post-Soviet Setting Research Articles

THE FRONT DOORBELLS IN TAT’JANA TOLSTAJA’S STORIES: THEIR DESIGN AND CULTURAL MEMORY

In some stories by Tatyana Tolstaya, published between 2004 and 2015, of Soviet and post-Soviet setting, the doorbell, in the representation of living contexts, seems to take on a non-secondary significance. Sometimes, it is its aesthetic value to be highlighted; while, in other moments, it is its function to be emphasised. This article aims to investigate the meaning the doorbell acquires in Tolstaya’s narratives, the way it relates, each single time, to the surrounding system of objects, as well as with the main characters of the stories. Although its being a product of modern technology, the doorbell, located on the front door, connects to the threshold, a place steeped in stratified mythical and ancestral values.

Goals, obstacles and focus of heritage preservation activists in Ukrainian cities

Preservation of historic heritage is a prevalent question in urban social movements in Ukraine. This article focuses on heritage preservation activists’ experiences, including both movements to preserve specific historic sites and monuments, and movements against destruction of the historic environment more generally. We begin by conceptualizing key concepts of heritage preservation movement and offering a background of heritage preservation in a post-soviet setting. This overview is followed by a summary of research findings based on eleven semi-structured interviews with heritage protection activists in major Ukrainian cities. Their activity can be classified firstly based on the strategy of impact (top-down or bottomup); secondly, on the type of historic monuments that they want to preserve (classical architecture, modern (Soviet) architecture and small architectural forms); thirdly, on the territorial scale of their activity (local, municipal or regional); and finally, on their activities (cultural and artistic, political, media and awarenessraising, community-building, etc.).Challenges, identified by activists in their work, were classified as external (related to structural and contextual difficulties), and internal (individual challenges and group dynamics, related to lack of time, resources and institutional knowledge). More generally, the heritage preservation movement in Ukraine is identified by activists as fragmented, reactive, and marked by high institutionalization of grassroots activities and their cooptation. Activists are reflexive of their role in historic preservation and present themselves as the voice of the general public. They identify their impact as creating public resonance, a wide network of passive allies, institutional (as well as internal management) experience for activist initiatives. At the same time, however, they have little faith in the possibility of achieving broader strategic goals. Thus, despite their impact and efficiency in defending specific historic sites, activists are unable to preserve historic heritage in Ukrainian cities on their own. Potential future research includes conducting interviews not only with activists of large cities, but also of smaller towns, as well as using a multi-method approach and supplementing interviews with content-analysis of activists’ public statements, as well as taking into consideration the voices of other interested agents in the heritage preservation movement.

Citizens’ perception of government responsiveness: building an engaged citizenry

ABSTRACT Responsiveness is one of the tenets of good governance. In the post-Soviet setting, in which government officials view provision of public services to the population as government largesse, the perception of government responsiveness is particularly important in building active and engaged citizenry. This study explores a potential link between citizen perceptions of local government responsiveness among residents of squatter settlements in the Kyrgyz Republic and citizen-municipal government collaboration. Based on a survey of 914 urban squatter settlers in Bishkek, the article examines how residents of slums perceive the responsiveness of different levels of government in improving their communities’ access to basic urban services. Lower level of governance is found to be associated with higher levels of perceived responsiveness. Participation in informal demand-making and self-help activities is positively associated with perceptions of government responsiveness, especially when it comes to the city administration.

Mediated resistance in post-Soviet communicative ecologies: the case of ‘Chinese industrial park’ in Belarus

ABSTRACTThe paper adopts a ‘communicative ecologies’ framework and problematizes it further by exploring a collective protest campaign in post-Soviet Belarus. This study explains how mediated civic protest communication is embedded in the socio-economic, political and cultural structures of a society. It focuses on a recent case involving civic resistance towards the construction of a so-called ‘Chinese industrial park’ near the capital of Belarus. The 5-year timespan (2012–2017) from the conception of this controversial project to its actual implementation is particularly suitable for exploring the complex interdependencies between traditional and new media in the framing of grassroots protest within semi-authoritarian post-Soviet settings.

Adapting Agricultural Water Use to Climate Change in a Post-Soviet Context: Challenges and Opportunities in Southeast Kazakhstan

The convergence of climate change and post-Soviet socio-economic and institutional transformations has been underexplored so far, as have the consequences of such convergence on crop agriculture in Central Asia. This paper provides a place-based analysis of constraints and opportunities for adaptation to climate change, with a specific focus on water use, in two districts in southeast Kazakhstan. Data were collected by 2 multi-stakeholder participatory workshops, 21 semi-structured in-depth interviews, and secondary statistical data. The present-day agricultural system is characterised by enduring Soviet-era management structures, but without state inputs that previously sustained agricultural productivity. Low margins of profitability on many privatised farms mean that attempts to implement integrated water management have produced water users associations unable to maintain and upgrade a deteriorating irrigation infrastructure. Although actors engage in tactical adaptation measures, necessary structural adaptation of the irrigation system remains difficult without significant public or private investments. Market-based water management models have been translated ambiguously to this region, which fails to encourage efficient water use and hinders adaptation to water stress. In addition, a mutual interdependence of informal networks and formal institutions characterises both state governance and everyday life in Kazakhstan. Such interdependence simultaneously facilitates operational and tactical adaptation, but hinders structural adaptation, as informal networks exist as a parallel system that achieves substantive outcomes while perpetuating the inertia and incapacity of the state bureaucracy. This article has relevance for critical understanding of integrated water management in practice and adaptation to climate change in post-Soviet institutional settings more broadly.

Is Induced Abortion Really Declining in Armenia?

As in other post-Soviet settings, induced abortion has been widely used in Armenia. However, recent national survey data point to a substantial drop in abortion rates with no commensurate increase in modern contraceptive prevalence and no change in fertility levels. We use data from in-depth interviews with women of reproductive age and health providers in rural Armenia to explore possible underreporting of both contraceptive use and abortion. While we find no evidence that women understate their use of modern contraception, the analysis suggests that induced abortion might indeed be underreported. The potential for underreporting is particularly high for sex-selective abortions, for which there is growing public backlash, and medical abortion, a practice that is typically self-administered outside any professional supervision. Possible underreporting of induced abortion calls for refinement of both abortion registration and relevant survey instruments. Better measurement of abortion dynamics is necessary for successful promotion of effective modern contraceptive methods and reduction of unsafe abortion practices.

(RE)EXPERIENCING THE NOW-GONE: YOUTH AND CULTURAL POLITICS IN SOVIET AND POST-SOVIET CENTRAL ASIA

The events of the so-called Arab Spring reconnected the young and their culture with images of organized political activism and resulted in huge political resonance. So this may be an appropriate point at which to reconsider the relevance of youth culture politics in the now-gone Soviet Union. The article explores the connections between cultural consumption by the young, ideology, and political ambivalence during Soviet times and considers how the Soviet genre of youth culture politics is being reproduced and continued in an extended form in the post-Soviet setting, specifically in Uzbekistan.

Male labour migration, spousal communication, and STI treatment in Armenia

This study aims to add to the scant research on the association between labour migration and sexually transmitted infections (STIs). It builds upon earlier findings suggesting that left-behind migrants' wives tend to have higher risks of contracting STIs than women married to non-migrants. Using data from a 2007 survey in rural Armenia, a post-Soviet patriarchal setting with high levels of seasonal male migration and high rates of STIs, we examine how migration influences spousal communication about STIs, and how this communication, in turn, affects women's use of medical care for STI-like symptoms. The results of random-intercept logistic regression models show that migrants' wives were significantly more likely to talk about STI-related risks with their husbands than were non-migrants' wives. However, among women reporting STI-like symptoms in 12 months before the survey, migrants' wives were less likely to have talked to their husbands about these symptoms. We also find that women married to migrants were less likely to seek professional care for their STI-like symptoms than those married to non-migrants, but this association was moderated by women's communication about these symptoms with their spouses.

Minority Identities and the Construction of Rights in Post-Soviet Settings

This article looks at the emergent policies and legal constraints shaping identity constructions within and for minority groups in Estonia and in northwest Russia, in order to investigate the processes of ‘minority-building’ and emergent state policies through cultural entanglements. The case studies discussed comprise legal regulations and measures for the promotion of minority identities in Estonia with special focus on Estonian Russians, the country’s biggest and most diverse minority; the Seto, their cultural heritage construction and the question of intangible rights in the border zone between Estonia and Russia; and the Votians and the process of claiming a minority status in Russia in the context of recent socio-economic developments. These three studies enable us to explore the reverberations of Soviet nationality policy as well as new hybrid policies, strategies and self-conceptions emerging in a particular region. This collaborative article proposes a supplement to the study of identity constructions in the post-Soviet setting of minority-buildings that are inherently interdependent and complementary for understanding the possible developments in this sphere.

Predictors of Individual Knowledge Acquisition Commitment in a Post-Soviet Setting

Drawing upon interdisciplinary literature, particularly institutional theory, we tested Nonaka’s (1994) predictors of individual knowledge acquisition commitment among 1,949 employees from four firms in Ukraine, a transition economy where low absorption of knowledge has slowed economic reforms. Five personality traits explained nearly 44% of the variance in knowledge acquisition commitment, but the results concerning the influence of individuals’ perceptions of the organizational context were mixed. The findings affirm the value of individual level research in international management (IM), and underscore the importance of contextualizing theoretical models of knowledge acquisition rather than assuming universality. The results have practical implications for the performance of international joint ventures and subsidiaries that are dependent on host country labor in this context, and for indigenous firms attempting to transfer knowledge from developed economies.

Opportunities and risks in reconciling conservation and development in a post-Soviet setting: The example of the Tajik National Park

In the Tajik National Park (TNP) – a high-altitude area of nearly 26,000 km2 in Central Asia – past and present human activities visibly contrast with standard conservation requirements for protected areas worldwide. This paper focuses on resource management, and highlights three major processes that threaten both the sustainable use of natural resources and the preservation of nature per se: (i) intensified use of biomass as a fuel resource, (ii) inappropriate pasture management, and (iii) increased pressure on endangered wildlife. From analysis of these processes – their historical background, root causes, trends and interrelationships – options and needs to improve park management are proposed and discussed.

Livelihoods in transition: changing land use strategies and ecological implications in a post-Soviet setting (Kyrgyzstan)

ABSTRACT The sudden independence of Kyrgyzstan from the Soviet Union in 1991 led to a total rupture of industrial and agricultural production. Based on empirical data, this study seeks to identify key land use transformation processes since the late 1980s, their impact on people's livelihoods and the implication for natural resources in the communes of Tosh Bulak and Saz, located in the Sokuluk River Basin on the northern slope of the Kyrgyz Range. Using the concept of the sustainable livelihood approach as an analytical framework, three different livelihood strategies were identified: (1) An accumulation strategy applied by wealthy households where renting and/or buying of land is a key element; they are the only household category capable of venturing into rain fed agriculture. (2) A preserving strategy involving mainly intermediate households who are not able to buy or rent additional agricultural land; very often they are forced to return their land to the commune or sell it to wealthier households. (3) A coping strategy including mainly poor households consisting of elderly pensioners or headed by single mothers; due to their limited labour and economic power, agricultural production is very low and hardly covers subsistence needs; pensions and social allowances form the backbone of these livelihoods. Ecological assessments have shown that the forage productivity of remote high mountain pastures has increased from 5 to 22 per cent since 1978. At the same time forage productivity on pre-mountain and mountain pastures close to villages has generally decreased from 1 to 34 per cent. It seems that the main avenues for livelihoods to increase their wealth are to be found in the agricultural sector by controlling more and mainly irrigated land as well as by increasing livestock. The losers in this process are thus those households unable to keep or exploit their arable land or to benefit from new agricultural land. Ensuring access to land for the poor is therefore imperative in order to combat rural poverty and socio-economic disparities in rural Kyrgyzstan.

Wherefore the Liberal State?

The post-Soviet setting is characterized by a disheartening political paradox. Since the fall of communism, some kind of electoralism has been spreading to almost every corner of the former empire, yet liberal rights and the rule of law have not been its fellow travelers; nor do they seem destined to provide companionship in the imminent future. Revisiting the long-standing German current of fiscal sociology, it is possible to solve this paradox. In the Europe of yesterday, liberal constitutionalism was the product of a quid pro quo between the rulers and the ruled: an exchange of rights for revenue. Historically, this “grand bargain of the liberal state” was a prerequisite for liberal democracy, and the very same social mechanisms—or lack thereof— seem to be operating in the post-Soviet world of today.

Peacebuilding as Practice: Discourses from Post-conflict Tajikistan

Peacebuilding is a contested concept which gains meaning as it is practised. While academic and policy-relevant elaboration of the concept is of interest to international experts, interpretations of peacebuilding in the Central Asian arena may depart immensely from those envisaged within the western-dominated ‘international community’. This article opens up the dimensions and contingent possibilities of ‘peacebuilding’ through an investigation of two alternative approaches found in the context of Tajikistan. It makes the critique that peacebuilding represents one contextually grounded basic discourse. In the case of Central Asia, and in particular post-conflict Tajikistan, at least two other basic discourses have been adopted by parties to the post-Soviet setting: elite mirostroitelstvo (Russian: peacebuilding) and popular tinji (Tajik: wellness/peacefulness). Based largely on fieldwork conducted in Tajikistan between 2003 and 2005, the argument here is that none of these three discourses is merely an artificial or cynical construct but that each has a certain symbolic and normative value. Consequently, a singular definition of Tajik ‘peacebuilding’ proves elusive as practices adapt to the relationships between multiple discourses and identities in context. The article concludes that ‘peacebuilding’ is a complex and intersubjective process of change entailing the legitimation of new relationships of power.

Rural energy consumption and land degradation in a post-Soviet setting – an example from the west Pamir mountains in Tajikistan

The sustainable use of energy resources in semi-arid rural mountain areas is a common but still unresolved problem, often resulting in environmental degradation. In a post-Soviet setting the identification of possible solutions poses specific challenges. This study aimed at (1) investigating the current energy supply and consumption patterns at household and village levels in the western Tajik Pamirs, (2) analysing the implications for land degradation and natural resource management, and (3) proposing recommendations for sustainable energy use, taking into consideration the peculiarities of the Soviet heritage. For this, a participatory and multi-level stakeholder approach was applied. Data was collected through comparative in-depth case-studies at household level and through participatory land degradation assessments. The study revealed that the close interlinkage between local energy resource use and land degradation leads to a paradoxical situation in present energy consumption. The scarcer the local energy resource base, the higher the overall energy consumption at household level appears to be. It can further be concluded that since 1991 energy consumption patterns in the Tajik Pamirs have become comparable to patterns in semi-arid rural mountain regions of developing countries. Like many countries in the South, the Tajik Pamirs suffer from chronic energy scarcity, unsatisfactory supply of modern energy carriers and unsustainable use of local biomass fuels, leading to land degradation. This calls for a reassessment of the energy policy orientation for Tajikistan.

Conceptualising democracy within the post-Soviet setting

As regards the democratic potential of the former Soviet states, the scholarly community was divided into an optimistic and a pessimistic camp when communism broke down in 1989-1991. Almost one-and-a-half decade later, neither of these camps’ predictions have been confirmed. Instead, hybrid regimes – combining pluralistic and authoritarian traits – have seized the day in the post-Soviet realms. The study of regime change has had a hard time grasping this political phenomenon conceptually. In order to pave the way for empirical research, it is necessary to deal a new deck of cards, to revisit the definitions of democracy with the actual transition processes in mind. The present paper aims to do precisely this. Emphasising both the electoral and the liberal component of democracy, with assistance from classic and contemporary authors, the paper arrives at a fourfold typology of the political regime form. This typology, and the conceptualisation it rests on, is logically exhaustive and able to set dissimilar countries apart. Hence, it provides a useful point of departure for elucidating the post-Soviet transition processes empirically

Aspects of Russian-Estonian codeswitching: Research perspectives

The article describes codeswitching (CS) as a new phenomenon in modern Russian-Estonian contacts. The author believes that a microsociolinguistic approach developed by Auer, Tabouret-Keller, Le Page, and others allows a flexible analysis and leaves space for linguistic creativity. CS in the post-Soviet setting has not been investigated, and this particular case could contribute to a general understanding of CS patterns. During the past decade both speech communities have become less focused (more diffused). Therefore, a “monolithic view on language” (Backus) has to be replaced by the image of various multilingual and monolingual lects. The shape and properties of lects depend on whether they are used in monolingual-to-monolingual or in multilingual interaction. These lects are not necessarily fully crystallized and differences may be subtle. A new lect, the so-called “market discourse” is developing for Russian-to-Estonian interaction. It utilizes Estonian nouns, adjectives, numerals and discourse markers, whereas VP, word order and combinational properties remain Russian. It is not yet clear whether and how this lect can be placed in Auer's CS-to-language-mixing-to-fused lect continuum.

‘In Case of Fire Emergency’

This article argues that the study of Russian rituals and patterns of consumption reveals the intricate ways in which post-socialist actors deal with economic and political uncertainty, creating and symbolically affirming their identities in a rapidly transforming environment. Far more culturally specific than a simple globalization argument would suggest, and far more creative than simple reproduction of ‘Soviet’ attitudes, post-Soviet practices of consumption represent a complex fusion of global trends and local cultural patterns. As such, they may tell us just as much about the post-socialist condition as about the attitudes that preceded it. This article addresses these issues by exploring the consumption of household durables, the popularity of which can be explained by the fact that they came to embody some of the most profound cultural trends, expectations and fears in a contemporary post-Soviet setting. Decoding the symbolic significance of these objects may thus yield valuable insights into the cultural processes unfolding in the post-Soviet milieu, but also help us raise more general questions of formation and affirmation of identities, groups and coping strategies through consumption.

Democratization and Ethnic Peace: Patterns of Ethnopolitical Crisis Management in Post-Soviet Settings

Democratization and Ethnic Peace: Patterns of Ethnopolitical Crisis Management in Post-Soviet Settings