Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / 2031-01-01

Thesis advisor: Gerald Easter / "Living in Truth in the Age of Automatization" is a discussion of dehumanization in the period of technological and bureaucratic supremacy. The article uses the writings of former Czech president Václav Havel and American novelist Kurt Vonnegut to argue that neither the automatization inherent within the Eastern Communist Model nor the mass consumer culture of the Western Capitalist Model are ideal, and to discuss the possibility of a third way, a way called "living in truth" which protects human dignity and the right of every man to pursue meaningful work in a society. / Thesis (MA) — Boston College, 2013. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Political Science.

Thesis advisor: Roberta T. Manning / Although born in Prague under the Austro-Hungarian Empire and dying before Stalin took control of the USSR, Kafka clairvoyantly understood the full paradox of Soviet authoritarianism. His short parable “Before the Law” provides an interesting intellectual exercise for anyone wishing to study Soviet law, for in Russia it evokes tragic truth. The man who futilely attempted to reach the law is a metaphor for Russian masses seeking the same goal. Just as the doorkeeper with his air of conscious superiority and vacillating temperament mirrors the nature of Soviet rulers. The absurdity that underpins Kafka's work poignantly and painfully parallels the arbitrary ‘justice' of Stalin's rule. The man's futile search is symbolic of the many purge victims who, while wasting away in the gulags, clung to the slim hope of using legal means to exonerate themselves. Through an intellectual and visceral response, Kafka conveys the authoritarian split between the elite and the masses in Russia. No one knows how many countless Russian and Soviet citizens' lives were wasted in the same shadow of indifferent omnipotence. And we are forced to ask why the law was kept from them. And yet, what fueled the insatiable pursuit of the law in the face of certain futility? Even the Purges took place within a legal framework, as perverse as it may have been. But was Communist legality simply an oxymoron, or was there something more? / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2003. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: History. / Discipline: College Honors Program.

Democratic forms of government are either consolidating democratic institutions or unraveling into authoritarianism in the former Soviet Union. Among the possible causes of each success or failure to consolidate democracy is the character of civil society and its cultural proximity to long-standing, modern state-based, consolidated democracies of the West. What impact does Western or Westernized media have upon the indigenous civil societies of Eastern Europe, and is this impact sufficient to consolidate democracy among the states of the former Soviet Union? As case studies, Eastern Europe contains two states, Estonia and Russia, where democracy has either succeeded or failed alongside the presence of exogenous cultural influence in the form of Western or Westernized television broadcast media. To what extent does the presence of Western broadcast media and associated cultural memes predict the iv consolidation of democratic political values, and how ought any impact of these memes be interpreted in the light of modernity, Eurocentricity and cultural hegemony? To account for the impact of exogenous cultural influence, foreign policy prescriptions that encourage the growth of indigenous, mimetic, democratic civic culture would appear to be an effective means of supporting democracy in the emerging democracies of Eastern Europe. / by John R. Batey. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2013. / Includes bibliography. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / System requirements: Adobe Reader.

The breakup of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) in 1991 has had a variety of significant repercussions on Chinese politics, foreign policy, and other aspects. This doctoral project examines the evolution of Chinese intellectual perceptions of the Soviet Union in the 1980s and 1990s, before and after the collapse. Relying on a larger body of updated Chinese sources, this thesis will offer re-evaluations of many key issues in post-Mao Chinese Sovietology. The following topics will be explored or re-examined: Chinese views of Soviet policies in the early 1980s prior to Mikhail Gorbachev’s assumption of power; Chinese perceptions of Gorbachev’s political reform from the mid-1980s onward, before the outbreak of the Tiananmen Incident in 1989; Chinese scholars’ evolving views on Gorbachev from the 1980s to 1990s; the Chinese use of Vladimir Lenin and his policies in the early 1980s and early 1990s for bolstering and legitimizing the CCP regime after the Cultural Revolution and the Tiananmen Incident, respectively; and the re-evaluations of Leonid Brezhnev and Joseph Stalin since the mid-1990s. First, the thesis argues that the changing Chinese views on the USSR were not only shaped by the ups-and-downs of Sino-Soviet (and later Sino-Russian) relations, China’s domestic political climate, and the political developments in Moscow. Even more importantly, views changed in response to the earth-shaking event of the rise and fall of world communism in the last two decades of the 20th century. Second, by researching the country of the Soviet Union, Chinese Soviet-watchers did not focus on the USSR alone, but mostly attempted to confirm and legitimize the Chinese state policies of reform and open door in both decades. By examining the Soviet past, Chinese scholars not only demonstrated concern for the survival of the CCP regime, but also attempted to envision the future direction and position of China in the post-communist world. This included analysis of how China could rise to be a powerful nation under the authoritarian one-party rule, without succumbing to Western democracy and the sort of collapse that doomed the USSR. In short, Chinese research on Soviet socialism has primarily served to trace the current problems of Chinese socialism, in order to legitimize their solutions – rather than a truth-seeking process devoted to knowledge of the Soviet Union.

O debate sobre o socialismo americano começa no inicio do Século XIX e foi ganhando adeptos conforme cresceu sua importância dentro das sociedades latinas americanas. Ao mesmo tempo, foi seguido de várias rupturas e continuidades, várias e ricas abordagens sobre a Sociedade. O presente estudo busca resgatar essa contribuição e busca realizar um exame da organização do pensamento comunista e da III Internacional na América Latina. Este estudo desenvolve um panorama do inicio da formação do pensamento socialista no continente na primeira metade do Século XIX e centra sua preocupação em observar como foi o encontro entre o pensamento comunista latino americano e o comunismo da III Internacional. Ao mesmo tempo, detêm-se no impacto que a filiação dos partidos comunistas latino americano a III internacional teve no processo de amadurecimento de suas idéias, estratégicas e táticas, na ação política e na formação de um ideário de superação do Capitalismo pelo Socialismo. / The debate about American socialism starts at the beginning of ninetieth century and won adepts as its importance grew up inside the latin-american societies. At the same time, was followed by several ruptures and continuities, several and valiant approaches about the society. This study seeks to rescue this contribution and seeks an examination of the communist thought organization and the III International in Latin-America. This study develops a panorama of the socialist thought beginning in the continent at the first half of ninetieth century and focus its preoccupation on observe how was the meeting between latin-american communist thought and the III International communism. At the same time, arrests in the impact that the filiation of Latin-American communist parties the III International had in the ripening process of its strategically ideas and tactics on political action and the formation of an ideology about an overcoming of the Capitalism by Socialism.

The major objective of my thesis was to understand why sectors of the reconstructed anarcho-syndicalist trade union, the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo, were addressing concerns which were identical to sectors of the Marxist Left in other countries of Europe, For my views on anarchism had been informed by a Marxist interpretation of anarchism, which rested on the assumption that anarchism was an agrarian, and/or a petit bourgeois philopsopy which could have little relevance in advanced industrial societies. This anomaly - my experience of anarchist militants within the CUT, and the vision of anarchism expounded by "classical" Marxism - led me to undertake an historical study of the Spanish anarchist movement and a theoretical study of Marxist and anarchist thought. Moreover, in order to understand the demands of the anarchists and the CNT during the 1960's and 1970's, I had to thoroughly study the developments which had taken place within the workers' and student movements during the Francoist period, and the nature of the CUT organisation in exile, factors which would bear heavily on the CNT's attempt at reconstruction. Through extensive interviewing and the use of documents, I tried to piece together the process of anarchist re-emergence in Spain from the mid-1960s, and the nature of the reconstruction of the CUT during the political transition to democracy in Spain in 1976-1979. The overall theme of my thesis centres on the relationship between Marxism and anarchism, and their relationship to historical development and tradition. By emphasising the importance of historical tradition - the political aspect most sorely underestimated in both Marxist and anarchist thought - I hope my thesis will contribute towards the possibility of a more realisable socialist utopia.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) is emerging as a significant security organisation in Central Asia, but remains understudies in academia. This thesis analyses SCO using primary research interviews across its member-states, and by drawing on theoretical literatures developed for security and regionalism in the developing world. The role of SCO as a security provider and the nature of cooperation within its framework are examined, challenging existing assumptions. It is argued that the SCO is not an "empty vessel" aimed at countering Western influence, but a framework for cooperation on the primary interest of its member-states,regime security. To this end, it is focussed on addressing non-traditional security challenges within Central Asia, and has developed an institutional framework that takes into account the reservations of its member-states' elites about ceding national sovereignty. The thesis concludes that this approach has enabled SCO to become an important element in its member-states' regional policy. In addition, mainstream literatures on regional institutions are critiqued, in particular the impliciit assumption that cooperation between states that are not pluralistic liberal-democracies is inherently limited. To the contrary, in regions of weak states, regime security provides the basis for a different form of cooperation that should not be dismissed.

This case study examines contemporary Belarus as an example of a modern non-democratic regime. Two sets of questions are answered which relate firstly to the characteristics of the successful authoritarian consolidation which has taken place under President Aliaksandr Lukashenka over the years since his initial election in 1994, and secondly to the factors which have discouraged disloyalty to the authorities and contributed to the marginalisation of any opposition. The thesis argues that a concept of ‘adaptive authoritarianism’ is the most appropriate term to describe the non-democratic system constructed around Lukashenka. The research develops a conceptual framework based on existing models used in comparative politics, which are then applied in a manner which reflects the realities of the political landscape in Belarus by taking a bottom-up approach to identifying and analysing the structures in place. Adaptive authoritarianism is classified as featuring electoral authoritarianism with neopatrimonial tendencies; seeking to claim legitimacy through a mixture of charisma, populism, rational self-interest and resigned acceptance; employing both high-intensity and low-intensity techniques of state coercion; and demonstrating pragmatism, expediency and opportunism to modify and adapt the approaches and policies pursued at any given time, as deemed in the best interests of the incumbent.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-27T19:30:36Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Heitor de Andrade Carvalho Loureiro.pdf: 3835093 bytes, checksum: 0f1a8d7667e7141cf6be0c1902f25c9e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-09-20 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This paper investigates the Armenian Communism in São Paulo between 1935 and 1969 and the surveillance and repression of Delegacia Especializada de Ordem Política e Social (DEOPS/SP). Thus, it is analyzed how the Armenians escaped from the Ottoman Empire and how they came to São Paulo. Their passages through Syria and Lebanon, where they rebuilt their lives and society after the Genocide started in 1915, are also observed. It is also discussed how the Armenians were embedded in São Paulo society and economy establishing their own institutions over the years. Finally, it is examined how Communism was developed into the Armenian Community in São Paulo, in opposition to other political groups who had different views on the Armenian recent history and Diaspora organizations. Therefore, it is observed the paths of Levon Yacubian and Jacob Bazarian, in charge of associations and press like Ararat - a voz do povo armênio , a newspaper which was confiscated and investigated by Political Police under the charge of subversion. The criminal records of DEOPS/SP are the main sources of this research, as well as the community press that were not captured by police authorities. Through these documents it is possible to restore the action of the Armenians who supported Communism as a way to support Soviet Armenia / Este trabalho tem como finalidade compreender o que foi o comunismo dos armênios em São Paulo entre 1935 e 1969 e a consequente vigilância e repressão da Delegacia Especializada de Ordem Política e Social (DEOPS/SP). Assim, discorremos sobre a saída dos armênios do Império Otomano e a chegada destes em São Paulo, observando também a passagem pela Síria e Líbano, onde esses refugiados recriaram suas vidas e sociedade após o genocídio iniciado em 1915. Vimos também como os armênios se inseriram na sociedade e economia da capital paulista, fundando suas próprias instituições e entidades ao longo dos anos. Por fim, analisamos como o comunismo se desenvolveu no interior da coletividade armênia de São Paulo, em contraponto a outras tendências políticas que diferiam entre si no modo de encarar a história recente da Armênia e a organização da vida comunitária na diáspora. Para tanto, foram observadas as trajetórias de Levon Yacubian e Jacob Bazarian à frente de entidades e publicações como o Ararat a voz do povo armênio , jornal que foi confiscado e investigado pela Polícia Política sob a acusação de subversão. Destarte, foram os prontuários da DEOPS/SP as principais fontes dessa pesquisa, ao lado de publicações da coletividade que não foram apreendidas pelas autoridades policiais, que nos permitem reconstituir a ação desses armênios que eram entusiastas do comunismo como uma forma de apoiar a Armênia Soviética