The Slavonic and East European Review 

About: The Slavonic and East European Review is an academic journal published by Maney Publishing. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Politics & Ukrainian. It has an ISSN identifier of 0037-6795. Over the lifetime, 384 publications have been published receiving 2047 citations. The journal is also known as: Slavonic and East European Review & SEER.

Rethinking corruption: hocus-pocus, locus and focus

Abstract: Although there has been a significant increase in research on the phenomenon of corruption over the last quarter-century, there is little evidence that this has resulted in effective policy interventions, nor in any significant reduction in its scope and extent. This article argues that three main reasons account for this failure to develop effective anti-corruption measures. First, the dominance of economistic analyses of the role of incentives in decision-making has given rise to proposed institutional fixes that are too abstracted from reality to gain purchase. That dominance was partly prompted by a misplaced assumption that market-based liberal democracies would become the modal regime type following the collapse of communism. Second, an emphasis on the nation state as the primary unit of analysis has not kept pace with significant changes in how some forms of corruption operate in practice, nor with the changing nature of states themselves. Third, different types of corruption are insufficiently disaggregated according not just to kind and form, but also to the locations in which they occur (sectoral, organisational, geographical), the actors involved, and the dependencies that enable them. This reflects an overuse of the term ‘corruption’ in both academic literature and policy recommendations; insufficient attention is paid to what exactly is being addressed and ultimately, the notion of corruption, without adjectives, is a poor guide both to analysis and to policy prescription.

Putin, Putiniana and the Question of a Post-Soviet Cult of Personality

Abstract: Vladimir Putin has distinguished himself from leaders of the Russian state of the past twenty-five years in a number of noteworthy ways. Since Boris El'tsin's resignation elevated him to the post of acting president on 31 December 1999, Putin has dramatically reshaped Russia's political culture, economy and social institutions. The first strong national leader to emerge out of the chaos of the immediate postSoviet period, he has inspired expressions of adulation the likes of which Russia has not seen since the Stalin era. Soon after his victory in the presidential elections of March 2000, portraits of Putin appeared for sale in Russian bookstores, and serious Russian artists, such as Timur Kozyrev, Andrei Logvin and Dmitrii Vrubel' and Viktoriia Timofeeva began to use the President's face in their work. For example, in a 2002 painting titled 'Black Square5, Vrubel' and Timofeeva juxtapose Kazimir Malevich's landmark 1915 canvas with the President's penetrating gaze (Fig. 1). Other tributes to Putin include a 2001 calendar depicting 'The President's Twelve Moods' by Vrubel' and Timofeeva and a 2004 book entitled Fairytales About Our President, which renders Putin and his exploits as a series of lubki} In a way that cannot help but remind students of Soviet history of earlier cults of personality, Putin's likeness and biography also quickly found their way into the Russian school curriculum and the lives of Russia's children. Putin's

'after all, you're a rock and roll star (at least, that's what they say)' : Roksi and the Creation of the Soviet Rock Musician

Abstract: In 1977 a group of rock musicians and fans from Leningrad began producing a samizdat periodical, Roksi, in which they gave voice e to debates about the influence of Western rock on the development of the local music scene, and about the possibility of rock stardom in the Soviet context. This article examines the construction of the figure of the rock musician as revealed in articles written for Roksi, as well as on the album Vse brat'ia sestry, recorded in 1978 by two of the journal's contributors, Boris Grebenshchikov and Maik Naumenko. Examining these contemporary texts enables a re-reading of the place of rock music in Soviet culture and the relationship between Leningrad's musicians and their fans.