Analyses of selection bias in the coverage of protest events in Minsk, Belarus between 1990 and 1995 are presented. The rapid changes characterizing Minsk during its transition from Communism made it an ideal location for investigating the stability of the patterns of selection bias. Police records of 817 protest events were used to create a protest event dataset, and Minsk's four daily newspapers were read for the entire period in order to establish estimates of event coverage. Results show that large events, events with strong sponsors and, in two of the four newspapers, events accompanied by arrests are each more likely to receive coverage. These effects remain stable through phases of the transition for the combined coverage in any of the papers. The selection factors of event size and event sponsorship also display stability across media source, although the impact of arrests is not always consequential.

As the global economy becomes more integrated, incorporating international experiences into college curricula becomes increasingly desirable for American students and their counterparts abroad. This paper describes one model for creating an international, Web-based, distance-learning classroom that can be used as a guide for those who might wish to pursue similar endeavors. Our replicated experiences teaching a sociology course on social control, twice under slightly different conditions, provide the basis for identifying the conditions and practices that optimize the goals of providing a forum for international education and enhancing reading and writing skills. A content analysis of the online Student-Led Discussions provides evidence that cross-national knowledge and understanding can be enhanced in this learning environment. Enrolling students from the United States, Belarus, Russia, and Australia, our course demonstrates how instructors can create a successful virtual classroom that truly encircles the globe.

The author discusses the issues of religiosity in Belarus, Ukraine and especially Russia raised by Irena Borowik in her articles in Social Compass: the revival of religiosity after the breakdown of the Soviet Union, the mixed nature of contemporary beliefs and religious practices among the post-Soviet population, and specific features of the Russian Orthodox Church, its relationship with the state and its current problems. The author combines empirical data on religiosity in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine with the particular historical circumstances of this region that made it possible to apply the theoretical framework of such theories as post-communist trauma, modernization and multiple modernities.

No abstract

The waves of public protest events that accompanied the early years of the transition from Communism in the former Soviet republic of Belarus offer the opportunity to explore the short-term interaction between state repression and the ongoing choice of protest form by challengers. Using police (militia) records of public protest events between 1990 and 1995, we examine the evolving choice of protest form by collective actors in Belarus. We develop expectations about how the strength of social actors interacts with the extent and form of state repression in shaping protest form. Analyses show that as democratic access expanded and state repression waned during a "democratic opening" weak collective actors came to dominate the protest arena, staging mostly pickets and vigils. As state repression escalated, however, strong collective actors reentered the protest arena, but, in response to the escalating state repression, employed mostly the picket/vigil protest form that, during less repressive times, had been the weapon of the weak collective actors.