The Prospects for Peace and Democracy in Russia

I'm guessing that none of us is going to be in Toronto next week, but thought some of you might find this interesting -- a bridging of the social capital literature, democratic revolutions (of recent decades and as we speak), peace and justice organizations, and new communication technologies.  Book title link takes you to a talk and video.

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Metta Spencer

Thursday March 31st

Dept of Sociology, U of Toronto, 725 Spadina Avenue, 1200-1:30

"The Prospects for Peace and Democracy in Russia"

Metta Spencer's new book, The Russian Quest for Peace and Democracy, is based mainly on hundreds of interviews between 1982 and 2010 that she conducted in Russia and Eastern Europe. It reflects not only the stories of leading members of Gorbachev's advisers, but also intellectuals and dissidents. Focusing on the remarkable interactions between Russian and foreign elites, especially during the Gorbachev years, it shows how markedly his democratic and peaceable political, foreign, and military policies came from Western peace workers. Because those transnational civil society organizations were obviously "bridging" groups (in Putnam's terminology) they were especially conductive to democracy. For twenty years, however, such associations have diminished-largely because Putin, to prevent a Russian color revolution, has blocked international political projects. For the sake of democratization, Spencer proposes that the new media (e.g. Skype) now be used to proliferate thousands of sustained transnational dialogues at the grassroots level.