The operation failed, but the patient survived. Varying assessments of the Soviet Union's last anti-alcohol campaign1

2001 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 241-260 ◽  
Author(s):  
Therese C. Reitan
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Alcohol Consumption ◽  
Former Soviet Union ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Political Reform ◽  
Alcohol Policy ◽  
Health Interventions ◽  
Public Health Interventions ◽  
Natural Alcohol ◽  
Policy Experiment

From the mid 1980s mortality levels have fluctuated greatly in the former Soviet Union. After dropping substantially during the late 1980s, mortality rose to unprecedented levels during the early 1990s. The sharp fluctuations in mortality are commonly linked to variations in alcohol consumption in connection with the anti-alcohol campaign launched in 1985. This large-scale natural alcohol policy experiment has produced very mixed appraisal and this article provides a systematic review of the wide variety of judgments, focusing on goals, implementation, and effects on life expectancy, alcohol consumption, mortality, crime, etc. Deviant evaluations are in part ascribable to a general schism between narrowly focused epidemiological perspectives on public health interventions and broader social science approaches to political reform.

The Future of Refugee Flows and Policies

1992 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 1112-1143 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosemarie Rogers
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Former Soviet Union ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Forced Migration ◽  
Internally Displaced ◽  
Policy Issues ◽  
Displaced Populations ◽  
International Environment ◽  
Willingness To Intervene ◽  
International Climate

The number of forced migrants—recognized refugees, persons in “refugeelike” situations, and internally displaced—is estimated today to exceed 40 million. The changed international climate of the 1990s (a renewed emphasis on human rights; broader concepts of national security; and the profound political changes in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union) has shifted the focus from the asylum and resettlement countries to the countries of origin: there is today a greater willingness to intervene in other countries’ affairs either to avert the creation of new flows of focused migrants or to assist internally displaced populations, and there is the expectation of large-scale voluntary returns of refugees in asylum. This article discusses these and other policy issues concerning forced migration in this new international environment.

scholarly journals COVID-19 Control: Can Germany Learn From China?

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olaf Müller ◽  
Guangyu Lu ◽  
Albrecht Jahn ◽  
Oliver Razum
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Systems ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Incidence Rates ◽  
Health Interventions ◽  
Public Health Interventions ◽  
Low Incidence ◽  
Psychosocial Costs ◽  
Similar Stage

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak started in China in December 2019 and has developed into a pandemic. Using mandatory large-scale public health interventions including a lockdown with locally varying intensity and duration, China has been successful in controlling the epidemic at an early stage. The epicentre of the pandemic has since shifted to Europe and The Americas. In certain cities and regions, health systems became overwhelmed by high numbers of cases and deaths, whereas other regions continue to experience low incidence rates. Still, lockdowns were usually implemented country-wide, albeit with differing intensities between countries. Compared to its neighbours, Germany has managed to keep the epidemic relatively well under control, in spite of a lockdown that was only partial. In analogy to many countries at a similar stage, Germany is now under increasing pressure to further relax lockdown measures to limit economic and psychosocial costs. However, if this is done too rapidly, Germany risks facing tens of thousands more severe cases of COVID-19 and deaths in the coming months. Hence, it could again follow China’s example and relax measures according to local incidence, based on intensive testing.

scholarly journals Tensions between research and public health: modelling the risks and benefits of SARS-CoV-2 vaccine field trials versus human infection challenge studies.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
George S Heriot ◽  
Euzebiusz Jamrozik ◽  
Michael J Selgelid
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Vaccine Efficacy ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Vaccine Development ◽  
Local Population ◽  
Field Trials ◽  
Human Infection ◽  
Health Interventions ◽  
Public Health Interventions ◽  
Post Trial

Background: Human infection challenge studies (HICS) with SARS-CoV-2 are under consideration as a way of accelerating vaccine development. We evaluate potential vaccine research strategies under a range of epidemic conditions determined, in part, by the intensity of public health interventions. Methods: We constructed a compartmental epidemiological model incorporating public health interventions, vaccine efficacy trials and a post-trial population vaccination campaign. The model was used to estimate the duration and benefits of large-scale field trials in comparison with HICS accompanied by an expanded safety trial, and to assess the marginal risk faced by HICS participants. Results: Field trials may demonstrate vaccine efficacy more rapidly than a HICS strategy under epidemic conditions consistent with moderate mitigation policies. A HICS strategy is the only feasible option for testing vaccine efficacy under epidemic suppression, and maximises the benefits of post-trial vaccination. Less successful or absent mitigation results in minimal or no benefit from post-trial vaccination, irrespective of trial design. Conclusions: SARS-CoV-2 HICS are the optimal method of vaccine testing for populations maintained under epidemic suppression, where vaccination offers the greatest benefits to the local population.

scholarly journals Estimating the causal effect of alcohol consumption on well-being for a cross-section of 9 former Soviet Union countries

2013 ◽  
Vol 89 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emmanouil Mentzakis ◽  
Marc Suhrcke ◽  
Bayard Roberts ◽  
Adrianna Murphy ◽  
Martin McKee
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Alcohol Consumption ◽  
Cross Section ◽  
Former Soviet Union ◽  
Causal Effect ◽  
Well Being

Will a Large-Scale Migration of Russians to the Russian Republic Take Place over the Current Decade?

1993 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 605-629 ◽  
Author(s):  
John B. Dunlop
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Former Soviet Union ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Political Change ◽  
The Other ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Future Developments ◽  
The World ◽  
Near Abroad

Given the headlong and convulsive pace of political change occurring in the republics of the former Soviet Union, predictions concerning future developments in that area of the world must necessarily be tenuous and hedged about with caveats. The question of the likely scale of in-migration from the other former union republics into the Russian Republic over the remainder of this decade is, however, so politically charged and so important that analysts and forecasters can ill afford to ignore it. One suspects that Western policy-makers are increasingly going to have to focus their attention upon the fate of the 25.3 million ethnic Russians living in that part of the former Soviet Union now called the “Near Abroad” (blizhnee zarubezh'e).

scholarly journals The Ebb and Flow of Copper and Iron Smelting in the South Caucasus

Radiocarbon ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 60 (1) ◽  
pp. 159-180 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathaniel L Erb-Satullo ◽  
Brian J J Gilmour ◽  
Nana Khakhutaishvili
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Former Soviet Union ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Copper Smelting ◽  
Soviet Period ◽  
The South ◽  
South Caucasus ◽  
Black Sea Region ◽  
Iron Smelting ◽  
Large Numbers

AbstractThe Eastern Black Sea region of the South Caucasus contains an extremely rich record of metallurgical remains that is poorly known outside of the former Soviet Union. Large numbers of relatively small smelting sites dot the foothill regions, forming a dispersed, yet large-scale metallurgical landscape. New fieldwork in the region has followed up on earlier Soviet period research, relocating and reanalyzing previously known sites and identifying new ones. This paper presents a series of 33 radiocarbon (14C) dates from copper and iron smelting sites in this region. Dates from copper smelting sites suggest that copper smelting occurred over a shorter and more intense period than previously thought, between about 1300 and 800 BC. Dates from newly discovered iron smelting sites place these activities in two episodes during the Classical-Hellenistic period (ca. 500–200 BC) and the High Medieval period (ca. AD 1050–1400). The dramatic expansion in bronze production immediately prior to the adoption of iron mirrors patterns in other regions of Europe and the Near East, and has implications for understanding the economic contexts in which iron emerged. While the new dates from iron smelting sites provide only an initial outline of the iron production chronology in the region, they represent an important step for resolving outstanding issues from previous investigations.

Nonviolence as a Weapon of the Resourceful: From Claims to Tactics in Mobilization*

2015 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 471-491 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter B. White ◽  
Dragana Vidovic ◽  
Belén González ◽  
Kristian Skrede Gleditsch ◽  
David E. Cunningham
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Comparative Advantage ◽  
Former Soviet Union ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Regime Type ◽  
Group Mobilization ◽  
Group Characteristics ◽  
Nondemocratic Regimes

Recent world events have renewed interest among social movement scholars in strategies and associated outcomes in campaigns against nondemocratic regimes. Most comparative work is limited to large-scale mobilization and takes violent/nonviolent tactics as given, thereby overlooking prior group mobilization and initial tactic choice. While a chosen tactic is plausibly related to group characteristics and resources, we argue that the mobilization process underlying large-scale campaigns begins when groups stake claims and assess those claims' potential. The proposed framework can help to explain both the specific tactics chosen and whether campaigns take on violent or nonviolent forms. We focus on grievances and the origins of mobilization through formulation of claims-making disputes over regime type, government composition, and electoral legitimacy—independent of mobilization—and consider how resources provide a comparative advantage for violence or nonviolence. An application to states in the former Soviet Union demonstrates the framework's utility for understanding when claims evolve to violent and nonviolent mobilization.

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