For Victory in Freedom: Why Ukrainian Resilience to Russian Aggression Endures, Part II

The increasing toll of the war has not dampened Ukrainians’ support for political freedom. In fact, it appears that this suffering has engendered a clearer understanding of the importance of continued fighting by building a sense of shared sacrifice and raising the value of political freedom.

For Victory in Freedom: Why Ukrainian Resilience to Russian Aggression Endures, Part I

Not only does the overwhelming majority of Ukrainians remain resolute in its commitment to driving Russia out of Ukraine’s internationally recognized territory, but this commitment is strongly fused with a determination to be a healthy, thriving democracy and to honor and avenge their devastating shared losses and sacrifices.

Dnipro. Writing and Reading the City’s Biography in a Time of War

My book, “Dnipro. An Entangled History of a European City,” was published a year ago, in the middle of the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian war. I neither expected nor wanted such a political context for my book.

All Blushes of Autumn: Russia’s Evolving “Red Lines” in the War on Ukraine, Part II

Has the West has already crossed Russia’s red lines? This possibility is unlikely: If Russia’s red lines had been crossed, then Russia would have escalated the conflict.

All Blushes of Autumn: Russia’s Evolving “Red Lines” in the War on Ukraine, Part I

By 2023, the West had discovered that neither increasing the supply of weapons to Ukraine nor Moscow’s loss of annexed territories had prompted any serious response from Russia—as if its so-called red lines were shifting or were not actually there at all.

The Blog of the Jordan Center for the Advanced Study of Russia is pleased to announce our annual Graduate Student Essay Competition for 2024. Enter for a chance to get published on the blog and win cash prizes.

We invite 750-1200 word submissions from full- or part-time M.A. and Ph.D. students from any accredited academic institution in the United States, on any topic and sub-discipline within Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies, broadly defined. Cultural criticism; opinion pieces; public-facing treatments of scholarly work; political analysis; book, film, or event reviews; and more are welcome.

All submissions must be in English and observe the blog’s submission guidelines and full competition rules.

Essays are due no later than Friday, 15 March 2024 at 11:59 PM EST, and must be submitted via this Google form.

Seven winners will be selected based on the originality, clarity, and argumentation of their essays, as well as general fit with the blog’s tone and interests as reflected in the submission guidelines linked above. An interdisciplinary panel of judges will select three Grand Prize winners representing history, cultural studies, and the social sciences, each of whom will receive a $500 prize. Four additional Judges’ Choice submissions will receive $200 each. All winners will have their essays published in the Jordan Center Blog.

Competition results will be announced in Summer 2024.

Please note that, for legal reasons around international contest rules, we are unfortunately unable to provide monetary awards to those located outside the US. Regrettably, we must therefore restrict competition for monetary prizes to graduate students of any nationality currently located within the US. Those outside the US, including US citizens and visa holders and those studying at US institutions but currently based abroad, are ineligible for the contest. Outside the bounds of the contest, we welcome submissions from anyone interested in being published on the Blog, regardless of citizenship, national origin, or location. As always, thank you for your interest in the Jordan Center Blog.

Please direct any questions to Jordan.Center.Blog@nyu.edu.

Ideas That Plague Us: Reading “Crime and Punishment” as a Pandemic Narrative, Part II

It is ironic that Raskolnikov justifies selecting the old woman as his victim because she is economically unproductive and sick. Raskolnikov is himself perpetually ill, does not work, and relies on charity from the women in his life: his landlady, his landlady’s servant Nastasya, his mother, his sister, and later Sonya.

Ideas That Plague Us: Reading “Crime and Punishment” as a Pandemic Narrative, Part I

The motif of illness runs through Dostoevsky’s “Crime and Punishment” and accompanies key developments and themes—so much so that the novel can be read as a pandemic or plague narrative.

Change and Continuity in Moscow’s Views of Islamism after the Cold War

The influence of Soviet-era views of Islam and Islamism among post-Soviet elites was striking.

The 1990 Revolution on Granite as Ukraine’s New Beginning

The Revolution on Granite was significant for two reasons. First, it was a major milestone on the road to Ukrainian independence, or even a starting point for aspirations of independence. Second, it became a prototype for subsequent Ukrainian revolutions and a precursor to future events set on the Maidan—first in 2004 and again in 2013-2014. 

Why Talk About Regional Leadership in a Time of War?

Will a major power always hurt smaller nations simply because it can and wants to, ignoring all rules and obligations? Or will the major power, despite having the option of simply dominating and ignoring international conventions, nonetheless commit to credibility and build a more complex relationship with smaller nations that are ultimately beneficial to both sides?

Demographic Messaging in Russian Television Films After 2008: “I Am Happy” (2010) and “The Millionaire” (2012)

The stories in many of the films produced after the 2007-2008 financial crisis were drastically different from those in pre-crisis films. Instead of the heroine ending up with a businessman in a Moscow high-rise, she now finds happiness in a humble apartment with a blue-collar or underpaid white-collar husband (a retired military officer or a policeman is even better) and a child or two, ideally with another on the way.

Prigozhin’s Fate in Putin’s Russia: The Political Roles of Aircraft, Part II

During Putin’s 24 years in power, he has often resorted to assassinations and extralegal violence to reinforce his control of Russian politics, and it is therefore not surprising that most Russian and Western observers have assumed that he orchestrated Prigozhin’s death as revenge for the mutiny in June.

Prigozhin’s Fate in Putin’s Russia: The Political Roles of Aircraft, Part I

In Russia, politicians who run afoul of President Vladimir Putin are at risk of being killed by poison, defenestration, or gunshot, or of being sentenced to harsh prison terms on spurious charges. And now, in the wake of the airplane crash that occurred in the Tver region northwest of Moscow on August 23, many observers both inside and outside Russia believe the Russian president has come up with another technique for eliminating his rivals.

V.V. Andreev’s Velikorusskii Orchestra: National Identity and Music in Late Imperial Russia

In 1888, Vasily Andreev, a self-taught balalaika player, created a balalaika ensemble to manifest the “Russian national idea” in musical form. Almost a decade later, that ensemble had expanded into a full orchestra of national instruments that included another type of plucked lute called the domra.

Changes in the Kremlin’s Political Discourse from 2000 to 2019

Perspectives on Russia’s role in global affairs have differed. It has been portrayed as, respectively, an advocate of the status quo upholding the rule of law; a neo-revisionist actor aiming to reshape the global order; and a reform-minded state pursuing gradual adjustments in international norms. These viewpoints underscore the evolving nature of Russia’s foreign policy orientation.

The Ideological Role of Post-Maidan Ukrainian Cinema

In the wake of the Revolution of Dignity in 2013–2014, Ukraine experienced a remarkable cultural renaissance. The film industry likewise felt a surge of innovation. Suddenly, Ukrainian filmmakers felt new wind in their sails after years of constant hardship. This creative fervor was fueled by significant state support for cinema at levels unprecedented in independent Ukraine.

Mali 2023: How Russia Made Its Way into Malian Life

Evgeny Prigozhin is dead, but Wagner’s mercenaries remain in Mali, and give no sign of leaving any time soon. 

A Queer Plea for the End of the Nation

A queer postnational politics is an anti-war politics that recognizes that there is never a (human) victor in war. War benefits monarchs, oligarchs, and the ruling classes. It does not benefit those in whose name it is fought. War is the bread and butter of the nation, continuously propping it up and reifying it.

Looking for the Human in the Humanities: Vladimir Nabokov’s Theory of Literary Evolution

Nabokov first linked color description with literary history in a little-known 1927 lecture on Nikolai Gogol. inaugurating a lifetime of interest in the individual writer as an agent of evolutionary change.