Long‐period harmonic Rayleigh waves were observed on seismometers during the 1991 Mt. Pinatubo eruption in the Philippines. The amplitude spectrum of the Rayleigh waves shows two distinct peaks at ...periods of about 230 and 270 s. In the Earth's atmosphere, long‐wavelength standing acoustic waves are bounded in a low‐sound‐velocity channel between the thermosphere and the ground. The Rayleigh waves and the fundamental and first overtone of atmospheric acoustic waves trapped in the low‐sound‐velocity channels have approximately the same horizontal wavelength and frequency at periods of 230 and 270 s, respectively, i.e., the atmosphere and the solid earth satisfy the condition for acoustic resonant oscillations. The standing atmospheric long‐wavelength acoustic waves set off by the eruption selectively excited seismic spheroidal modes near the resonant period through acoustic resonant coupling and resulted in harmonic Rayleigh waves. In contrast, gravity waves and Lamb waves (atmospheric boundary waves) do not couple to the ground efficiently and are not easily observed as ground disturbance on seismograms during volcanic eruptions.
Russia's Market Economy is a seminal account of Russia's transition to the market, its tortuous development as a fledgling market economy through the 1990s, right through to its spectacular collapse ...in August 1998. Rather than beginning with the economic collapse, the book traces the historical mismanagement of Russian wealth through to the Soviet command economy, and on to Gorbachev. Stefan Hedlund finally discusses what lessons should be learned from the damage inflicted on the Russian economy, as well as its social, legal and political infrastructure, by the race of reform.
At 6:10 p.m. on September 23, 1991, a catastrophic rock avalanche occurred in Zhaotong, Yunnan, southwestern China. Over 216 people were killed when the Touzhai village was overwhelmed directly in ...the path of the landslide. The landslide involved the failure of about 12 Mm
3
of jointed basaltic rock mass from the source area. The displaced materials ran out a horizontal distance of 3650 m over a vertical distance of 960 m, equivalent to a Fahrböschung of 14.7°, and covered an area of 1.38 km
2
. To provide information for hazard zonation of similar type of potential landslides in the same area, we used a dynamic model (DAN-W) with three alternative rheological models to simulate the runout behaviour of the displaced landslide materials and found that a combination of the frictional model and Voellmy model could provide the best performance in simulating this landslide. The simulated results indicated that the duration of the movement is estimated at about 175 s for a mean velocity 21 m/s.
Most recent research seeks to explain contemporary changes in Russia by analysing the decisions of Russian leaders, oligarchs and politicians based in Moscow. This book examines another Russia, one ...of ordinary people changing their environment and taking opportunities to provoke societal changes in small towns and the countryside. Russia is a resource-rich society and the country’s strategy and institutional structure are built on the most valuable of these resources: oil and gas. Analysing the implications of this situation at the local level, this book offers chapters on resource use, local authorities, enterprises, poverty and types of individual, as well as a final chapter which places local societies within the framework of the Russian politicised economy. Based on extensive empirical data gathered through more than 400 semi-structured interviews with entrepreneurs, teachers, social workers and those working for the local authorities, this book sheds light on the role of local activity in the development of Russian society and is essential reading for students and scholars interested in Russia and its politics.
Seizing Power Singh, Naunihal
2014, 2014-07-01
eBook
While coups drive a majority of regime changes and are responsible for the overthrow of many democratic governments, there has been very little empirical work on the subject. Seizing Power develops a ...new theory of coup dynamics and outcomes, drawing upon 300 hours of interviews with coup participants and an original dataset of 471 coup attempts worldwide from 1950 to 2000. Naunihal Singh delivers a concise and empirical evaluation, arguing that understanding the dynamics of military factions is essential to predicting the success or failure of coups.
Singh draws on an aspect of game theory known as a coordination game to explain coup dynamics. He finds a strong correlation between successful coups and the ability of military actors to project control and the inevitability of success. Using Ghana’s multiple coups as well as the 1991 coup attempt in the USSR, Singh shows how military actors project an image of impending victory that is often more powerful than the reality on the ground.
Singh tests his coordination theory by analyzing ten coups in Ghana from 1967 to 1981. In the process he identifies three distinct points of origination: coups from top military offices, coups from the middle ranks, and mutinous coups from low-level soldiers.
Singh’s theory will provide scholars with insight into the dynamics of authoritarian regimes, democratic transitions, and political instability. Seizing Power will appeal to scholars and students of civil-military relations, democracy transition studies, and the politics of Africa.
This study examines the enduring Cold War legacies underpinning Western perceptions of contemporary Russia under President Vladimir Putin. It analyzes the ways in which the West has interpreted and ...reacted to Russia's domestic authoritarianism and foreign policy behavior and argues for diplomatic engagement based on liberal pluralism.
In the 1990s, the former states of the Soviet Union underwent dramatic and revolutionary changes. As a result of enforced, neoliberal reforms the fledgling republics were exposed to the familiar ...effects of globalised capital. Focusing on Kazakhstan, where violence and corruption are now facts of everyday life, Joma Nazpary examines the impact of the new capitalism on the people of Central Asia. Nazpary explores the responses of the dispossessed to their dispossession. He uncovers the construction of 'imagined communities', grounded in Soviet nostalgia, which serve to resist the economic order, as well as the more practical survival strategies, especially of women, often forced into prostitution where they are subject to violence and stigma. By revealing the extent to which Kazakh society has disintegrated and the cultural responses to it, Nazpary argues that dispossession has been a stronger unifying force than even ethnicity or religion. Comparing the effects of neoliberal reforms in Kazakhstan with those in other regions, he concludes that causes, forms and consequences of dispossession in Kazakhstan are particular instances of a much wider global trend.
This book is the first in English to explore both Belaruss complicated road to nationhood and to examine in detail its politics and economics since 1991, the nations first year of true independence. ...Andrew Wilson focuses particular attention on Aliaksandr Lukashenkas surprising longevity as president, despite human rights abuses and involvement in yet another rigged election in December 2010.Wilson looks at Belarusian history as a series of false starts in the medieval and pre-modern periods, and at the many rival versions of Belarusian identity, culminating with the Soviet Belarusian project and the establishment of Belaruss current borders during World War II. He also addresses Belaruss on-off relationship with Russia, its simultaneous attempts to play a game of balance in the no-mans-land between Russia and the West, and how, paradoxically, Belarus is at last becoming a true nation under the rule of Europes last dictator.
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