p. 334-344).

Thesis (M.A. in National Security Affairs)--Naval Postgraduate School, June 2003. / Thesis advisor(s): David S. Yost, Mikhail Tsypkin. Includes bibliographical references. Also available online.

Many considered the end of Soviet Communism as a sign that politics, and Left politics in particular, had been transcended in Russia and the world. Yet recent events, and this author’s own experience, contradict this vision. This paper will show that there is a radical, emancipatory, progressive Left emerging in Russia. However, this emerging politics remains unimaginable within the conventional ontology of Russian politics. This hegemonic ontology envisions an antagonism between “two Russias”: the conservative, lethargic, Eastern, rural masses and the energetic, progressive, Western, urban minority, which divides the political field among the existing actors. This paper will reject this vision and redraw the political landscape such that the contours of Russia’s emerging new Left can come to light. In this task, the author draws on the theory of Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe. Their post-Marxism emphasizes the discursive nature of socio-political dynamics and rejects the positivism of canonical Marxism. This paper affirms their basic premise, but advances a “discursive materialist” reading that explicitly rejects idealism and post-political fantasies. Through this theoretical lens it is possible not only to account for the emergence of the new Russian Left as such, but to show how its emergence works to effect a general reconfiguration of the political field. An excursion to the Turkish Gezi Park protests of 2013 vividly demonstrates the potential of Russia’s emerging Left, namely, its capacity to articulate a progressive, emancipatory populism. / Graduate

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Traditional understanding of the Canadian federation includes a belief that leadership from the federal government is necessary for effective intergovernmental relations and collective policy. The ability of the federal government to set a national vision has waned in the years since the constitutional negotiations. In its place has been a rise in interprovincial collaboration and leadership. A 30 year review of policy regarding the economic union and internal trade reveals that provincial asymmetry and incremental bilateral or regional action has shown an ability to contribute to a renewed pan-Canadian consensus. From this we can see how the system of interprovincial relations that has developed can serve to advance innovative policy and critical intergovernmental collaboration needed in the Canadian federation. / Graduate

Born out of the industrial and political struggles of organized labour at the end of the First World War, the BC CCF was a product of organizational and ideological conflict in the 1910s and 1920s. This study explores the shift of BC socialism towards industrial action, which culminated in the One Big Union and the sympathetic strikes of 1919. It then examines the emergence of anti-Communism on the Left, shaped by the experience of political unity and disunity during the 1920s. These two factors fundamentally influenced the ideology and strategy adopted by the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) in British Columbia. The ideological and tactical divisions of the 1930s were contested during the 1910s and 1920s. The collapse of the One Big Union, combined with deteriorating relations with the Communist Party, shifted BC socialists away from industrial militancy and toward parliamentary forms of struggle. / Graduate / 0334 / 0629 / 0511

This thesis is concerned with the geographical impact of the post-Soviet transition on the north of Perm' oblast, Russian Federation; a forested area which is marginal in terms of agriculture and economic development, where harsh climate and marshy soils preclude profitable agriculture, and where very poor infrastructure and low levels of investment have contributed to the decline of the forestry industry, which was developed during the Soviet period outside of the market system under which such development might have been regarded as non-viable. This thesis discusses marginality and poverty against the background of the process of 'transition' in Russia, and also outlines the theory of transition itself. The historical context is also considered; the processes through which the north of Perm' oblast arrived at the position in which it found itself by 1991 are examined, and changes up to the present day are analyzed. Historically, the processes of settlement and development of forestry in the study area are central. The political situation in the Russian Federation is also brought into the argument; the struggle for power between the centre and the periphery, and the weakening of the centre in recent months all have a bearing upon the view taken of marginal areas by the Moscow administration, and the policies undertaken which affect them. The thesis describes the responses of rural inhabitants to the processes of marginalisation; through out-migration, bifurcation of households, and the ways in which they utilise their domestic and environmental resources to effect subsistence. It also describes the importance of cash sources, of social capital, and of the forestry enterprises in the villages, as survival strategies. The conditions in the study region are shown to owe much to the context of Soviet development policy, and its impact on post-Soviet Russia.

This thesis is concerned with various aspects of transitional labour reallocation either between different labour market states, or between less and more efficient enterprises, or between formal and informal sectors. The possibility of irregular employment opportunities receives special attention in this work. The substantive material is arranged in three independent essays. The first, empirical study portrays the most important trends in labour reallocation in Russia, and presents analyses of two types. First, transition probabilities are studied, and some determinants of worker flows are identified using a multinomial logit modelling. Second, a survival analysis of the non-employed is conducted to reveal possible causes of growing stagnancy of unemployment and inactivity. The findings are contrasted with the stylised theory of labour reallocation in transition (Aghion and Blanchard, 1994). The directions in which theoretical modifications should be attempted in future research are suggested. The second and the third essays draw upon some of these suggestions and are aimed at making a contribution on the theoretical front. The second essay puts forward a development of the seminal model of transition from planned to market economy by Aghion and Blanchard (1994). We introduce an informal sector to show that its presence can generate the dynamics qualitatively different from the types considered in the previous literature on the topic. It is argued that convergence to qualitatively different steady states can help explain varying transitional experiences of East European countries and the former Soviet Union republics. Attention is drawn to policy implications of the model, in particular to the creation of conditions favourable for the development of the new private sector as opposed to informal private initiative. Finally, the third essay takes the issue of coexistence of formal and informal sectors in transition further to see if such duality is possible in the long run, and to discuss the role of the government in creating preconditions for it. The study draws on the standard framework of Pissarides (2000) of search in the labour market. It demonstrates that a long-run equilibrium with both formal and informal economies is possible under very mild assumptions. It is also shown that labour market imperfections can create a situation when reduction in informality may be detrimental to economic welfare. Although the foci of the essays differ, the issues raised therein are closely knit so that many threads can be drawn together. In the concluding chapter we discuss the main areas to which this thesis contributes, summarise the main findings, and make some suggestions for future research.

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