Abstract Holidays can unite a population under the regime’s national narrative, thereby enhancing regime support. In Russia, there are all-Russia holidays and regional holidays, leading to potential variation in their nation-building capacity. Using media coverage and observations from fieldwork in Tatarstan (2014, 2016) and Karelia (2015–2016), I compare how regional governments, public figures, and

Abstract National research evaluation systems that use metrics for the assessment of academic institutions are usually regarded as exemplifying the same neoliberal model of governance that, with minor variations, is implemented worldwide. This essay argues, however, that despite apparent similarities, metrics are used for different aims in different national cases. It compares the use of figures in

Abstract One of the core principles of social democracy is equality between citizens. However, in Europe, several social democratic parties have recently supported referendums against same-sex marriage. This article aims to examine the factors which drove left-wing parties to disregard the principle of equality by comparing the four most recent same-sex marriage referendums—in Croatia, Romania, Slovakia

Abstract The article contributes to a better understanding of ‘Traditional Islam’ (TI), a state-led project in Azerbaijan to establish an alternative narrative promoting a specific local understanding of Islam that builds on its non-political, non-sectarian and national features to prevent ‘non-traditional’ religious variants from gaining popular traction. The phenomenon has not appeared in a vacuum

(2021). Rising Subjects. The 1905 Revolution and the Origins of Modern Polish Politics. Europe-Asia Studies: Vol. 73, No. 3, pp. 582-583.

(2021). Diffusing Human Trafficking Policy in Eurasia. Europe-Asia Studies: Vol. 73, No. 3, pp. 588-590.

(2021). LGBTQ+ Activism in Central and Eastern Europe. Resistance, Representation and Identity. Europe-Asia Studies: Vol. 73, No. 3, pp. 590-592.

(2021). Rocking the State. Rock Music and Politics in Eastern Europe and Russia. Europe-Asia Studies: Vol. 73, No. 3, pp. 592-593.

(2021). National Identity in Serbia. The Vojvodina and a Multi-Ethnic Community in the Balkans. Europe-Asia Studies: Vol. 73, No. 3, pp. 594-595.

(2021). Political Culture in the Baltic States. Between National and European Integration. Europe-Asia Studies: Vol. 73, No. 3, pp. 595-596.

(2021). The February 2015 Assassination of Boris Nemtsov and the Flawed Trial of his Alleged Killers. An Exploration of Russia’s ‘Crime of the 21st Century’. Europe-Asia Studies: Vol. 73, No. 3, pp. 597-598.

(2021). The Lands in Between. Russia vs. the West and the New Politics of Hybrid War. Europe-Asia Studies: Vol. 73, No. 3, pp. 598-600.

(2021). Armenia and Azerbaijan. Anatomy of a Rivalry. Europe-Asia Studies: Vol. 73, No. 3, pp. 600-601.

(2021). Books Received. Europe-Asia Studies: Vol. 73, No. 3, pp. 602-602.

Abstract This article provides a comprehensive analysis of Ukraine’s adoption of four decommunisation laws in April 2015, their implementation and the controversy they generated. The first section analyses changes in Ukrainian memory politics prior to 2014. In 2006, the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance (Ukrainskyi Instytut Natsionalnoi Pamiat—UINP) was established but given meagre resources

Abstract In response to international concerns about ongoing rights violations, this study presents a comparative analysis of state and civil society organisations’ discourse on the early phase implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (PWD) in the Commonwealth of Independent States. The findings show that PWD continue to experience rights-denial and

Abstract This article evaluates the relationships among state-framed and alternatively territorialised narratives of identity and belonging in Kazakhstan. Using survey data from 2017 and 2018, we argue that collective identity among Kazakhstan’s citizens is negotiated not just in terms of balancing ethnic and civic forms of state-centric national belonging, but also through varied forms and scales

Abstract Why does Russia seem simultaneously powerful and weak? This article finds the answer in a geopolitical analysis of the structural incentives for and impediments to Russian alliance policy that vary across regions in ways that elude realist, liberal and constructivist explanations of Russia’s conduct. We demonstrate that those explanations miss fundamental changes in Russia’s geographical position

Abstract This article scrutinises the subject positions of ‘being’, ‘becoming’ and ‘challenging’ European in the context of the European Heritage Label (EHL), a flagship cultural heritage action of the European Union. While the positions are widely used in academia to analyse the relationship between the Central and East European (CEE) countries and the EU/Europe, the setting of the current research

(2021). Transitional Justice and the Former Soviet Union. Reviewing the Past, Looking toward the Future. Europe-Asia Studies: Vol. 73, No. 2, pp. 410-411.

(2021). Conditionality and Coercion. Electoral Clientelism in Eastern Europe. Europe-Asia Studies: Vol. 73, No. 2, pp. 411-413.

(2021). Contemporary Russian Conservatism. Problems, Paradoxes, and Perspectives. Europe-Asia Studies: Vol. 73, No. 2, pp. 413-415.

(2021). The Globalization of Russian Gas. Political and Commercial Catalysts. Europe-Asia Studies: Vol. 73, No. 2, pp. 415-416.

(2021). Dealing with the Russians. Europe-Asia Studies: Vol. 73, No. 2, pp. 417-418.

(2021). Three Revolutions: Mobilization and Change in Contemporary Ukraine II. An Oral History of the Revolution on Granite, Orange Revolution, and Revolution of Dignity. Europe-Asia Studies: Vol. 73, No. 2, pp. 419-420.

(2021). Poland’s Foreign and Security Policy. Problems of Compatibility with the Changing International Order. Europe-Asia Studies: Vol. 73, No. 2, pp. 420-422.

(2021). A History of Yugoslavia. Europe-Asia Studies: Vol. 73, No. 2, pp. 423-425.

(2021). Extremism and Violent Extremism in Serbia. 21st-Century Manifestations of an Historical Challenge. Europe-Asia Studies: Vol. 73, No. 2, pp. 425-427.

(2021). Stalin’s Gulag at War. Forced Labour, Mass Death, and Soviet Victory in the Second World War. Europe-Asia Studies: Vol. 73, No. 2, pp. 427-428.

(2021). Books Received. Europe-Asia Studies: Vol. 73, No. 2, pp. 431-432.

Abstract This article seeks to nuance previous conceptions of the 1992 Abkhazian conflict by developing an alternative framework for understanding what is commonly known as ‘ethnic’ war. The resulting ‘non-framework’ conceptualises ethnicity and its mobilisation through a combination of constructivist and instrumentalist readings of ethnicity and nationalism with a radically contingent understanding

Abstract After the collapse of the USSR, the successor states faced a single but contradictory challenge: the need to adapt to general rules of globalisation and simultaneously preserve their nation’s uniqueness. It is under these circumstances that some former Soviet citizens have developed a stronger attachment to their national identity. This original study employs a multilevel approach relying

Abstract This article examines competing Crimean Tatar, Russian and Ukrainian views of Crimean Tatar history as they have developed since the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014, via an examination of popular history and publistika. Crimean Tatar writing insists on the core principle of indigenous rights. In order to marginalise this discourse, Russian historiography adopts a neocolonial settler framing

Abstract The EU integration process is commonly recognised as a top-down initiative coordinated by elites. Do the differentiated patterns of EU politicisation across countries create a demarcation between two regions, namely Western Europe and Central and Eastern Europe? Through the analysis of data obtained by a standardised survey questionnaire submitted to a representative sample of national political

Abstract The EU integration process is commonly recognised as a top-down initiative coordinated by elites. Do the differentiated patterns of EU politicisation across countries create a demarcation between two regions, namely Western Europe and Central and Eastern Europe? Through the analysis of data obtained by a standardised survey questionnaire submitted to a representative sample of national political

Abstract This article examines Russian environmental politics under Putin. It explores the extent to which Putin participates in the environmental policymaking process, concentrating on his role in agenda-setting and policy development. It also investigates the way that environmental issues are framed, and their function within the political system. The findings indicate that Putin plays a key role

(2021). Justice, Crime and Citizenship in Eurasia: A Socio-legal Perspective. Europe-Asia Studies: Vol. 73, Law and Society in Eurasia, pp. 1-7.

Abstract What factors affect citizens’ engagement with the state? We explore this question through a study of victims’ and bystanders’ willingness to report crimes to the police, using data from survey experiments conducted in Russia and Georgia. We find that citizens’ willingness to report in both countries is strongly influenced by the nature of the crime, but not generally by instruments that the

Abstract Governments are reluctant to acknowledge illegal settlements. Ak Jar is an illegal settlement on the outskirts of Bishkek. If the settlement were formally legalised, its residents would receive property documents as well as recognition and inclusion. They have thus developed strategies to achieve the legalisation of Ak Jar. Although the settlement is technically illegal, by behaving ‘legally’

Abstract Studies of the Russian legal system underscored the discrepancy between formal legal order and the informal practices used to maintain control over the judiciary. This essay argues that, despite laws introducing meritocratic principles of judicial selection at the beginning of the 1990s, the patronage of court presidents continues to significantly outweigh all other candidate characteristics

Abstract We study police inertia and the depth of public mistrust in, and apathy towards, zero tolerance policing (ZTP) in Kazakhstan. Using survey, social media and official data we show how ZTP failed: politicians did not summon any political will for the policy, the police subverted any attempted reforms, while citizens ignored them. The failure of ZTP delineates the limits of authoritarian modernisation

Abstract Moral entrepreneurs who volunteer to enforce rules by themselves have spread in 2010s Russia. As ‘rule enforcers’ they patrol the streets to catch offenders. Some of these enforcers have conflictual relations with the police, while others operate in cooperation with it. This essay describes the development of vigilante justice in contemporary Russia. Two particularities of the Russian case

(2021). List of Contributors. Europe-Asia Studies: Vol. 73, Law and Society in Eurasia, pp. 268-271.

(2021). Correction. Europe-Asia Studies: Vol. 73, Law and Society in Eurasia, pp. eii-eii.

Abstract This article examines the factors that have contributed to the recent divestment of three ‘flagship’ Nordic investors from the Russian agricultural sector. These factors include corruption, pressure from regional administrations and the economic downswing arising from geopolitical tensions related to the Russian annexation of Crimea. The companies all sought to project calm as geopolitical

(2020). Empiriomonism. Essays in Philosophy, Books 1–3. Europe-Asia Studies: Vol. 72, No. 10, pp. 1752-1753.

(2020). Bringing Stalin Back In. Memory Politics and the Creation of a Useable Past in Putin’s Russia. Europe-Asia Studies: Vol. 72, No. 10, pp. 1755-1756.

(2020). Kazakhstan in World War II. Mobilisation and Ethnicity in the Soviet Empire. Europe-Asia Studies: Vol. 72, No. 10, pp. 1757-1758.

(2020). Europe in the Caucasus, Caucasus in Europe. Perspectives on the Construction of a Region. Europe-Asia Studies: Vol. 72, No. 10, pp. 1760-1761.

(2020). Ukraine’s Maidan, Russia’s War. A Chronicle and Analysis of the Revolution of Dignity. Europe-Asia Studies: Vol. 72, No. 10, pp. 1762-1763.

(2020). Chronicles in Stone. Preservation, Patriotism, and Identity in Northwest Russia. Europe-Asia Studies: Vol. 72, No. 10, pp. 1763-1765.

(2020). Putin and His Neighbors. Russia’s Policies Toward Eurasia. Europe-Asia Studies: Vol. 72, No. 10, pp. 1765-1767.

(2020). Post Putin. Succession, Stability, and Russia’s Future. Europe-Asia Studies: Vol. 72, No. 10, pp. 1767-1768.

(2020). Russia and America. The Asymmetric Rivalry. Europe-Asia Studies: Vol. 72, No. 10, pp. 1769-1770.

(2020). Books Received. Europe-Asia Studies: Vol. 72, No. 10, pp. 1776-1776.

Abstract Russia’s 2018 presidential election campaign was accompanied by a new round of strategies of socio-economic development. This article analyses these documents from the perspective of the ‘politics of expertise’ defining the relations between the political regime and policy experts. The analysis draws on authoritarian politics and public policy literatures. The article argues that a ‘hollow

Abstract This study analyses official Russian foreign policy discourses to contribute to our understanding of how Russia portrays its role in world politics and vis-à-vis neighbouring states. Building on previous studies, we offer a new, comprehensive analysis of Foreign Policy Concepts and the annual Presidential Address to the Federal Assembly during President Vladimir Putin’s third term (2012–2018)

Abstract In early 2019, former Afghan mujahedeen leaders and key strongmen of the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance met in Moscow to discuss matters of war and peace with their sworn enemy, the Taliban. For Russia, this was the culmination of a long evolution from being a marginal post-Soviet player into a major diplomatic actor on Afghanistan and a supporter of a negotiated settlement involving the Taliban

Abstract The purpose of this article is to place developments in welfare policy since 2012 in the context of the different models of welfare restructuring in Russia. We focus on President Vladimir Putin’s Decree No. 597, which set out to raise the salaries of doctors, teachers and other categories of public employees. We find that neoliberalism is deeply embedded in policy practice. Furthermore, in

Abstract This article examines the role of the ‘global market’ in the exacerbation of economic remoteness in rural Ukraine. Based on a case study of a UK-sponsored project that set up a sewing centre in a rural community in Odesa province, I explore how unequal access to the global economy is determined by the type of market sought and the type of product designated for production. The approach looks