Anna Colin Lebedev. Le coeur politique des mères: Analyse du mouvement des mères de soldats en Russie. Paris: Éditions de l’École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, 2013

Abstract

It is a commonplace to say that voluntary associations in Russia, and Russian collective action more generally, do not fulfill the requirements of democratic political culture (Evans 2002). They allegedly fail to promote generalized reciprocity (Putnam 1995). This form of reciprocity means that the involvement is open to all who fulfill a general criterion related to a concern or a cause, that those who enter the association are equal as bearers of this quality, and that they are detached from other ties in pursuing common objectives (Gellner 1995). Anna Colin Lebedev’s book about Soldiers’ Mothers seems to confirm this pessimistic view.