Research
Aids for the Study of Eastern Europe, the Soviet Union,
William M. Reisinger, Political Science,
==>Begin by keyword searching InfoHawk, the UI libraries’ web
portal, to find lists of books
in the UI’s own collection and at several other libraries, as well as of articles
(WLS2, Current Contents, PAIS, etc.).
You should use a combination of keywords (e.g.,
I. Encyclopedias, dictionaries, guides, etc.
[most are Located in Reference
alcoves of the Main Library]
Batalden and Batalden, The Newly
Independent States of Eurasia: A Handbook of former
Biographical Dictionary of the
Former
Black, ed.,
Brown, et al., eds., The
Croucher, comp., Slavic Studies: A Guide to Bibliographies, Encyclopedias and Handbooks (1993)
Daniels, ed., A Documentary History of Communism in Russia: From Lenin to Gorbachev (1993): Annotated extracts from key documents, speeches, etc.
Europa World Yearbook (annual): political and diplomatic information on all the world’s countries.
German Institute for Economic
Research, GDR and
Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1973-). Translation of 3rd edition. REF FOLIO AE55 .B6213 1973, 31 vols.
Information GDR: The Comprehensive and Authoritative Reference Source of the German Democratic Republic (1989).
Karasik, ed., Russia and Eurasia
Facts and Figures Annual
Katz, ed., Handbook of Major Soviet Nationalities (1975)
Laird and Laird, A Soviet Lexicon (1988)
Maddex, Constitutions of the World (1995)
Mastro, ed.,
McCrea, The Soviet and East European Political Dictionary (1984)
Schulz-Torge, ed., Who's Who
in the
Shoup, ed., The East European and Soviet Data Handbook: Political, Social and Developmental Indicators, 1945-1975. (1981). REF FOLIO HA 1446 .S53
Staar, ed., Yearbook on International Communist Affairs (1968-1991) HX1 .Y4
Steeves, ed., The Modern Encyclopedia of Religions in Russia and the Soviet Union (1988-) REF BL980 .S65 M6 1988
Stroynowski, ed., Who's Who
in the Socialist Countries of
Vronskya, ed., A Biographical Dictionary of the Soviet Union, 1917-1988 (1989)
Who Was Who in the
Weber, ed., The Modern Encyclopedia of Russian and Soviet Literature (1977-). REF PG2940 .M6
Wieczynski, ed., Modern Encyclopedia of Russian, Soviet and Eurasian History (formerly of Russian and Soviet History; 1976-), plus Rhyne, ed., The Supplement to . . . . (1995-). REF DK14 .M6
II. Atlases
Gilbert, Atlas of Russian History, 2nd ed. (1993) REF G 2111 .S1 G52 1993
Industrial Information Resources, An Industrial Atlas of the Soviet Successor States (1994) REF G 2110 1b .I5 1994
III. Indexes, bibliographies and abstracts
Abstracts of Soviet and East European Émigré Periodicals (1981-1990). REF Z6956 .R9 A27
Academic Infotrack (on CD-ROM). Indexes 1,100 periodicals plus the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal.
Advanced Bibliography of Contents (ABC) Pol Sci
American Bibliography of Slavic and East European Studies (1956-)
Bibliographic Guide to Slavic, Baltic and Eurasian Studies (formerly to Soviet and East European Studies; 1978-)
Brickman and Zepper, eds., Russian and Soviet Education, 1731-1989: A Multilingual Annotated Bibliography (1992)
Dictionary Catalog of the Slavonic Collection, The Research Libraries of the New York Public Library, 2nd ed., on microfilm (1974). Supplemented annually by Bibliographic Guide to Soviet and East European Studies and then Bibliographic Guide to Slavic, Baltic and Eurasian Studies.
Dissertation Abstracts (on CD-ROM). (Use only fairly recent dissertations, however, since most get re-worked and published in different form, and it is preferable to refer to the re-worked and published book or articles.)
Essay and General Literature Index. (Especially worth checking since much of the research in this field is disseminated through chapters in edited volumes rather than through journal articles.)
Ethnic Newswatch on CD (articles from
ethnic newspapers published in the
European Bibliography of Soviet, East European and Slavonic Studies (1975-)
Horak, ed.,
Historical Abstracts on CD
International Political Science Abstracts
Indices to particular newspapers. Washington Post index is on the ProQuest CD in the Reference section.
Official Publications of
the
Social Sciences Index
IV. Book Reviews
Book Review Index
Every issue of Slavic Review, The Russian Review, Soviet
and Post-Soviet Review and other journals
V. Periodicals
English-Language Scholarly
Journals: (quarterly unless otherwise indicated); * =
especially relevant for political science.
Australian
Slavonic and
East European Studies
Balkan Studies
Canadian-American Slavic Studies
Canadian Slavonic Papers
Communist Economies and Economic Transformations (formerly Communist Economies)
*Demokratizatsiya
(Focuses on democratization in
East
*East European Constitutional Review (LAW JN 96 .A1 .E27)
*East European
Politics and Society
East European Quarterly
East/West Education (formerly Slavic and European Education Review)
*Europe-Asia Studies
(formerly Soviet Studies)
Harvard Slavic Studies
International Affairs
*Journal of Communist and Post-Communist Studies
*Nationalities Papers (semi-annual)
*Post-Soviet Affairs (formerly
Soviet
Economy)
*Post-Soviet Geography
(formerly Soviet Geography)
*Problems of
Post-Communism (formerly Problems of
Communism)
Russian History
*The Russian Review
Scottish Slavonic Review
Slavic and East European Journal
*Slavic Review
Slavonic and East European Review
*Soviet and Post-Soviet Review (formerly Soviet Union/Union Sovietique)
*Studies in Comparative Communism
English-language newspapers and reports that provide useful coverage:
EurasiaNet: “information and
analysis about political, economic, environmental and social developments in
the countries of Central Asia and the Caucasus, as well as in
Financial Times (
Lexis/Nexis Academic,
an on-line database, has many useful sources of information in its World and
Moscow News, an English-language
weekly
Moscow Times, an
English-language weekly
Pravda: Was the organ of the Communist
Party of the
Rand
Corporation, Reports and Memorandums (in the Government Documents
Room of the library; indexes with abstracts are available)
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty,
formerly U.S.-government-sponsored news agencies, now merged and working
independently out of
Russia Today, a “24/7
English-Language News Channel”
The St. Petersburg Times, an
English-language weekly
Times/Sunday Times
(
Transitions: Changes in Post-Communist Societies (monthly from June 1997 through 1999; every two
weeks from 1995 through early 1997; published by the Open Media Research
Institute [OMRI]) [Prior to 1995, OMRI was called Radio Free Europe/Radio
Liberty. Its weekly magazine was called RFE/RL Research Report.
From 1987-1991: Report on
Quarterly periodicals of a general nature that frequently have articles
dealing with this region:
Coexistence
Comparative Political Studies
Comparative Politics
Foreign Affairs
Foreign Policy
Journal of Democracy
World Policy Journal
World Politics
VI. Translation Services
Anthropology and Archaeology of
Arguments and Facts
International (English-language version of the Soviet weekly Argumenty
i Fakty; good for economic data and public opinion;
biweekly)
Current Digest of
the Post-Soviet Press (formerly of the Soviet
Press) (selected newspaper and magazine articles; biweekly)
Current Politics and
Economics of
Eastern European Economics
(selected articles from scholarly East European journals; quarterly)
Foreign Broadcast Information
Service (FBIS). This service
translates news reports, interviews and documents from various media from
countries around the world, grouped into several regions. A CD-ROM in the Government publications
room has an index that can be searched by keyword. FBIS-URS refers to a series of weekly
issues covering Russian and Soviet news that we receive on microfiche. These are generally quite slow in
arriving. FBIS-SOV refers to its Daily
Report on Central Eurasia [formerly on the
Joint Publications Research
Service (Soviet and East European technical articles and reports,
including economics, sociological findings, etc.)
Literary Gazette International
(English-language version of the Soviet weekly Literaturnaya Gazeta;
Published from February 1990 until January 1991)
Post-Soviet Geography
(formerly Soviet Geography) (selected articles from scholarly
geographic journals; monthly)
Problems of Economic Transition
(formerly Problems of Economics) (selected articles from
scholarly economics journals; monthly)
Russian Education and Society
(formerly Soviet Education) (selected articles from scholarly
journals; monthly)
Russian Politics and Law
(formerly Soviet Law and Government) (selected
articles from scholarly journals; quarterly)
Russian Social Science Review
(formerly Soviet Review) (selected articles from scholarly
journals; bimonthly)
Sociological Research
(formerly Soviet Sociology) (selected articles from scholarly
journals; bimonthly)
Soviet and East European
Foreign Trade (selected articles from scholarly East European
and Soviet journals; quarterly)
Statutes and Decisions: The Law of
the
Soviet Studies in
History (selected articles from scholarly journals; quarterly)
Soviet Studies in Philosophy (selected articles from scholarly journals; quarterly)
VII. Selected Internet Resources
[Think carefully about the reliability of the source from which you are
getting information when you use the internet, even more so than you would for
a printed resource.]
Sites Focusing on the
Postcommunist Countries:
Carnegie Moscow Center: A think tank located in
REES Web: The U of Pittsburgh’s Russian and East European Studies Program’s page with links to many resources about Russian politics and life.
The Center for Strategic and International Studies
Johnson’s Russia
List: A sort of bulletin board for items about
The Rand Corporation’s Center for Russia and Eurasia
Russian official websites. Examples include (links are provide for those with English-language versions of the site; all have Russian-language sites): The President, the Prime Minister and Government, the Federal Assembly (State Duma and Federation Council), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Defense, the Central Electoral Commission, Constitutional Court, State Statistics Service, including the downloadable results from the 2002 Census of the Russian Population.
Russia Votes: A site that provides Russian election results and public opinion data.
Other Helpful Sites:
The
C.I.A. World Factbook: Provides comparable basic facts about every country
in the world.
The
C.I.A. List of World Leaders:
Lists the president or other executive plus all cabinet members for each
country.
Freedom House: Studies and evaluates levels of
democracy and individual freedom in each country.
The International Institute for Democracy and
Electoral Assistance: An
intergovernmental agency.
Library of Congress Country
Studies: “a description and analysis of the historical setting and
the social, economic, political, and national security systems and institutions
of countries throughout the world.”
NationMaster: “a massive central data source and
a handy way to graphically compare nations. NationMaster is a vast compilation of
data from such sources as the CIA World Factbook, UN, and OECD.”
The U.S. Department of
State’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor: This page
provides the Bureau’s annual reports on human rights in each country
worldwide.
World Audit: Compiles information on democracy,
corruption, human rights, etc. worldwide.
For help citing and referencing material that you acquire electronically,
see Andrew Harnack and Eugene Kleppinger, Online! A Reference Guide to Using
Internet Sources (