On May 22, please join PONARS Eurasia for the book launch of "Communism's Shadow: Historical Legacies and Contemporary Political Attitudes" with authors Joshua A. Tucker and Grigore Pop-Eleches. To register for this event, please click here.

It has long been assumed that the historical legacy of Soviet Communism would have an important effect on post-communist states. However, prior research has focused primarily on the institutional legacy of communism. "Communism's Shadow" highlights the ways in which political beliefs can outlast institutional regimes. Drawing on large-scale research encompassing post-communist states and other countries around the globe, the authors demonstrate that living through communism has a clear, consistent influence on why citizens in post-communist countries are, on average, less supportive of democracy and markets and more supportive of state-provided social welfare. 

Speakers: 

Grigore Pop-Eleches is professor of politics and international affairs at the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University. He has worked on the politics of IMF programs in Eastern Europe and Latin America, the rise of unorthodox parties in East Europe, and on the role of historical legacies in post-communist regime change. He is the author of "From Economic Crisis to Reform" (Princeton University Press, 2009).

Joshua A. Tucker is professor of politics, affiliated professor of Russian and Slavic studies, and affiliated professor of data science at New York University. He is Director of NYU’s Jordan Center for Advanced Study of Russia and Co-director of the Social Media and Political Participation lab. He is the author of "Regional Economic Voting: Russia, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic, 1990–1999" (Cambridge University Press, 2006).

Regina Faranda is director of the Office of Opinion Research in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research at the United States Department of State. Throughout her 16-year tenure at the State Department, she has been dedicated to informing U.S. policymaking by providing a seat at the U.S. policy table for people around the world. Gina has expertise on Russia, Ukraine and Central Asia.

Steven A. Grant served as assistant cultural affairs officer at the American Embassy in Moscow in 1982-85. From 1985 to 2004, when he retired, he was chief of the Soviet and East European Branch in the Office of Research at the United States Information Agency. He is the author of the monograph "The Russian Nanny, Real and Imagined: History, Culture, Mythology" (New Academia, 2012).