former Soviet Union

Ukraine is an outsider in terms of political values and standards of governance. Transparency, efficiency and accountability, rubber-stamped in official papers and declarations, are superseded by other standards: informal networks, patronage, and a patron-client system are what truly shape the performance of state institutions, making them serve the interests of the elected rather than the electors. The article traces the rise of Viktor Yanukovych to the Presidential office through extensive use of these informal patterns and formation of a vertikal of his own, laying preconditions for his fall.

The border relationships between the five countries of Central Asia represent something of a paradox for foreign policy analysts and practitioners. On the one hand these borders are responsible for crippling conflicts between the five countries.  At the same time they connect and define the region.  This dynamic has the potential to thwart external attempts to impose strategic coherence on the region.  To arrive at a better understanding of Central Asia border relationships and their impact on regional economic and security initiatives, this chapter analyzes six cross border variables: foreign policy approaches, geography and historical background, ethnicity and identity issues, trade relationships, infrastructure challenges and threats to security. 

These six variables offer a useful perspective on the evolution of strategic relationships between the actors and how those relationships shape border relations.  The interplay between these variables also illustrates the extent to which Central Asia resists easy definition as a region.  What connects the region?  What divides it?  Is it a set of countries bound by common interests and shared geographical, historical and cultural narratives?  Or, as some experts have claimed, is Central Asia itself a meta-geographical construct, a product of arbitrary spatial division and taxonomic designation that reflects the interests of those doing the dividing and naming of the region?



Opening chapter of in the book "Central Asia in the Era of Sovereignty."

There is little research on pastoralists’ responses to new expansion opportunities.  We explore how pastoralists in Kazakhstan have responded to rapid, fundamental institutional and macroeconomic changes. We compare use patterns of grazing and water sites  in two periods; 1999-2003, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, when the rural economy was in crisis and 2012-14, following a recovery in livestock numbers and a boost in the national economy.  The study uses historical studies, formal surveys and anthropological interviews to document changes in livestock ownership, management and selection of pasture and water sites. In 2012-14, owners of the largest flocks had extended their grazing sites further away from the settled villages, moving away from more densely used sites more easily accessed in the 1990s.  These new pastoral elites are colonising abandoned state-owned pastures and wells developed by Soviet state farms.  Smaller-scale livestock owners based in villages are now less able to entrust their animals to larger-scale owners at remote desert sites, a change since the early post-Soviet period.  The economic recovery of Kazakhstan has encouraged pioneering moves by entrepreneurial individuals, moves permitted by post-Soviet laws for privatised pasture land tenure. This expansionist movement parallels ecological patterns of site sequencing in wildlife.
Key words:  Pastoralism; former Soviet Union; livestock; Kazakhstan; site selection

What happens to informal institutions and practices when political actors decide to implement democratic institutional reforms aimed at relieving formal institutions of informal constraints? Does informality disappear, or do the elites and affected populations continue to apply and abide by informal rules? What do we know about the relationship between institutional reforms and informal institutions? This book seeks to improve our understanding of how, when, and under which conditions democratic institutional reforms affect informal institutions and practices in countries transitioning to democracy, also known as hybrid regimes. With an empirical focus on three transitional post-Soviet regimes—Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine—this book aims to explain the contentious relationship between democratic institutional reforms and informality in the broader post-Soviet context. These findings have implications not only for hybrid regimes, but also for the majority of other post-Soviet, as well as other post-communist, countries. This book engages with a large and growing body of literature on informal institutions and practices and offers theoretical insights relevant to comparative politics, democratization and institutional development studies, political sociology, human geography and political economy.

The mass immigration from the Former Soviet Union (FSU) changed both the Israeli and Russian cultures. Since the 1990s, Russian immigrants and their homeland began appearing in Israeli films. Meanwhile, Jewish themes, including emigration, became more common in Russian cinema: Israel now appears in Russian films. Whether Russian or Israeli, these movies circulate through the internet, transnational TV channels, and Jewish film festivals, and are seen in Russia and elsewhere in the Russian diaspora. This shows that cultural processes in today's globalized mediated world are interrelated: as Russian-Jewish immigrants transform themselves through migration, they also transform cultures around them.

Methods We used multivariate longitudinal regression to analyse age-standardised mortality rates in working-age men (15-59 years) in post-communist countries of eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union from 1989 to 2002. We defined mass privatisation programmes as transferring at least 25% of large state-owned enterprises to the private sector within 2 years with the use of vouchers and give-aways to

What the world is now witnessing in Ukraine is the cumulative effect of history and memory in the lives of the people of the region—and this book helps readers to understand those subjects. Centered in Kharkiv, a Russian-speaking city in eastern Ukraine, this is an oral history of a group of military colonels, their families, and their contemporaries, covering their lives from the 1960s through the post-Soviet transition. During this period, these military families went from comfortable economic circumstances, professional prestige, and political influence to destitution and disgrace in the 1990s. Based on the 3,000+ pages of Westrate’s interview transcripts and supplemented with materials gleaned from unprecedented access to personal, family, and institutional archives, this book investigates how families endured shifting social, cultural, and political realities. By analyzing the lives of individuals in context, Westrate provides insights from the grassroots level. He reveals how ideological, professional, gender, religious, ethnic, and national imperatives—as developed and transmitted by elites—were internalized, transformed, or rejected by the rank and file. In the process, he shows what those experiences have to offer the study of Soviet, post-Soviet, and transnational history. This study bridges the new boundaries created by the collapse of the USSR and examines the foundations of conflict in twenty-first century Ukraine.

This is the pre-print working paper version, see the full printed version: http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/journal_of_democracy/v025/25.3.onuch.html

The protests that began in Ukraine’s capital of Kyiv on 21 Novem- ber 2013 and became known as the EuroMaidan took even seasoned observers of East European politics by surprise. By December, around 800,000 “ordinary” Ukrainians were demonstrating in Kyiv and other cities across the country. The rapid rise of mass protests, especially at a time when the world’s established democracies are struggling with growing political apathy and declining voter turnout, appears as what Timur Kuran has called one of those moments “when out of never you have a revolution.”1 These episodes may help the cause of democ- racy, but they can also destabilize countries by polarizing citizens and boosting extremists. In order to gauge what a protest outbreak will mean for a country’s democratic prospects, it is crucial to understand who the bulk of the protesters are and what goals they hope to achieve. Here follows original survey data that may help to shed light on Euro- Maidan protest participation and its implications for democratic hopes in Ukraine.

Reflections on Unfinished Revolutions: Proceedings of the IDEE Seminar "25 Years After 1989: Reflections on Unfinished Business" held in Warsaw, Poland in October 1989. Papers, Responses, and Discussion. An invaluable resource on the 1989-91 Revolutions and the 25-year transition from communism. See also http://idee-us.org for individual seminar papers.

Навчальний посібник «Історія радянського суспільства. Курс лекцій» пропонує критичний погляд на неполітичну історію держави, в якій заполітизованим був кожен аспект життя й поняття „партія” і „держава” стали тотожними. Ознайомлює з основними характеристиками радянської повсякденності, охоплюючи найширше коло тем: від офіційного ідеалу радянської людини і методів її виховання до повсякденного спротиву у СРСР. Довідково-методологічний апарат, критично дібрана розгорнута бібліографія до кожної з тем дають змогу додатково використовувати посібник і як довідково-бібліографічне видання. Посібник забезпечує методичний супровід однієї з циклу професійно-орієнтованих дисциплін, включених до навчального плану за напрямом підготовки 6.020302 «Історія» освітньо-кваліфікаційного рівня «Бакалавр» у Національному університеті «Києво-Могилянська академія».
Призначений як для фахівців – викладачів вищих навчальних закладів, так і для студентів гуманітарних і суспільних спеціальностей, які цікавляться радянською історією й ознайомлені з різноманітними методологічними підходами до вивчення новітньої історії.

Перше видання посібника вийшло друком у Видавничо-поліграфічному центрі НаУКМА 2010 року.

http://www.acta.com.ua/download/HSS_Contents.pdf

Since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, Ukrainians and Russians have been living peacefully in two separate and independent states for nearly a quarter of a century. Much has been said about the cultural and historical links between these two ‘brotherly’ countries, but also about the tensions between the two countries’ different perspectives on nation building and democratisation processes (Jakubanecs, Supphellen, and thorbjørnsen, 2005; Janmaat, 2000; laba, 1996; Prizel, 1998; Puglisi, 2003; Shulman, 1998; Szporluk, 2000; Velychenko, 1992). Although Russian leaders, in the manner of an older brother, have consistently labelled Ukraine as the central element of Russia’s ‘near abroad’ (cameron and orenstein, 2012; Rywkin, 2003; trenin, 2006), the citizens and their foreign policies preferences have historically (i.e. on gas, on the Georgian War, on the EU and nAto) converged and diverged several times over the course of the last twenty-plus years.
Yet, even though there were sensitive moments during the last twenty-plus years of Ukraine-Russia relations (october 1996 crisis, 2004 orange Revolution, gas crisis of January 2006, gas crisis of January 2009), the events of 2014 (the Euromaidan Protests, the annexation of Crimea, and the ongoing conflict in the Donbas3) are predicted by social scientists to not only sour formal relations between the two states, but also between ‘ordinary’ citizens. While there are many ‘myths’ about the way brother Russians and Ukrainians view the ‘other’ state and its people, the reality is much more complex, permeating with conflict, competition, and ideological disagreements, as in any other family. in such critical times, we must stop and ask: do Russians and Ukrainians view the events of the last year differently? or are there points of convergence? do these events affect the way Russians see Ukraine and Ukrainians see Russia? if so, how? And can we identify any shifts in views overtime from before the 2014 crisis to today? Data on the topic is difficult to find and even more difficult to assess. This is specifically the case when so many contextual variables are in flux and when little, if any, of the available data consists of either a repeated and duplicated schedule of questions, or a panel (following citizens and their views) tracking preferences over time.
Thus, we must scour a variety of polls conducted at different times, by different institutions, to map out the views of Ukrainians and Russians.

В сборник включены статьи, раскрывающие различные аспекты истории ударных комсомольских строек в истории XX века, в них характеризуется опыт ударничества и его социально-экономические последствия в разных регионах СССР. Книга адресована специалистам-историкам, преподавателям и студентам исторических факультетов и всем, интересующимся историей России.

The book includes papers that reveal various aspects of the history of top-priority Komsomol projects in the history of the XXth century. In papers the experience of shock work and its socio-economic consequences in different regions of the USSR are characterized. The book is addressed to historians, teachers and students of historical faculties and everyone interested in the history of Russia.

In 1962, a checkers-playing program written by Arthur Samuel defeated a self-proclaimed master player, creating a sensation at the time for the fledgling eld of computer science called articial intelligence. The historical record refers to this event as having solved the game of checkers. This paper discusses achieving three dierent levels of solving the game: publicly (as evidenced by Samuel's

"Representations", N. 129, Winter 2015.

The essay analyzes the project of maintaining the body of V. I. Lenin in the Mausoleum in Moscow for the past ninety years, focusing on the unique biological science that developed around this project, and the unexpected political role this body has performed.

გორბაჩოვის პერიოდში (1985-1991) ადგილი ჰქონდა ისეთი დონისა და ხასიათის მოვლენებს, რომელიც საზოგადოებრივ-პოლიტიკური გადმოსახედიდან სრულიად სამართლიანად შეიძლება კონტინენტური შელფის ფილების შეჯახებას შევადაროთ. მსგავსი ეპიზოდები საერთაშორისო ისტორიაში არის ერთგვარი სიმართლის მომენტი, თეოლოგიური ტერმინოლოგია რომ ვიხმაროთ - ჟამი კეთილისა და ბოროტის განრჩევისა, ჟამი იფქლისა და ღვარძლის განცალკევებისა. სწორედ მსგავს გარდამტეხ ეპიზოდებში ცნაურდება სისტემის ჭეშმარიტი სახე, მისი პათოლოგიის დეტალები. შემთხვევით არ უწოდა შეერთებული შტატების ყოფილმა ელჩმა საბჭოთა კავშირში (1987-1991 წლებში) - ჯეკ მეტლოკმა, თავის 1995 წელს გამოცემული წიგნს „იმპერიის აუტოფსია.“

Embedded in a realist worldview, Russia has a " weakness " for hard power and zones of influence. For Moscow the control of the former Soviet republics represent both the guarantee of its security and the condition for the growth of its geopolitical strength. The present paper analyses Russian hard power presence in the former Soviet space, with a focus on the countries residing between the EU and Russia, assessing that Moscow has modernized recently not only its capabilities but also the military strategy and tactics in the area. The author compares the Georgian and Ukrainian wars arguing that the changes in approach of these military operations prove also Russian attempts to adapt its hard power to the evolutions of the international environment.

Eric J. Schmaltz.  “Our Memory Is the Future:  The Soviet Experience and the Remembrance of the August 1941 Deportation of Volga Germans.”  Journal of the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia 34:1 (Spring 2011):  pp. 14-23.

Many scholars are unaware of the resources available at the AHSGR.  See link to AHSGR Website for this and so many other fine research materials: 

https://ahsgr.site-ym.com/store/default.aspx?

Journal Issue Available online:  http://www.ahsgr.org/?page=Journals

Russia’s annexation of Crimea and intervention in Eastern Ukraine in 2014 alarmed not only Western-leaning states in Central Europe and the Baltic but also Moscow’s traditional allies. These events signalled that Moscow is now willing and capable of using direct military force against perceived strategic threats in its self-proclaimed region of vested interests. With the exception of Ukraine and the Baltic States, this Letort Paper examines how Russia’s front-line states have adjusted their foreign policy posture since 2014. Belarus, Moldova, the states of Central Asia and the South Caucasus calculate the benefits and risks in their relationship with Moscow and either make concessions or strengthen their defenses accordingly to avoid triggering a Russian reaction. This Letort Paper provides a range of policy recommendations intended to maximize the opportunities of a new alignment with the West for these states while minimizing the risk of Russia, using again, those capabilities it has demonstrated in Ukraine and Syria.

An estimated 35,000 Thai girls are currently held in debt bondage, and tens of thousands of other women from countries such as the Philippines, Dominican Republic, Colombia, Ghana, Nigeria, and most recently, the Soviet successor states are trafficked abroad and forced into prostitution to pay off their debts for transportation and housing. The United Nations estimates that as many as four million people are trafficked throughout the world each year, resulting in illicit profits amounting to seven billion dollars annually.
Given the extent and duration of the problem of global human trafficking, and more specifically, forced and voluntary prostitution, astonishingly few people fully understand it. In Article 3 of the “Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons” that supplements the United Nations Convention against transnational organized crime, human trafficking is defined as “the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation.” Forms of exploitation include: prostitution, forced labor or services, slavery, servitude, or the removal of bodily organs. This article reviews five books on human trafficking that go a long way to inform readers of the causes and consequences of this global phenomenon, and what attempts have been made to curtail it.

A quarter century ago, particularly since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the fall of the communist regime in the Soviet Union two years later, much has been written about the end of socialism and the collapse of communist parties in Europe from the east. Continuing with this line of thinking, this article aims to offer a hypothesis to explain the dissolution of the USSR as a sovereign state.

This paper analyzes the role played by local elites, from a market of interest, to cause the implosion of the USSR and the de-Russification of the former Soviet republics, and thus take control of the territory.

The author conducted a comprehensive study of the everyday life of the higher pedagogical schools’ staffs in 1953-1964 on the basis of a wide range of published literature and archival documents. The thesis solves issue of the evolution of the evaluation of the figures of J. Stalin, L. Beria, G. Zhukov, G. Malenkov, V. Molotov and L. Kaganovich as well the perception of CPSU itself.

The monograph summarizes the author's results on the geometry of anholonomic and locally anisotropic interactions, published in J. Math. Phys., Nucl. Phys. B, Ann. Phys. (NY), JHEP, Rep. Math. Phys., Int. J. Theor. Phys. and in some former Soviet Union and Romanian scientific journals. The main subjects are in the theory of field interactions, strings and diffusion processes on spaces, superspaces and isospaces with higher order anisotropy and inhomogeneity. The approach proceeds by developing the concept of higher order anisotropic (super)space which unifies the logical and manthematical aspects of modern Kaluza--Klein theories and generalized Lagrange and Finsler geometry and leads to modeling of physical processes on higher order fiber (super)bundles provided with nonlinear and distinguished connections and metric structures. This book can be also considered as a pedagogical survey on the mentioned subjects.

Research suggests that organizational justice (procedural, distributive, and interactional justice) has important impacts on work-related attitudes and behaviors, such as organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). In this article, we explore the extent to which individualism moderates the relationship between organizational justice and OCB (organizational obedience, participation, and loyalty) among citizens in Kyrgyzstan. We make additional contributions to the literature because we know very little about these constructs in this former Soviet Union country, Kyrgyzstan, an under-researched and under-represented region of the world. Results of our data collected from 402 managers and employees in Kyrgyzstan offer the following new discoveries. All three justice constructs are related to OCB. Individualism moderates only the distributive and interactive justice to OCB relationships. We develop an intricate theory with provocative implications: Procedural justice produces obedience. For “individualists,” interactional justice inspires loyalty and, interestingly, distributive justice “can only buy” participation, but “can’t buy” loyalty. Therefore, for individualists, interactional justice outweighs distributive justice for organizational loyalty. Based on Kyrgyz citizens’ justice, OCB, and individualism, our theory reveals novel insights regarding culture, money attitude, and intrinsic motivation and provides critical and practical implications to the field of business ethics.