Soviet and Post-Soviet Studies Commons^™

Preserving Identity Under Totalitarianism: The Adaptation And Resilience Of Muslim Communities In The Soviet Union, Meltem Akıncı

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

This article provides a comprehensive analysis of the methods employed by Muslim peoples in the former Soviet Union to preserve their traditional, spiritual, and religious identity under the systemic anti-religious policies, ideological pressures, and repressive measures of the Soviet totalitarian regime. Despite the Soviet authorities' efforts to rapidly secularize society and reshape public consciousness through scientific atheism, the enduring commitment of Muslim communities to their traditional values is clearly demonstrated. The study examines the closure of mosques, the restriction of religious rituals, and the severe obstacles encountered in performing daily worship. Furthermore, it thoroughly explores the role of Sufi brotherhoods …

Unmaking And Remaking Crimean Tatar Identity Stalin’S Deportation, Sürgün Stories, And The Claiming Of Indigeneity, Milo A. Clarkson

International Studies Honors Projects

The Crimean Tatars exist within a framework of historical and modern Russian settler colonial oppression. By examining their preferred form of identification, this thesis argues that claiming indigeneity holds promise for combating this colonial structure. Further, it identifies the construction of collective memories of the Sürgün (1944 deportation of the Crimean Tatars) in virtual museum project Tamirlar’s oral histories as a form of discursive decolonization—the reclamation of cultural, linguistic, and historical representation and primacy on the land. Novel analysis of fifty interviews with Sürgün survivors preserves indigenous Crimean identity and challenges the retrospective settler colonial construction of Crimea as “Russian.”

An Alternative To Armageddon: O.P. Weyland And The Development Of Tactical Air Power, Paul Wells

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Theorists and advocates of air power argued that aircraft, not ground forces, would become the dominant platform for victory in war. They promoted the concept of strategic bombing, using aircraft to bypass ground forces and directly attack a nation's industrial capacity to wage war, hoping to ensure quick victory and avoid a repeat of the prolonged slaughter in the trenches of WWI. In 1947, led by advocates of strategic bombing, the United States Air Force (USAF) became an independent and equal branch of the U.S. military. The USAF developed the Strategic Air Command (SAC) to meet the requirements of the …

Making A Victim: The Quest To Define Austria In A Cold War Context, Katherine E. White

The Cardinal Edge

When the Second World War concluded, the Allied Powers were left with the complicated question of how to deal with the territories that they had occupied on their march to Berlin. Of all the territories conquered by Germany under Nazi rule, Austria proved to be one of the most difficult and polarizing to define. It towed the line between victim and accomplice, having endorsed its own annexation to Germany in 1938. For ten years after the war’s end, the Allied Powers occupied Austria, locked in a stalemate over the country’s fate. This paper examines how the various occupying powers, in …

Rewriting Betrayal: The Political Memory Of Andrei Vlasov And His Russian Liberation Army, Christian N. Adams

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

This study examines the evolving historiography of Andrei Vlasov and the Russian Liberation Army (ROA) from the end of World War II to the post-Soviet era. Drawing on Soviet, émigré, and Western sources, it traces how interpretations of Vlasov’s defection reflected shifting moral and political frameworks in Russia’s collective memory. The analysis demonstrates that portrayals of Vlasov, from Stalinist condemnations to post-Soviet reappraisals, mirror the state’s changing relationship to patriotism, legitimacy, and dissent. By comparing Cold War scholarship with contemporary Russian debates, this paper argues that the Vlasov question endures not because of mere intrigue, but because it embodies the …

Book Review: The Role Of Civil Society In Transitional Justice: The Case Of Russia, Myra Dahgaypaw

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

This book review evaluates Selbi Durdiyeva's The Role of Civil Society in Transitional Justice: The Case of Russia as a vital contribution to genocide prevention scholarship, which is particularly timely given Russia's mass atrocity crimes in Ukraine and their connection to domestic repression. The book's theoretical innovation in challenging state-centric transitional justice paradigms through rigorous analysis of Memorial NGO, Orthodox Church activities, and revisionist groups across three decades of post-Soviet Russia is critical for the transitional justice field. It is worth highlighting Durdiyeva's unique postcolonial perspective as someone from a former Soviet territory studying the metropole, and her demonstration that …

Mountain Communities During A Time Of War: A Case Study Of The Hutsul Region In The Carpathian Mountains Of Ukraine, Pavlo Rybaruk

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis investigates the ethno-ecological technologies employed by the Hutsul people within the highland agrarian economy of the Carpathian Mountains. Over centuries, the Hutsuls have developed ethno-ecological technologies that maintain ecological integrity while supporting community livelihoods.

The study addresses three primary research questions: What are the most important ethno-ecological technologies of the Hutsul highland economy? How might these traditional ethno-ecological practices be applied to economic, agricultural, and tourism development in the Hutsul region? How might these traditional ethno-ecological practices be combined with contemporary approaches to encourage sustainable development in the region?

The research explores the devastating impact of the Russian …

Reagan, Thatcher, And The Diplomacy Of Sdi, Tim Anglea

The Ozark Historical Review

This article utilizes new sources released through the Margaret Thatcher Foundation and The National Archives of the United Kingdom, which contain an extensive record of correspondence by the prime minister on most international issues. While the sources necessarily approach SDI from a British perspective, they also detail wider European opinion towards Reagan’s initiative. Both Thatcher and other NATO allies shared many of the same questions and concerns regarding SDI. How would SDI impact arms control negotiations with the Soviet Union? Would SDI lead to a decoupling of the United States from Europe? And, most importantly, would the adoption of SDI …

Religious Freedom In The Ussr After The Russian Orthodox Church Restoration In September 1943: Us Viewpoint, Eduard Khodun

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The article deals with the reaction of American society to changes in the religious policy of the Soviet Union during World War II. After the reestablishment of the Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church in September 1943, assessments of the state of religious freedom in the USSR ranged from optimistic, which considered this event as a relaxation of restrictions or even the beginning of a new type of relationship between the regime and religious communities, to deep skepticism, which was determined by the awareness of the true motives and goals of the Soviet leadership. The Kremlin's decision was seen as …

Examining Variations In The Kremlin’S Repression Of Non-Systemic Political Opposition Parties Under The Putin Regime, Brock B. Anderson

Undergraduate Theses, Capstones, and Recitals

What factors illustrate the differences in how the Kremlin under President Vladimir Putin responds to non-systemic political opposition groups in Russia? While existing literature on political opposition theory is expansive, more research specifically addressing contemporary Russian opposition forces is necessary. In particular, it is useful to zoom in on specific non-systemic opposition parties within Russia, as opposed to the customary method of using countries holistically as cases (Kubát 2010; Helms 2023; Eckstein 1967; Taylor 1988) . As such, my research seeks to demonstrate the value of appropriate theoretical frameworks to understand and measure individual non-systemic opposition parties’ actions and subsequent …

Casar Public Lecture: Will Trump End The Ukraine War?, The Prince Alwaleed Center For American Studies And Research Casar

Performances, Events, and Presentations

Trump wants to become the world’s Peace Maker, the Master of the Art of Making Deals. He promised to end this war in 24 hours. Yet the real question is whether Putin wants to end the war, or whether he is ready for a deal ? If so, then what kind of a deal? Could it be that Putin might have a different deal in mind than the deal Trump is willing to offer?? So what happens then??? The lecture deliberated about the possible answers to this very question from several perspectives, analyzing the impact on Egypt, the region & …

Religion In The Republic Of Georgia, Emma L. Lilyea, Alexander Lorenz

University of South Carolina Upstate Student Research Journal

This article examines the role of religion in the Republic of Georgia, emphasizing the historical and contemporary influence of the Georgian Orthodox Church (GOC) on the nation’s identity, politics, and society. Drawing on multiple sources, including the U.S. Department of State’s 2023 Report on International Religious Freedom: Georgia, the Central Intelligence Agency’s World Factbook, and works by Giuli Alasania, Ramaz Shengelia, Lika Kobeshavidze, and Stephen R. Hussar, this study analyzes the religious demographics of Georgia and the relationship between church and state. The findings reveal that Orthodox Christianity remains dominant, with 83% of the population identifying with the …

The Rise Of Mao: Chinese Civil War And The Role Of Sub-State Actors, 1924-1949, Jackson Trahant

Tenor of Our Times

Mao Zedong led one of the most successful peasant rebellions in human history, changing the global stage of politics forever. Analysis of the 30 year war between Mao’s CCP and the Nationalist Party regime, led by Chiang Kai-shek, reveals the vital role of the Chinese peasant class as a force for revolution. Through ideological pedagogy, Mao formed a highly loyal army that in turn transformed him into a premier political figure of the 20th century, both hated and revered. His story informs the modern field of comparative politics as to how intrastate conflicts rely on sub-state actors for their success.

The Holodomor: Death By Hunger, Marco Spann

Undergraduate Research Symposium

The Holodomor was a man-made famine used by Stalin’s regime against the nation of Ukraine. This deliberate famine was both politically and ethnically motivated for the purpose of progressing the Communist Revolution. Stalin believed there was a growing issue of separatism in Ukraine which threatened the unity of the Soviet Union. Stalin’s regime used collectivization, a system of violent seizure of land, people, and resources, to boost industrialization within the Soviet Union as well as to terrorize Ukrainians into submission. The Soviet Union enacted strict censorship of the Holodomor, setting back conversations on it by decades. The attack on the …

The Structure Of The Anti-Religious Unit Of The Soviet Secret Service (1953 – 1956), Oleksandr Korotaiev

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The article is devoted to the issue of reforming the Soviet Security Services and their network of agents during the period of de-Stalinization (1953-1956). The directions of this reform were studied, and how these reforms affected changes in their activities in the religious sphere was traced. Based on a study of the KGB reporting documentation, as well as the personal files of KGB employees, the structure of the anti-religious division of the KGB and its peripheral offices was revealed for the first time, the main directions of its activities were indicated, the pseudonyms of secret agents working in these areas …

A Marxist Analysis Of Women's Labor In The Soviet Union, Shania Sweet

University Honors Theses

This thesis examines the evolution of Soviet women's labor and labor laws through a Marxist lens, emphasizing the contributions of Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, and Vladimir Lenin. It explores the ideological foundations of communism concerning gender equality and the legislative measures taken by the Soviet Union to emancipate women from traditional capitalist oppression. The analysis reveals significant advancements in women's rights, such as legal equality and protection in the workforce, yet highlights the inconsistencies and challenges, particularly under Stalin's regime, where ideological shifts and practical enforcement diverged from Marxist principles. The research utilizes historical documents, legislative texts, and scholarly analyses …

Too Little, Too Late: The Icc And The Politics Of Prosecutorial Procrastination In Georgia, Marco Bocchese

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

In August 2008, just days after belligerent parties had reached a ceasefire agreement, the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) announced the opening of a preliminary examination into the situation of Georgia. Yet, it was only in March 2022 that International Criminal Court (ICC) Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan applied for arrest warrants in relation to three individuals from Georgia’s breakaway region of South Ossetia. That said, how can such prolonged inaction be accounted for? How much blame does the OTP carry for it? And how did ICC-state relations develop over time? This paper conducts a within-case analysis of the situation of …

The Place Of Nuclear Weapons In Russian Identity: An Ontological Security Analysis, Peter Ernest Yeager

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

On May 9, 2008, Russia’s Victory Day, four 14-wheeled MAZ-7917s drove through Red Square carrying Topol intercontinental ballistic missiles. This was the first time nuclear weapons had been paraded through Moscow since before the end of the Cold War. The previous August, Russia had resumed nuclear-capable bomber patrols, and in January, 2007, President Putin acknowledged Russia had begun to build new nuclear weapons. These remarkable events were met with little acknowledgement in the West, as if they were completely normal. Instead, they represented a major evolution in the bilateral relationship between the United States and Russia. Sixteen years of fitful …

“Genocide Of The Soviet People”: Putin’S Russia Waging Lawfare By Means Of History, 2018–2023, Anton Weiss-Wendt

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

This article exposes the political underpinnings of the term “genocide of the Soviet people,” introduced and actively promoted in Russia since 2019. By reclassifying mass crimes committed by the Nazis and their accomplices against the civilian population—specifically Slavic—as genocide, Russian courts effectively engage in adjudication of the history of the Second World War. In the process, genocide trials, ongoing in twenty-five Russian provinces and five occupied Ukrainian territories, present no new evidence or issue new indictments, thus fulfilling none of the objectives of a standard criminal investigation. The wording of the verdicts, and a comprehensive political project put in place …

War, Remembrance, And Katýn:
How Public Memory Sites Affirm National Identity, Adele Partington

History and Political Science | Senior Theses

The nation of Poland had a well-established national identity based on its culture, religion, language, and history prior to its occupation by the USSR, but this identity was suppressed in the sixty years of Soviet control from 1939 to 1989. After achieving their independence, Poles reexamined their history and identity, in addition to choosing which aspects of Soviet history and identity to keep or do away with. This thesis examines the relationship between public memory sites in or about Poland and the affirmation of the Polish national identity after Polish independence from the Soviet Union in 1989. Building on the …

“Under The Influence Of Soviet Reality”: The Life And Work Of The Kgb Agent “Goroshko” (Chief Bishop Of The Pentecostals Of The Ussr Gavril Ponurko), Oleksandr Korotaiev

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The article attempts to describe, based on top secret OGPU-KGB materials, the life and work of a KGB agent, a major Pentecostal authority, chairman, and later Chief Bishop, of the All-Ukrainian (in fact, of the all-USSR) Council of Christians of the Evangelical faith, aka Pentecostals (AUCCEF), Gavril Gavrilovich Ponurko (1889–1978). The article presents interesting, previously unknown, facts from the life of Gavril Ponurko, describes his life milestones and the reasons that led Ponurko to cooperate with the special services. The article also cites the dogmatic teaching of Pentecostals in relation to the Soviet and Nazi authorities, approved by them in …

(Non)Synagogues In Slovakia, Peter Salner

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

This paper uses archival and ethnological research to analyze the fates of former synagogues during two totalitarian regimes in present-day Slovakia. The processes described here were catalyzed by the Holocaust. Between 1938 and 1945, over 100,000 Jews from Slovakia were murdered. Out of the 228 Jewish religious communities (JRCs) active before the war, only 79 were reconstituted after liberation. Most were later disbanded because of aliyah to Palestine/Israel. Their abandoned synagogues passed into the administration of the newly founded Central Union of Jewish Religious Communities (CUJRC). During the Communist era (1948-1989), the majority of these synagogues were sold because the …

Rabbi Mordukh Krol: “Little Man” In The Background Of The Soviet Epoch, Tetiana Savchuk

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The article analyzes the life path of Rabbi Mordukh Krol in the background of the socio-political transformations in Soviet Ukraine (1920-1940s). For the first time, special sources are introduced into the scholarly circulation such as the Rabbi’s correspondences addressed to the Jews of Denmark, Germany, France, the USA, the USSR, Palestine, and Africa during the Holodomor. Major milestones of the Rabbi’s life are identified. He served in the Chernihiv and Melitopol Region, in Voroshylovhrad, Novoukrayinka of Odessa, and later Kirovohrad regions, in Dnipropetrovsk. Rabbi M. Krol, who was the father of many children, was forced to fight with the challenges …

Persecution Of Clerics In Shida Kartli During The First Years Of Soviet Occupation, Giorgi Sosiashvili Prof. Dr., Aleksandre Mgebrishvili Prof. Dr.

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

This article examines the profound impact of Bolshevik repression on Georgian society following the establishment of the Soviet regime in 1921, focusing particularly on the Orthodox Church and other religious communities. The Bolshevik government implemented a series of oppressive measures, including the closure of over a thousand churches and the systematic persecution of clergy, drastically reducing their numbers from thousands to just a few dozen. Key documents, such as Decree #22, exemplify the state’s efforts to strip the Church of legal rights and property, thereby eradicating its influence. The article highlights the formation of the "Union of the Godless," a …

“Comrade Woman” In 21st-Century Serbia: (Dis)Continuities Of Yugoslav Feminism In Post-Yugoslav, Post-War Serbian Feminism, Heyu Yuan

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Forty-five years have passed since 1978, when the first feminist conference in the Eastern Bloc – Drug-ca žena – žensko pitanje: novi pristup? (Comrade Woman – The Woman’s Question: A New Approach?) – took place in Belgrade in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY). After the violent breakup of the SFRY, what, if anything, is left of the legacies of Yugoslav feminism in today’s Serbia? To answer this question, this research examines the Serbian feminist scenes across time through literature and five semi-structured interviews. It concludes that although the Serbian feminist movement has become significantly different from the Yugoslav …

"The Opium Of The People" - The Effects Of Soviet State Atheism On The Muslims Of Central Asia, Joshua Hughes

Senior Theses

This thesis explores the Soviet Union’s approach to Islam in the Central Asian republics of Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan and the effects that these policies have had on believers following the collapse of the Soviet Union. As the first nation to adopt atheism as official policy, the Soviet Party-state employed many tactics to suppress Islam in the region through violence, propaganda, and strict control. Relying on existing literature written on the topic, I begin by offering a historical analysis of the attacks on Islam in the 1920s and 1930s. In an attempt to expand the scope of English-language …

Religion And Atheism In Everyday Day Life Of The Ukrainian Educators In The 1920s-1930s, Oleksandr Lukyanenko, Vitaly Dmytrenko, Vita Dmytrenko

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The article illustrates the process of formation of the atheist worldview of Soviet citizens under the pressure of Bolshevik propaganda in the context of student-teaching communities of higher educational institutions of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. The study shows two poles of the life of teachers: the limit of involvement in the work in the societies of militant God-fighters and the marginal position of the believers with all the resulting negative consequences for the personality, which the atheistic totalitarian state tried to create for a person. Along with highlighting the state-wide patterns of the anti-religious struggle in the Ukrainian socialist …

Review: Oliver Jens Schmitt, Biserica De Stat Sau Biserică În Stat? O Istorie A Bisericii Ortodoxe Române, Editura Humanitas, București, 2023, Csaba Szabó

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

A review of Oliver Jens Schmitt, Biserica de stat sau biserică în stat? O istorie a Bisericii Ortodoxe Române, Editura Humanitas, București, 2023. 457pp.

ISBN: 978-973-50-7919-2

Understanding The Afghan Diaspora: Exploring The Factors Driving Migration And The Impact Of Migration Policies On Recent Afghan Evacuees Resettling In The United States, Aya H. Mohamed

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Afghanistan has been at war with the West since the late 1900’s, remaining in a state of constant turmoil. During the Cold War (1979), Afghanistan had fought a war with the Soviet Union, known as the Soviet- Afghan War. During this time, Afghanistan was invaded by both the Soviet and US, creating a ground for terrorism and the rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan. In order to then eradicate the terrorist regime, the Taliban, the United States went to war with Afghanistan in 2001. The Taliban were suppressed by U.S. forces until August 2021, during which President Biden executed a …

A Fake Future: The Threat Of Foreign Disinformation On The U.S. And Its Allies, Brandon M. Rubsamen

Global Tides

This paper attempts to explain the threat that foreign disinformation poses for the United States Intelligence Community and its allies. The paper examines Russian disinformation from both a historical and contemporary context and how its effect on Western democracies may only be exacerbated in light of Chinese involvement and evolving technologies. Fortunately, the paper also studies practices and strategies that the United States Intelligence Community and its allied foreign counterparts may use to respond. It is hoped that this study will help shed further light on Russian and Chinese disinformation campaigns and explain how the Intelligence Community can efficiently react.