Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: During the last several years Russia started more openly to use energy and natural resources related issues as a critical form of leverage in relationships with EU, CIS, and Northeast Asian countries. To get more political and economic maneuver Moscow is trying to become a more diversified seller of its natural resources looking to the East. Resource and environmental issues have became important components of its ties with Northeast Asian giants (China and Japan), as well as with both Korean states.Trying to take more proactive stand in solving Korean Peninsula security issue (in a multilateral format) Moscow is ready to make a real input to satisfy DPRK energy needs, thus giving way to Northeast Asian strategic projects to build pipelines and expand transportation networks through DPRK territory.Considering the security implications of environmental issues, the chemical spill in the Amur River waters in Northern China brought serious socioeconomic damage to the Russian territories in the delta. At the same time joint efforts by the US and Japan to help Russia in dismantling nuclear submarines and processing nuclear waste became a real input to the safety of the Russian Far East and Northeast Asia. This positive experience in the sphere of nuclear safety is a sound manifestation that it is worth trying to use the multilateral model to develop and realize CBMS to solve the Korean Peninsula issue. Overall, the main research questions of the proposed paper would be as follows:- How well calibrated is the Russian NEP, and what may be its tactical and strategic consequences for Russia itself?- How will NEP influence Russian security and economic ties with key EU and CIS countries, USA, China, Japan, and other Northeast Asian countries? - What may be security implications of possible conflicts for access to Russian natural resources among countries of Eurasia and Northeast Asia?- What may be security implications of environmental issues (such as trans-boundary air and water pollution, shortage of water, nuclear waste dissemination, etc.) in Northeast Asia?

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: While several recent studies report significant correlations among a wide range of environmental beliefs and attitudes, an indicator of a coherent cognitive system, they ignore a fundamental issue: the source of coherence. Borrowing insights from the belief system perspective as well as from the environmental concern literature, we hypothesize that an ecological worldview—operationalized by the New Environmental Paradigm Scale--serves as the central component of environmental concern and thus provides the source of coherence of environmental concern.
To test this hypothesis we constructed and examined empirically a causal model including the NEP Scale; a general, multi-component measure of environmental concern, and a set of widely used socio-demographic predictors of environmental concern as control variables utilizing the structural equation modeling technique.
Our test results show that socio-demographic predictors have only moderate but statistically significant effects on the general measure of environmental concern, which is consistent with previous studies. However, when the NEP Scale is controlled the effects of the socio-demographic variables virtually disappear. In contrast, even when the full sets of socio-demographic variables are controlled, the direct effect of the NEP on general environmental concern remains very strong in both national samples. Not only is the NEP the single most powerful predictor of environmental concern, but it also serves as the mediator that channels the effects of the socio-demographic variables on environmental concern. Thus, our test results confirm the hypothesized centrality of the NEP within the environmental belief system.

Publication Type: Paper/Poster Proposal
Abstract: The 2004 election provided a unique opportunity to test a dual frame sample design using random-digit-dialing (RDD) and registration-based-sampling (RBS). With RDD, one can reach all households with a working phone. Self-reports of registration are, however, overstated. With RBS, everyone is a registered voter, and every name is accompanied by a wealth of information about the individual and past voting. Unfortunately, RBS lists are incomplete. While RBS lists typically include 60-70% of registered voters, another 10% are lost for various reasons. If any of those covered differ from those excluded, RBS could produce biased results.

In this paper we analyze the results of a telephone survey conducted in lieu of an exit poll for the National Election Pool by the Oregon Survey Research Laboratory at the University of Oregon. The survey of 907 voters was conducted October 22-31, with a combination of RBS and RDD sampling. After de-duplication of the two frames, every voter reached in the RDD sample represented someone not covered in the RBS list. We analyze the performance of the samples from the two frames, and determine whether this dual frame methodology offers an efficient compromise for researchers concerned about the drawbacks of both methodologies.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: The New Environmental or Ecological Paradigm (NEP) is widely acknowledged as a reliable multiple-item scale to capture environmental attitudes or beliefs. It has been used in statistical analyses during almost 30 years, primarily by psychologists, but also by political scientists, sociologists and geographers. The scale’s theoretical foundation is, however, seldom discussed and not comprehensively specified. This article explores the environmental ethics that underlies the scale, analysing which ethical positions on human – nature relations the scale seem to match. The study shows that pronounced forms of anthropocentrism are well captured by the scale, while the environmental position is “shallow” rather than “deep green”, and misses crucial elements of the contemporary environmental ethics debate.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: One of the theoretical landmarks of environmental sociology is Dunlap and Catton’s distinction between the “Human Exceptionalist Paradigm” and the “New Environmental Paradigm.” The HEP describes cultural values that emphasize the separation of society from nature. This perspective has dominated classical and contemporary sociology, leading sociologists to study human social action as though environmental factors were irrelevant. Instead, the NEP emphasizes that social action occurs within ecosystem processes and limits. The implication is that environmental variables become significant for sociological analysis. Dunlap and Catton claim that environmental sociology is defined by its willingness to embrace the NEP. Furthermore, the attempt to incorporate nature as a significant presence has been taken up by many sociologists. However, the claim that the HEP has limited consideration of the environment within the sociological tradition is problematic. Furthermore, their assertion that environmental sociologists should adopt an NEP standpoint has not materialized. “Exceptionalist” environmental sociologies abound within the subdiscipline. In this context, the HEP-NEP distinction may be read as a discursive device that works to “police the boundaries” of the subdiscipline. It may limit our appreciation of the richness of work that adopts a more “social” conception of the environment. Through an examination of the “Exceptionalist” work of the classical tradition and environmental constructionism, I will argue that a broader conception of “environmental sociology” is more useful, especially as a model for how nature may achieve a greater presence within the sociological “mainstream.”