Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2024, Dance Studies

This dissertation examines the dance studio and its built environment, exploring the dynamic relationship between dance and space. The focal point is the concept of the dance studio, analyzed through the urban landscapes and the experimental art practices in the city of Zagreb from the 1950s to the 2010s. The study investigates the dance studio through the histories of spatial structures, dance history, and the history of cinema. Shaped by these processes, dance is specifically entangled with spatial structures and is expanded by their horizons, outcomes, and histories. The dance studio here is a hypothesis built in the process—a space that exists at the intersection of context and time, with dance emerging as an archival record embedded in spatial and societal change. The dissertation argues that this very process constitutes the dance studio's structure: a space, practice, and environment made possible—reimagined, shaped, and hypothesized through the lens of dance and its experimental inquiry. The study approaches the dance studio from the vantage point of the long contemporaneity, extending across both modernism and postmodernism while facilitating the juxtaposition and productive friction of these terms. The city of Zagreb is approached as a dynamic multitude, encompassing a range of developments in the socialist and post-socialist periods that influenced, challenged, and shaped art, dance artists, and their spaces between 1949 and 2010.

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2024, History

This dissertation examines how reformist (1989-1992) and communist (1994-1997) activist groups—holding diametrically opposing ideological views—made sense of the transition period from the Ukrainian SSR to independent Ukraine in Dnipropetrovsk print media. The main argument of the dissertation is that the two activist groups participated in the formation of a Dnipropetrovsk-specific variety of civic Ukrainian nationalism, by depicting Dnipropetrovsk political elites as an existential threat to Ukraine's sovereignty and deputizing themselves in the threat response. This blend of civic nationalism helps to explain how the Russophone, industrial Dnipropetrovsk in eastern Ukraine became a bulwark of Ukrainian patriotism and resistance to Russia's invasion of Ukraine since 2014. Dnipropetrovsk residents saw Russia's invasion of Ukraine as a threat to their regional identity, which first developed in the transition period based on the presumption that Dnipropetrovsk would play a coequal role to Kyiv in the political trajectory of the Ukrainian state. Source material for the dissertation includes the activists' periodicals, key officials' autobiographies, and other published works. Historians have noted that Dnipropetrovsk served an important supportive role in the official narratives of state prestige in the Tsarist Imperial and Soviet periods. The tumultuousness of the transition period, combined with the political and economic influence of Dnipropetrovsk vis-a-vis Kyiv, emboldened the two activist groups to claim an unprecedented coequal role to the state in shaping the official narrative of national prestige.

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2024, American Culture Studies

This dissertation explores the role of democracy promotion in US foreign intervention with a particular focus on the weaponization of media and civil society by two important US democracy promotion institutions, the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and US Agency for International Development (USAID). Focusing on these two institutions and building on scholarship that takes a critical Gramscian Marxist perspective on US democracy promotion, this study brings media imperialism and deep political scholarship into the conversation. Delimiting the study to focus on US activities, I trace historical patterns of intellectual warfare and exceptional states of violence and lawlessness pursued by the US government in case studies of foreign intervention in which democracy promotion has played an important part since 1983. I survey the evolution of elite US Cold War conceptions of managed democracy as well as transformations of covert Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) media and civil society operations into institutionalized, pseudo-overt US democracy promotion that became a foundational pretext and method for US interventionism post-Cold War. Case studies include the Contra War in 1980s Nicaragua, Operation Cyclone in 1980s Afghanistan, the 2000 overthrow of Yugoslavian president Slobodan Milosevic, the 2002 military coup against Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, the 2004 coup against Haitian president Bertrand Aristide, and the 2014 Euromaidan Coup against Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych. I dedicate the penultimate chapter to US-led intervention in the Syrian Civil War that began in 2011, demonstrating how USAID provided instrumental monetary, media, and civil society support to primarily sectarian, theocratic, Salafi rebels against the Ba'athist government. Throughout the dissertation, I argue that the NED and USAID represent important engines of intellectual warfare in US foreign intervention, mobilizing communications and organizational resources to reinf (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2024, History

This dissertation examines the complex dynamics of European intervention, war, and post-war transitions, as the multiconfessional, multilingual imperial borderland of Epirus evolved into a region divided between two states, Greece and Albania, by the practices of border demarcation and the forces of national homogenization. I focus on this complicated and nuanced shift through the lens of religious identity, and the significant roles war and diplomacy played in crystalizing religion as a key component of national identity. Multiconfessional imperial spaces did not conform neatly within the paradigm of the nation-state, and this tension was a factor that local communities and national activists confronted and navigated as the European Powers dictated, through diplomacy, that these communities must align themselves with rigid national categories and within newly established corresponding territories. By its nature of pluralism, multiconfessionalism poses a challenge for the concept of homogeneity that the nation-state paradigm demands. Therefore, in Epirus, where local communities often blurred the boundaries of religious distinction through social interactions and even intermarriages, religious communities were forced to disentangle or, “unmix,” in order to conform to Albanian and Greek definitions of national identity and European diplomatic demands for the creation of homogenous nation-states. This disentangling of lands and people was a long and volatile process that began with European intervention in Epirus during the rule of Ali Pasha in the late-Ottoman period, continued through the demise of the Ottoman Empire in Europe in 1913, and became practiced at the national and local levels during and after the Paris Peace in 1919. I argue that the transition from a multilingual, multiconfessional imperial space into a border region torn between the competing claims of the Greek and Albanian states was a process that required the unmixing, or disentangling, of rel (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2023, Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies

My dissertation interrogates the complex processes of liberal subject formation by situating Ukraine as a case study in a broader exploration of global and transnational circuits of ideas about race, sexuality, and gender. Specifically, I examine historical processes of intra-European othering of Roma communities as entangled with European modernity and colonialism. Through the critique of racial capitalism and the production of the liberal subject, I reevaluate these histories for their ongoing relevance today and examine contemporary practices that aim to undo the aesthetics and ethics of state socialism in Soviet-era monumental art and public space. Drawing on queer of color critique, Black feminist thought, and Romani and women of color feminisms, I theorize a postsocialist queer critique that interrogates racial/sexual formations as integral parts of multiple imperialisms. By centering the historical analysis of the roots of anti-Roma racism, a postsocialist queer critique tackles the ongoing legacies of European Enlightenment, Russian imperialism, and Soviet modernity, as well as the post-Cold War reconfigurations that foreground Euro-American liberalism and capitalism as a single viable option. Focusing on the interworking of race, gender, and sexuality, a postsocialist queer critique scrutinizes the travel of the individual sexual rights-bearing subject detached from racial and economic hierarchies. I reveal how liberal narratives limit the imagination of queer politics and disregard local practices of racialization and economic inequality. I also uplift queer politics that foreground Roma queer subjectivity, view sexuality and gender as strongly tied with race and class, and center an anti-racist and anti-capitalist critique. My dissertation analyzes diverse resources, including primary and secondary historical sources, cultural texts, visual cultural products, and public art. It interweaves the fields of queer, feminist, critical race, Romani, and postsoci (open full item for complete abstract)

PHD, Kent State University, 2023, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of English

The dissertation focuses on neglected aspects of the history of immigration in the United States during the turn of the twentieth century. Reviving the writings of Edward Steiner, the dissertation also explores the representations of immigration in his fictional works, The Mediator: A Tale of the Old World and the New (1907) and The Broken Wall Stories of the Mingling Folk (1911) as well as his nonfiction book, On the Trail of the Immigrant (1906). In these works, Steiner interweaves his immigration experiences with those of his fellow immigrants. His first novel, The Mediator, shows that both the hybridity of religion and the combined role of ghettoization and other community structures in their hometown and New York's Lower East Side shaped the experiences of Eastern European Jewish immigrants. Relatedly, Steiner's short story collection, The Broken Wall, challenges assumptions about the turn-of-the-century immigrants' reactions to assimilation. Exploring what Steiner termed as “mingling,” the second chapter of this dissertation demonstrates that he envisioned the incorporation of immigrants into mainstream America as an individual, selective process tailored to the immigrants' choices and needs to adapt to their new home country. Examining On the Trail of the Immigrant, the third chapter contextualizes Steiner's critiques of and experiences with the immigration journey. This chapter reflects on Steiner's criticisms of the steamship lines' handling of the third-class travelers (commonly referred to as steerage), the admission process at Ellis Island, and his counterattacks on the Immigration Restriction League. This chapter also shows that Steiner's views of the turn of twentieth-century immigration lodged East European immigrants' experiences in the heart of America's race saga.

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2023, Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies

Tourism in the Balkans reflects a complex engagement between local and global forces. My cities of focus (Dubrovnik, Budva, Trebinje, Sarajevo, and Mostar) offer a unique way to explore these forces as worlding practices due to their position in post-Yugoslav, Balkan, and East European space. Various actors participate in worlding practices that situate the Balkans and/or the region's countries and cities in the global imaginary. Urban geographers Aihwa Ong and Ananya Roy investigate worlding as the ways in which cities are constantly negotiated through a variety of practices such as: defining, planning, relating, and imagining. Using literature from East Europeanists, historians, and scholars of tourism as a springboard, I employ these frameworks of global urbanism to ask: What (worlding) processes are shaping the tourism industry in Balkan cities? How does tourism serve as a venue for creating and imagining local, regional, and global identities? By drawing on sources from scholars who work outside of Europe (Eastern and Western), I seek to diversify the body of work that informs study of the Balkans and investigate tourism as a unique window into worlding practices. To this end, I employ a mixed-method approach that incorporates ethnographic data via participant observation and other primary source material from online sources such as news portals, blogs, and social media.

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2022, Comparative Studies

Socialist- and postsocialist-era changes in Bulgarian villages disrupted intergenerational cultural transmission as well rural livelihoods. Today, pushing back against rural depopulation, a surprising number of young urbanites are relocating to villages or launching cultural initiatives in them. This dissertation explores the potential of villages for contemporary young Bulgarians unfolding in personal life projects, civic projects, and arts projects. I propose the concept of “rural revitalization” to describe this process of increased interaction with village life, motivated by a village imaginary and pointing to layered, sometimes contradictory understandings of folklore, folklife, and authenticity. Addressing the “folklife project” as a complex genre of cultural production, my ethnographic study considers the slippages between help and harm in depoliticized social initiatives, the challenges of generating new models from the grassroots, and the unexpected role of projects in facilitating mutual aid in times of crisis. The protagonists of these initiatives belong to a generation I call the "children of postsocialism": young urbanites born around or shortly after 1989 and coming of age in postsocialist, European Union Bulgaria. To repair intergenerational and place-based relationships, this generation draws on NGO tactics afforded to them by the very processes contributing to depopulation and cultural change. Indeed, the shift in NGO work from promoting transition in the early years of postsocialism to mitigating the effects of what some see as failed transition in the contemporary moment is intricately tied, I argue, to the renewed interest in village lifeways and cultural programming. The same tactics and opportunities that are enabling young Europeans to build project competencies are also providing the experiences that prompt them to look for homegrown solutions in the face of a disappointing present. Such programs—such as Erasmus study abroad and European you (open full item for complete abstract)

BA, Oberlin College, 2022, Russian and East European Studies

The Siberian punk movement of the 1980s is often regarded as the Soviet Union's most aesthetically and politically iconoclastic rock underground. Amidst the numerous bands the scene produced, none has matched the notoriety of Grazhdanskaia Oborona (Civil Defense) and its leader Egor Letov. At first glance, Letov's songs declaring hatred for the “totalitarian” Soviet Union and its destruction of the individual evoke associations with the previous generation of Soviet dissidents, who used the term “totalitarianism” to contrast the Soviet system with the Western democracy they admired. Yet Letov, who rejected democratic reforms and after the collapse of the USSR proclaimed himself as an ardent communist, described totalitarianism not as a form of government but as an inborn state of being. Accordingly, resistance toward the Soviet state became a manifestation of the struggle against human nature. Totalitarianism thus serves as a lens through which to examine the role of radical politics in Grazhdanskaia Oborona: a reflection of existential rebellion. By analyzing his interviews and musical output in the mid- to late-1980s, I argue that Letov manipulates listeners' understandings of what it meant to be “against” in the Soviet Union by drawing from existing rhetoric of political protest, replacing the image of the liberal dissident with that of a rebel whose radical politics reflect an existential struggle. I demonstrate his conception of totalitarianism as a line of continuity between his “anti-Soviet” and “pro-communist” years. In doing so, I present Letov as a figure whose works defy conventions of liberal political resistance traditionally employed by Western scholars of the Soviet Union.

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2022, Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies

The present study evaluated spinal trauma present in a skeletal assemblage from medieval Giecz, Poland. Degenerative Joint Disease (DJD), vertebral compression fractures, Schmorl's Nodes, and spondylolysis were analyzed and documented in individuals with vertebral columns that were partially or fully complete. Males in this sample presented with a higher frequency of DJD, Schmorl's Nodes, and wedge vertebral compression fractures. This supports the hypothesis that there was a sexual division of labor in the population at Giecz. When placed in a broader historical context, and in concert with findings from biomechanical research, it is clear that the population at Giecz, especially the males, experienced significant physiological pressure associated with agricultural production during the beginnings of feudalism. The members of this population lived a physically demanding lifestyle, as can be seen in the increasing prevalence of DJD and wedge compression fractures with age.

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2022, Slavic and East European Studies

In this thesis I explore the historic roots and origins of the political and ideological dispute between Moldova and Pridnestrovie. Why did these two regions become divided as the Soviet Union collapsed? An examination of the history of Pridnestrovie during the final years of the Soviet Union (1989-1990) and the actions, rhetoric, and motivations of Moldovan and Pridnestrovian actors demonstrates that the main factors of the dispute were 1) the Pridnestrovians' fears of excessive Romanian influence and 2) debates over the roles of linguistic equality, multiculturalism, and regional autonomy in the future Moldova. The use of primary-source news articles, interviews, and Party and government documents allows me to detail the Pridnestrovians' fears of so-called “Romanianization” and their attachment to polylingualism, multiculturalism, and regional autonomy— ideas rooted in Soviet nationality policy. This is coupled with secondary sources detailing Soviet nationality policy, which I use to place Pridnestrovie in comparison with other Soviet regions. Finally, I present modern day Pridnestrovian sources to further explore the legacy of Soviet policy and to relate this dispute to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. My examination of the region's history shows that Pridnestrovie maintained its multicultural character, causing multinational population to eschew ethnic nationalism. This thesis adds to our knowledge of Moldova and Pridnestrovie by illustrating the meaning of Romanianization and by examining the term's historic usage in the Russian language and its relation to the fascist occupation of Pridnestrovie during World War II. Additionally, this work is important because I draw connections to the actions and rhetoric of Pridnestrovians in the late Soviet period to the tenets of Soviet nationality policy. Ultimately, this thesis conveys the Pridnestrovians' story and expands on the deeply rooted issues and historic trends, which caused the Moldo-Pridnestrovian split (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2022, Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies

Similar to the space race or nuclear arms race, Olympic competition was a battle between East and West in the Cold War. This thesis examines Soviet engagement in the 1952 Summer Olympics as a form of early Soviet cultural diplomacy and originally claims that Soviet propaganda portrayed the Cold War as a battle for peace. It also identifies the Soviet Union's 1952 Olympic debut as a precursor to the Soviet Union's engagement in international cultural diplomacy emerging in 1956. By analyzing publications of the Soviet press, this thesis argues that the Soviet Union aimed to prove the ideological supremacy of socialism not only through excellent athletic performances, but also by demonstrating the superior moral consciousness of Soviet athletes. To do so, the Soviet press applied its ‘peace offensive' to sport and highlighted parallels between core tenants of Olympism and socialist ideology, such as egalitarianism and international friendship. Soviet newspapers lauded Soviet athletes as fierce defenders of the Olympic Games and invoked the memory of World War II to condemn the ‘capitalist perversion' of sport by ‘warmongering' Western nations—most commonly, these criticisms targeted the United States. The thesis then examines the depictions of individual Soviet athletes. Patriotic biographical sketches presented Soviet Olympians as hero athletes who exemplified the New Soviet Person. These inspirational depictions urged Soviet youth to pursue sport and mobilize for the battle for peace—that is, the Cold War. This research is increasingly relevant in 2022 following the Russian Federation's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, as Russian media eerily presents a narrative of fascist aggression against Russian athletes.

Bachelor of Music, Capital University, 2022, Music

Theatre is an art form with the capacity to enact real change in our communities. Because of the wide array of topics theatre explores, it can help us to hold up a mirror to real life, critique and comment on proceedings within it, hold space for human emotion and therefore catharsis, and get viewers invested in a good story. This begs a responsibility for theatrical professionals to tie in aspects of community outreach to create a more enriching show, and harness the true power of this art form. In this project, I will be producing and directing Indecent, as well as creating opportunities for community outreach through talkbacks, service projects, and campus engagement opportunities. I will be creating a directorial concept, choosing actors, designing a rehearsal plan, finding costumes, set design elements, lighting, sound, and anything else needed to produce the show, all while organizing the opportunities for community engagement, complementary to the show's themes of LGBTQ+ rights and the history of Yiddish theatre. I have received permission also to conduct interviews and surveys of audience members directly after the show as well as check-ins to measure how the themes resonated with them, and later, how they have noticed them appear in their lives since, or any changes they have made. In the final paper in the execution semester, I will then explore these effects through the findings of this production and outreach components to demonstrate that theatre has the ability, and therefore responsibility to benefit others.

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 0, Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies

My dissertation explores hidden or unclaimed histories of socialist internationalism in order to reevaluate their relevance today. I look specifically at the relations between Black women and state socialist women as well as “sister cities” solidarities. As a transnational queer feminist scholar, I approach these histories from both the perspective of the post-Soviet region and the United States to illume alternative feminist east/west solidarities that may appear improbable or unrelated today. My return to the past is not nostalgic or coming from a desire to restore the state socialist project. Instead, I approach these histories from a distinctive postsocialist feminist positionality. I put my positionality in relation to transnational feminist methodologies, Black feminist thought, and decolonial feminism. By integrating diverse epistemologies, I explore archival materials to prioritize marginalized perspectives of oppressed groups and reveal alternative geographies and histories of Black feminist internationalism that may offer important insights for contemporary social justice projects. For this purpose, this dissertation focuses not on state macro-politics and global metanarratives, but practices of intimate and quotidian solidarity manifested in border crossings, scattered relations, and fleeting encounters. My research approach demonstrates how distinct struggles and political trajectories find ways to relate and thrive against the backdrop of global dynamics of power. I collected and analyzed materials that document Black women's ii travels to the state socialist countries from 1920-1980 and “sister cities' solidarities that are almost unknown in the post-Soviet region and the U.S. I examined key archival collections at Spelman College, Emory University, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, and New York University. My methodology involves a close reading of diaries, correspondence, poetry, essays, periodical contributions, cultural products (open full item for complete abstract)

PHD, Kent State University, 2021, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Political Science

This study is focused on understanding what factors impact the transition of the KGB to a successor organization in a former Soviet Republic. The case chosen for this research was the case of the Security Services of Ukraine (SBU), which inherited the role of the second largest contingent of the KGB upon the collapse of the USSR. This case provides context-driven insights into the understanding of the institutional evolution of a security service in the post-Soviet context. This study addresses the question of how the SBU evolved in terms of its formal and informal mission objectives (what tasks the SBU is being asked to carry out), personnel practices, and organizational structure. Furthermore, this study investigates the factors shaping the reforms that took place, regarding the SBU and why some reforms failed to progress towards their intended outcome. The methods used to identify the answers to these questions were a content analysis of media reports, archival documents, and semi-structured elite interviews with individuals holding knowledge and experience pertaining to the security apparatus of Ukraine. The triangulation of these data identify and explain how the SBU evolved into the organization it is today. They demonstrate the impact of the KGB legacy, informal practices and corruption, foreign and domestic pressures, leadership transitions, and political crises on the SBU's mission, personnel practices, and organizational structure. These findings generate knowledge on the factors that influence and determine the course of the SBU's evolution and provide insights that improve the understanding of the post-Soviet security apparatus.

DNP, Otterbein University, 2021, Nursing

The healthcare perceptions of the Eastern European Orthodox Christian immigrant women (EEOCIW) to the United States (U.S.) are under-represented in the literature. Although they appear similar to Americans, their cultural and religious traditions are outside the mainstream American culture. This pilot study and health needs assessment examines the women's healthcare perceptions of 14 EEOCIW and identifies similarities and differences with 25 U.S. born Orthodox Christian women (USOCW). Between September and November 2020, interviews were conducted with Orthodox Christian immigrant women from Eastern Europe and Orthodox Christian women born in the U.S. Questions covered the perceptions of women's healthcare, factors influencing women's healthcare, contraception, and trust. Madeline Leininger's Theory of Culture Care Diversity and Universality was used to analyze the similarities and differences between the groups of women. The project provides insights into the commonalities and differences between the groups from a religious Orthodox perspective and immigration experience. Qualitative content analysis was the primary analytic strategy. Ten themes emerged. Findings indicate unique cultural healthcare needs. Understanding the perspectives of these women is only first step in addressing their needs. The information presented is important because it provides healthcare practitioners insights and recommendations that can improve the lives of both groups of women.

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2021, Slavic and East European Studies

This thesis acts as analysis of pro-Kremlin narratives implicating foreign involvement in the protests occurring after the results of the 2020 Belarusian Presidential Election. Incumbent Alexander Lukashenko secured his fifth term as President of Belarus upon receiving the vast majority of the votes. These results led to both domestic and international allegations of electoral fraud as protests subsequently ensued. However, several world leaders congratulated Lukashenko on his victory, including Russia's Vladimir Putin. Russian and Belarusian governmental actors along with pro-Kremlin news outlets have disseminated narratives implicating foreign involvement surrounding the protests. Those implicated include nation states, intergovernmental organizations, think tanks, foreign intelligence services, and other entities. These pro-Kremlin narratives characterize the protests, protestors, and political opposition as being part of a larger scheme orchestrated by external forces to challenge Russia from within its territorial periphery, i.e., Belarus. In order to understand these narratives, I have analyzed primary source materials in the form of online articles, television broadcasts, radio broadcasts, and statements made by Russian and Belarusian governmental officials.

Bachelor of Arts, Wittenberg University, 2019, German

In understanding the causes of the concurrent development of national identity in Germany and Russia in the early 19th century, how can we better comprehend this development and its effect on our perception of national identity, nationalism, and national self-consciousness in the post-modern era? National political identity is a term often used to describe the codification of the cultural ethos, colloquial narrative, and collective vision of a people living within, but not exclusive to, a particular geographic sphere. Understanding this definition of national political identity and its role in the social construct of the modern “nation-state” is vital in gaining a deeper understanding of both the peoples and polities that have governed the modern age, and continue to direct its course. Moreover, comprehending the ideological origins of such national political identities, and the historical continuum upon which they waned or thrived, are of paramount importance to any serious study of post-modern society. One extraordinary example is the concurrent development of nationalism in both Germany and Russia within the early 19th century. While it may appear to have evolved internally and without external influence, the sociopolitical discourse regarding national self-identification within both Germany and Russia was consistently dominated by the persistent effects of Napoleon's France; likewise, the similarities and differences regarding religious, linguistic, and political national prerequisites between the German and Russian national consciousness provide pivotal insight into the cultural context of a national political disposition.

Master of Arts, Miami University, 2020, History

This thesis explores the relationship between the AFL-CIO and the Polish Solidarity movement throughout the 1980s. It explores the evolving international policy of the AFL-CIO as it began to support Solidarity through financial and material aid, domestic and international campaigns, and personal friendships between Solidarity and American labor leaders. The discussion begins with Solidarity's founding in August 1980 and the immediate ways the AFL-CIO supported its fledgling period through a heavy public campaign that included the creation of the Polish Workers Aid Fund. The Federation then battled the Carter Administration over the United States role in supporting Solidarity, and would continue to battle the Reagan Administration as well. The battle to support Solidarity took a critical turn when martial law was declared in Poland in 1981, and Solidarity was outlawed. By continuing to conduct a public pressure campaign, smuggling operations into Poland to give aid to Underground Solidarity, and working with the international labor community, the AFL-CIO put itself in the forefront of Solidarity's struggle against communism. That is why this thesis argues that non-state actors like the AFL-CIO played a pivotal role in causing the collapse of the Polish Communist regime, and subsequently the Iron Curtain, in 1989.

Artium Baccalaureus (AB), Ohio University, 2020, Political Science

Populist politics has been on the rise for the last decade across the world. In Poland, the far-right populist party, Law and Justice (PiS), has taken power using a blend of nationalism and memory politics. PiS' memory politics focuses on Polish victimhood during the Second World War, the Communist era, and the present day as a member of the European Union. As a result, PiS has taken aggressive measures to institutionalized its memory regime, which has drawn international attention, notably with the 2018 Holocaust Law. This thesis examines PiS' methods compared to previous governments' use of memory politics and how memory and populism intersect.