How do different opportunity structures influence Russian minority responses, such as varied rates of exit (emigration) and varied degrees of voice (political mobilization), to post-Soviet challenges? What accounts for variation in type of Russian voice? Russian minority politic…
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My dissertation comparatively analyzes three puzzling cases of political transition—democratization in Kyrgyzstan, neo-authoritarianism in Uzbekistan, and regime disintegration in Tajikistan—which typify different trajectories in the post-Soviet and other post-colonial states. I…
In contrasting the political trajectories of two post-Soviet Central Asian states this study addresses one of the defining questions of political science: what factors shape regime change? Despite their shared seven decades of Soviet rule, Kazakhstan has, since communism's colla…
The politicization of regional cleavages across the multi-ethnic, newly-independent states of Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan, and the variation in design of electoral systems that developed in response to them present two integrally related empirical puzzles: (1) why was…
Amidst post-Soviet Central Asia's economic stagnation and political instabilities of the 1990s, Uzbek men in the city of Osh, Kyrgyzstan, interpreted a wide range of current events and trends through the frame of a political imagination about what an ideal postsocialist state lo…
Since becoming independent in 1991, Kyrgyzstan has endured two revolutions, ethnic violence, and economic decay. Against this tumultuous background have been ongoing attempts to construct a viable Kyrgyz nationalism and the “resurgence” of religion in the public sphere. In many …
As the title suggests, this thesis comprises several works of creative nonfiction. First, "Zen and the Art of Conquest" presents an incomplete narrative, in six chapters, that draws inspiration from Robert Pirsig's Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (1974) and other trave…
Current Knowledge: Normative pluralism (plural sources of social ordering) has existed in in Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan ) since pre-Tsarist times. Respected male elders (aksakals), for example, led nomadic groups where customar…
Intimate partner violence (IPV) violates human rights, specifically, the right to life and bodily integrity. Although considerable knowledge about the prevalence of and risk factors for IPV in developing countries has been amassed, little attention has been paid to the attitudes…
In this dissertation I argue that political institutions in a plural society, through their ability to induce and constrain a wide range of interactions, can facilitate (or hinder) the prospects for cross-ethnic trust generation, and by extension cross-ethnic cooperation. More s…
This study was concerned with examining any differences between the cultural value characteristics of entrepreneurs and factory workers in Russia, Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Czech Republic, Armenia, Uzbekistan, Bulgaria, and Kyrgyzstan, and whether these differ…
The countries of post-Soviet Central Asia share remarkable similarities: they came into existence at the same time, have since undergone similar processes and challenges in establishing statehood, are culturally related to each other, share similar historical paths, and have nea…
This thesis is an ethnography of how places like mountain pastures (jailoos), hydro-electric dams and holy sites (mazars) matter in striving for a good life. Based on eighteen months of fieldwork in the Toktogul valley of Kyrgyzstan, this study contributes to theoretical questio…
The internet is has grown exponentially in Central Asian during the last decade. Political turmoil, media censorship, and the unique social and economic characteristics rooted in traditional culture and informed by the Soviet experience have informed the development of the inter…
Education is one of the most important elements in each child's personal development and preparation for adulthood. Girls' school participation remains an alarming issue in Tajikistan since its independence from Soviet Union in 1991, particularly in country's rural and remote ar…
Background . Although injection drug use emerged as the initial propellant of HIV in Central Asia, the epidemic may be verging on widespread diffusion through bridge populations to the general population. While HIV incidence appears to be increasing sharply, the absolute number …
Following the collapse of the Soviet system, clan and faction networking has gained considerable attention in Central Asia. This research project explores the extent to which social group identity, specifically clan identity, shapes people's political preferences leading them to…
This dissertation shows how market reforms can inadvertently foster constituencies within the ruling coalition who are willing to publicly oppose post-Soviet autocrats. In two cases of market reforming autocracies, Kazakhstan in Kyrgyzstan, defectors from the business elite have…
This thesis looks at competing influences in Central Asia since 1991. It looks at all five Central Asian countries, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan, and identifies the three main powers with competing influences as Russia, Islam and America. It ai…