This paper explores the volatile relationship between the political prisoners and the common criminals in the Soviet GULAG. Lenin's theories on crime and punishment shaped the early Soviet penal system; he implemented policies which favored the common criminals and repressed the political prisoners. He deemed that the criminals, as "social allies" of the working class, were more likely to become good Soviet citizens than the political prisoners, considered "counterrevolutionaries" and "enemies of the state." In the decade after the Bolshevik revolution, the prison administration empowered the criminals in the GULAG by giving them access to the life-saving jobs and goods in the labor camps, while gradually withdrawing the political prisoners' access to the same. From the 1930s to shortly after the end of World War II, the strong criminal fraternity in the GULAG robbed, beat, and killed the political prisoners, while the GULAG administration refused to intervene. Using the testimony of former political prisoners and GULAG personnel, as well as secondary sources, I identify the policies that led to the criminals' "reign of terror," I address theories regarding if and why the administration permitted such violence and disorder in the camps, and I demonstrate that the political prisoners responded to their situation in a range of ways, from holding their tormentors in contempt to forming a tentative friendships with individual criminals who could offer them their protection and a way to survive the camps.

Blat, or the exchange of favors among friends, played a key role in the Soviet Union. The ability to use connections to gain access to hard-to-find goods or services was practically indispensible in the shortage economy. But blat has also been important in the post-Soviet environment, particularly in business. People with powerful connections have achieved success, while those outside of the business networks have been left behind. Thus, the ability to establish and maintain connections determines who succeeds in Russian business today. I argue that this dynamic significantly disadvantages foreign businesses in Russia because it favors insiders, is difficult for foreigners to understand, and most importantly, leads foreign companies into ethically questionable practices that are unacceptable in international business. Using the case of IKEA’s experiences in the Russian market, I hope to investigate whether this theory can inform our understanding of foreign businesses’ experiences in Russia.

My thesis analyzes the relationship between Russia and Syria since the Second World War.

This study examines why Romania's dissidence within the Soviet bloc has not provoked a military response from the Soviet Union during the 1965-1985 period. The hypothesis assumed is that Soviet tolerance is granted to Romania in exchange for its internal orthodoxy. Based on English and Romanian sources of information and on the author's experience having lived in Romania, the following factors are analyzed: Party internal control, its organization, leadership and ideology. The study concludes that Romania's internal orthodoxy, closely resembling Soviet society, has neutralized the country's dissident foreign policy saving it from a Soviet military intervention.

Arkady and Boris Strugatsky were the most popular science fiction writing duo in Soviet Russia from the 1960s through the 1980s. Examining their imaginative fictional worlds against the background of wider changes in the Soviet Union allows scholars to gain insights in the world of the Soviet intelligentsia, the educated bearers of culture. As members of this group, the Strugatskys expressed the hopes, frustrations and fears, of their peers, vindicating their intellectual and emotional life. I support the argument that the Brothers occupied a middle ground between conformity and dissident, dubbed the "lost" intelligentsia by Lloyd Churchward. I demonstrate this state of being in Soviet society by providing context to popular Strugatsky works, and discussing the evolution of their perspective over time, as displayed in their literature. Featured prominently in Strugatsky works are themes of governmental authority and scientific development, therefore these are the key focuses of this research. The Strugatskys examination of the essential question of the meaning and attainment of happiness adds a new layer of insight to this argument. Studying the Strugatsky Brothers aligns with the greater trend in the field of cultural studies of the Soviet Union, as historians seek to gain greater understanding of how society experienced the communist government. The captivating writing of the Strugatskys, a mixture of foreboding, irony and humor, contributes to the narrative of Soviet history as the authors were culturally significant figures whose legacy remains influential today.

Between 1987 and 1991, Soviet filmmakers and journalists utilized Gorbachev’s glasnost reform policy to depict or discuss sexuality in cinema and the popular press. I argue that Soviet film and popular press discourses on sex in this period reveal a continuity of conservative sexual mores, which were interwoven with social and moral conservatism regarding the centerpiece of Soviet society, the Soviet family. Furthermore, these discourses take on a fundamentally misogynistic tone, in that women are tasked with defending sexual purity, and thus familial integrity, while simultaneously being cast as those most susceptible to the power of sexual enticement. Thus, the comparatively permissive discourse about sex and sexuality in the 1980s can be interpreted not as a “sexual revolution,” but as an explosion in social and moral anxieties, that were unique to the glasnost period, about the Soviet way of life. Additionally, this study challenges the concept of the totalitarian Soviet system by highlighting intellectuals’ persevering conservatism during a period where the state did not expressly govern or censor discourses on sex and sexuality.

The purpose of this thesis is to analyze the root causes of Russia’s recent aggressive regionalism. Russia’s revival and corresponding military, political, and informational offensives have shaken European security in a way few thought it was capable of following the USSR’s dissolution and Russia’s subsequent fall into ineptitude. At first glance, this shift in Russia’s posture appears to come as a result of an uptick in nationalism driven by the chauvinistic revanchism of its leader, Vladimir Putin. However, this thesis finds that the eastward expansion of NATO’s membership and transition to a more offensive force posture, augmented by the placement of missile defense infrastructure in Europe, has contributed to a Russian impression of besiegement and corresponding sense that its security and sovereignty are threatened. Russia’s perception that NATO is acting to replace Russia in its perceived sphere of influence has been shaped by the fall of the Soviet Union and Soviet security considerations. This thesis recommends that, to prevent the further deterioration of the relationship between Russia and the West, the following policies should be enacted. First, NATO should reestablish relations with Russia and partner with it on the European ballistic missile defense shield as a confidence building measure. Second, NATO should halt the eastward expansion of its traditional collective security membership and instead rely on NATO’s Partnership for Peace program to support democratization efforts in the former Eastern Bloc. While these policies cannot eliminate the historical context that the NATO-Russia relationship is shaped by, they can serve as the beginning of a shift away from mutual antagonism by defusing tensions between NATO and Russia.

One of the first Village Prose writers was Yuri Kazakov. In his short stories about life in remote Russian villages, Kazakov was able to combine traditions of Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky with traditions of Turgenev and Bunin and created a unique style using psychological parallelism in lyrical prose. Through the aspects of village, nature, time, and native language, Yuri Kazakov exposed the life of the marginals. He was interested in individuals and their personal feelings and thoughts. He did not look at individuals as a part of society but rather as a part of and the creation of nature. Therefore, he found his characters in the remote Siberian villages where the Soviet regime and propaganda minimally influenced people’s lives and their traditional values. His characters cannot be characterized as simply good or bad. Through his characters, Kazakov investigated and explored the complexity of human nature, emotions, and motifs. In his stories, he was able to masterfully unfold human souls and draw their psychological portraits to address timeless philosophical questions about the purpose of live, moral choices, unity of people and nature

This study examines the rise of populism in Hungary and Poland through the Fidesz and Law and Justice (PiS) parties. As a relatively new terminology, the study begins by dissecting the various definitions of populism to establish a universal set of criteria to define the ideology. The majority of experts suggest that populist leaders campaign using a rhetoric of “us versus them” that encourages the population to feel that its general will is not being accurately represented. This strategy is particularly effective in Eastern European nations whose USSR roots makes them skeptical of globalization and paranoid of any loss of sovereignty. The study outlines three major underlying themes that led to the rise of populist parties in Poland and Hungary. First, the neoliberal reforms enacted during a post-communism shock therapy era created a level of poverty and wealth disparity that made citizens eager to return to the leftist economic platforms of Fidesz and PiS. Second, the newness of Poland and Hungary’s political system and continued communist elite system led to a level of corruption in the new government that left citizens with a growing distrust towards more traditional parties. Finally, both PiS and Fidesz capitalized off of the European migration crisis to stoke socially conservative fears and rally nativism. This study finds that these populist parties are successful due to their ability to capitalize off of the frustrations and fears of the common citizen who feels forgotten in a globalized society.

The Russian implementation of the "energy weapon" plays an important role in understanding the complex Eurasian political dynamism that exists and influences relationships. Endowed with a greater amount of gas supplies, Russia has utilized its natural monopoly in an endeavor to maneuver its political objectives within the international scene. Its drive to espouse the "energy weapon" envelopes itself within Russia’s turbulent past and desire to regain political prominence experienced throughout much of the twentieth century. Thus, studying Russian motivations in employing gas resources allows political scientists, statespersons and other government intellectuals to better understand the economic backdrop affecting Eurasian affairs and potentially formulate strategic policy that would garner net positive outcomes with little to no negative externalities. Studying such information would prove to enhance relations, positively or negatively, for Ukrainian, Russian, and European authorities when conducting domestic and foreign policy.