A Strategic Alliance: An Exploration of Israeli-Russian Relations
This paper offers an exploration of various facets of the Israeli-Russian political relationship. The positive relationship between the two states seems unlikely considering each state’s history and strategic alliances, though Israel and Russia have endeavored towards a strong working relationship since the disintegration of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s. This paper first explores the history of the relationship between the former Soviet Union/Russia and Israel from the formation of Israel in 1948 to the present day. The historical arc is used in an attempt to explain the development of the current relationship. Next, this paper explains the current status of the relationship, particularly through Vladimir Putin’s leadership of Russia and his diplomatic relationship with Israeli leaders Ariel Sharon and Benjamin Netanyahu. I then turn to the multiple facets of the strategic alliance, including military, economic, technological, and cultural partnerships. Lastly, this paper summarizes the implications of the Israeli-Russian alliance on Middle Eastern and international geopolitics.
Russian Jewish Immigration and its Effect on the State of Israel
Since the nineteenth century, the State of Israel has sought to gather together people of Jewish ancestry.1 Israel's immigration policy is contained in its Declaration of Independence, passed on May 14,1948, and reads, "[t]he State of Israel is open to Jewish immigration and the Ingathering of Exiles."2 The Law of Return, enacted July 5, 1950 following the establishment of statehood, gives every Jew in the world the right to immigrate to Israel.3 As recently as 1996, the Israeli government voiced its continuing commitment to increase immigration and to strengthen the bond of Jewish heritage and Zionism.4 A recent immigration wave from Russia, however, has forced Israelis and the Israeli government to question the strength of this commitment. As Russian Jews have immigrated to Israel in the hundreds of thousands, Israel has experienced significant social, cultural, and political changes. The changes caused by this immigration have in turn raised issues with legal implications; specifically the question of "who is a Jew?" This paper examines the changes to Israeli society resulting from the recent wave of Russian immigration and the potential legal questions that have surfaced as a result of these changes. First, this paper briefly outlines the relevance of Jewish Law to Israeli Law, thus explaining the significance of religious status within the legal regime. Second, it discusses the major social, cultural, and political changes in Israeli society resulting from the recent wave of Russian immigration. Finally, this paper examines the effect that these changes have had on Israeli society and posits that these changes have forced
Deviant Women: Female Crime and Criminology in Revolutionary Russia, 1880-1930
This title examines the position of women in early Soviet society through the lens of deviance. After seizing power in 1917, the Bolsheviks initiated reforms aimed at abolishing the old way of life in Russia. A new Family Code liberalized marriage procedures, promoted communal living arrangements, and abolished the concept of illegitimacy. Other decrees legalized abortion, deregulated prostitution, and emancipated women. The Bolsheviks' Marxist ideology that guided these reforms was also behind the assertion that crime, an artifact of bourgeois capitalist exploitation, would disappear under socialism. As crime persisted, Soviet criminologists - a cohort of jurists, doctors, sociologists, anthropologists, psychiatrists, statisticians, and forensic experts - were charged with examining its causes and motives to determine the most effective methods to eliminate it. The problem of female crime occupied a prominent position in criminologists' studies. In explaining 'traditional' female crimes of the domestic sphere - infanticide, spouse murder, and petty theft, among others - criminologists pointed to the offenders' backwardness and ignorance, material circumstances, and even biology. Kowalsky examines the position of women in early Soviet society through the lens of deviance, exploring how Soviet criminologists understood female crime and how their attitudes helped shape the development of Soviet social and behavioral norms. "Deviant Women" looks at the emergence of criminology in early Soviet Russia, tracing the development of principles and theories - in particular of female deviance - and highlighting the ways in which criminologists were able to conduct innovative social science research under the constraints of Bolshevik ideology. Kowalsky then focuses on the analyses of female crime and criminologists' attitudes concerning sexuality, geography, and class. Concluding with a close study of infanticide, the most 'typical' crime committed by women, Kowalsky discusses the social attitudes that were revealed in the professional discussion of this crime. Historians of modern Russia and the USSR, scholars of gender studies, and those studying criminology will be fascinated by this original study.