Pateikiamoje disertacijoje nagrinėjamas posovietinių režimų transformacijos procesas ir siekiama atsakyti į klausimą, kodėl „spalvotąsias revoliucijas“ patyrusios šalys – Gruzija ir Ukraina – nedemonstruoja tos pažangos demokratijos, įstatymo viršenybės ir žmogaus teisių srityse, kokios iš jų buvo tikimasi. Nagrinėjant šią problemą pasitelkiama struktūrinė teorinė prieiga, kuri leidžia įtraukti tiek vidinių ir išorinių, tiek idėjinių ir materialių veiksnių analizę. Disertacijoje ginamas teiginys, kad pagrindinė posovietinių režimų transformacijos kliūtis yra persidengiantis išorinių veikėjų skatinamos struktūrinės aplinkos poveikis. Disertacijoje teigiama, kad veikdami skirtingoje struktūrinėje aplinkoje, kurią sudaro skirtingo turinio tapatybinė, institucinė ir materialinė dimensijos, Rusijos ir Europos veikėjai posovietinėje erdvėje sukuria „struktūrų persidengimo“ fenomeną. Dėl to neįmanoma įtvirtinti stabilios ir vidujai suderintos „tvarkos“, o tai lemia nuolatinį neapibrėžtumą, stabdantį politinių režimų stabilizaciją posovietinėje erdvėje. Ukraina ir Gruzija materialine prasme (ekonomiškai, energetiškai) yra stipriai priklausomos tiek nuo Rusijos, tiek nuo Europos. Jos abi taip pat veikia pagal rusiškai struktūrinei aplinkai būdingus elgesio modelius, tačiau susiduria su kolektyvinės tapatybės (bendros su Rusija) įtvirtinimo problemomis. Visų trijų veiksnių santykis (prieštaravimas) apriboja režimo transformacijos, kuris prasidėjo su „spalvotosiomis revoliucijomis“... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The problem of post-soviet political regimes’ transformation is analysed in the present dissertation. Ukraine and Georgia are chosen as the case studies. Structural theoretical approach, developed in the dissertation allows the inclusion of material and ideational as well as internal and external factors into the analysis if regime transformation. It as argued that the main obstacle in the process is the intersecting influence of structural milieu promoted by different external actors. The argument is based on the presumption that Russian and European actors, which operate in different structural milieu, comprised of identity, institutions and material basis, create the phenomenon of intersecting structures. It is the main reason and obstacle for the establishment of consistent and stable “order” in post-soviet space. Ukraine and Georgia, being materially dependent both on Russia and Ukraine at the same time do not have stable collective identities and clearly institutionalized and compatible formal and informal “rules of the game”. Meanwhile, Russian and European actors promote different structural patterns of interaction therefore promoting instability and hampering regime transformation. The dissertation provides with a comprehensive analysis of Russia’s and Europe’s structural features and their impact on agents’ behaviour. Georgian and Ukrainian structural milieu of operation is also conducted. Finally, prospects for establishment of Russian and European structural... [to full text]

This thesis contributes to the English school's growing literature on regional level international societies. Thus far English school scholars have demonstrated the existence of a post-Soviet regional international society. However, what is lacking is a clear defining of the members and institutions of this society. This paper gives particular attention to three questions: who are the actors, what are the primary and secondary institutions, and what role do these institutions play within the post-Soviet regional international society? Doing so contributes to the growing literature on the post-Soviet sub-global international society. In addition, it may be the case that Russian dominion is reflected through the network of secondary institutions in the post-Soviet international society. This thesis further investigates how the creation of this diplomatic structure allows Russia to contest the global diplomatic structure and project its great power status. / Master of Arts / Using the theoretical framework of the English School of international relations, this thesis seeks to define the members and institutions of the post-Soviet regional international society. According to the English School theory, secondary institutions, like international organizations, may constitute the existence of a regional international society. This makes it a useful lens to analyze not only what secondary institutions exist, but also the role they play. As such, this paper gives particular attention to three questions: who are the actors, what are the primary and secondary institutions, and what role do these institutions play within the post-Soviet regional international society? This paper finds that Russian dominion is reflected through the network of regional organizations, such as the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Collective Security Organization, and the Eurasian Union. This investigation of regional secondary institutions matter because this diplomatic structure may allow Russia to contest the global diplomatic structure and project its great power status.

Diploma thesis Role integračních procesů v ruské politice vůči postsovětskému prostoru v letech 2000 - 2010 deals with phenomenon of interstate integration in the Post-soviet with focus on Russian position. It's main goal is to reveal and define function of Post-soviet integrative processes within Russian foreign policy aimed to the region, which is in long-term period designated as primary area of Russian interests. Diploma thesis uses combination of descriptive and analytical method to achieve its purpose. Thus the first chapters are aimed at presentation of theoretical aspects of integration (Chapter 1), evolution of Russian approach to the region and basic trends of post-soviet integration in the 90's (Chapter 2), the same topic and its changes after 2000 (Chapter 3) and particular examples of the Post-soviet integrative projects (Chapter 4). This empirical data are then analyzed in the last chapter and answer to the question, what is the role of Post-soviet integrative processes in Russian policy in the region.

L’urbanisation russe et soviétique a été tardive et accélérée, en comparaison d’autres ensembles territoriaux ; un grand nombre de villes nouvelles ont été créées par le régime soviétique qui a promu la fonction socialiste de la ville, l’organisation rationnelle de l’espace et la gestion planifiée de l’économie. Ces particularités urbaines et les multiples événements démographiques et politiques du XXe siècle font des villes de l’espace post-soviétique un ensemble qui pose question quant à sa comparabilité et à ses ruptures. Cette thèse vise à montrer que l’on peut appliquer le concept de système de villes et les méthodes générales de la géographie urbaine pour rendre compte de l’évolution urbaine dans l’espace post-soviétique à long terme, c’est-à-dire mieux comprendre et éventuellement prédire leur évolution. Nous avons confronté plusieurs modèles statistiques avec la dynamique urbaine observée et montré que la structure macro-géographique des villes était comparable à celle d’autres systèmes de villes. On a aussi observé des trajectoires particulières liées à la dimension du territoire, ses ressources naturelles, sa dynamique démographique récente, etc. La connaissance des évolutions observées a été intégrée dans une démarche incrémentale de simulation multi-agents qui vise, à partir d’hypothèses théoriques sur les mécanismes générateurs de l’urbanisation, à reproduire des faits stylisés généraux et particuliers, le plus parcimonieusement possible. L’évaluation progressive de modèles de plus en plus complexes a abouti à la reproduction de certaines évolutions observées et mis en valeur les trajectoire plus particulières de villes qui « résistent » à la modélisation. / The Russian and Soviet urbanisation process happened late and fast, compared to other territories. Many new towns and cities were created by the Soviet regime that officially promoted discourses about the socialist function of the city, rational organisation of space and a planned management of the economy. These urban particularities and the multiple demographic and political events of the 20th century have made cities in the post-Soviet space an interesting case and raised question regarding its ruptures and comparability. This dissertation thesis aims to show that the concept of system of cities and generic methods in urban geography are useful in the study of urban evolution over the long term in this space, to eventually better understand past trends and predict future ones. We confronted several statistical models with the observed urban dynamics and concluded that the macro-geographical structure of cities in the post-Soviet space was comparable to that of other systems of cities (hierarchy of sizes, spacing, functional differentiation). We also observed specific trajectories related to the size of the territory, natural resources, the recent demographic shrinkage and the effect of particular political decisions. This knowledge about observed evolutions has been included in an incremental approach of agent-based modelling. Starting from theoretical hypotheses about generative mechanisms, we tried to generate generic and specific stylised facts, with a model as parsimonious as possible. The progressive evaluation of increasingly complex models led to the satisfactory simulation of observed urban evolution and highlighted specific trajectories that “resist” modelling.

This thesis comparatively analyses dilemmas arising from the unresolved Georgian-Abkhazian and Moldovan-Transnistrian conflicts. The many existing differences in the nature and dynamics of each conflict point to a sui generis situation, yet, many similarities also exist, including Soviet era legacies. The research premise is based on very considerable resourcing being dedicated to the resolution of these conflicts since their inception, yet no significant conflict transformation (Abkhazia has Russian recognition) has occurred, let alone peace. Given the mandate from the OSCE, EU and UN, the purpose of the thesis is to analyse their involvement. While evidence – local vested interests and strategic interests – illustrates the obvious obstructions, the thesis focuses on the IOs and asks why no tangible successes were achieved. This is done by critically analysing their performance, by assuming that success is often overlooked and by identifying a range of misperceptions. Therefore, by considering conflict transformation and engaging in analysis of many sources, including documents and about five-dozen interviews, the thesis reappraises the ethno-national origins, the geopolitical dimension and the entrenched conflicting party positions in the context of pan-European actors' responses. The analyses of the comparative peace processes illuminate the IOs' own challenges in reaching consensus as well as on the conflicting parties' competing narratives. Answering the question of what to produce first – a political solution to improve societal conditions, or the pursuing exercise of confidence-building measures (CBMs) to settle the status question – is part of the objective. I argue that a typology of success and failure more comprehensively explains IO performance between 1992 and the EU's Vilnius Summit in 2013.