Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: This study is designed to ascertain differences in press coverage of Russia during a Soviet and post-Soviet period. The content analysis used here examines differences in U.S. press coverage that may have emerged as Russia evolved from a Cold War enemy in the late 1980s, to the target of aggressive democracy building in the 1990s and, finally, to the strategic, if vexing, ally that it is today. Press coverage is the major, if not the only, source for average American audiences to be exposed to distant parts of the world such as Russia. Additionally, numerous studies have demonstrated the influence international news has on public opinion. The content analysis employed here reveals significant changes in U.S. press coverage of Russia. Findings suggest that recent coverage has become predominantly focused on politics and the economy compared to 1989, when it was slightly more diverse. As business and political news accumulated more coverage in 2005, the overall tone of coverage grew more negative. Implications and possible explanations for this variance in coverage will be explored.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: This paper investigates attempts at major revisions in the state policies on the ethnic background of citizens (which I call “regime of ethnicity”) in the USSR and the Russian Federation in the post-Stalinist period. Almost all attempts at reforming the e

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: This research is part of a case study of women and men�s work arrangements in Komsomolsk, a Central Ukrainian town. Data � collected through qualitative and survey research � examine the history and reorganization of garment work, and the gender and class effects within this process. In contrast to the experience of the predominately male workforce at the local mining enterprise, women workers in the local garment industry have confronted a dramatic reorganization of work; from a large factory offering hourly wages with benefits to micro-enterprises offering piece rates with no benefits. Although some women have prospered during this shift as small business entrepreneurs, the majority of women workers have experienced a decline in wages and job security. Observations of work reorganization in Komsomolsk�s garment industry suggest that the wage gap between women�s and men�s work is widening and that the condition of scarce opportunities are creating exploitive class relations between entrepreneurs and their employees within the garment industry.

Publication Type: Poster
Abstract: During the first six months of the Soviet-German war (second part of 1941) Nazi Germany did not reveal particular interest in enlisting the support of Soviet Moslems (henceforth - SM) as the victory in the war seemed to be at hand. Furthermore, many SM were very low on the Nazi racial scale; actually thousands of Soviet Moslem soldiers who fell in the German captivity were killed (they were largely �equated� to Jews on account of circumcision and �Asiatic� appearance) and exterminated). At the same time, Soviet Union made first attempts to enlist the support of SM by lifting some restrictions on religions.
The second period begins in late 1941 and lasts until the end of 1942. Within this time the annihilation of SM POWs was discontinued. Furthermore, a considerable number of them were released from the POW camps and enlisted in the German-sponsored military and security formations engaged in the warfare against Soviet regular forces and partisans. It is during this time that the Germans conquered the only two Soviet regions with a significant Moslem population (the Crimea and the Northern Caucasus) and put forth a massive propaganda effort directed at the local inhabitants who professed Islam. This development was opposed by the Soviet effort directed at the SM; they also introduced greater degree of religious freedom in the territories under their control. What transpired on the spot in the Moslem-dominated areas occupied by the Germans was partly affected by the propaganda clash.
During the third period (since early 1943 until the end of the war) the only SM affected directly by the Germans were those who retreated with them (that is, primarily collaborators) and Soviet Moslem POWs in the German captivity. It seems that many of them were conscious and active supporters of Nazi Germany and embraced Nazi anti-Semitism among other tenets of Nazi ideology. However, in practical terms the influence of this group on masses of SM was limited since they were detached from their peoples who remained in the territories under the Soviet control. For their part, as Soviet Union maximized its human resources in Slavic republics it had to recruit more draftees from Moslem regions; the authorities took special care of this group in the army and in the midst of civilian population, a stress was laid on close surveillance of its religious activities.
My sense is that the attempts of Nazi Germany to enlist the support of SM under Islamic and Pan-Islamic slogans as well as to capitalize on their dissatisfaction with the �godless Judeo-Bolshevik� regime (to borrow the German term) were largely fruitless. It seems this had primarily to do with the Soviet pre-war policy, namely with the fact that masses of SM did not receive traditional religious upbringing and were long detached from main centres of Islamic world. At the same time, the Germans faced a powerful Soviet counterpropaganda directed at Soviet Moslems, which was a complete reversal of the Soviet pre-war (actual ban on religious activity).

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: This paper analyzes educational attainment of Tajikistani adults born between 1944 and 1983. Adults in the oldest cohorts were educated during the educational expansion of the Soviet period and the youngest cohorts completed their education in the Post-Soviet period of educational contraction. Research about societies experiencing educational expansion finds that gaps between high status and low status youth shrink, but high status youth maintain their comparative advantage in educational attainment. A review of work about societies experiencing educational contraction indicates that inequality increases during periods of contraction. Do the same patterns apply in Tajikistan�s case? Using household survey data collected in 2003 by the World Bank, adults are divided into 8 cohorts, based on the year of birth. For each cohort multivariate logistic regression techniques are used to investigate the likelihood of completing basic, secondary, and higher education. Findings indicate that the gap in educational attainment between men and women decreases during the Soviet era, but increases in the Post-Soviet period. The gap between rural and urban residences also shrinks during the Soviet period, but the gap widens at the level of higher education in the Post-Soviet period.