The Soviet Union : federation or empire? / / Tania Raffass

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910965025603321
• Autore: Raffass Tania
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: Abingdon, Oxon ; ; New York, : Routledge, 2012
• ISBN: 1-280-77640-4; 9786613686794; 1-136-29643-3; 0-203-11575-9; 1-136-29644-1
• Edizione: [1st ed.]
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (409 p.)
• Collana: Routledge Studies in the History of Russia and Eastern Europe
• Disciplina: 324.447/049
• Soggetti: Federal government - Soviet Union; Federal government - United States; Nation-state; Imperialism; Secession; Comparative government; Soviet Union Politics and government
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Note generali: Description based upon print version of record.
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references and index.
• Nota di contenuto: Cover; Title; Copyright; Contents; Introduction; PART 1; 1 The original federation; 2 Daniel J. Elazar's covenantal interpretation of American federalism; 3 The roots of the Soviet federation; PART 2; 4 The American federation and secession; 5 Conflicting perspectives on the dissolubility of the American Union; 6 Secession as a constitutional right in the USSR; PART 3; 7 A constitutional comparison between the Soviet and emerging Western models of multinational federalism; 8 On the integrative effects of federalism and consociation; 9 The Soviet Union and nation; PART 4; 10 The Soviet state as viewed by nationalists11 Imperial contiguity and Russia's 'stunted nationhood'; 12 Was the Soviet Union the 'last empire'?; Concluding discussion; Notes; Bibliography; Index
• Sommario/riassunto: The Soviet Union is often characterised as nominally a federation, but ; really an empire, liable to break up when individual federal units, which were allegedly really subordinate colonial units, sought independence. This book questions this interpretation, revisiting the theory of federation, and discussing actual examples of federations such as the United States, arguing that many federal unions, including the United States, are really centralised polities. It also discusses the nature of empires, nations and how they relate to nation states and empires, and the right of secession, highlig