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Approved for public release, distribution is unlimited / Over the last decade the Catholic Church in Cuba has experienced a changing relationship with the Castro regime. The Church, it seems, has been able to find more space within which to operate despite the historically significant decades of repression after the 1959 Revolution. The Papal Visit of 1998 further enhanced this growth of the Church in Cuban society and acted as an accelerator of positive change. This thesis examines Church-State relations in Cuba from an international, domestic, and individual perspective focusing mainly on events leading up to and after the Papal visit. / Lieutenant, United States Navy

This research primarily addresses mortality patterns and trends by main causes of death in the post-communist countries of Central Asia, Central Europe and the Baltic region together with low mortality populations such as those of France, Spain and the USA. The aim of this study is to analyze the changes in the mortality levels and its structure by the main causes of death by sex and age, and confronted with low mortality populations between the period of 1985 and 2005, respectively. The first (and main) part of the work therefore focuses on cause-specific mortality levels and its relative structure by main causes of death in the selected countries. Moreover, the different patterns of excess male mortality were also observed. The second part is concentrated at the age-standardized mortality levels by main causes of death. The research identified several important issues encasing the field of mortality, especially in the cause-specific mortality situation in Central Asian republics.

The objectives of the present study were (1) to examine the relationship between culture and value concepts, (2) to compare Post-communist Turkic students studying in Turkish universities and Turkish university students based on their value structures, and (3) to attempt to integrate Triandis&rsquo / and Schwartz&rsquo / s conceptualizations of culture. The sample of this study consisted of Turkish university students (N=292) and Post-communist Turkic students studying in Turkish universities (N=299). Individualism-Collectivism (INDCOL) Scale measuring individualism-collectivism and vertical-horizontal dimensions of culture and Portrait Values Questionnaire (PVQ) measuring the main value types and dimensions were employed to all participants together with some demographic measures. Partial correlation analysis (gender and age were controlled) revealed systematic relationships between culture and value types in expected direction. Horizontal-collectivists appeared to give priority to value of benevolence, vertical-individualists to achievement, and vertical-collectivists to power. The comparison of two samples indicated that Post-communist Turkic sample reported higher levels of embeddedness and lower levels of intellectual autonomy, affective autonomy and egalitarianism than Turkish students. The findings concerning the integration of different culture and value conceptualizations demonstrated that Post-communist Turkic sample reported higher levels of vertical-collectivism and lower levels of horizontal-individualism than Turkish sample supporting acclimation-compensation hypothesis. Findings were discussed in the light of relevant literature and characteristics of the samples, recent developments in Central Asia, and acculturation issues. The study has contributed to the existing literature on the cross-cultural validation of relationship between culture and value conceptualizations using student samples from rarely examined cultures.

Since the fall of communism, some crucial political, economic and social changes have been taking place in the former communist societies. The objective of the thesis is to examine the processes of residential differentiation taking place in the urban landscape of the Polish city of Gdańsk after the introduction of the capitalist system. The focus is on different forms of residential differentiation and the social, economic and historical factors behind these forms. The empirical material that forms the basis of the thesis consists of interviews, newspaper articles, a questionnaire, official (national and local) reports and documents. Study I examines the way in which different social, economic, historical and physical conditions coincide in the formation of space and the processes of decline in the period of transformation in Poland. The focus lies on a specific residential area in the center of Gdańsk and the lack of improvements in this particular area, which would stop its successive decline. Study II explains the emergence of gated communities in the post-communist urban context and discusses the reasons for their increasing numbers and popularity. The main argument is that the popularity of gated communities is tightly intertwined with the communist past, emerging in reaction to the housing conditions that prevailed under communism. Study III investigates how social class markers are constructed in the discourse on gated communities in post-socialist Poland. The “new” capitalistic system, with its inherent social divisions, is described in the discourse as creating demands for “new” forms of housing, where gates function as separators, protectors and class identifiers. Study IV concentrates on the support for the formation of gated communities in the legal and regulatory framework in Poland since 1989. The paper asserts that the outcome of liberal politics and legal regulation in the country is the neglect of spatial planning and imprecise urban policies. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following paper was unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 4: Submitted.</p>

The focus of this research study is on major art works produced during the nineteen-nineties by the Romanian collective subREAL, composed of Calin Dan and Josif Kiraly. The thesis is an alternative to the literal-minded and politically biased Western view typified in two major exhibitions of art from Eastern Europe: Beyond Belief: Contemporary Art from East Central Europe (Chicago, 1995) and After the Wall: Art and Culture in Post-Communist Europe (Sweden, 1999). Both exhibitions presented Post-Communist nations as a monolithic bloc, in which art was primarily a passive reflection of political and social events. It will be demonstrated that such exhibitions had consciously promoted this polarizing Western interpretation of the former socialist cultures of Eastern Europe. By contrast, the argument presented here is that subREAL did not merely transmit information and facts from remote lands, but rather explored satire as the way to engage the world around them.

An important feature of Chinese industrial relations is the changing role of collective labour since the early 2000s. The authorities in Beijing have introduced substantial new legislation and policies aimed at strengthening the contractual basis of employment and encouraging the extension of trade union membership and collective bargaining. Meanwhile, unofficial strikes in non-state sectors have become increasingly severe in terms of their intensity and complexity. The Chinese trade unions, which in law protect workers’ rights, have encountered challenges from the increasing demands of these strikes. This thesis looks at how the Chinese trade unions have responded to pressures from rank-and-file workers in the private sector. The thesis starts with a review of the development of Chinese labour law relating to dispute resolution and trade unions in the transition from a command economy to a partial capitalist market economy. A literature review of the role of trade unions in industrial conflict indicates the limitations of recent research arising from looking at workplace disputes from the outside. The thesis then presents original case studies of six foreign-owned enterprises, including one joint-venture enterprise. It describes and analyses the process of dispute resolution or avoidance at these workplaces during the strike wave of 2010. The cases drew on a range of interviews and participant observations, and examined the ways in which the trade unions had been practically involved in managing strikes. The thesis suggests that strikes continue to be autonomously organised by workers, while trade unions generally pursue a role limited to resolving the dispute. The cases illustrate how union guidance in dispute resolution encourages concessions to workers’ demands by foreign employers. The operational forms and the effects of this union dominated approach are varied, reflecting the specific industrial relations context at different locations. The research suggests that this reactive union approach is likely to be unstable and conditional. In the reforms that have followed strike action, the status of trade unions is being enhanced as a result of a simultaneous strengthening of their links with both workers and the government authorities. There are mixed implications for the likelihood that the trade unions will become more responsive in character. The thesis provides insights on the potential and constraints of state-approved trade unions in channeling workers’ discontents into formal decision-making processes.

Religion and post-communist transition are two of the many issues that have earned attention of economists and social scientist in the recent decades. This dissertation collects three papers dealing with different issues concerning religion and the transition. The first one attempts to assess the role of religion in the transition and its impact on country's success in this process; it also outlines opportunities for research in this field. The second paper tries to uncover the role of religion in formation of economic and social attitudes of the people in post-communist countries. Both papers conclude that religion matters; Western Christianity appears to be more compatible with market economy than Orthodox Christianity and Islam, although these two religions are not necessarily an obstacle. Finally, the third paper deals with religious participation in post-communist countries. It shows that religious behavior is not completely independent of economic conditions and religious revivals in the post-communist era can be interpreted in economic terms.