[ecrea] New book: Miscommunicating Social Change: Lessons from Russia and Ukraine

New book “Miscommunicating Social Change: Lessons from Russia and 
Ukraine” is out with Lexington Books.

The main argument of the book is that the “progressive” imaginary of 
post-Communist social movements, which envisages progress in the 
unidirectional terms of catching up with the “more advanced” Western 
condition, is inherently anti-democratic and deeply antagonistic. 
Drawing on the theories of Ernesto Laclau, Chantal Mouffe, and Nico 
Carpentier, this book shows how “progressive” articulations by the 
social activists in Russia and Ukraine ended up undermining the basis of 
the democratic public sphere through the closure of democratic space.

“An impressive feat of political and intellectual imagination, although 
rooted in detailed empirical research. A major landmark in the study of 
post-communist Russia and Ukraine.”  — Richard Sakwa, University of Kent.

“One of the most important and original books on the mediation of social 
change and ‘development.’ Miscommunicating Social Change tears apart the 
fabric of neocolonial platitude and calls intellectuals to account for 
their failure to understand that an effective response to social 
injustice first requires the subversion of its corresponding 
epistemological injustice.” —Joseph Oliver Boyd-Barrett, California 
State University Channel Islands.

“Miscommunicating Social Change is applied discourse theory at its best, 
driven by theory but with a keen eye for sociopolitical complexity and 
messiness. This book is a chilling and sobering analysis of the 
derailment of democratic protest and activism that does away with the 
romanticism of revolution. It is a grim reminder that social change 
projects built on essentialist and antagonist logics carry the seeds of 
destruction for both themselves and others. Most importantly, this book 
convincingly demonstrates how important the discursive is for the study 
of conflict and democracy, reminding us first that we think the enemy to 
death and, only then, move in for the kill.” —Nico Carpentier, Uppsala 
University.


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