Routledge Crisis Management Challenges in Kaliningrad (Post-Soviet Politics)

Crisis Management Challenges in Kaliningrad captures the evolving nature of the types of crises faced by a society as it transforms and evolves. Once the westernmost bastion of the Soviet Union and now the westernmost part of the Russian Federation, the Kaliningrad Oblast remains cut off from direct land communication with mainland Russia and provides a condensed, real-life laboratory in which to observe changing political, technological and economic priorities in Post-Soviet society. Expert contributors from the region chart the tensions, problems and opportunities created by the collapse of the Soviet Union in December 1991 and examine the change in status and situation of the Kaliningrad Oblast. By looking at a selection of economic, environmental and social crises a historical link between the Soviet and Post-Soviet eras is formed and rigorously examined. Review ’This is a great contribution to our knowledge of societies making the transition to Western-style democracy. These case studies of Russia’s western region show what happens when old governance infrastructures lose their capacity to deliver, but new functioning infrastructures have not yet been put into place. A must read for those interested in Russia, the Baltic States and Eastern Europe.’ Eric Louw, University of Queensland, Australia ’This book is the first one published in English to gather information together on crisis management challenges in such a specific region of the Russian Federation as the Kaliningrad region and combine it with actual case studies. A profound analysis, which will be valuable to specialists and students interested in the current practice of crisis management in a very specific region of the biggest country in the world.’ Evgeny Pashentsev, The Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, Russia ’This book comes out at the time when there is a clear deficit of solid analytical literature in the field of risk and crisis communication in Eastern Europe and former Soviet states. This volume is not only intended to observe the evolving nature of crises in a particular community, but also serve as a crisis roadmap for transitional societies facing a threat to key values and social norms in times of changes.’ Sergei A. Samoilenko, George Mason University, USA About the Author Professor Eugene V. Krasnov holds a Doctor of Geology and Mineralogy degree from The Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Siberian branch of Academy of Sciences, USSR, Novosibirsk. Since 1987 he has been a professor at the Geoecology Dept. at Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University, Kaliningrad, Russia. Dr Anna Karpenko holds her doctoral degree in political science from the Institute of Philosophy of the Russian Academy of Sciences. From 2001 - 2009 she taught at the Immanuel Kant State University in Kaliningrad. Since 2012, she has been employed as an analyst and coordinator at the Information Office of the Nordic Council of Ministers in Kaliningrad. Dr Greg Simons holds a doctoral degree from the University of Canterbury in New Zealand. He is currently employed at Crismart (Crisis Management Research and Training) in the Swedish National Defence College and at the Uppsala Centre for Russian and Eurasian Studies (Uppsala University).