Department of Economics

Research in Former Soviet Archives on Issues of Historical Political Economy (Mark Harrison)

By maintaining this site the International Contact Group aims to promote academic research in the archives of the former Soviet Union, especially by younger scholars, on issues of historical political economy including topics in economic history, economic and political institutions, and decision-making of all kinds, and also research on comparative and international lines. In conjunction with the University of Warwick Department of Economics, the International Contact Group disseminates new research through the PERSA Working Papers.

Rodionov's Chronology of the Aviation and Aircraft Industry of the Soviet Union, 1916 to 1946 (Mark Harrison)

Ivan Rodionov began to compile a chronology of Soviet aviation and the Soviet aircraft industry in 1995 while preparing a book about the Il-2 Shturmovik and Il-4 bomber. Eventually this work became a research project in its own right. The core theme of the Chronology is the historical development of the aircraft industry but the Chronology includes data on general political and cultural events in Russia and other countries (mostly extracted from other chronologies published around the world).

Numbered Factories and Other Establishments of the Soviet Defence Industry: A Guide (Mark Harrison)

Dictatorship, Hierarchy, and the Stalinist Economy: The Soviet Defence Industry 1929-1953 (Andrei Markevich)

 

Department of Politics and International Studies

Centre for Studies in Democratization

The Centre for the Studies in Democratization (CSD) was established at the University of Warwick in 1992-3 in response to a growing interest in the study of democracy at a theoretical and empirical level. Aims of the Centre are: 1. Provide a focal point for collaborative inter-disciplinary and comparative studies in democratization; 2. Conduct, co-ordinate and publish research into the political, economic, historical, social and legal dimensions of democratization; 3. Disseminate information about democratization through a seminar programme, by organising research conferences, meetings and occasional public lectures and through the contacts with the media; 4. Attract eminent public figures and scholars as visiting and associate fellows of the Centre; 5. Develop and participate in the teaching and research programme of the Department of Politics and International Studies

Department of Sociology

Russian Research Programme with over 800 papers and research reports on

• labour relations
• management restructuring
• Russian coal mining
• employment
• trade unionism
• gender in transition
• poverty and survival strategies
• nonpayment of wages
• innovation

Management structures, employment relations and class formation in Russia (Simon Clarke)

This project, funded by the ESRC from 2002-6, is based on intensive case studies of 52 relatively prosperous enterprises in six Russian regions in collaboration with local ISITO research teams in Moscow, Kemerovo, Yekaterinburg, Perm', Samara and Ul'yanovsk. The enterprises selected are of various property forms, including those owned by large holding companies, foreign-owned enterprises, independent former state enterprises and new private enterprises, from all the major branches of the economy. Each case study involves structured and semi-structured interviews with the functional senior managers and line managers and groups of workers to identify the management strategies, investment and innovation practices, wage and employment policies and production management, corporate culture and social structure of the enterprise in order to identify the extent to which Russian management structures and practices have adapted to the constraints of competitive markets and to ask whether a specifically Russian form of capitalism is developing, adapted to Russian social and cultural conditions. The findings of each case study are summarised in detailed reports, written according to a common template, and a set of quantitative data covering all aspects of the operation of the enterprise. Fieldwork for the project was completed in the summer of 2005 and the research teams spent the final year of the project analysing the data and preparing analytical papers for publication. Access to enterprises has been secured on conditions of strict anonymity so the full data is not publicly available, but anonymised case study reports, a database and analytical papers will be posted on the website as they become available.

Social Assessment of the Effectiveness of Social Partnership in Perm oblast (Simon Clarke)

This project builds on our previous research on regional trade unionism in Russia and is designed to develop indicators of the development of social partnership which can be applied across Russia. The project is being carried out by the Centre for Social Partnership of Perm’ State University, in collaboration with the regional trade union council, the regional employers’ federation and the department of labour of the regional administration.

Trade Unions in Post-Socialist Society: overcoming the state socialist legacy? (Simon Clarke)

This project is being conducted in collaboration with Guglielmo Meardi at Warwick, Jochen Tholen at the University of Bremen and research teams working in Russia, Belarus, Moldova, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine and Tajikistan. The first year of the project looked at the development of trade unions at national level since the collapse of the Soviet Union. The second stage is conducting case studies of best practice of trade union activism in the work place. The third stage, in the final year of the project, will develop a comparative analysis of post-socialist trade unions.

Post-Socialist Trade Unions, Low Pay and Decent Work: Russia, China and Vietnam (Simon Clarke)

This project, as part of the ESRC Non-governmental Public Action Programme, is studying the role of trade unions in securing adequate wages and working conditions for workers in low-paid sectors in collaboration with local research teams in three regions of Russia (Kemerovo, Perm and Samara), two regions in China (Guangdong and Zhejiang) and Hanoi in Vietnam. The research fellow on this project, Tim Pringle, is currently based in Hong Kong.

Society and lifestyles (Hilary Pilkington)

This is a research project coordinated by Vytautas Magnus University (Lithuania) bringing together 13 partners from 8 post-communist countries in Eastern Europe and the UK. Under the auspices of the project ethnographic research with a wide range of ‘ subcultural’ communities (neo-pagan communities, religious groups, extremist political and patriotic groups including neo-fascist and skinhead groups, semi-criminal street groups, drug users as well as new bohemians and ethnic minority groups) will be conducted and a single electronic data archive for the use of all partners developed. A key aspect of the project is the development of an experimental site (resource centre) open to both researcher and researched communities.

Releasing Indigenous Multiculturalism through Education (Hilary Pilkington)

RIME is an ambitious project which unites academics and practitioners of post-communist Europe in combating and conceptualising ethnic discrimination in The Balkans (Region 1: Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Bulgaria), East Central Europe (Region 2: Ukraine), Southern Russia (Region 3:Krasnodar Krai and the Republics of Kabardino-Balkariia and Dagestan) and Southern Caucasus (Region 4:Georgia and Abkhazia). The project aims to be a factor in the implementation of the Durban Declaration (2001), by contributing to a better understanding of ethnicity related problems in the targeted regions and to generate appropriate training methods to tackle these problems. It addresses the following priority themes:

Combating racism, xenophobia and discrimination against ethnic minorities and indigenous peoples by preparing training materials for teachers, youth workers and NGO workers;

Combating discrimination against ethnic minorities by training of community leaders, women and young people and raising awareness of discrimination amongst the dominant group;

Supporting interethnic dialogue to aid reconstruction after conflict, to prevent further conflict and to build a multicultural and tolerant democracy

The project is centred on six workshops targeted at local NGO workers, youth workers, migration workers, teachers and academics, and combines analytical and practical work. It engages members or representatives of local user groups in pilot projects. The project intends to produce a training manual and video which will reflect the conceptual and training elements of workshop activities.

 

Centre for Translation and Comparative Cultural Studies

The Cultural Politics and Economics of Language and Translation in Global Media

The Centre for Translation and Comparative Cultural Studies was awarded a major grant by the AHRB in 2003 for a three year project on. This interdisciplinary research project involves scholars from the humanities and social sciences, translators and journalists. Through study of translation practices in news media organisations and analysis of media content we assess the influence of translation on global information flows. Research focuses on translation in international news and current affairs including print, broadcast, and on-line media. The project raises substantive questions about the role of news media translation in the constitution of a global public sphere.

The project aims to make work in progress widely accessible. It holds regular international symposia and research meetings to debate theoretical and practical issues related to our research and publishes the proceedings of those meetings on this site.