Politics with a Human Face

Identity and Experience in Post-Soviet Europe
1. Auflage 2018
ISBN: 978-1-138-24219-7
Verlag: Routledge

Buch, Englisch, 188 Seiten, Format (B × H): 161 mm x 240 mm, Gewicht: 455 g

Reihe: Contemporary Liminality

Politics with a Human Face presents a holistic understanding of identity formation in post-Soviet Europe, arguing that since politics is fundamentally a human affair. In order to adequately understand it, one needs to understand its human side first.

Drawing on the thought of Dilthey, Ricoeur and Plato, the author employs empathy as a method, together with visual and historical analysis, to analyse the role of human experience in post-Soviet politics. As a result, the book offers a theoretical approach for assessing influence of the non-rationalistic factors, such as associative symbolism, human experience, political images and historical narratives, in both domestic and foreign affairs.

A study at the juncture of Social Sciences and Humanities, Politics with a Human Face explores a number of cases, including Estonia, Lithuania, Poland and Russia, as well as the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, examining issues of liminal transition, ‘far-right’ movements, victimhood, ethnic conflict and political paradoxes. Seeking to shed light on the region’s agency and perception of both its own political and existential situation, and that of the surrounding world, this book constitutes a timely and original contribution to understanding the post-Soviet Europe.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Gri¿inas, Arvydas

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziologie Allgemein

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. The Human Factor in Politics

2. Lithuanian Identity Narrative

3. Liminality in post-Soviet Europe

4. Political images and identity

5. Common images, contesting narratives: the case of Maidan

6. Violence and victimhood in post-Soviet politics

7. Conclusion and Outlook

Über Autor(innen)

Arvydas Grišinas is a researcher at Kaunas University of Technology, Lithuania.