CV

Galina Belokurova

Department of Institutional Research, University of California-San Diego

Website: http://galinabelokurova.com

email: galinabelokurova@gmail.com, gbelokurova@ucsd.edu

Current Position

Senior Administrative Analyst, University of California-San Diego

Previous Position

Assistant Director of Institutional Research, West Coast University (Irvine, CA)

Education

Ph.D. in Political Science, Department of Political Science,

University of Wisconsin-Madison

Dissertation

When Does Business Turn Violent? Evidence from Postcommunist Russia.

Committee

Scott Gehlbach (chair), Professor of Political Science, University of Wisconsin-Madison

David Weimer, Professor of Political Science, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Kathryn Hendley, Associate Dean Law School, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Nils Ringe, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Ted Gerber, Professor of Sociology, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Examination Fields

Comparative Politics (January 2010), Political Methodology (August 2009)

Dissertation Abstract

This dissertation explores the causes behind the emergence of elite economic violence using Russia as a test case. Elite economic violence understood as physical violence against entrepreneurs, business owners, their employees, and subcontractors, often occurs in those countries where the rule of law is lacking, and the state’s strength is fluctuating considerably over time.

This study draws on geographical heterogeneity of Russian regions to show that different types of the state can co-exist within one political entity thanks to geographic heterogeneity, remoteness, and restrictions on migration. A change in policy, an introduction of relatively free labor migration, for instance, can bring these different types of states in contact with each other, creating perfect conditions for a violent clash.

Stalin’s forced industrialization transformed Russia’s large industrial and administrative centers into highly controlled areas with minimal violent crime of any kind. With the state becoming more corrupt in later years, these regions served as breeding grounds for youth gangs that matured into full-fledged gangster groups at the advent of Gorbachev’s perestroika. People with undesirable political backgrounds, however, had to live in less controlled areas where the state was weaker and more vulnerable to corruption. Such territories were often home to labor camps and exiles, who did not trust the Soviet state and relied on the traditional organized crime to control the outbreaks of competitive violence. The two types of organized crime – the thieves and gangsters – developed incompatible sets of identities and values, which prompted violent disputes when they met on a large scale after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The second part of this study uncovers the root causes of spikes in competitive violence in time of elections in postcommunist Russia. Such violence is often related to competition among different elite groups for the opportunity to infiltrate the state and use its capacity for private gain. Chapter Six presents the Russian Elite Economic Violence Dataset, a project assembled as part of this dissertation. The dataset contains information about more than 6,000 incidents of elite economic violence across seventy-three Russian regions over the period from 1991 to 2010. Chapter Seven uses the data to test whether elections are the cause of spikes in elite economic violence, and whether regions with both thieves and gangsters present have a greater probability of violent outcomes in competitive disputes. Based on the results of OLS models with year and region fixed effects, I conclude that the null hypothesis of no causal relationship between the composition of the criminal underworld and elections, on the one hand, and the intensity of elite economic violence, on the other, can be rejected.

M.A. (2007-2008), University of Wisconsin-Madison

Master of Public Policy (2003-2004), KDI School of Public Policy and Management (Seoul). Fields: International Relations and Trade and Industry

Candidate of Science (2000-2002), Institute for the Far Eastern Studies Russian Academy of Sciences (Moscow). Fields: World Economy and International Relations

M. Sci. (1996-1998), Lomonosov Moscow State University (Moscow). Fields: Geographic Information Systems

B. Sci. (1992-1996), Lomonosov Moscow State University, with Distinction

Research Interests

Comparative Politics, Political Economy, Former Soviet Union, International Relations, Statistics, Game Theory

Fellowships and Awards

APSA Travel Grant 2013

Hayek Fund Grant 2012 (declined due to APSA 2012 cancellation)

APSA Travel Grant 2012 (declined due to APSA 2012 cancellation)

The Institute of Humane Studies Fellowship 2011-2012

The WAGE, Remaking the Developmental State Collaborative Grant 2011

Vilas Travel Grant University of Wisconsin-Madison 2011, 2012

Summer Initiative Grant, Department of Political Science University of Wisconsin-Madison 2010, 2012

The Konosuke Matsushita Memorial Foundation Research Grant 2010

Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) Fellowship 2003-2004

KDI School of Public Policy and Management Scholarship, 2003-2004

Russian Science Support Foundation, The Best Post Graduates of the Russian Academy of Sciences Award, 2004

Japan Foundation Fellowship, 2001

Publications

“Business-Related Violence: Evidence from Russia,” Economy and Crime, Collected Papers for the International Criminological Seminar at the Baltic Institute of International Cooperation and
Foreign Languages, St. Petersburg, 2012, (English)

“Russo-South Korean Economic Cooperation: Possibilities and Limitations,” Far Eastern Affairs, No. 3, 2008 (English/Russian)

“Stock Markets, Banks, and Currency,” in China: Risks, Challenges, and Threats to Development (ed. Vasily Micheev), Chapter 6, Moscow Carnegie Center, 2005, p. 647 (Russian)

“Northeast Asia: Energy Security Strategies,” Working Papers No. 6, Moscow Carnegie Center, 2004 (Russian)

“Foreign Exchange Market Regulation in PRC,” in The Traps of Liberalization (ed. Vasily Micheev), Institute for Far Eastern Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow 200 (Russian)

“The Prospects of Financial Integration in Northeast Asia and the Role of China,” in Globalization of Chinese Economy (ed. Vasily Micheev), Chapter 9, Institute for Far Eastern Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow 2003 (Russian)

“China’s Thorny Path to the WTO,” in China in World and Regional Politics: History and the Present (ed. A. Yakovlev), Institute for Far Eastern Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow 2002 (Russian)

“The Evolution of Japan’s Socio-Economic System in 1980-90s,” Economy and Society, No. 3-4, 2001 (Russian)

“The East-West Interactions in the International Financial System,” East-West Almanac, No. 1, 2002 (Russian)

“The Evolution of PRC’s Socio-Economic System,” East-West Almanac, No. 1, 2002 (Russian)

“The Internationalization of the Japanese Yen,” Far Eastern Affairs, No. 4, 2001 (Russian)

Presentations

“Elections and Business-Related Violence in Russia,” 2013 Annual CSID Meeting “Studying Institutions and Development in Russia: New Data and New Approaches,” 26-17 June 2013, Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia

“Elections and Business-Related Violence in Russia,” 2013 MPSA Annual Meeting, April 10th – 14th 2013, Chicago, Illinois

“Elections, Turnover and Business-Related Violence in Russia,” 2013 WPSA Annual Meeting, March 25th – 31st 2013, Los Angeles, California

“When Does Business Turn Violent?” 2012 APSA Annual Meeting, August 30th – September 4th 2012, New Orleans, Louisiana

“When Does Business Turn Violent?” 16th ISNIE Annual Meeting, June 15-16, 2012, Los Angeles, California

“When Does Business Turn Violent? Evidence from Russia,” International Criminological Seminar at the Baltic Institute of International Cooperation and Foreign Languages, St. Petersburg, 2012, Russia

“Businessmen Murdered: When Business Gets Violent?,” 2011 APSA Annual Conference, September 1- 4, Seattle, WA

“Businessmen Murdered The Role of the State in Violence Against Business Elites,” 9th Annual IMBS Graduate Student Conference, May 25th 2011, Institute of Mathematical and Behavioral Sctudies, University of California, Irvine

“Businessmen Murdered,” Workshop on Institutional Analysis, May 15 – 21 2011, Ronald Coase Institute, Chicago

“Settling Commercial Disputes: Negotiate, Litigate, or Murder? The Case of Russia,” Poster Presentation, Midwest Political Science Association Annual Conference, April 2011, Chicago

“Political Violence, Democracy, and Economic Growth in Post-Communist Countries: the Case of Russia,” Postcommunist Politics Workshop, University of Wisconsin-Madison, April 2010

“Why Did the Governors Close the Window?” Postcommunist Politics Workshop, University of Wisconsin-Madison, December 2009

“The Paradox of Political Parties: The Case of Russia,” American Association for Advancement of Slavic Studies, November 2009 and Postcommunist Politics Workshop, University of Wisconsin-Madison, April 2009

“Russia and Northeast Asia: Multilateral Cooperation and Domestic Policy,” Kennan Institute (Russia), Conference “Russia in Postcommunist World,” 2006

“Energy Security in Japan and Korea,” Moscow Carnegie Center, May 2004

Work Experience

Assistant Director of Institutional Research, West Coast University (Irvine, CA), March, 2014 – January, 2017

Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, Graduate School of International and Area Studies, full time lecturer, September 2004 – June 2006

Chosun University, Gwangju (Republic of Korea), September 2006 – June 2007

Institute for Far Eastern Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, research fellow, 2000 – 2003

Internships

Russia Center for Public Opinion Research (ВЦИОМ), summer 2010

Research Assistantships

Kathryn Hendley, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Legal Nihilism in Russia and the Role of Law in Russia, fall 2009-spring 2011

Scott Gehlbach, University of Wisconsin-Madison, News Lab, fall 2007 – spring 2008

David Park, KDI School of Public Policy and Management (Republic of Korea), 2003-2004

Departmental Service

Political Science Graduate Workshop Coordinator, spring 2010 and fall 2010

Languages

Russian (native), English (fluent), Korean (functional), Japanese (basic)

Software and Programming Languages

STATA 14, R, SQL, Tableau, AcrView, SPSS Statistics, SPSS Modeler, Cognos, IBM Watson Analytics