The exponential growth of online technologies in everyday life transforms the very contours of social phenomena, processes, and institutions well known to sociologists. We discuss these transformations in two interrelated areas: transnational migration and extremism. First, the paper proposes an approach to examine «transnationalism online» as a sub-set of transnational migration studies. Second, it presents a critical review of how contemporary scholars study extremist activities and discourse of those who are involved in migration with a special focus on online manifestations of extremism. In a concluding part of the paper we present theoretical and methodological comments on the paths in examining the «dark side» of transnationalism online.

What can variously be understood as “comparative sociology” take different contours and raise further issues and questions in different sociological traditions which in turn are shaped by different theoretical paradigms. The paper outlines conceptual and theoretical framework for a discussion about the current status of comparative sociology. Comparative sociology is perceived as an organization of research through constant comparisons at the different levels and stages of research. The paper presents outcomes of the field research that is developed on the basis of distinction between two modalities of comparative sociology: comparative sociology as an inquiry and comparative sociology as a teaching discipline. One basic and two subordinate alternative hypotheses are tested in the course of comparative analysis of the seven cases. Discussion of these cases results in formulation of specific questions for further research.

The paper examines how and to what extent the Soviet higher education system transformed after the collapse of theussr. It offers a research-based analysis of the external and internal factors of transformation in six post-Soviet countries: three “Slavic” states (Belarus, Russia, Ukraine), and three Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania). The paper characterizes a bounded number of types of organizations of higher education in each country. Using the set-theoretic multi-value qualitative comparative analysis (mvQCA), the authors identify several causal chains that led to the transformation of the Soviet comprehensive university into a ‘post-Soviet research university’ or ‘general education organization’. This paper compares the drivers of organizational diversity in Soviet and post-Soviet education, and traces country-specific features of the organizational transformation of universities in six post-Soviet countries.

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