Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2006. / Title from title screen (viewed Feb. 8, 2007). PDF text: 113 p. : ill. UMI publication number: AAT 3216419. Includes bibliographical references. Also available in microfilm and microfiche format.

Text in German / Christian Spirituality, Church History & Missiology / D. Th. (Missiology)

The breakup of the Soviet Union into fifteen autonomous republics marked the end of an era of atomic superpowers born in the first half of the twentieth century. As the Communist Party relinquished its hold on the reigns of power, the Soviet Union changed in profound ways, economically, politically, and socially. Strongly isolationist policies which kept the U.S.S.R. separate from its neighbors in Western Europe and North America loosened significantly. Those isolationist policies encouraged a Soviet technological and industrial economy based almost entirely on locally developed materials and expertise--an economy which Western analysts found inferior in technological development, manufacturing capabilities, and absorption of information technologies in comparison to other industrialized nations. Networks can be a metric to measure technological capabilities and absorption. Networks cannot be a priority project of a single ministry: they depend on hardware, software, training, and telecommunications infrastructure throughout the country. Thus, they act as an indicator of the capability of the economy to develop, distribute, and absorb new technologies. The absorption of networks indicates the capability of an economy to absorb similar new and recently-developed technologies. Networks are valuable tools for inter-organizational and international information transfer. How the Soviets use networks both internally and in external communications can indicate the amount of change, both in attitude and implementation. This study examines the development, manufacture, dissemination, and absorption of computer network technologies in two environments: the pre-1990 Soviet Union and the post-1990 former Soviet republics. This study relies on detailed technical examination of the manufacturing technology, equipment choices and capabilities, and observed installation and use. In situ visits, reviews of open literature, interviews with Soviets, and, above all, networks themselves, are woven together to form a technological picture of how networks were, are, and can be used. Using a model for the use and absorption of computer networks, this study presents extensive evidence showing the status of the former Soviet republics. It is concluded that: (1) Changes in the post-U.S.S.R. economy have been to the detriment of Soviet network development and manufacturing capabilities; (2) Absorption of computer networks is largely restricted to a few cities and republics; and (3) Growth of computer networks has been explosive, although the total scale of absorption remains very small.

This study seeks to assess theories of post-communist political regime diversity. Since 1989 tens of former communist countries in Central and Eastern Europe and in the ex-Soviet Union developed into a rainbow of regimes, from stable democracies to stable autocracies. Four major theoretical approaches attempt to explain this diversity by focusing respectively on legacies, institutional choices, political leadership, and external influence. These approaches are tested using a sample of three post-communist countries representing different political trajectories: democracy, authoritarianism, and intermediate regimes. This study finds that none of these approaches comprehensively explains this diversity. "Unpacking" these approaches, however, and combining some elements from each, provides a good starting point for understanding the problem. Designing particular institutions like an electoral system and a strong presidential office may produce democratic or authoritarian trends. Particular legacies such as lack of shared public identity between rulers and the ruled can interfere and, despite institutional preconditions, keep post-communist countries in an intermediate regime position.

Text in German / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / D. Th. (Missiology)

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Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 344-366).

Religious freedoms in the countries which were once part of the Soviet Union have gradually been on the decline since the mid 1990s. Reflective of de-democratisation trends in many states, religious market liberalisation has lost momentum. Governments have increasingly used methods to restrict non-traditional religious organizations similar to those used in protecting national industries. These range from subsidies for traditional churches to regulatory barriers and even outright bans on non-traditional groups. This drift towards a restrictive religious playing field has coincided with traditional dominant churches being more vocal in the debate over religious institutional design. In this thesis I examine the motives of traditionally dominant churches in either advocating legal restrictions on non-traditional religious entities or promoting a religious free market. Variation in attitudes and policies across traditional churches suggests explanatory variables are at play. A multi-methodological approach is used to understand policy formulation within the hierarchical establishments of traditional churches on religious liberties and religious pluralism. In addition to utilising path-dependent modelling to account for churches' Soviet existence, assumptions drawn from recent scholarship in applying rational choice methodology to the study of religion is used to conceptualise present-day market features. Findings from three churches suggest that a church'€™s agenda on religious liberalisation and plurality stems from hierarchical perceptions of the direction of change of their church'€™s relative influence in society. That perception is heavily rooted in the intersection of Soviet experience and transitional market place dynamics. This thesis adds a case-study contribution to the growing academic discourse on institutional change in transitional societies. In particular, it identifies the mechanisms by which institutional transformation and the creation of a vibrant civil society can stagnate in transitional societies.

The period 1917-1921 provides an insight not only into the policies of the new Soviet state but the mindset of its leaders. These four years were a time of intense political struggle and socio-economic disruption, which exposed the tension between ideology and practice in Bolshevik discourse and policy making. Workers, specifically metalworkers, were a focal point of Bolshevik ideology and policies in this period. This thesis will explore how the Soviet state conceptualised metalworkers, through ideology, and how this informed their engagement with workers, through policy. This will be done through an examination of state statistical data and how prominent state polices, cultural policy and treatment of dissent, and discourse changed over this period. It will also focus on a case study of Sormovo Metalworks, a suburb of Nizhnii Novgrorod, and use local sources to investigate how the tension between ideology and practice played out on a local level. It will explore how local Bolsheviks conceptualised and engaged with Sormovo workers and how this was shaped by three things: Bolshevik ideology, the context of the Civil War and the specific local conditions of Sormovo and its workforce. The Civil War period witnessed a change in the discourse and policies of the Soviet state, which became more coercive, interventionist and repressive as the war progressed. Sormovo Metalworks was a large metalworking complex in a largely rural province; it had a skilled workforce with a tradition of labour activism through striking and was dominated by the Socialist Revolutionary Party. The move towards an increasingly centralised state was utilised by local Bolsheviks in Sormovo in an attempt to end the labour activism of its workforce and crush political opposition. However, despite the increasingly assertive discourse about the identity of metalworkers and the state’s drive for economic, political and cultural centralisation, Sormovo workers had the ability to challenge, subvert and negotiate state labels and even policies. This case study reveals that although Sormovo workers suffered repeated challenges to their identity by the state, local government and the economic crises of the Civil War, they continued to utilise self-identification based on their skill and shared socio-economic experience. This in turn shaped their vertical and horizontal social, economic and political relationships with those around them. Although the central state became politically and economically centralised and authoritarian, the identity of the grassroots in Sormovo remained diverse and fluid.

Thesis (M. P. A.)--Texas State University-San Marcos, 2009. / "Fall 2009." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 79-82).