<p>The objective of this essay has been to show how the image of the Soviet Union in “Alla tiders historia” differs in the 1989 and 2004 editions of the book. To explain these differences I have used a discourse analytic perspective, mainly inspired by Michel Foucault and his philosophical theories of the constructions of objects, and also Faircloughs critical discourse analysis inspired by Gramsci.</p><p>In this paper the two editions of “Alla tiders historia” are presented with quotes which are then analysed from using my theoretical framework. In the 1989 edition three themes emerged: continuity, undecidability and ambivalence, which together present an image of a Soviet Union which is not clearly defined within the political discourse.</p><p>In the 2004 edition this struggle over the discourse has been settled and the Soviet Union’s position as a dictatorship has been determined, at the same time as the Soviet Union is put in a negative relationship with Czar Russia and is connected with Nazi Germany. The hypothesis which this essay presume, that these differences reflect a greater discoursive shift on a social level has taken place since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 is in a sense confirmed.</p>

Das sechste Potsdamer Textbuch ist eine solide und kritische Bilanz der Außenpolitik der DDR. Weder rechtfertigt und verklärt sie nostalgisch eingefärbt das vergangene System, noch verurteilt sie pauschal. Den Beiträgen liegen sowohl umfangreiche Recherchen in den Archiven als auch lebensweltliche Erfahrungen mit der Außenpolitik des deutschen Realsozialismus zugrunde. Der Band, der zum 70. Geburtstag des ehemaligen Professors am Institut für Internationale Beziehungen der DDR Claus Montag erschien, macht generelle Linien der ostdeutschen Außenpolitik sichtbar und zeigt zugleich sehr konkret die internationale Vernetzung der DDR in den verschiedenen Phasen des Kalten Krieges.

The objective of this essay has been to show how the image of the Soviet Union in “Alla tiders historia” differs in the 1989 and 2004 editions of the book. To explain these differences I have used a discourse analytic perspective, mainly inspired by Michel Foucault and his philosophical theories of the constructions of objects, and also Faircloughs critical discourse analysis inspired by Gramsci. In this paper the two editions of “Alla tiders historia” are presented with quotes which are then analysed from using my theoretical framework. In the 1989 edition three themes emerged: continuity, undecidability and ambivalence, which together present an image of a Soviet Union which is not clearly defined within the political discourse. In the 2004 edition this struggle over the discourse has been settled and the Soviet Union’s position as a dictatorship has been determined, at the same time as the Soviet Union is put in a negative relationship with Czar Russia and is connected with Nazi Germany. The hypothesis which this essay presume, that these differences reflect a greater discoursive shift on a social level has taken place since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 is in a sense confirmed.

This doctoral study investigates the nature and role of leisure reading in the lives of avid immigrant readers. Guided by hermeneutic phenomenology and conducted by means of surveys and in-depth interviews, it uses a sample of Russian-speaking immigrants in Toronto, Canada, as a case study. The overarching research problem is divided into three research questions (RQ): RQ1: Who are the readers? RQ2: What are the main characteristics of reading behavior and habits of participants after immigration? RQ3: What role does leisure reading play in participants’ lives in immigration? Answering RQ1, the study paints demographic and socio-cultural portraits of participants; recreates a variety of contexts shaping their reading; and unfolds their reader histories. In response to RQ2, it traces immediate post-immigration fluctuations in reading behavior; records the most peculiar reading contents; explores participants’ self-perceptions as readers; outlines the major areas of post-immigration changes in leisure reading; and presents the analysis of acculturation stress in the area of leisure reading. It is concluded that leisure reading can be a more sensitive indicator of acculturation than more utilitarian measures, because it can open a window to the cultural and psychological intricacies of acculturation. Finally, RQ3 generates a theoretical discussion of the concept of ‘the role of reading’ and determines the study focus on immigration-specific, emotional and instrumental, roles. Leisure reading is found important in coping with the culture shock; sharing the experience of others and assessing personal immigration paths; re-evaluating the history of the fatherland and gaining a new perspective on the national heritage; stabilizing identity; learning about the new country; improving English-language proficiency; and compensating for the deficiencies of a transitional period. In addition, leisure reading emerges as a powerful force cementing ethnic and transnational reading communities. The study expands the selected acculturation models and theories; introduces clarity to the concepts of the role and appeal of reading; highlights the dual and self-reinforcing function of reading as a measure and a determinant of acculturation. Finally, it presents a systematic examination of the ethnic readership that has escaped the attention of reading researchers in the largest immigrant-receiving countries, Canada and the United States.

This doctoral study investigates the nature and role of leisure reading in the lives of avid immigrant readers. Guided by hermeneutic phenomenology and conducted by means of surveys and in-depth interviews, it uses a sample of Russian-speaking immigrants in Toronto, Canada, as a case study. The overarching research problem is divided into three research questions (RQ): RQ1: Who are the readers? RQ2: What are the main characteristics of reading behavior and habits of participants after immigration? RQ3: What role does leisure reading play in participants’ lives in immigration? Answering RQ1, the study paints demographic and socio-cultural portraits of participants; recreates a variety of contexts shaping their reading; and unfolds their reader histories. In response to RQ2, it traces immediate post-immigration fluctuations in reading behavior; records the most peculiar reading contents; explores participants’ self-perceptions as readers; outlines the major areas of post-immigration changes in leisure reading; and presents the analysis of acculturation stress in the area of leisure reading. It is concluded that leisure reading can be a more sensitive indicator of acculturation than more utilitarian measures, because it can open a window to the cultural and psychological intricacies of acculturation. Finally, RQ3 generates a theoretical discussion of the concept of ‘the role of reading’ and determines the study focus on immigration-specific, emotional and instrumental, roles. Leisure reading is found important in coping with the culture shock; sharing the experience of others and assessing personal immigration paths; re-evaluating the history of the fatherland and gaining a new perspective on the national heritage; stabilizing identity; learning about the new country; improving English-language proficiency; and compensating for the deficiencies of a transitional period. In addition, leisure reading emerges as a powerful force cementing ethnic and transnational reading communities. The study expands the selected acculturation models and theories; introduces clarity to the concepts of the role and appeal of reading; highlights the dual and self-reinforcing function of reading as a measure and a determinant of acculturation. Finally, it presents a systematic examination of the ethnic readership that has escaped the attention of reading researchers in the largest immigrant-receiving countries, Canada and the United States.

This thesis attempts to analyze the continuity of nationality policies of Kazakhstan between Soviet and post-Soviet periods. As for the Soviet past the Soviet template of nationality policies was deeply rooted in Kazakhstan. Considering the Soviet template of nationality policies, this study conceptualizes the structure of it as first among equals under Russian hegemony. With regard to post-Soviet period, this thesis claims that the nation building policies were not born out of its ashes contrary to the mainstream arguments. This study aims to reveal how the post-Soviet nation building in Kazakhstan is still proceeding along with the Soviet template. Evaluating nation building process of independent Kazakhstan, this study emphasizes the rising titular hegemony of Kazakhs. In other words, this study attempts to analyze the transformation of first among equals taking into account the ethnic and civic aspects of nation-building oscillations

This dissertation compares nation-building practices of post-Soviet Uzbekistan and post-Ottoman Turkey. In both cases the legitimacy principle of collapsed imperial polities which was largely based on universal ideologies or on the dynastic and religious principles, had to be replaced by the nationality principle. The politics of nation-building thus served first and foremost to reinstitute the legitimacy. The dissertation analyzes three aspects of nation-building / ideology, history and language. The general argument in the dissertation is that the policies of nation-building are among the ingredients of constructing a novel legitimation base for the elites. For this purpose Uzbekistan and Turkey constituted perfect cases to analyze the nation-building practices such as rewriting histories, creating and molding languages, religious policies in order to clarify the relationship between the nation-building and the construction of an overall legitimation principle. Secondly Uzbekistan in 1920s and 1920s and then after 1991, Turkey in the first fifteen years after the declaration of the republic used nation-building policies primarily to satisfy the political needs of the ruling elites.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 2002. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 500-517).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Universiṭat Tel-Aviv, Tel Aviv, 1979. / Title on added t.p.: The participation of the Jews in organisation and military actions of the Polish Army in the USSR. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 337-359).

This thesis examines how Soviet psychiatry took the particular form that it did and how it had a historically specific relationship to the state. Psychiatry in the USSR was used by the state against those who opposed the regime. In particular it was used after the death of Stalin against a dissident intelligentsia. Chapter One examines the position of the Soviet psychiatric patient with relation to the political economy of the USSR. The legal position of the psychiatric patient was a precarious one because the absence of private property meant there was no basis for law. It was possible to co-opt doctors as repressive agents of the state because they were dependent on it in a way which their counterparts in the West were not. Chapter Two examines the historical development of Russian and Soviet psychiatry and assesses the importance of its development under tsarism. The point at which Soviet psychiatry became differentiated from world psychiatry is located in the Stalin period. Chapter Three examines the role played by Soviet psychology and the supposed influence of Marxism-Leninism in shaping psychiatry in the USSR. It is argued that Soviet psychology owed nothing to Marxism but that it was distorted in a similar way to other branches of science. Chapter Four discusses the defective nature of Soviet psychiatry and shows how Soviet political economy led to archaic practice in psychiatry. All Soviet medicine was similarly defective and this had serious consequences for the Soviet population as a whole. Chapter Five examines the role that psychiatry played in repressing the dissident movement in the 1960s and 70s. Psychiatry was used as an ameliorated form of the labour camp at a time when mass killings and labour camps were less useful to the elite. Psychiatry played this role from about 1953 until 1988 and was used mostly against the intelligentsia.