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This book examines the coexistence of crony capitalism and traditionally democratic institutions such as political competition and elections in Russia after the collapse of communism. The combination, Gulnaz Sharafutdinova argues, has produced a distinct pattern of political evolution in contemporary Russia. Elections are meant to ensure government accountability and allow voters to elect a government responsive to their needs, but in postcommunist Russia the institutional forms of democracy did not result in the expected outcomes. Instead, democratic institutions in the context of crony capitalism-in which informal elite groups dominate policy making, and preferential treatment from the state, not market forces, is crucial to amassing and holding wealth-were widely devalued and discredited. As Sharafutdinova demonstrates, especially through her close scrutiny of elections in two regions of Russia, Nizhnii Novgorod and the Republic of Tatarstan, crony capitalism made elections especially intense struggles among the elites. Massive amounts of money flowed into campaigns to promote candidates by discrediting their rivals, money purchased candidates and power, and elites thereby solidified their control. As a result, the majority of citizens perceived elections as the means for the elite to access power and wealth rather than as expressions of public will. Through her detailed case studies and her analyses of contemporary Russia in general, Sharafutdinova argues persuasively that the turn toward authoritarianism associated with Vladimir Putin and supported by a majority of Russian citizens was a negative political response to the interaction of electoral processes and crony capitalism.

The University of Notre Dame Press is pleased to bring Ernst Haas's classic work on European integration, The Uniting of Europe, back into print. First published in 1958 and last printed in 1968, this seminal volume is the starting point for anyone interested in the pre-history of the European Union. Haas uses the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) as a case study of the community formation processes that occur across traditional national and state boundaries. Haas points to the ECSC as an example of an organization with the "e;power to redirect the loyalties and expectations of political actors."e;In this pathbreaking book Haas contends that, based on his observations of the actual integration process, the idea of a "e;united Europe"e; took root in the years immediately following World War II. His careful and rigorous analysis tracks the development of the ECSC, including, in his 1968 preface, a discussion of the eventual loss of the individual identity of the ECSC through its absorption into the new European Community. Featuring a new introduction by Haas analyzing the impact of his book over time, as well as an updated bibliography, The Uniting of Europe is a must-have for political scientists and historians of modern and contemporary Europe. This book is the inaugural volume of Notre Dame's new Contemporary European Politics and Society Series.

Examining the Europe's single currency beyond its impact on financial markets and the economy itself, this book offers perspectives on currency change and European convergence. It offers assessments on European affairs as to whether the common currency will reshape the continent's cultures, societies, and political systems; if so, in what ways.

After the Berlin Wall fell, scholars flocked to eastern Europe to conduct research on citizens' political attitudes. This work finds little evidence to suggest that the political attitudes of eastern parliamentarians have hindered their adaptation to united Germany's political system. It describes German politics.

Addresses the political, cultural, and historical debate that has ensued in Spain as a result of the discovery and exhumation of mass graves dating from the years during and after the Spanish Civil War (1936-39). This title includes essays that present an analysis of how Spain has sought to come to terms with the violence of Franco's regime.

Analyzes how the behavior of voters, parties, and the mass media in European Parliament elections affects domestic politics and how, in turn, domestic politics affects those behaviors. This book discusses election turnout and party choice, and the contract between the European Parliament and national elections.