bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Historical Trends in Moscow and Leningrad Crime
Authors: Shelley Louise 
Published: July 2010

AbstractMoscow, Leningrad, and Kiev, the major Soviet cities, presently have lower rates of criminality than other urban areas in the USSR,1 thus defying the generally observed correlation between the level of urbanization and the crime rate.2 The Soviet Union has not always been the exception to this internationally observed phenomenon, for in the period directly after the 1917 revolution these three cities had exceedingly high rates of criminality.3 The crime trends of all three major Soviet cities is not coincidental but, as the author shows, this change is a direct result of government policies intended to make these urban areas showcases of the Soviet state. As a result of this governmental decision, population policies have been introduced in the last fifty years of the Soviet period to insure that only the most "desirable individuals" reside in major urban centers. Consequently, the favored cities have experienced a significant decline in criminality, while the regions not favored by government population policies have suffered measurable increases in criminality. This article will focus on the changes that have occurred in the criminality of the major urban centers of the USSR, in particular, Moscow and Leningrad, in the years since the 1917 revolution. The crime trends of Moscow have been documented in a recent Soviet collection (Comparative Criminological Research in Moscow in 1923 and 1968-1969),4 but evidence also exists from other criminological sources to assert that such a dramatic transformation has occurred in the level of crime of all major Soviet cities.
The Soviet-Iranian Gas Agreements: Nexus of Energy Policies, East-West Relations, and Middle East Politics
Authors: Hannigan J.B. , McMillan C.H. 
Published: July 2010

AbstractThe overthrow of the Shah in 1979 brought to a close a period in Soviet-Iranian relations which had seen the rapid development of economic ties between the two countries. These had added an important economic dimension to the Soviet Union's historic, strategic interest in the large, Middle Eastern country located on its southern flank. At the core of the bilateral economic relationship, nurtured over the previous decade and a half, were two long-term agreements forSovietimport of Iranian natural gas in return for material, technical, and financial assistance in the development of Iranian industry, including the energy sector. The purpose of this article is to examine the linkage between the Soviet-Iranian natural gas relationship and broader aspects of Soviet policy. We shall argue that the two agreements engulfed by the Iranian revolution had deep roots in Soviet domestic and foreign policy. They formed an integral part of the Soviet Union's long-term energy strategy, serving important internal and external policy objectives within it. At the same time they functioned as basic elements of Soviet policy in the Middle East (similar agreements had been concluded with neighboring Afghanistan) and were closely linked to energy exports to Western Europe, an increasingly important facet of Soviet relations with the West. Analysis of the Soviet Union's stake in the agreements with Iran sheds light on the significance of their collapse and aids understanding of Soviet policies adopted in response.
Party Membership in Soviet Research Institutes
Authors: Fortescue Stephen 
Published: July 2010

AbstractThe essential purpose of this article is to determine the extent of the CPSU's membership presence in modern Soviet science,1 as part of a larger study of the Party's involvement in science management. Statistics alone cannot determine the state of Party-science relations, but a study of the nature of and changes in Party membership rates and recruitment patterns provide hypotheses to be tested by descriptive analyses of Soviet science politics and policy-making in larger studies. This study begins with a section on the historical development of Party membership among scientists which might seem unconnected with the the rest of the article, but which in fact is of some importance in gaining an understanding of the character of the top scientific leadership of today. Modern Soviet statistics and descriptive data from both Soviet and émigré sources are then used to arrive at measures of Party membership levels in Soviet research institutes among all categories of personnel. A somewhat discriminatory policy in Party recruitment among the intelligentsia in conditions of a rapidly expanding research establishment has produced a rather lower level of Party membership than might have been expected. Nevertheless the Party presence, at all levels, is impressively solid. The concluding section of the article, which examines the incentives and motivations of researchers to join the Party, confirms the enormous significance of even such a limited aspect of the CPSU's involvement in science as simple Party membership.
Soviet Strategy, Opportunities, and Constraints in Southwestern Asia
Authors: Dunn Keith A. 
Published: July 2010

AbstractThe collapse of the Pahlavi dynasty and Soviet invasion of Afghanistan have combined to focus the attention of the United States upon Southwestern Asia. One of the most important current issues in U. S. defense planning is: how can the United States best secure its interests in Southwestern Asia?1 Part of the answer lies in identifying U. S. constraints and then attempting to solve shortfalls in U. S. strategy, forces, and regional relations. Those issues have been examined elsewhere and are not the central focus of this article. Another part of the answer lies in understanding what are Soviet interests, objectives, and major elements of strategy toward the Third World in general and specifically Southwestern Asia. What opportunities and advantages does Moscow have in the region? And, finally, are there political, economic, and military factors which would constrain future Soviet behavior in Southwestern Asia? These are the questions this study will analyze in an attempt to demonstrate that the United States is not competing in Southwestern Asia in a zero-sum game where Moscow holds all the aces.
Limitchiki: On the Legal Status of Migrant Workers in Large Soviet Cities
Authors: Loeber Dietrich Andre 
Published: July 2010

AbstractThe phenomenon of the limitchiki provides support for the proposition that the Soviet system cannot be understood solely on the basis of published sources. More is needed to identify and comprehend the institutions and procedures that operate in the Soviet Union. The word limitchiki, which I first learned about in Moscow in 1982, is frequently used with some degree of emotion-either contempt or sympathy-indicating that the limitchiki have already become a social problem. Indeed, to many Muscovites, it is an issue of considerable concern. In the West, few people are familiar with the term limitchiki. Even several prominent non-Soviet scholars specializing in Soviet affairs admitted to never having heard the word. The only treatment of limitchiki I have come across is by Victor Zaslavsky, a recent emigré from the Soviet Union who offers a short sociological introduction into the subject.5 Limitchiki is a term for migrant workers in large Soviet cities. Derived from the English word "limit," it refers to workers and employees hired from out-of-town areas by enterprises in large cities. Each enterprise is allotted a limited number of workers by the government for each given plan period.
Gorbachev and the Council of Ministers: Leadership Consolidation and Its Policy Implications
Authors: Smith Gordon 
Published: July 2010

AbstractFor the last decade of the Brezhnev regime, Western observers predicted a generational transfer of power to occur in the USSR.1 The Brezhnev generation demonstrated remarkable continuity and stability, resulting in long tenure in office and the aging of those not only in top leadership posts, but throughout the Party and state apparatuses. After Brezhnev's death in November 1982 many observers expected the generational shift to occur at last; however, the short-lived regimes of Iurii Andropov and Konstantin Chernenko precluded extensive personnel changes. With the succession of Mikhail Gorbachev to the post of General Secretary, the long-awaited generational change has at last occurred, perhaps more rapidly than many predicted. The personnel changes that have taken place to date in the Gorbachev reign, especially those within the USSR Council of Ministers, offer a unique opportunity to assess the process of leadership consolidation in the USSR and also provide some insights into Gorbachev's economic reform strategy.
Problems Facing Us Assistance for the Post-Soviet Republics
Authors: Dombrowski Peter 
Published: July 2010

AbstractSince 1989 American policy-makers have continually affirmed US support for the transition of the former Soviet republics from authoritarian, command economies to democratic, market economies. The United States will continue to aid the transition to protect its own political, economic and security interests. Professor Rex Wade's article offers reasonable advice for American officials faced with the difficult task of assisting this transition. Building upon his analysis, I shall elaborate on several of the most pressing problems facing American officials responsible for administering assistance programs. Three broad problems confront US policy-makers promoting markets and democratic political institutions in the former Soviet republics: 1) inadequate resources; 2) embattled foreign assistance institutions; and 3) the lack of international consensus about the goals and means for influencing the transition. Each of these issues has the potential to weaken American and international efforts to shape post-Communist society. In combination, they threaten the long-term foreign policy objectives of the United States.
Processes of Ethnic Mobilization in the Former Yugoslav Republics Reconsidered
Authors: Marko Joseph 
Published: July 2010

AbstractThe first part of the article presents different and opposing theoretical approaches and discusses their explanatory value for the disintegration of the SRFY and the following wars in the Balkans, such as primordialism vs. constructivism, liberal vs. ethnic nationalism, accommodation vs. integration, neo-realism vs. liberalism in international relations and structure- vs. action-oriented approaches in sociology. In conclusion, it will be argued that these theoretical dichotomies have to be overcome and that there is a need for complementary research strategies in order to not only 'explain', but also to 'understand' the processes of ethnic mobilization as an actor-driven process of political mobilization by 'ethnic' entrepreneurs in order to create a security dilemma for their own goals in the ongoing fight for political power. The second part of the article then develops a framework for comparative empirical studies with reference to structural settings, the situational context and actors and introduces into the following articles by Mujkic and Harzl discussing, for instance, the structural similarities between communism and nationalism and the dysfunctionality of communism and federalism as historic legacies.
Preachers of Hatred and Deformation of History: The Case of Ethno-Mobilization in Kosovo
Authors: Harzl Benedikt 
Published: July 2010

AbstractThis article attempts to explain how the destructive force of deliberate nationalism in the former Yugoslavia helped to politicize conflict along ethnic lines, and how belonging to an ethnic group became socially relevant during the twilight of the Yugoslav Federation through the example of Kosovo. Based on a constructivist approach, the Yugoslav federal system, which intentionally left a vacuum as regards historical reappraisal and thereby contributed to the outbreak of ethnic conflict, will be analyzed. Furthermore, reasons will be discussed as to why this federative system was, in the end, too weak and ill-constructed to positively intervene against violence. Subsequently, the purpose of this article, to define the respective nationalisms of both Serbs and Albanians, will be rounded off with a conclusion and summarizing arguments.
What is in Balkan History? Spaces and Scales in the Tradition of Southeast-European Studies
Authors: Mishkova Diana 
Published: July 2010

AbstractThis article takes a distance from the debate about 'symbolic geographies' and structural definitions of historical spaces as well as from surveying discrete disciplinary traditions or political agendas of regionalist scholarship in and on Southeastern Europe. Its purpose instead has been two-fold. On the one hand, to bring to light a preexistent but largely suppressed and un-reflected tradition of regionalist scholarship with the hope that this could help us fine tune the way we conceptualize, contemplate and evaluate regionalism as politics and transnationalism as a scholarly project. In epistemological terms, on the other hand, it proposes a theoretical perspective to regionalist scholarship involving rigorous engagement with the scales of observation, and scale shifts, in the interpretation of history. The hypothesis the article seeks to test maintains that the national and the (meso)regional perspectives to history chart differentiated 'spaces of experience' — i.e. the same occurrences are reported and judged in a different manner on the different scales — by way of displacing the valency of past processes, events, actors, and institutions and creating divergent temporalities — different national and regional historical times. Different objects (i.e. spaces) of enquiry are therefore coextensive with different temporal layers, each of which demands a different methodological approach. Drawing on texts of regional scholars, in which the historical reality of the Balkans/Southeastern Europe is articulated explicitly or implicitly, the article discusses also the relationship between different spaces and scales at the backdrop of the Braudelian and the microhistorical perspectives.
'Democracy Building' in Serbia: The NGO Effect
Authors: Vetta Théodora 
Published: July 2010

AbstractThis article analyzes the construction of 'civil society' in Serbia as a development project in itself within the wider democracy assistance frame targeting post-communist countries. The goal is to problematize universal templates used for the creation of a politically neutral NGO sector and to document the new social realities created locally by their direct intervention in everyday life. The introduction of the 'NGO model' of civic engagement has created a new space for existing and new local elites to consolidate their position while at the same time it has served as an incubator for political leadership. In parallel, ethnographic data can shed light on the dynamic of multilayer power relations between donors, NGOs, and state institutions competing over a state-building project. Both NGOs and state institutions, far from being passive recipients of developmental aid, deploy their own flexible strategies in order to negotiate and re-appropriate donors' directions of good governance and New Public Governance. At the same time, more sophisticated, bottom-up democratization approaches are contested by local constructions of power and legitimacy, calling thus into question the highly technical and moral character attributed to democracy itself by its promoters.
Peace Education as a Democratizing Process
Authors: Skendaj Elton 
Published: July 2010

AbstractThis article presents a case study of the dynamics of implementing an internationally-funded peace education project at the local level. Drawing on the author's personal experience as Albanian National Coordinator for the Peace and Disarmament Education Program, a project of the UN Department for Disarmament Affairs, and the Hague Appeal for Peace, the article evaluates the impact, challenges, and lessons learned at each stage of project design and implementation.
Military Operations in the Balkan Theatre during the 1877-78 War
Authors: Genov Tsenko 
Published: July 2010

AbstractDuring the 1877-78 Russo-Turkish War, the Balkan (European) theatre of military operations proved to be decisive for the course of events due to both political and strategic reasons. The most important battles and engagements occurred on Bulgaria's territory with the direct assistance of the Bulgarians. The Russo-Turkish War brought about a real turning point in the art of warfare. It brought to the fore the significant role played by sappers' units and strategic encircling movements and did away with blind faith in the omnipotence of armored men-of-war and their bombardment, their place being taken by cutters and torpedo-boats. The use of shrapnel shells and quick-firing rifles likewise affected the development of military art. The infantry definitely won the title of "Queen of combat." The war underlined the importance of medical services and good communications in the rear of the army. It is erroneous to draw comparisons between the 1877-78 Russo-Turkish War and the 1870 Franco-Prussian War. Neither the terrain, the character of the adversary, nor the methods of waging the war had anything in common. The difficulties that the Russian army surmounted were far greater than those that faced the Prussian army. The insufficient preparation of the regular cavalry (dragoons, lancers and hussars) became apparent in the course of the war. The commanding officers of the detachments preferred to use Cossack cavalrymen who were better able to cope with reconnaissance activities and with military operations. The main shortcoming in the training of the artillery was insufficient coordination between its operations and those of the infantry. The very fate of the campaign depended on the success of the particularly complicated and bold plan to cross the Balkan Mountain Range under winter conditions.
The 1878-79 Kresna-Razlog Uprising
Authors: Doinov D. 
Published: July 2010

AbstractThe Kresna-Razlog Uprising marks the boundary of two epochs in the Bulgarian people's historical development: it completes the Pre-Liberation national and revolutionary struggles, and is the beginning of the efforts, both heroic and tragic of Macedonian and partly of Thracian Bulgarians to abolish the remnants of Ottoman feudalism. Due to the fact that the Uprising was overshadowed by great historical events as the 1876 April Uprising, the 1877-78 Russo-Turkish War of Libera-tion, and the 1903 Ilinden-Preobraznenié Uprising, it has not achieved the place it deserves in Bulgarian and foreign historiography. The study by the Bulgarian Patriarch Kiril The Resistance against the Berlin Treaty: The Kresna Uprising (Sofia, 1955) is an exception. However it is not comprehensive, and after its publication new documents, were utilized which further enriched the history of the Uprising.1 All this, plus the centenary celebration of the Uprising present a favorable occasion to sum up the achievements of historical enquiry and to elucidate its causes and scope.
Political and Socio-Economic Repercussions of the 1877-78 Russo-Turkish War
Authors: Damianov Simeon 
Published: July 2010

AbstractThe war waged by Russia against the Ottoman Empire in 1877-78, was one of the most important events in the history of Europe in the second half of the nineteenth century. Its significance for Southeastern Europe may be compared to such events of first-rate importance as Germany's and Italy's national unifications in the sixties and the early seventies of the past century. Without any exaggeration it may be stated that diplomatic activities of the large European countries on the eve and in the course of the war were unprecedented in scale. The Great Powers were well aware of the fact that the Eastern Question had reached its decisive phase, that the war inevitably would lead to profound political and economic changes on the Balkan Peninsula, and these changes would affect their age-old interests in the Near East. It is for these reasons that they committed themselves directly to the dramatic duel which began on Bulgarian land after the Russian troops crossed the Danube toward the end of June, 1877. The major political result of the war was Bulgaria's liberation from a five-century long Ottoman rule and the restoration of its national independence. But the war dealt a crushing blow to the decadent Ottoman military-feudal system in all of Southeastern Europe and opened up wide prospects for the progressive development not only of the Bulgarians but also of the other Balkan peoples. An important step was taken along the road for the liquidation of national oppression and for the achievement of a transition from feudalism to capitalism in one of the most beautiful parts of the European continent, whose development had been delayed for ages.
The Bulgarian Medieval State: Seventh To Fourteenth Centuries
Authors: Giuzelev Vassil 
Published: July 2010

AbstractThe Bulgarian State has had an independent historical existence and sovereignty for 552 years, from its foundation on the Balkan Peninsula in 681 to its destruction under the assaults of the Ottoman Turks in 1396. It was this long historical existence that was conducive in the Middle Ages to the formation of a staunch and sturdy Bulgarian ethnical community to be preserved throughout the centuries, irrespective of great historical vicissitudes. The medieval Bulgarian state was a considerable political factor in the history of Europe, and of the Balkan Peninsula in particular. It maintained various relations with neighboring and distant states. While the nature of these relations changed with the various periods, they depended on certain factors that had a marked reflection on Bulgaria's international ties and determined the direction of its development. These factors have had basic importantance: 1) the territorial size and the ethnical and military potential of the Bulgarian state; 2) its public and administrative setup and its institutions; 3) the nature and development of its international relations, and 4) the position and the part played by its ruler in the Medieval European "family of rulers and nations." Each of these factors was a precondition for the evolvement of the others. If these factors are to be reviewed through their effects, a possibility is at hand to reveal the role and importance of the Medieval Bulgarian state on the European continent. So far, historiographic attempts to generalize this problem have been a comprehensive examination of the history of the Bulgarian state at its peak moments.1
'Speaking through the Mask': Israeli Arabs and the Changing Faces of Israeli Citizenship
Authors: Bilsky Leora 
Published: July 2010

AbstractOn May 14, 2006 The Israeli Supereme Court issued its decision in a case known as the 'family unification case' that dealt with the constitutionality of an amendement to the Citizenship and Entry to Israel Law. The temporary amendment prevents Palestinian residents of the occupied territories (of certain age) from entering the territory of Israel and gaining citizenship or residence status through family unification. A divided court upheld the amendment, against a very strong dissent written by former chief Justice Aharon Barak. This article takes to explore the origins of this crisis, by positing the Israeli model of citizenship (Jewish and democratic) against an alternative ideal of 'citizenship as mask', one that was articulated by Hannah Arendt. This ideal positions the citizen between two figures the 'imposter' and the 'refugee'. The article begins with three seemingly marginal criminal prosecutions of imposters, and connects them back to a rich body of literary writings by Arab citizens of Israel who took to challenge the limits of Israeli citizenship through the figure of the Arab who 'passes' as a Jew. With this juxtaposition of literary works with current court decisions the article takes to expose blind spots in Israeli public discourse of citizenship, and to argue that the current citizenship crisis should not be understood as temporary but rather as bringing to the fore contradictions that accompanied Israeli citizenship law from its inception.