Staging Democracy: Political Performance in Ukraine, Russia, and Beyond

by Jessica Pisano

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781501764066
Publisher:	Cornell University Press
Publication date:	07/15/2022
Series:	NIU Series in Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies
Pages:	252
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.94(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

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.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Performances of Democracy
1. Researching Political Theater
2. History of the Form
3. Setting the Stage
4. Staging Performances
5. Improvisation
6. Meanings of Participation
7. States of Ambiguity
Conclusion: A New Social Contract

What People are Saying About This

Lucan Ahmad Way

Staging Democracy is a brilliant exposition of what lies behind post-Soviet politics. A thought-provoking book that pushes the study of post-Soviet democracy in new directions.

Paul D'Anieri

Staging Democracy advances a provocative interpretation of post-Communist politics and of contemporary democracy as well. A profound challenge to conventional understandings of democracy emerges.

Andrew G. McCabe

Pisano incisively pulls back the curtain of Eastern European political theater to expose how political and economic pressures lead to public command performances that both drive political outcomes and shape state influence on contemporary capitalism. Outstanding.

Editorial Reviews

Jessica Pisano, however, offers a new way to think about politics. Staging Democracy is a must read for anyone interested in Ukraine and Russia. But it's also required reading for anyone interested in the evolution of politics in the 21st century.

Democarcy Paradox

Jessica Pisano, however, offers a new way to think about politics. Staging Democracy is a must read for anyone interested in Ukraine and Russia. But it's also required reading for anyone interested in the evolution of politics in the 21st century.

-- "Democarcy Paradox"

From the Publisher