Staging Democracy: Political Performance in Ukraine, Russia, and Beyond (NIU Series in Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies) - Softcover

Pisano, Jessica

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1501764209 ISBN 13: 9781501764202

Publisher: Northern Illinois University Press, 2022

Synopsis

Focusing on the experiences of people in Russia and Ukraine, Staging Democracy shows how some national leaders' seeming popularity rests on local economic compacts. Jessica Pisano draws on long-term research in rural communities and company towns, analyzing how local political and business leaders, seeking favor from incumbent politicians, used salaries, benefits, and public infrastructure to pressure citizens to participate in command performances.

Pisano looks at elections whose outcome was known in advance, protests for hire, and smaller mises en scène to explain why people participate, what differs from spectacle in totalitarian societies, how political theater exists in both authoritarian and democratic systems, and how such performances reshape understandings of the role of politics.

Staging Democracy moves beyond Russia and Ukraine to offer a novel economic argument for why some people support Putin and similar politicians. Pisano suggests we can analyze politics in both democracies and authoritarian regimes using the same analytical lens of political theater.

About this title

About the Author

Jessica Pisano is Professor of Politics at the New School for Social Research and a 2024 Guggenheim Fellow. She is the author of The Post-Soviet Potemkin Village.

Edition details

• Publisher: Northern Illinois University Press
• Publication date: 2022
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1501764209
• ISBN 13: 9781501764202
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 252