Borders in Red: Managing Diversity in the Early Soviet Union
By Stephan Rindlisbacher (Cornell University Press)
Recommended by Oksana Ermolaeva
The tragedy unfolding today in Ukraine may be likened to a time bomb—one set long ago and detonated when millions on both sides least expected it. For historians of the present day, the task of opening this Pandora’s box and uncovering the origins of the catastrophe has become a matter of the highest urgency. Borders in Red: Managing Diversity in the Early Soviet Union is a meticulously researched book, in which Stephan Rindlisbacher successfully illuminates this question. The strength of his project begins with an inspired choice of both subject and scope. Thematically, he explores how the Communist Party and the state managed the challenges of national diversity within the core regions of Soviet federalism—Ukraine, the South Caucasus, and Central Asia. Chronologically, his analysis stretches from the early Soviet years to the symbolic moment of the 1954 transfer of Crimea to the Ukrainian SSR under Nikita Khrushchev. Noteworthy is Rindlisbacher’s contribution to the imperial paradigm in Soviet studies. Viewing the USSR as a vast, ethnographically diverse state in the throes of modernization, he argues that the Soviet approach to managing national diversity occupied a middle ground between colonial domination and institutional integration. This insight does not resolve the contradictions inherent in the Soviet system, but it offers a more nuanced and sophisticated analysis than that in conventional frameworks.
Equally compelling is Rindlisbacher’s methodological lens. He treats the drawing of national borders not merely as a technical or administrative act but as a crucial instrument of governance—a means of managing diversity and a key to understanding the Bolsheviks’ effort to integrate their newly forged peripheries into the Soviet empire. With a particular emphasis on economic integration—most notably through his study of Gosplan’s planning policies—Rindlisbacher examines the institutional procedures, debates, and negotiations that linked Moscow to its borderlands. In doing so, he exposes the shifting tactics of both the center and the periphery, revealing how boundary-making emerged from a complex interplay of ideology, economic design, administrative pragmatism, and local politics. Then, he attempts to unravel how precisely this architecture of borders and nations helped to create the structural conditions for the post-Soviet conflicts that would erupt decades later. Although Rindlisbacher remains quiet about the role of security concerns—a crucial dimension of Bolshevik statecraft—and the notion of “threatened territory”—of primary significance in the Ukrainian case—his study adds an indispensable focus on economics to the broader debate, bringing us closer to understanding the deep roots of the present crisis.
Rewiring Democracy: How AI Will Transform Our Politics, Government, and Citizenship
By Bruce Schneier and Nathan E. Sanders (The MIT Press)
Recommended by Edina Paleviq
Rewiring Democracy: How AI Will Transform Our Politics, Government, and Citizenship by Bruce Schneier and Nathan Sanders offers a pragmatic and optimistic challenge to the pervasive “AI-as-threat” narrative that dominates public discourse. Its central thesis is that the true, lasting impact of artificial intelligence on democracy will not come from flashy deepfakes or election misinformation, these being first-order effects that capture headlines. Instead, the real transformation lies in the second-order effects: the structural shifts in political power across the legislative, executive, and judicial branches. The critical question is not whether AI will change democracy, but who will control AI in order to either distribute or concentrate power. The book’s most distinctive argument lies in its focus on institutional change and the evolving balance of influence within government. Schneier, a security technologist, and Sanders, a data scientist, explain how AI will reshape the distribution of power. For example, AI’s ability to draft complex, error-free, and cross-referenced legislation reduces the executive branch’s traditional dominance as the main locus of technical policy expertise. This shift enables lawmakers to draft more effective and detailed laws, which in turn reduces reliance on administrative agencies. In parallel, the automation of regulatory enforcement strengthens administrative authority by allowing civil servants to consistently apply rules and hold corporations accountable. This represents a meaningful shift in power from the private sector to public institutions.
The authors analyze democracy by breaking it into its functional parts, showing how AI’s speed, scale, and sophistication affect each domain. In legislation, they examine algorithmic law, where laws are not just written as text but function as executable models that enable greater precision and reduce future ambiguity. In the judiciary, AI reshapes legal discovery and case management, prompting questions about how its efficiency interacts with due process and legal fairness. A key insight throughout is that security remains the most underappreciated foundation of public trust in AI. Without secure infrastructure, no system can sustain democratic legitimacy, no matter how well designed it may be. Written in accessible, jargon-free prose, Rewiring Democracy speaks to two key audiences. For policymakers and civil servants, it provides a roadmap to building capable and transparent AI systems. For engaged citizens, it reframes the debate. The authors advocate for “Public AI,” built by and for democratic institutions, not private profit. Ultimately, the book urges us not to ask what AI will do but to decide what we want to build in order to preserve a participatory and accountable democracy.
