Post-Soviet Legacies and Conflicting Values in Europe: Generation Why(Russian, Eurasian, and Eastern European Politics)

Generational conflicts occur in any society and prove to be both a puzzle and a rite of passage for every generation. Older generations often find it difficult to relate to the younger generations. Yet, as every generation comes of age, it leaves an impact on societal structures as a whole. Between baby boomers and millennials, societal norms and values transform in new and unexpected ways. While globalization has greatly contributed to the generational gaps world over, the post-communist transition, which occurred in the wake of the collapse of the USSR, left lasting and profound effects on these transitioning societies. This book investigates the generational conflict in the post-Soviet societies and argues that the generational divide runs deep. The post-Soviet generation, Generation WhY, has not dealt with the experience of old Soviet structures and they do not share the same values and norms as their parents and grandparents. Individualism, lack of trust in state institutions, independence, and entrepreneurial spirit run high among the members of the perestroika generation. Yet we still find differences between societies. While the Russian-Ukrainian conflict has its roots in a number of deeply seeded issues, this analysis shows that the generational gap is a part of the problem. This book also offers conclusive evidence to suggest that the members of the post-Soviet generation can be part of the solution.

Table of Contents:
Series Foreword, by Michael Slobodchikoff Preface Introduction: Post-communist transition and Conflict in Europe Chapter 1: A Generation Apart: How the Post-Communist Transition Shaped the Post-Soviet Values Chapter 2: Generational Differences in Values in Europe Chapter 3: Supranational Norms and Domestic Value Change: Evidence from Ukraine Chapter 4: Russia-Ukraine Conflict: Value-based and Generational Perspective Chapter 5: Social Networks in Russian-Ukrainian Conflict Conclusion Appendix A: “Our Generations” Interview Questionnaire Appendix B: Descriptive Statistics on the Interviewees Appendix C: World Values Survey Questions Appendix D: Survey Protocol References About the Authors

About the Author :
Lena Surzhko-Harned is assistant teaching professor of comparative politics at Penn State University. Ekaterina Turkina is associate professor in the Department of International Business at HEC Montreal.

Review :
Nevertheless, this book provides a rich resource for those interested in cultural value shifts and sociopolitical attitudes in the post-Soviet region, and its cautious note of optimism is very welcome. This is a masterfully executed study of political culture and behavior that reads like a novel. Surzhko-Harned and Turkina focus on the profound inter-generational change of values caused by the transition from communism in Russia and Ukraine, to provide nuanced, insightful, and multi-dimensional explanations for developments inside the two countries, their relations with each other, and their interactions with the European Union. In this book, Lena Surzhko-Harned and Ekaterina Turkina address changing values of the new generation in the space of transition states, one of the most critical challenges facing post-Soviet countries. The research demonstrates the extensive implications of the growing and potentially fluid issue of cultural values and European integration of the post-Communist states. Authors provide a tremendous analysis of the Russia-Ukrainian conflict, European integration, and Russia-EU tensions, exploiting transitional experience of generations on the post-Soviet space. This is a timely addition to the growing literature on values transition in general and Post-Communist studies in particular. Throughout history, the destruction of states, conflicts, and wars have always rapidly transformed identities, and within the space of only a quarter of a century, Generation WhY in Russia and Ukraine have felt the end of Soviet power, two color revolutions, and war between their countries. This is a lucid and important book that is the first to methodically analyze the impact of these transformative developments on the identities of Russian and Ukrainian Generation WhY, how they began to diverge long before the 2014 crisis and why this will further deepen the differences between them and their parent’s Soviet generation. Stalin invented the concept of Russian-Ukrainian “brotherly peoples,” Putin buried it and Generation WhY will have to live in and with the brave new world they have inherited. The book is an impressive scientific endeavor offering a thorough and rigorous analysis of how values persist and change in post-Socialist societies—both across generations and countries. The insights of the book could be of tremendous help in understanding the failures and successes of post-Socialist transition and the conflicts within and across post-Soviet states—a must read for political scientists and sociologists with a focus on the post-Socialist region!