Will a large-scale migration of Russians to the Russian Republic take place over the current decade?

The author discusses "the likely scale of in-migration from the other former union republics into the Russian Republic over the remainder of this decade....I believe that during the 1990s there will be continued mass in-migration into Russia from the seven former union republics of Central Asia and the Transcaucasus....I also foresee that Russians will continue to leave such inhospitable milieux as southern Kazakhstan and western Ukraine."     

The post-Soviet “Orient” in stories by Vladimir Makanin and Liudmila Petrushevskaia

This article analyzes a paradoxical feature in post-Soviet Russian literature and film, where an anti-imperial message coexists with colonial tropes. It focuses on two short stories: “Slabye kosti” (“Weak Bones,” 1988) by Liudmila Petrushevskaia and “Kavkazskii plennyi” (“Prisoner of the Caucasus,” 1995) by Vladimir Makanin. Set respectively in Central Asia and the Caucasus, these stories reflect on the troubled Russian and Soviet relationship with these regions. Despite their artistic complexity and anti-imperial messages, these works are trapped by the literary tropes and cultural stereotypes of the past. These stories relate to a broader cultural trend characteristic of post-Soviet Russian culture. On the one hand, Russian culture has remained unreceptive to post-colonial discourses adopted by Western intellectuals. On the other hand, the resurgence of imperial preoccupations in contemporary Russia, as well as the anxiety surrounding Russia’s territorial integrity, preclude the development of Russia’s own discourses on ethnically distinct peripheries and identities. As a result of this discursive silence, even nuanced writers, such as Makanin and Petrushevskaia, rely on the traditional models of representing the Caucasus and Central Asia.     

A House of Our Own: Diaspora Politics Among Koreans in the Russian Far East

This paper discusses the newly formed public space that exists for Koreans in the Russian Far East (RFE). It shows that the notion of diaspora is a fluctuating political subjectivity in Russia that is largely defined and regulated by the state. It examines the changes that have taken place in the local politics surrounding the Korean diaspora in the RFE resulting from their experience of the Stalinist purge and their return from Central Asia during the post-socialist transition. Central to this research is a building called Koreiskii Dom and the conflicts surrounding its ownership and use. By examining these conflicts, this paper explores how the focus of community for Russian Koreans has shifted from national rehabilitation to cultural recognition influenced by the increasing prominence of businessmen in local politics, and the substantive demands made on public spaces for practices of cultural reconsolidation.     

Building an Orthodox empire: Archpriest Ioann Vostorgov and Russian missionary aspirations in Asia

Using the example of Archpriest Ioann Vostorgov, this article analyzes how during the final decade of the Russian empire, the colonization of Siberia, Central Asia, and the Far East, as well as the state’s engagement in East Asia, created new opportunities for Orthodox clergymen to participate in Russian imperial aspirations in the region. Asia had captured the imagination of Vostorgov, providing him with a backdrop for articulating the pivotal role that the Orthodox Church would perform in forging the future empire and a new world order. Facing an environment of porous borders, hostile neighbours, along with dizzying religious and ethnic diversity, Vostorgov supported the resettlement of Orthodox peasants and the intensification of missionary work, both inside and outside of Russia’s borders, which he believed would secure the future of the empire.     

Russian refugees. A tragedy or the costs of imperial consciousness?

The author attempts to estimate migration of Russians from other republics of the former Soviet Union back to Russia, and factors causing this migration. The encouragement by many local authorities of anti-Russian feeling for political purposes is identified as a major cause of such re-migration. This is a translation of the Russian article in Sotsiologicheskie Issledovaniia (Moscow, Russia), No. 9, 1992, pp. 59-64.     

Forced migrations as a social problem

The size and characteristics of recent refugee migration in the former Soviet Union is assessed; the study concerns those fleeing from ecological disasters as well as from interethnic conflict. The problems of providing refugee assistance are discussed. This is a translation of a Russian article in "Migratsiia naseleniia", Moscow, Russia, Russian Academy of Sciences, 1992, pp. 61-82.     

莫斯科的国际中心城市地位研究

20世纪90年代,莫斯科的政治、经济和社会结构经历了重大变革,改变了莫斯科的国家地位和国际排名。本文研究莫斯科在俄罗斯国内和在欧洲城市中的地位。毫无疑问,莫斯科的发展特点是：在逐渐脱离国家城市体系的同时,也逐渐朝着国际方向发展。以经济指标来衡量,莫斯科在国内找不到竞争对手。它远远领先于国内其他城市,因为这些城市正快速融入国内和区域经济的潮流,只在很小的程度上参与经济全球化。相反,莫斯科越来越多地争取融入跨国公司和国际经济体系的行列。虽然莫斯科作为一个国际性城市的概念往往只是城市的政治工具,但事实上,如果俄罗斯的首都想要融入世界,其资本是有限的。从中欧的角度来看,目前莫斯科最重要的功能,是连结中欧、西欧和俄罗斯。但现实是,莫斯科与俄罗斯其他城市之间的差距将会继续扩大。     

The International Migration System Between Turkey and Russia: Project‐Tied Migrant Workers in Moscow

The last 50 years of emigration history in Turkey indicate that the migratory flows of Turkish citizens have consecutively become a part of various migratory systems. In this essay, our main aims are twofold. First, we attempt to document the dynamics and mechanism of project‐tied migration from Turkey to the Russian Federation, focusing in particular on the case of project‐tied workers migrating from Turkey to Moscow. Second, this effort intends to elaborate on the research on migratory systems between Turkey and the former communist countries of Eastern Europe and Central and Northern Asian countries, mainly referring to macro‐, micro‐ and meso‐level factors affecting the relevant migration systems. In this paper, in which we tackle the various migration systems with which Turkey is involved, we conclude by arguing that parallel to the new migration patterns that have been experienced throughout the post‐Soviet geographies, the internalization process of Turkish constructors within the changing dynamics of Turkish foreign policy has widened the direction of the migration flows from Turkey by introducing new migrant worker profiles to different regions. In this sense, short‐term labour migrants, shuttle traders and in particular project‐tied migrant workers show not only the important role that migrants may play in the shift towards a market‐based economy in the Russian Federation, but also how they have become crucial actors of the migration system between Turkey and Russia.     

Koreans in Central Asia – a different Korean nation

The main objective of this study was to illustrate the cultural changes that have taken place among Korean ethnic groups living in the Central Asian states of the former Soviet Union. Previous research on Korean minorities has demonstrated the impact of state intervention on the formation of ethnic identity. Despite a wide range of regional differences, those living in Korea in the nineteenth century belonged to one ethnic group. Once they left the northern part of the country for Russia, they began to adopt Russian culture relatively quickly. Following their deportation to Central Asia in the 1930s, they then experienced a largely Soviet model of inclusion into mainstream society. However, since the 1980s, when confronted with ‘original’ Korean culture, they now consider themselves to be dissimilar to other Korean groups. The differences are already so substantial that Koreans themselves now talk about belonging to different nations.     

Policy experiment in Russia: cash-for-babies and fertility change

Population decline in modern day Russia is alarmingly steep: Russia loses approximately 750 thousand people each year. To combat population decline, the Russian government instituted aggressive pro-natalist policies. The paper evaluates the capacity of new policies to change women's reproductive behavior using a socio-institutionalist theoretical framework, which analyzes the gendered interaction between the states, the labor market, and family. The paper arrives to a disappointing conclusion that while efforts to improve fertility are quite aggressive, new policies do not challenge gendered hierarchies neither in public nor in private spheres, which will further depress fertility rates of Russian women.     

The West,Russia, and China in Central Asia: What Kind of Game Is Being Played in the Region?

The article discusses the nature of the tangled interaction between the ex-Soviet Central Asian republics and the outside great powers – Russia, the United States and China. Although the so-called Great Game model is often used to explain the geopolitical rivalry in the region, the current pattern of relations between various international actors is much more complex than a traditional tug-of-war between the old colonial empires. While Russia's strategic role in Central Asia appears to be on the rise, the capacity of the West to influence political developments in the region has diminished. However, the overall situation in Central Asia remains volatile and its geopolitical landscape is far from being settled.     

Contextualizing Migrants' Strategies of Seeking Medical Care in Russia*

Russia is an important destination for labour migrants from the former Soviet Union republics especially Central Asian low‐income countries: Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. The life of migrants from Central Asia is characterized in Russia by scarce resources and social exclusion. Limited access to healthcare is aggravated by the negative attitudes and discrimination that migrants face when visiting state hospitals and clinics. In our study, we aim to describe the medical infrastructure available to migrants in Moscow. We investigate how migrants use formal and informal strategies to overcome the barriers to their receiving medical care in the urban environment. The study is based on the analysis of qualitative interviews with 60 labour migrants from Central Asian countries and 23 caregivers working in Moscow‐based medical facilities such as state hospitals, outpatient clinics, ambulance stations, and private medical centres including the so‐called Kyrgyz clinics.     

Internal Migration and Crime in the Soviet Union

This paper analyses the changes in ethnic self-identification of the population of Ukraine from the last (January 1989) Soviet census to the first (December 2001) Ukrainian census. It begins with a comparison of the census data and describes the remarkable changes observed. Given the incomplete nature of published data on international migrations and their differentiation by ethnic groups in the inter-census period, the paper applies a method to fill in the gaps and calculate net migration balances for each ethnic group. Also, since no data is available on the net reproductive rates for separate ethnic groups in Ukraine, it sets out a method to estimate net reproduction rates for Ukrainians and Russians in the inter-census period. Using these methods, it establishes that differences in net migration on the one hand and the differences in net reproduction on the other contributed 11.1 and 4.4 percent of the growth in the share of Ukrainians and 6.8 and 5.2 percent in the sizeable decline in the share of Russians. The remaining lion’s share is a shift in identity among members of ethnically mixed (mainly Russian-Ukrainian) families. Mothers of ethnically mixed families, identifying the ethnicity of their newly born, contributed 11.4 percent to the Ukrainian gain and 9.2 percent to the Russian loss. The remaining 73.1 percent of the Ukrainian gain and 78.8 percent of Russian loss resulted from lifetime identity shift from Russian to Ukrainian, the most likely candidates being members of Russian-Ukrainian families.     

Between East and West: Jewish Secondary Migration through Ireland and Wales, 1900–1930

This paper compares and contrasts Russian Jewish migration through Ireland and Wales during the period 1900–1930. In doing so, this paper sets out to explore two key questions: (i) Did the Jews who settled in different parts of Britain and Ireland originate from specific provinces in Russia? (ii) Did the location of Jewish settlement in Britain and Ireland have any bearing on the rate of secondary migration to the USA?     

Policy Streams and Immigration to Russia: Competing and Complementary Interests at the Federal and Local Levels

This article uses Kingdon's Multiple Streams Framework to explain forms of national‐ and region‐level governance used in the Russian Federation to manage unprecedented levels of international immigration. First, we identify the ways that the Russian federal government has legislated and governed international migration from 1991 through 2010. We then compare the federal level to the case of the Krasnodar region, an ethnically diverse region in the North Caucasus. We find that that migration policy adoption in Russia at the federal level is relatively immune to economic trends or labour needs but more sensitive to foreign and domestic political objectives. At the regional level, local socio‐political and economic concerns predominate and political objectives are secondary. Finally, we argue that migration policy changes or adopted policy at the regional level may be explained by an interaction effect between changes in political leadership, federal level policy adoption, and regional level context.     

From Charisma to Cant: Models of Public Speaking in Early Soviet Russia

The travel accounts of Filipp Efremov, a Russian soldier who was taken prisoner in Central Asia in 1774 and Vasilii Golovnin, a naval officer who became a prisoner of the Japanese in 1811 are two works which have thus far received little attention from literary scholars but which deserve to be included in the history of Russian travel literature. This study approaches the two narratives as literature rather than documents of history; it explores the relationship between the literary travel account and that of the newly developing genre of the novel, analyzing such elements as plot, narrative technique, character development, themes, and setting. The presence of an underlying literary tension within each narrative resulting from the subtle clash of the objective informational aspects of the account and the author’s subjective personal story is considered as well.     

Migration and AIDS

This article presents the perspectives of UNAIDS and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) on migration and HIV/AIDS. It identifies research and action priorities and policy issues, and describes the current situation in major regions of the world. Migration is a process. Movement is enhanced by air transport, rising international trade, deregulation of trade practices, and opening of borders. Movements are restricted by laws and statutes. Denial to freely circulate and obtain asylum is associated with vulnerability to HIV infections. A UNAIDS policy paper in 1997 and IOM policy guidelines in 1988 affirm that refugees and asylum seekers should not be targeted for special measures due to HIV/AIDS. There is an urgent need to provide primary health services for migrants, voluntary counseling and testing, and more favorable conditions. Research is needed on the role of migration in the spread of HIV, the extent of migration, availability of health services, and options for HIV prevention. Research must be action-oriented and focused on vulnerability to HIV and risk taking behavior. There is substantial mobility in West and Central Africa, economic migration in South Africa, and nonvoluntary migration in Angola. Sex workers in southeast Asia contribute to the spread. The breakup of the USSR led to population shifts. Migrants in Central America and Mexico move north to the US where HIV prevalence is higher.     

THE AMBIGUITIES OF EXTERNAL MINORITY PROTECTION

This article focuses on the special and prominent place that the “Jewish question” occupied in the general discussion about Russian modernisation in the pre‐1914 period, both in American society and in the arena of US–Russian relations. It analyses the role that anti‐Jewish violence in Russia had in effecting a dramatic shift in the way Americans viewed the Russian Empire, which was being depicted by the American Jews and the leaders of the crusade for a “Free Russia” as a barbarous oppressor of political dissent and a savage persecutor of religious, national, and ethnic minorities. American society’s reaction to anti‐Jewish violence in the Russian Empire at the turn of the twentieth century helped, on the one hand, to shape the idea of the American belief that the United States bore special responsibility for carrying out reforms in Russia, and, on the other hand, to place relations between the two countries within such binary oppositions as “light and darkness,” “civilization and barbarity,” “modernity and medievalism,” “democracy and authoritarianism,” “freedom and slavery,” “the West and the Orient.” The article uses a broad range of verbal and graphic sources from the American press and new sources from archival collections. These sources help to illustrate one of the author’s principal tenets which holds that the United States’ view of the foreign policy of the Russian Empire was a result of the Americans’ projection of their own vision of the nature of the US foreign policy. In their official and public discourses, Americans considered Russia’s foreign policy an extension of Russia’s political regime. This study examines US foreign policy as a vital sphere in which national identity is redefined and reaffirmed and gives an opportunity to draw attention to the cultural and ideological dimensions of Russian–American relations, to understand the origins of dualistic American myths about Russia that have proven so enduring, and to demonstrate how a demonised Russia serves to revitalise American nationalism and how the Russian “Other” was used, in part, to construct the American “Self.”     

The Political Configuration of Historical Narrative: The Case of Kazakhstan

ABSTRACT

As time has progressed, Russia has shed the historical legacy of the Soviet era. The same process is going on in Central Asia. The obliteration of the Soviet historical legacy reflects the dying out of the memories of the Soviet Union and the very fact that all these countries had been parts of one state in the not-so-distant past. At the same time, some of these states started to engage in bitter rivalry. The historical legacies were adjusted to new realities. Here, two models compete: one could be called “Turkic” and the other “Iranian.” The “Turkic” model implies that Turkic people are truly autokthonous and have lived in Central Asia since the Bronze Age, and that Iranians/Indo-Europeans are newcomers, without much legitimacy. The “Iranian” model implies that it is Iranians/Indo-Europeans who are truly autokthonous people of Central Asia, and creators of the ancient culture. At the same time, Turkic people are nothing but destructive brutes. Meanwhile, China increasingly fills the discursive and geopolitical vacuum.