It is necessary and desirable for Armenia to retain close relations with Russia in both the short and long term. However, recent concessions to Russia for good relations in the short term may have potentially harmful repercussions for Armenia in the future. These concessions have in part resulted in the Russian dominance in the economic sector, over-dependence on Russia for Armenia’s energy needs, and the perpetuation of Armenian submissiveness to Russian interests. Armenia should, therefore, maintain good relations with Russia while simultaneously securing long-term paths that focus on actual strategic partnership and not dependence. In short, Armenia should return to a foreign policy of complementarism, which was first enacted under the Republic of Armenia’s first president, Levon Ter-Petrossian. Complementarism stresses the importance of pursuing Armenia’s best interest through the adoption of balanced policies and through minimal involvement or identification within regional blocs. The leveraging of Armenia’s long-term interests for close relations with Russia is possibly best exemplified in the state of Armenia’s economy. Like many former Soviet republics, the collapse of entangled Soviet trading patterns and the legacy of its centrally-planned economy still have negative implications for Armenian industry and trade.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 324-362).

abstract: The immigration process changes personal narratives and professional trajectories and challenges identities and individual beliefs. Yet there is currently limited research on European women immigrants' transitions in the United States. This study examines personal and professional trajectories, in the United States, of Eastern European immigrant (EEI) women with prior educational attainment in their country of origin. This study examines the following issues: personal/social learning, developmental and professional experiences prior to and post migration, and social lives after the women's arrival in the United States. The study discusses the results of in-depth interviews with eight EEI women living in Arizona and California and recounts these women's life stories, gathered through open-ended questions that focused on areas of their personal and professional lives, such as childhood, marriage, immigration, education, family relations, socio-economic status, employment, child- rearing, and other significant life events. These areas impacted the women's creation of personal beliefs and their ability to develop new identities in the United States. The study examines EEI women's identity constructions within their life trajectory narratives. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Educational Psychology 2014

Broadly speaking, this research is intended to shed light on how post-genocide societies attempt to address a traumatic history and reconcile the problems of ethnic and religious hatred. Germany and Poland are especially ripe cases for such research given their historical memories of the Holocaust and unique legal and diplomatic efforts to counter anti-Semitism. However, since many of the policies on this issue have only been implemented in the past ten to fifteen years, there has not yet been a comprehensive study that has evaluated their effectiveness. This dissertation will attempt to fill this gap in the literature and provide new insight as to how states can best grapple with this problem. The central question for this research is: Have state policies been effective in reducing levels of anti-Semitic attitudes and incidents in Germany and Poland since 1990? This question will be investigated by first examining the historical development of anti-Semitism in each country, then discussing the policies implemented to address the problem, and finally evaluating the results of such measures. From a public policy perspective, this research will contribute to our understanding of the approaches taken by these two countries and discover which measures have been most effective in reducing anti-Semitic behavior and ideology. The findings show that while the policies implemented have tended to be effective in reducing general anti-Semitic attitudes and helping revive domestic Jewish communities, they have been less successful in reducing levels of anti-Semitic crime. The policy analysis portions of the dissertation provide a number of explanations for these outcomes and acknowledge areas for potential policy improvement. This research has implications not only for the region of Central Europe, but also other societies that continue to grapple with problems of ethnic and religious hatred.

By using the cross-sectional data from the World Bank Enterprise Survey, this dissertation selects a sample of over 3000 firms from 16 Central and Eastern European countries during the 2008 financial crisis, to assess (1) How effective priori classifications are to identify financially constrained and unconstrained firms in times of economic recession (2) What the main robust determinants are at the firm and country-level that affect SMEs' degree of financing obstacles (3) What experiences and lessons we can learn from 2008 crisis to combat with 2020 and future emerging recession. Our evidence indicates that during the economic crisis happened in 2008, size, industry, ownership and EU dummy are useful priori classifications while distinguishing firms' different degree to financing troubles, although some of other priori classifications appeared on other literature are ineffective. Smaller firms, foreign-owned and firms in manufacturing are more likely to report the financing trouble and have less access to formal sources of finance. However, government-owned firms and firms with adequate educated workers are less likely to be financially constraint. The result confirms that economic freedom, financial market and trade integration all have a significant relationship with SMEs' access to finance. For...

This study traces the career of Robert Francis Kelley and his influence on American-Russian Relations during the nonrecognition period (1917-1933). The focus of this examination is Kelley's role in formulating, implementing, and sustaining America's anti-communist policy developed and solidified during the 1920s and 1930s. Particular attention is given to the senate recognition hearing of 1924, Kelley's training of future diplomats (George Kennan, Charles Bohlen, et al.), and his contributions to the preparations leading to the United States' recognition of Russia in 1933. Using Kelley's papers and personal correspondence, this study shows the growth of a man and the evolution of a policy.

Part I of this thesis has been written with a view to exploring the relevance a text over 2500 years old has for contemporary ars poetica. From a detailed study of ‘The Book of Job’ I highlight three main tropes, ‘cognitive dissonance’, ‘tĕšuvah’, and ‘dark saying’, and demonstrate how these might inform the working methods of the contemporary poet. In the introduction I define these tropes in their theological and historical context. Chapter one provides a detailed examination of ‘Job’, its antecedents and its influence on literature. In chapters two and three I examine in detail techniques of Classical Hebrew poetry employed in ‘Job’ and argue for a confluence between literary technique and Jobian cosmology. Stylistically, the rest of the thesis is a critical meditation on how the main tropes of ‘Job’ can be mapped onto contemporary ars poetica. In chapter four I initiate an exploration into varying responses to cognitive dissonance, suggesting how the false comforters and Job represent different approaches to, and stages of, poetic composition. A critique of an essay by David Daiches is followed by a detailed study of Seamus Heaney. In chapter five I map the trope of tĕšuvah onto contemporary ars poetica with reference to the poetry of Pilinszky, Popa, and to the poems and critical work of Ted Hughes. The chapter concludes with a brief exploration into the common ground shared between the terms tĕšuvah and versus as a means of highlighting the importance of proper maturation of the work. Chapter six consists of a discussion of how the kind of ‘dark saying’ found in ‘Job’ 38-41 impacts on an understanding of poetic language and its capacity to accelerate our comprehension of reality. I support this notion with excerpts from Joseph Brodsky and a close reading of Montale’s ‘L’anguilla’. Chapter seven further develops the notion of poetry as a means of propulsion beyond the familiar, the predictable or the clichéd, by examining the function of metaphor and what I term ‘quick thinking’, and by referring to two recently published poems by John Burnside and Don Paterson. In chapter eight I draw out the overall motif implied by a close reading of ‘Job’, that of the weathering of an ordeal, and map this onto ars poetica, looking at two aspects of labour, which I identify as ‘endurance’ and ‘letting go’, crucial for the proper maturation of a poem or body of poems. The concluding chapter develops the theme of the temple first discussed in chapter one. I argue for a connection between Job as a temple initiate, who has the capacity to atone for the false comforters, and poetry as a form of ‘at-one-ment’. This notion is supported by reference to Geoffrey Hill and Rilke. Part II of the thesis consists of a selection of my own poems, titled ‘Bedrock’.

The purpose of this study was to examine the peculiarities of framing of the United States in selected Belarusian newspapers during first six months of the Obama administration. The concepts of anti-Americanism, authoritarian model of mass media and framing were chosen as a theoretical framework. This study was focused on the two main questions: first, what is the difference in how Belarusian state-run and independent newspapers frame the U.S., and second, what is the mechanism of creating negative image of the U.S. in Belarusian newspapers. In order to provide comprehensive answers to both questions the multi-method approach (involving methods of content and framing analysis) was chosen. As this study demonstrated, the state-run and independent newspapers present a very different image of the U.S.: state-run newspapers present the U.S. within a scope of strong negative frames. However, the picture in the independent newspapers is the opposite: out of four general frames three were positive and one was neutral-positive. The results of the content analysis showed that negative images of the United States do not necessarily have to be promoted through direct judgmental statements, but could rather be initiated by means of selecting certain negative facts for publication, often from unidentified sources. By concentrating their attention on crime, natural catastrophes, manipulating statistical data, omitting sources of information and selecting foreign experts who are critically inclined against the U.S media create a negative image of the United States.

The purpose of this study was to examine the peculiarities of framing of the United States in selected Belarusian newspapers during first six months of the Obama administration. The concepts of anti-Americanism, authoritarian model of mass media and framing were chosen as a theoretical framework. This study was focused on the two main questions: first, what is the difference in how Belarusian state-run and independent newspapers frame the U.S., and second, what is the mechanism of creating negative image of the U.S. in Belarusian newspapers. In order to provide comprehensive answers to both questions the multi-method approach (involving methods of content and framing analysis) was chosen. As this study demonstrated, the state-run and independent newspapers present a very different image of the U.S.: state-run newspapers present the U.S. within a scope of strong negative frames. However, the picture in the independent newspapers is the opposite: out of four general frames three were positive and one was neutral-positive. The results of the content analysis showed that negative images of the United States do not necessarily have to be promoted through direct judgmental statements, but could rather be initiated by means of selecting certain negative facts for publication, often from unidentified sources. By concentrating their attention on crime, natural catastrophes, manipulating statistical data, omitting sources of information and selecting foreign experts who are critically inclined against the U.S media create a negative image of the United States.

China’s State-owned Enterprises are important actors in China’s foreign policy arsenal. In the last decade, these massive companies began an international expansion unlike anything seen before on Earth. Going into developing nations, these companies undertake massive infrastructure and development projects in countries that most western nations have written off. This paper examines the success and failure of SOEs when they go abroad employing three case studies from the past decade, the Mes Aynak copper mine in Afghanistan, the Sicomines infrastructure and copper project in the Congo, and the COVEC highway project in Poland. The projects are then analyzed to determine the strengths and weaknesses of SOEs and comments on whether or not they are successful tools of diplomacy in our contemporary globalized world.