Sufi-Salafi Institutional Competition and Conflict in the Chechen Republic
The Russian North Caucasus is one of the most politically complex and turbulent areas in the world due to its plethora of ethnic, national, and…
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“Healthy Body, Healthy Mind”: the visual propaganda of personal care during the Cultural Revolution in the Stalinist State
The picture of “Comrade Lenin Sweeps the World Clean of Filth” (below) is a perfect illustration of Soviets’ axiological orientations: they felt a moral duty…
“Medicine Standing on its Head”: Snezhnevsky, Sluggish Schizophrenia and Soviet Political Abuse of Psychiatry
In this essay, I analyze political abuses of psychiatry in the Soviet Union by exploring Andrei Snezhnevsky’s diagnosis of sluggish schizophrenia—a fictional branch of schizophrenia….
Russia’s Volunteering Youth: The Fashionable Adolescence
The US-Russia Social Expertise Exchange program (SEE), under the auspices of the Eurasia Foundation, facilitates an exchange of knowledge, professionalism, and experience between the US…
The Evolution and Dissolution of the Soviet Kitchen
Just as the leadership, citizens, and politics of the USSR changed drastically between 1917 and 1991, so too the Soviet kitchen underwent innumerable changes from…
35th Anniversary of the Club of Public Transportation Lovers in Warsaw
This past weekend were the 35th anniversary celebrations of the Club of Public Transportation Lovers in Warsaw (KMKM). I didn’t actually realize at first that…
De Jure and De Facto: An Examination of the “Friendship of the Peoples” Policy and the 1937 Koryo Saram[2] Deportation
Even though we have lived in harsh conditions we the community of Koryo Saram[3] have helped each other like brothers. We have provided each other…
YouTube Conflicts: Youth Debate Ukraine
There have been a number of videos published by youth and student groups from all sides of the Ukrainian conflict. Many of these have been…
Prospects for Bloc of Petro Poroshenko and People’s Front
Ukraine’s New Ruling Political Parties Ukraine’s two most powerful political parties, Bloc of Petro Poroshenko and People’s Front, are both new political formations. Both were…
Non-Governmental Organizations in Russia: Adapting for Success
As the Russian government continues to stabilize after the collapse of the Soviet Union, it has become more hostile toward transnational non-governmental organizations (NGOs). New…
Channels of Legal Agency in Russian Serfdom: A Case Study of Petitions from the Vladimir Guberniya, 1796-1808
On the surface, the institution of Russian serfdom bears great resemblance to other forms of unfreedom, and contemporaneous Western slavery in particular. Like Western European…
The Theories of the Slavophiles: on the Relationship between State and Society in Russia
This essay considers the Slavophile conception of the state and its relationship with society as part of the wider Slavophile program of the 1830s-1850s, which…
7 Facts about the April, 1991 Economic Crisis
The following text was written by Aleksei Rudevich and originally appeared in Russian on the website “Russian 7.” To read the original Russian, click here….
Ukraine Update in 7 Sentences
The following is a list of seven general points to be aware of as the Ukraine / Crimea Crisis continues to develop. This resource has…
Responding to the Dual Threat to Kazakhness: The Rise of Alash Orda and its Uniquely Kazakh Path
In 1917, following the fall of the Russian empire, Alash Orda, a provisional Kazakh government formed by members of the Alash nationalist party, partially filled…
Trends in Soviet and Post-Soviet Udmurt Cultural Memory
“Are you talking about the Russians or the Udmurt?” “There’s no difference. The two cultures have been intertwined for so long that it’s really impossible…
On the Eve of Crimean Independence
The day before Crimea voted in its independence referendum, The Village, a Moscow-based publication with editions in St. Petersburg and Kiev, asked residents of various…
12 Things You Should Know about the Agreement in Ukraine
An agreement was brokered by EU leaders between Ukraine’s ruling party and the opposition. That agreement, however, was broken the day after it was signed…
Introduction to Conflict in the Post-Soviet Space
As the Soviet Union crumbled, it left behind ethnically, linguistically, and culturally diverse successor states. As these states tried to form domestic policies and governing…
Russian MiniLessons: Civil War in Syria
The <strong>сирийский</strong> <strong>кризис</strong> (Syrian crisis) is a conflict between <strong>п</strong><strong>овстанцы</strong> (rebels) who are seeking to <strong>свергнуть</strong> <strong>правительство</strong> (oust the government) and <strong>проправительственные</strong> <strong>силы</strong> (pro-government forces)….