place in areas once dominated by the Soviet Union. Germany has been reunited, the Baltic states have reappeared, and numerous new nations, most without any independent existence in the modern era, have been established. In Yugoslavia, a bloody war has carved states out of a multiethnic nation. Similar changes are occurring around the world. Palestinians are negotiating with Israel for an autono...

The paper describes the influence of politics on the life of Soviet mathematicians in Stalin’s era 1928–1953, years that witnessed the full unfolding of the dictator’s power. A few years following Stalin’s death are also covered. Various publications, private manuscripts, and recollections of my own experiences at the University of Leningrad served as sources. Leading themes include the adminis...

Cuba is the only country I know to erect a monument to the egg….and so it should. Located on Havana's Fifth Avenue, the simple sculpture pays homage to the salva vida-literally the life saver of many a Cuban family, particularly in the 1990s. Those were the worst years of what was euphemistically called the "Special Period," when the economy careened ever downward, reeling from the loss of 85% ...

The existing disappointment with the performance of transition economies is unjustified as far as the contraction of their industries, real wages and capital formation in the 1990s is concerned. The initial under-performance of transition economies that had inherited more severe shortages, as in former Soviet Republics, is to be expected also. We establish these results by estimating what align...

While the current focus on how digital technology alters our conception of the self and its place in the broader perceived reality yields fascinating insight into modern issues, there is much to be gained by analyzing the presence of dualist and augmented reality discourses in a pre-digital era. This essay will examine the ontological interplay of textual dualist norms in the Russian and Soviet...

The article discusses the post-socialist developments of urban public space in St. Petersburg, Russia. The city with a historic center protected by the UNESCO World Heritage status in combination with the Soviet legacy of lack of public participation is facing the problem of public space development. There are two controversial concepts of urban space represented in the public discourse that ar...

Work in progress towards a descriptive social simulation is described. The phenomena of concern are the systems that supply food to those in Russia – Russian food supply chains. The ultimate aim is to represent, within a single simulation framework, the situations in this regard at different stages in recent history, namely the situations in: the recent Soviet era; immediately after the collaps...

Gender changes in the workplace during the transition from central planning are analyzed using household survey data from the Kyrgyz Republic. As the labor market became more market-driven between 1993 and 1997, mean differences by gender in labor force participation (LFP), monthly compensation and hourly wage all narrowed. We also observe gender differences in educational attainment, labor for...