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Which Russian Music?
Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine catalyzed a split in the Russian music scene between those who emigrated and those who remained. A further important fragmentation results from musicians’ differing visions for both Russia and its art.
Tracing the Georgian Ruling Party’s De-Europeanization
With 70-80% of Georgians supporting Euro-Atlantic integration, the ruling party avoids openly rejecting this path. Instead, it promises domestic audiences EU membership under the slogan “Toward Europe with Dignity.”
How Russia’s Liberal Technocrats Became…Just Technocrats
The idea of liberal technocracy had a long history in Russian politics, but its time has ended. Economic managers now in power in Russia no longer have anything liberal about them.
Intelligence Operations and the (Re-)Construction of the Soviet Security Apparatus in Axis-Occupied Central and Western Ukraine, 1943-1944
In Axis-occupied territories during the Second World War, Soviet coercive actors were always present behind enemy lines.
On Russian PM Mikhail Mishustin, or Inside the Mind of an Ordinary Russian Bureaucrat
Instead of being remembered as a "great reformer," Mishustin will likely enter history as someone who oiled a murderous war machine responsible for the suffering of the Ukrainian as well as the Russian people.
While Russia Spoils, China Contests: Fragmented Antarctic Geopolitics and the Future of the Antarctic Treaty System
China and Russia both understand the Antarctic as a strategic frontier where established norms are pliable and open to (re)interpretation.
Treatment of and Attitudes Toward “Other” Languages in Modern Russia: Evidence from Metalinguistic Discourse
Officially, Russian language policy supports the equality of all native ethnic languages. Recently, however, ethnic and linguistic diversity has been perceived as a potential threat to the nation's unity.
Muscovite Claims to Rus Lands: A Medieval Imperial Origin Story
The Muscovite interpretation of its relationship to Kyivan Rus reflected medieval practice. It legitimized the present by tracing origins to glorious mythical beginnings.
This Accursed Place: The Great Northern War—from “The House of Hemp and Butter,” Part II
The era of the Great Northern War was for Rigans, and for Livonia as a whole, the very worst of times.
Genesis: Riga before Riga—from “The House of Hemp and Butter,” Part I
Riga is, and has always been, a city shared by people of various nationalities and languages.
Throw Your Voice: Suspended Animations in Kazakhstani Childhoods, Part III
Children’s play frequently made use of breakage to give way to something new, revealing an ability to cope with loss and to exploit the new possibilities that rupture presents.
Throw Your Voice: Suspended Animations in Kazakhstani Childhoods, Part II
Reminders of the children’s lost homes reinforced their understanding of their condition as a temporary one.
Throw Your Voice: Suspended Animations in Kazakhstani Childhoods, Part I
In a country that had seen no change in leadership since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, pinning hope onto the bodies of children aided the continual deferral of political change.
The Soviet-Afghan War and Soviet Muslims
While Islam had left the public sphere in Central Asia under pressure from atheism campaigns, it had endured in the private sphere.
Gendered Moral Geopolitics in Hungary: Continuities and Discontinuities in the Symbolic Gender Politics of the Orbán Regime
"The symbolic gender politics of the Orbán regime is about defending “traditional” gender relations and “common sense” from “Western” (often "Brussels") “LGBTQ+ propaganda.”
Central Asian Diplomatic Capacity in the Soviet Years
Central Asian representation became essential in positioning Soviet foreign policy toward what was then known as the “Third World.”
Boardgaming a Europe Divided
By allowing players to vicariously experience history, [historical] games encourage us to think more deeply about the main drivers of the past and explore the causes of historical developments.
Invisible Networks: Technology's Dual Role in Care and Politics in Belarus
Technology within the protest movement has been crucial in organizing infrastructures of care to counteract Lukashenko's repressive regime.
Mothers, Children, and the Nationalization of Private Life in Fin-de-Siècle Kyiv
A tightly knit Ukrainophile milieu came into being in the years leading up to 1900, consisting of a handful of experienced activists and their families —and these families’ domestic life became the main ground of their national activism.
“The National Atlas of Russia” (2004-2008) and the Spatial Ideology of the Putin-Era Russian State
The process of territorialization, the development of independent geographical knowledge, and spatial identity are inseparable parts of constructing a modern nation-state.