Virtual Conference • Graduate Student Research of Russia in the Social Sciences

Conference Registration: https://unc.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJwvfuGrrDIjGtJReymnPdv7n8tpHEaS7k1i

Conference Program

8.00 am Welcome – Graeme Robertson (CSEEES Director)

8.15 am – 9.45 am Panel 1 Health and Criminal Justice in Russia

1. Arseny Verkeev (Higher School of Economics, St. Petersburg) – Perceptions of Crime in Russia: What Can Indicators Developed in the US Tell Us?
2. Taya Bazhenova (Higher School of Economics, Moscow) – Assessing the Effectiveness of the Russian Criminal Justice System: Advantages and Limitations of Using DEA and SEM Methods
3. Amanda Hardy (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor) – Russian Speakers’ Vaccine Hesitancy and VKontakte: What Social Media Can Tell Us

Commentator: Bryn Rosenfeld (Cornell University)

9.45 am – 10.00 am Break

10 am – 11.30 am Panel 2 Russia in the International Arena

1. Natalia Leskina and Martina Vukasovic (Ural Federal University) – Policy Transfer in a Eurasian Regime Complex: Exploring its Paths and Effects for Building In-Region Connectivity
2. Doniyor Mutalov (Webster University in Tashkent) – Russian Diplomacy in 2021 Back to 1917?
3. Danijela Čanji and Aliaksei Kazharski (Comenius University in Bratislava) – When the “Subaltern Empire” Speaks. On Recognition, Eurasian Integration, and the Russo- Georgian War

Commentator: Graeme Robertson (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill)

11.30 am – 12.00 pm Break

12.00 pm – 1.30 pm Panel 3 Elite Politics in Russia

1. Bryce W. Hecht (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill) – Falling Into Line: Crises and Opposition Behavior in Authoritarian Legislatures
2. Dima Kortukov (Indiana University, Bloomington) – Governance and Electoral Competition in Authoritarian Regimes: Theory and Evidence from Gorbachev’s USSR
3. Andrey Yushkov & Kathleen Gergely (Indiana University, Bloomington) – Loyalty vs Competence Revisited: Political Survival of Subnational Executives under Autocracy
4. Elena Sirotkina (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill) – The Role of Expertise of Bureaucrats in Responding to COVID

Commentator: Ora John Reuter (University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee)

1.30 pm – 1.45 pm Break

1.45 pm – 3.15 pm Panel 4 Contentious Politics in Russia

1. Ivan Sumaneev (European University at St. Petersburg) – Incentives to Join Opposition Parties in Autocracies: Case of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation
2. Martin Naunov (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill) – The Effect of Protesters’ Gender on Social Movement Perception and Repression Toleration
3. Grigory Hakimov (University of Massachusetts, Amherst) – The Vote Abroad Movement: Monitoring the 2021 State Duma Elections in Exile
4. Alexandra Rumyantseva (European University at St. Petersburg) – Local Authorities’ Strategies and Reaction to the Navalny Protest Waves in the 2017 – 2018 Years in Russia

Commentator: Samuel A. Greene (Kings College, London)

3.15 pm – 3.30 pm Closing Remarks