II. LITERATURE REVIEW The collapse of the former Soviet Union ignited a flurry of popular and scholarly writing that has spawned new fields of inquiry. The field of "transition studies" in political science, Soviet studies, and a number of the social sciences has increased tremendously in the wake of the break-up. Sociological theorizing accounting has also contributed to the discourse as many try to make sense of the collapse of the Soviet Union and what is now emerging in the independent republics. In this section, I will attempt to frame this study of university organizational development in post-Soviet Azerbaijan in light of some of the contemporary debates on the relationship of modemity and postmodemity in social theorizing. I will also discuss some of the relevant literature on patron-client relations, higher education, and organizational culture that forms the basis for my analysis of Khazar University. Social Theory - Modernity and Postmodernity
Contemporary social theorizing has been largely preoccupied in recent years with debating the nature of social life within advanced capitalist societies. With the collapse of communism in the former Soviet Union and its Central and Eastern European sateilites, a flurry of theorizing has occurred in an attempt to offer reasons for the collapse. This social analysis of transition from state socialism to post-communism has largely been framed in terms of concepts that are tied to the development of capitalist societies and has led to differing perspectives on the relationship between communism and modemity
