The Rhetorical Rise and Demise of “Democracy” in Russian Political Discourse, Vol I : : The Path from Disaster toward Russian “Democracy” / / David Cratis Williams, Michael K. Launer, Marilyn J. Young.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Academic Studies Press Complete eBook-Package 2021
• VerfasserIn: Williams, David Cratis,; Launer, Michael K.,; Young, Marilyn J.,
• Place / Publishing House: Boston, MA : : Academic Studies Press, , [2021]; ©2021
• Year of Publication: 2021
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (506 p.)

The essays in this book examine the arguments and rhetoric used by the United States and the USSR following two catastrophes that impacted both countries, as blame is cast and consequences are debated. In this environment, it was perhaps inevitable that conspiracy theories would arise, especially about the downing of Korean Air Lines Flight 007 over the Sea of Japan. Those theories are examined, resulting in at least one method for addressing conspiracy arguments. In the case of Chernobyl, the disaster ruptured the “social compact” between the Soviet government and the people; efforts to overcome the resulting disillusionment quickly became the focus of state efforts.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgements -- List of Interviews -- Note to Readers -- Preface -- Introduction to Volume One. Image and Reality: The Declining Role of Evidence in Public Discourse -- Part One: KAL and Cracks in the Rhetorical Wall -- Route R-20—Terry Graves Illustration -- Takahashi—Novosti Satellite Map -- Ogarkov Double Loop Map—The New York Times -- 1. Did the United States Suppress Ground-to-Air Communications? -- 2. KAL 007 and the Superpowers: An International Argument -- 3. The KAL Tapes -- 4. BCAS Correspondence: “Flight 007: Was There Foul Play?” -- 5. The Need for Evaluative Criteria: Conspiracy Argument Revisited -- 6. Soviet Media Tactics and the Body Politic: Prevention and Treatment of Communicable Diseases -- 7. When the Shoe Is on the Other Foot: Comparative Treatments of the KAL 007 and Iran Air Shootdowns -- 8. Of Mighty Mice and Meek Men: Contextual Reconstruction of the Iranian Airbus Shootdown -- 9. “007”—Conspiracy or Accident? -- 10. Flight 007 -- 11. Carlos the Jackal Attacks RFE/RL! -- Part Two: Chernobyl, Eco-Nationalism, and Loss of Rhetorical Control -- Plaque at the entrance to the Chernobyl AES administration building (1989) -- The Original Sarcophagus (1989) -- Interior access door to the sarcophagus at Chernobyl (1989) 202 -- A Billboard at the Rovno Nuclear Station (1996) -- The New Secure Confinement (2019) -- 12. Chernobyl in the Soviet Media: Unintentional Ironies, Unprecedented Events -- 13. Redefining Glasnost in the Soviet Media: The Recontextualization of Chernobyl -- 14. Chernobyl: From the Ashes a New Society? -- 15. Nuclear Power in the USSR -- 16. Civilian Nuclear Power in the Commonwealth of Independent States: A Case of Cognitive Dissonance -- 17. Soviet News Media: Uncertainty in the Throes of Change -- 18. Nuclear Power and Ecological Debates in the Soviet Press, Mid-1988 to Mid-1989 -- 19. The Final Days: The Development of Argumentative Discourse in the Soviet Union -- 20. Ukraine Nuclear Power Struggles for Survival -- 21. Nonrational Assessment of Risk and the Development of Civilian Nuclear Power -- 22. Ukraine, Russia, and the Question of Nuclear Safety -- 23. Soviet Bureaucracy and Nuclear Safety -- 24. Review of Two Books by David R. Marples -- 25. Review of Plutopia -- 26. Review of Plokhy, Chernobyl -- 7. Pseudo-Science and Potemkin-History -- 28. Confronting Climate Change: Assessing the Role of Nuclear Power -- Afterword -- Bibliography -- Index