Politics and Legitimacy in Post-Soviet Eurasia

Political legitimacy has become a scarce resource in Russia and other post-Soviet states in Eurasia. Their capacity to deliver prosperity has suffered from economic crisis, the conflict in Ukraine and the ensuing confrontation with the West. Will nationalism and repression enable political regimes to survive? This book investigates the politics of legitimation in post-Soviet countries, focusing on how political and intellectual elites exploit different modes of legitimation. Combining cross-national comparisons and country case studies, it addresses state-economy relations, pro-presidential parties, courts, ideas of nationhood, historical and literary narratives. Weak economic performance, evidence of electoral fraud, unresponsive governments and the waning authority of presidents continue to jeopardize institutional legitimacy. Whilst incumbent elites have been able to shift between legitimation modes, this collection argues that shifts towards nationalism, artificial charisma and traditionalism will not be sufficient in the long term to keep elites in power.

Joachim Ahrens is Professor of International Economics, Private University of Applied Sciences Gottingen, Germany.

Martin Brusis is managing director of a research network on 'Institutions and Institutional Change in Postsocialism', University of Munich, Germany.

Martin Schulze Wessel is Professor for the History of East and Southeast Europe, University of Munich, Germany.