Stories from Russia and the Post-Soviet States
Last updated: October 24, 2008
Published by Program in Arms Control, Disarmament, and International Security (ACDIS), University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Swords and Ploughshares series
Vol. VII / No. 1 / Fall 1992
Summary
In the study of international affairs or the internal dynamics of foreign countries, there is no substitute for experience in the field. This is especially true for developing scholars; even a great library and a distinguished faculty cannot substitute for insight and experience gained by direct contact with a people in their native setting. So it is each year that many graduate students associated with the ACDIS program go abroad to conduct field research in support of their education and dissertation.In no region of the world is the pace of change greater and the future more uncertain than in Russia and the new states that were once part of the Soviet Union. Last summer four graduate students and one newly minted Ph.D.—all from the Department of Political Science and all closely associated with ACDIS—went to this region. Two spent time in Russia, two in Lithuania, and one in Russia and Georgia. In this issue of Swords and Ploughshares, these traveling scholars share some of their experiences and impressions. In many cases, they provide glimpses of everyday life involving ordinary citizens in out-of-the-way places rarely featured in the traditional media. The stories are gripping and poignant.
Contents
Introduction 
[PDF]
Inside the Enigma [PDF]
Lithuanian Security Issues [PDF]
Russia in Flux: Views from Below [PDF]
Soap Opera to Soup Kitchen-Moscow in the Summer of 1992 [PDF]
Going it Alone: Post-Soviet Lithuania [PDF]