Soviet Union Countries Research Articles

Are some immigrants more equal than others? Applying a Threat-Benefit Model to understanding the appraisal of different immigrant groups by the local population

ABSTRACT The study examines the applicability of the Threat-Benefit Model as a means of conceptualising and measuring appraisal of diverse immigrant groups by a local population. A representative sample of adult Jewish Israelis (n = 1600, 52% women, mean age = 44.2) was used to examine locals’ attitudes toward four groups of immigrants: diaspora immigrants from the Former Soviet Union, Ethiopia and western countries (the US, UK, and France) and asylum seekers. The results obtained indicated that the patterns of appraisal of asylum seekers and diaspora immigrants by the local population differed substantially. Appraisal of asylum seekers was characterised by multi-domain negativity, which, in several domains, was not consistent with the group’s socio-demographic characteristics. Contrary to that, appraisal of diaspora immigrants demonstrated variability across different domains, which mainly coincided with the groups’ socio-demographic characteristics. Socio-demographic characteristics of members of the receiving society explained only a small proportion of variance in their appraisal of immigrants, thus suggesting a high level of societal consensus in appraising different immigrant groups. However, a lower level of religiosity was associated with a higher appraisal of most immigrant groups as beneficial and their lower appraisal as threatening for the receiving society. The present study advances scientific knowledge by shedding light on the processes related to intergroup relations in the context of immigration.

Distance learning at russian universities: Problems and solutions

This case study is built upon the personal experience of the author and relevant literature. The main aim of the study is to determine major current trends in the development of the Distance Learning (DL) in the Russian higher education. The author studied in the state of DL as a Fulbright specialist at one of the Federal universities in Russia in 2018. The study is based on multiple unobtrusive observations of the faculty, open-ended interviews with the faculty and administration. The major barriers to the development of distance education in Russian higher education are indicated. The author assumes that these problems are typical for the higher education in the former Soviet Union countries. At the end of this study solutions are offered to overcome these problems.

Introducing the Crimean out-of-hospital cardiac arrest and resuscitation registry (COHCARR): Rationale, design and 6-month baseline data

Introduction: There is an urgent unmet need for establishing out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) registries in the former Soviet Union countries. This article aims to provide a rationale and describe methodology of the Crimean out-of-hospital cardiac arrest and resuscitation registry (COHCARR), and report baseline information on OHCA epidemiology and emergency medical service (EMS) performance in the Republic of Crimea. Methods: COHCARR is designed to be a prospective population-based registry of all EMS-attended OHCA cases with resuscitation attempts, occurring in the Republic of Crimea. The population coverage is 1.91 million (100% inhabitants of the republic). The baseline descriptive analysis of OHCA with attempted resuscitation (January 01-June 30, 2018) has been performed following the Utstein methodology to provide a snapshot of OHCA problem in the region. Results: During the period, a total of 6,391 OHCA were attended by EMS. With that, resuscitation was attempted only in 196 cases (3.1%; median age 65 years, male 56%, shockable 16%). Most (95%) were witnessed by EMS or a bystander. Out of the bystander-witnessed cases (24%, n=47), bystander resuscitation was attempted in 19% (n=9). Return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) was achieved in 6.6% patients, and 5.6% survived to hospital admission. Conclusions: The low rates of attempted resuscitation, ROSC and survival to hospital admission imply an opportunity to improve outcomes from OHCA in the Crimea. The registry will help to target reasonable cost-effective interventions and assess their effectiveness in the region. COHCARR may serve as a basic model for developing OHCA registries in other post-Soviet territories.

ПЕРЕОСМЫСЛЕНИЕ УКРАИНЫ ЧЕРЕЗ СОВРЕМЕННЫЙ АМЕРИКАНСКИЙ КИНЕМАТОГРАФ

20th and beginning of 21st century are very hard and tragic for Ukrainian people. Until obtaining independence Ukraine was known as part of Soviet Union and many other countries there had been no distinction between Ukraine and Russia. Events in contempo

ПЕРЕОСМЫСЛЕНИЕ УКРАИНЫ ЧЕРЕЗ СОВРЕМЕННЫЙ АМЕРИКАНСКИЙ КИНЕМАТОГРАФ

20th and beginning of 21st century are very hard and tragic for Ukrainian people. Until obtaining independence Ukraine was known as part of Soviet Union and many other countries there had been no distinction between Ukraine and Russia. Events in contempo

개혁기 중국 지방국가와 자본가의 탄생 : 산시성 메이라오반의 사례

This paper aims to examine the mechanism of the birth of the capitalists and the role of the central and the local state in the reform era China. First, this paper argues that indepth research on the dynamic of the local state in the birth of the capitalists should be made if the analysis on the nation-state scale is to be persuasive in the real world. Second, this paper explains the particularities of Chinese socialism in the late 1970s compared with the former Soviet Union and East European socialist countries and defines the local state models like local state corporatism, entrepreneurialism, developmentalism, predatory state. Finally, focusing on the birth of Chinese characteristic capitalists, Meilaoban, this paper clarifies the role of the cadres and bureaucrats of Shanxi Province in transforming the state owned enterprises into the private enterprises in the coal mining industry and finds out that Meilaoban who are created by the local state commits the dispossession of the public assets to build a huge amount of wealth of his own.

Education, Human Rights, and Peace – Contributions to the Progress of Humanity

Abstract I started my chemistry adventure while in high school, where I was the only female in a science and mathematics-oriented class. During our Junior year of high school, we were sent to the desert, close to the Red Sea in Israel to build roads. In the summers, we were in a Kibbutz on the border to help with the work needed. After work, we had time to discuss our future. Upon graduating from high school, I was drafted into the army, and in the evenings, started my college education and majored in chemistry. After finishing my term in the army, I continued my undergraduate studies in chemistry while raising my son. As I was conducting research on isotope effects, I realized that I wanted to make chemistry accessible to all. My tenet in life is that equal access to Science Education is a human right. I developed a method of teaching chemistry using art, music, dance, drama, and cultural backgrounds which attracted students at all educational levels to chemistry. I felt that as chemists, we have obligations to make the planet a better place for humankind. At this point, I became very active in working towards Scientific Freedom and Human Rights; helping chemists in the Soviet Union, China, Chile, Guatemala, and many other countries. The American Chemical Society established the Subcommittee on Scientific Freedom and Human Rights in 1986 and I chaired this committee for 26 years. At great risk to my personal safety, we succeeded in preventing executions, releasing prisoners of conscience from jail and bringing dissidents to freedom. This work led me to use chemistry as a bridge to peace in the Middle East by organizing Conferences which bring together chemists from 15 Middle East Countries with five Nobel Laureates. The Conferences allow the participants to collaborate on solutions to problems facing the Middle East and the World. The issues are; Air and Water Quality, Alternative Energy Sources, and Science Education at all Levels. Eight conferences were held and the ninth is scheduled for 2019. More than 600 Middle East scientists already participated in these conferences. Considering that most of the participants are professors or directors of science institutions who have access to thousands of students, the number of people in the network is in the thousands. Between the conferences, the cross-border collaborations are ongoing despite the grave situation in the Middle East. In these conferences, the participants succeed in overcoming the chasms of distrust and intolerance. They do not just form collaborations, but form friendships. Hopefully, we will manage to form a critical mass of scientists who will be able to start the chain reaction for peace in the Middle East. Commitment, perseverance, and many times, bravery, helped me to overcome the obstacles I encountered.

Central Bank Independence and Economic Performance in Caucasus and Central Asian Countries

This paper explores the association of both central bank independence (CBI) and financial market development with the economic performance of Turkey together with six former centrally planned former Soviet Union countries located in Caucasus and Central Asia (CCA countries). First, we construct a legal independence index (LVAW) for central banks. Then, we analyze the relationship between central bank independence and macroeconomic variables. Our findings suggest that there is a positive correlation between central bank independence and GDP growth, whereas the sign of correlation between CBI and GDP deflator is negative. Besides, the economies with higher level of financial deepening are also associated with high CBI.

Transformation of Modernism in Socialist Yugoslavia Architecture

The Socialist Yugoslavia regime, which was established after World War II, led to innovations in many areas, spreading the modernism that Yugoslavia inherited from the Kingdom period to many areas. It also allowed freedom of expression and opened up to Western European countries kel social, political, commercial and so on kel compared to the Soviet Union and other Eastern European countries. Provided the development of relations. These openings also led Yugoslav artists to explore various artistic movements abroad and to be inspired from abroad. In this study, it is aimed to examine the effects of the ideological background of the new regime on architecture. The effects of Tito on the transformation of the modernist movement that emerged in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia through the Tito period and the development and change of art and architecture.
 Keywords: Yugoslavia, Modernism, Architecture, Socialist

Employment discrimination in a former Soviet Union Republic: Evidence from a field experiment

We provide the first experimental evidence about ethnic and gender discrimination in the labor market of a former Soviet Union country, Georgia. We randomly assign Georgian and non-Georgian, male and female, names to similar resumes and apply for jobs as advertised on help-wanted websites in Georgia. We find that gender has no effect on the probability of callback, but a job applicant who is ethnically Georgian is more than twice as likely to be called for a job interview than an equally skilled ethnic non-Georgian (Azerbaijani or Armenian). The 113% ethnic gap in callbacks (167% among males and 79% among females), which is substantially larger than the gap typically documented in the existing literature for both developed and developing countries, is statistically significant and cannot be abridged by having more experience or education. There is no evidence of gender discrimination in callbacks, both within the Georgian group and the non-Georgian group.

OIL DEPENDENCE OF POST-SOVIET COUNTRIES IN THE CASPIAN SEA REGION: THE CASE OF AZERBAIJAN AND KAZAKHSTAN

The aim of the research is to present oil dependence of Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan from 2000 till 2017. The analysed countries represent two former Soviet Union countries in the Caspian Sea region and are among the world’s top 15 oil dependent economies. It is shown that both countries generate high oil rents to GDP ratios. Moreover, the paper reveals that their fuels export constitutes a huge portion of total merchandise export. It implies that majority of Azerbaijani and Kazakhstani export revenues come from resources extraction. The empirical analysis of co-movements between the crude oil prices and chosen macroeconomic indicators shows that correlation between oil prices and Kazakhstani and Azerbaijani public debt to GDP ratios is negative, strong and significant. In addition, there is significant relationship between oil prices and Kazakhstani exchange rate and GDP growth rate.

Introduction to symposium: Smallholders in communist and postcommunist societies

AbstractThe primary contributions of smallholders during the communist and early postcommunist periods have been food production and labour for large farms. Those conditions are changing, however, as modern farms require less labour and food supply may be imported. For most smallholders in Central and Eastern European and former Soviet Union countries, the postcommunist neoliberal environment has not brought significant improvement, and strong arguments can be made that land grabbing, social and economic exclusion, and rural poverty are worse than regime bias during the communist period. Cooperatives, which have empowered smallholders in other parts of the world, have not been as well developed in postcommunist nations.

From abnormal to normal

AbstractWe look at the growth experience of 25 transition countries over the 25 years since the dissolution of the USSR. The initial collapse in income was much more severe in 12 former Soviet Union countries (FSU12) than in the 10 transition countries that joined the EU in 2004 and 2007 (EU10). In 2015, FSU12 income levels were further behind EU10 than they were at the start of transition, despite more rapid growth in the last 15 years. Compared to predictions from a parsimonious growth model, the region as a whole is ‘normal’ in terms of growth performance since the 2000s. However, the FSU12 over‐perform and the EU10 under‐perform relative to model predictions for the last 15 years.

Fiscal policy in raw materials economics: the role of the budget and the sovereign wealth funds

The peculiarities of fiscal policy of the countries exporting raw materials have been researched, and the «best practices» of anti-cyclical regulation based on the rule of fiscal policy have been analyzed, in particular. Using the OLS method for the unbalanced spatial-temporal sample of 15 annual data from Latin America, Southeast Asia and the former Soviet Union countries (plus Turkey and South Africa), the impact of budget balances (taking into account the time trend) on GDP growth rates (%), inflation (%), nominal and real interest rates (%), investments (% of GDP), savings (% of GDP), current account balances (% of GDP), as well as the share of high-tech exports in the total volume of export of industrial products (%) has been empirically estimated. Individual characteristics of peculiar countries have been taken into account using the appropriate fictitious variables. The constructivism of countercyclical fiscal policy as a factor in lowering the interest rate, increasing savings and improving the current account balance, which should facilitate stabilization policy in the commodity-oriented economy, has been confirmed. It has been noted, that the creation of sovereign wealth funds is a prerequisite for the implementation of the fiscal policy rules. It has been established, that the efficiency of government expenditures as a factor of long-term economic growth depends on the institutional factors quality.

Modernization of the Caspian States economy (Kazakhstan as an example)

The emerged after the collapse of the Soviet Union countries of the Caspian region have much in common in their resource and economic conditions. The dynamics of their development is also largely identical. Therefore, the article considers the processes of modernization of the Kazakhstan’s economy during the independence period as a typical state of the region. The author investigated the reasons for the choice of the resource model in the course of going to the world economy and the government actions on economic modernization and the beginning of the transition to innovation and industrial development.

Determinants of Economic Development in the Former Soviet Union and Central Eastern European Countries

The purpose of this paper is to find factors which affect economic development in former Soviet Union countries and Central Eastern European countries. This paper uses cross-country data for 18 countries from 1999 to 2014. As a measure of development, GDP per capita has been taken, and the GDP per capita is expected to rise under the effect of improvements in economic freedom, a high tertiary enrollment ratio, enhancement of trade, high expenses in research and development, low level government consumption, and low fertility rates. However, the effect of these factors on economic development depends on other factors in the economy. More weight is given to the role of institutions. Economic freedom has been chosen as a proxy of institutions. This study has found that improvements in economic freedom, high tertiary enrollment, and high expenses in research and development are significant for the growth of both groups of countries. Trade and government consumption have been found to be significant for one group, while not significant for another group. Fertility does not show an effect on growth in both groups.

The Motherland Calls: “Soft” Repatriation of Soviet Citizens from Europe, 1945–1953

Previous articleNext article No AccessThe Motherland Calls: “Soft” Repatriation of Soviet Citizens from Europe, 1945–1953*Sheila FitzpatrickSheila FitzpatrickUniversity of Sydney Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by The Journal of Modern History Volume 90, Number 2June 2018 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/697460 Views: 610Total views on this site Citations: 4Citations are reported from Crossref © 2018 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved.PDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article: Ondřej Daniel, Ido de Haan, Isabelle Surun 1.3.3 Migration in Contemporary History (ca. 1900–2000), (Feb 2023): 85–96.https://doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0323.09Margaret Tali Transnational therapeutic memories: Remembering forced migration in documentary film, Memory Studies 15, no.33 (Jun 2022): 551–562.https://doi.org/10.1177/17506980221092875Regina Laukaitytė „Pilkoji zona“ Lietuvos gyventojų repatriacijos ir filtravimo sistemoje 1944–1952 m., Lietuvos istorijos metraštis 2021/1 (Oct 2021): 133–155.https://doi.org/10.33918/25386549-202101006Olga Gnydiuk Bordering and Repatriation: Displaced Unaccompanied Children from the Polish–Ukrainian Borderland after World War II, Journal of Borderlands Studies 36, no.22 (Jun 2020): 201–218.https://doi.org/10.1080/08865655.2020.1768882

Molecular investigation of HIV-1 cross-group transmissions during an outbreak among people who inject drugs (2011–2014) in Athens, Greece

New diagnoses of HIV-1 infection among people who inject drugs (PWID) rocketed in Athens, Greece between 2011 and 2014 (HIV-1 outbreak). Our aim was to identify, during that period, potential cross-group transmissions between the within-Greece PWID and other risk or national groups using molecular methods.Sequences from 33 PWID were outside the PWID-outbreak networks in Greece (PWID-imported transmissions). Phylogenetic analyses on 28 of these sequences (subtypes A and B) showed that 11 subtype B infections originated from Greece, whereas 8 and 7 subtype A strains were from former Soviet Union countries (AFSU) and Greece, respectively. The putative source in half of the PWID-imported transmissions with Greek origin was an individual who acquired HIV via sexual contact.During four years of an HIV-1 outbreak among PWID in Athens, Greece, 33 individuals in this group (4.6% of all diagnoses with phylogenetic analyses) are likely to represent infections, sexually or injection-acquired, outside the within-Greece-PWID-outbreak networks. Combined molecular and traditional HIV surveillance to monitor introductions of new strains, and interventions that aim at reducing the rate of both injection and sexual risky practices are needed during drug injection-related HIV outbreaks.

Spatial distribution of arable and abandoned land across former Soviet Union countries

Knowledge of the spatial distribution of agricultural abandonment following the collapse of the Soviet Union is highly uncertain. To help improve this situation, we have developed a new map of arable and abandoned land for 2010 at a 10 arc-second resolution. We have fused together existing land cover and land use maps at different temporal and spatial scales for the former Soviet Union (fSU) using a training data set collected from visual interpretation of very high resolution (VHR) imagery. We have also collected an independent validation data set to assess the map accuracy. The overall accuracies of the map by region and country, i.e. Caucasus, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Republic of Moldova, Russian Federation and Ukraine, are 90±2%, 84±2%, 92±1%, 78±3%, 95±1%, 83±2%, respectively. This new product can be used for numerous applications including the modelling of biogeochemical cycles, land-use modelling, the assessment of trade-offs between ecosystem services and land-use potentials (e.g., agricultural production), among others.

Improving quality of psychiatric care in Latvia by measuring patient experiences

In Latvia, as in many former Soviet Union countries, there used to be little priority given to systematic assessments of the quality of psychiatric care. Furthermore, using the experiences of patients as a measure of quality was unthinkable because psychiatric patients were seen as incapable of assessing quality of psychiatric services. Over the past few years, and facilitated by Latvia's progress along the route of Western democracy and participation in international organizations (EU, OECD), as well as funding support from the EU, several policy documents have been developed with the aim of improving healthcare quality. Simultaneously, several small-scale initiatives have emerged aiming at the promotion of quality of care, such as the quality award, and the quality comparison of psychiatric hospitals. Furthermore, the Psychiatric Inpatient Patient Experience Questionnaire for on-site measurement (PIPEQ-OS) has recently been adapted for use in Latvia. The first application of PIPEQ-OS in a psychiatric hospital in Riga reveals high patient responsiveness, interest and surprise about being asked to participate in the decision-making process regarding treatment and pharmaceutical choices. More widespread use of the PIPEQ-OS has considerable potential for (1) improving information about treatment shortcomings from the patients' perspective and (2) improving the treatment process by opening doors of cooperation with patients and changing deep-rooted paradigms.