State marionettes, phantom organisations or genuine movements? The paradoxical emergence of rural social movements in post-socialist Russia

Bibliographic Data

ID2157078
AuthorsNatalia Mamonova (0000-0001-6618-877X), Oane Visser, Оане Виссер (0000-0002-5673-4439)
Year2014
Volume41
Issue4
Pages491-516
Publication date2014-07-04
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Journal of Peasant Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0306-6150 • E-ISSN: 1743-9361
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/03066150.2014.918958
OpenAlexW2074849243
LanguageEN
Citations received12
References cited49

Of all the rural social movements in the world, those in post-socialist Russia have been considered to be among the weakest. Nevertheless, triggered by the neo-liberal reforms in the countryside, state attention to agriculture and rising land conflicts, new social movement organisations with a strong political orientation are emerging in Russia today. This sudden burst of civil activity, however, raises questions as to how genuine and independent the emerging organisations are. Our research shows that many rural movements, agricultural associations, farm unions and rural political parties lack constituency, support the status quo and/or are actually counterfeits (what we call 'phantom movement organisations'). With this analysis, we aim to explain the nature of social movements in the post-Soviet countryside and offer an original contribution to the theory on and practice of rural social movements

Aesthetics · Economic system · Economics · Movement (music · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Social movement · Sociology · State (computer science · Agriculture, Land Use, Rural Development · Post-Communist Economic and Political Transition · Soviet and Russian History