Reconstructing the State
Personal Networks and Elite Identity in Soviet Russia

Using archival sources, this book presents an explanation for the rise and subsequent collapse of the Soviet state.

Gerald M. Easter (Author)

9780521035873, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 23 March 2007

240 pages, 9 tables
22.8 x 15 x 1.4 cm, 0.366 kg

'Easter's superb study illuminates the heretofore underappreciated role of regional elite networks in the evolution of the Soviet state. This lucidly written book is a fine political history embedded in a sophisticated and useful theoretical framework. It is an important contribution to political science and Soviet history.' Zoitan Barany, University of Texas, Austin

Why do some state-building efforts succeed when others fail? Using formerly unavailable archival sources, this book presents an explanation for the rise and subsequent collapse of the Soviet state. The study explains how personal networks and elite identity served as informal sources of power that influenced state strength. Reconstructing the State also offers alternative interpretations of how the weak Bolshevik state extended its reach to a vast rural and multi-ethnic periphery as well as the dynamics of the center-regional conflict in the 1930s that culminated in the Great Terror.

Preface
1. Introduction: explaining state-building outcomes and the Soviet Russian case
Part I. Structure and Identity in the Post-Revolutionary State Elite: 2. Anatomy of a regional elite: the rise of the provincial Komitetchiki
3. Constructing an elite identity: images of self, service and state
Part II. Informal Sources of Power in the Post-Revolutionary State: 4. Extending the reach of the state: personal networks and territorial administration
5. The constraints of power: personal networks and central rulership
Part III. Intrastate Conflict and the Constraints of Power Redefined: 6. Center and regions in conflict I: collectivization and the crisis of regional leadership
7. Center and regions in conflict II: the fall of the provincial Komitetchiki
8. Conclusion: state building and the Soviet Russian case reconsidered
Notes
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Political economy [KCP]