Trade Unions and the Working Class in Modern Russia
(2009)

Joint project with the Legal Centre "Petersburg EGIDA" (NGO for social protection).
Coordinator: Lubov Ejova (CISR).
The purpose of the project is to analyze the transformation process of the trade-union movement in Russia over the course of the recent decade and to specify the peculiarities of a new model of social partnership. The research aims to study the problems of interaction between trade unions and the working class, employers, and the state. The empirical aspect of the project deals with a study of the trade-union movement in the shipbuilding industry of St. Petersburg. The basic research question is: how does the trade-union movement respond to modern economic, political and social challenges? A monograph is planned to be published based on the research of this project and and several others ("Trade unions in modern Russia: institutional frameworks and everyday realities". Irina Olimpieva, 2010).
Participants from CISR: Lubov Ejova, Irina Olimpieva.
Supported by the Institute of Public Design (Moscow).

Media-Piracy: Social Benefits and Side Effects
(2008-2009)

Joint project with the University of Chicago (USA).
Coordinator: Olga Sezneva (University of Chicago).
Project manager from the Russian part: Oleg Pachenkov (CISR).
This international research project is being realized simultaneously in five countries: Russia, the Republic of South Africa, Brazil, China, and India. Within this project, media piracy as a phenomenon is studied in a social context, rather than in an economic one. Putting aside political commitments, the project aims to examine and analyze not only side effects of media piracy, but also its probable advantages and benefits, including those not connected with the economic sphere.
The matter in question includes the following: why media piracy exists, why it is profitable, who benefits from it (and in what way) and who is at a disadvantage. The project explores the market of media piracy: its main actors, motivation, methods of struggle against it (in Russia, in particular), media piracy development trends in the world in the context of Internet technologies advancement, and a discussion on Russia's probable admission into the WTO. Methodological basis of the research includes an ethnographic study, expert, narrative and task-oriented interviews, and an analysis of the press and the Internet.
Participants from CISR: Irina Olimpieva, Oleg Pachenkov.
Supported by the Social Science Research Council and the Ford Foundation.

The "Intermediaries Boom" and Informal Relationships in the Business Sphere and Everyday Life:
Tourist Firms, Customs Brokers and Shuttle Traders in St. Petersburg
(2005-2006)

Joint project with the Jefferson Institute (USA).
Coordinator: Irina Olimpieva (CISR).
The studies of corruption in small and medium business in St. Petersburg conducted by the CISR in 2003-2004 revealed the emergence and development of a diverse market for bureaucratic services intermediaries, who facilitate informal relations between businesses and theљauthorities. In recent years there has been an explosive growth of legalised and formalised mediating firms that either directly or indirectly sell bureaucratic services. This situation is called an "intermediaries boom." The current project is aimed at the study of this phenomenon. Theљthree main focuses of the study are considered areas (both in business and everyday life) where the role of informal components for mediating services is the most important: customs (and custom brokers), tourist firms, and shuttle trading.
Participants from CISR: Irina Olimpieva, Oleg Pachenkov, Lubov Ejova, Olga Tkach.
Supported by the Jefferson Institute (USA).

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