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Becoming a Soviet citizen: migration, citizenship, and the politics of belonging in the USSR, 1960-1990
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Nicorici, Irina. Becoming a Soviet citizen: migration, citizenship, and the politics of belonging in the USSR, 1960-1990. Retrieved from https://doi.org/doi:10.7282/t3-903p-s364

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TitleBecoming a Soviet citizen: migration, citizenship, and the politics of belonging in the USSR, 1960-1990
NameNicorici, Irina (author); Gerson, Judith (chair); Böröcz, József (member); Zerubavel, Eviatar (member); Boatcă, Manuela (member); Rutgers University; School of Graduate Studies
Date Created2021
Other Date2021-10 (degree)
SubjectSociology, Slavic studies, History, Migration management, Relational arithmetic, Soviet citizenship, Sponsorship, Moldavia, Soviet Union
Extent1 online resource (viii, 208 pages)
DescriptionCitizenship policies in the USSR promised universal acceptance of all immigrants. In a global context of hardened border controls and increasing exclusions by other countries, these policies were a radical departure from prior domestic and international conventions. Yet when considered today, these policies are overlooked or disparaged as nothing more than “propaganda talk.” Drawing on a wide range of original archival sources and interviews, this dissertation investigates how Soviet laws were understood and actually implemented on the ground, offering an important counterpoint to conclusions that emphasize insularity. This research covers nearly three decades of immigration management activity in Soviet Moldavia and documents the dynamics of decision-making in response to hundreds of applications for permanent residence and citizenship. It examines how governmental agents granted the right of entry to diverse groups of migrants and how officials changed their practices, enabling ordinary citizens to participate in the requirements and processes for resettlement to Moldavia. The dissertation examines the practical logics guiding international admissions to the USSR and thus expands our understanding of local Soviet politics, which were less state-directed than previously thought. The dissertation traces multiple trajectories of global movement toward Moldavia between 1960 and 1990, a historical space and time usually described as inert, provincial, and stagnant. This study highlights the two most significant yet complex migratory streams: repatriations and foreigners seeking entry. Sponsorship by private citizens – family members, colleagues, and others – emerged as a focal point for competing ideas about the role of the Soviet state and non-state agencies in immigration. The efforts of Soviet Jews to return were less successful than any other group, especially between 1970 and 1986, when transnational activism on their behalf failed, and domestic structural conditions prevented the restoration of their formal citizenship status. The unexpected discovery of Soviet citizenship-by-investment scheme during the Gorbachev era highlights the blurred line between the imperatives of justice and profit seeking. The conclusion considers the broader legacies of Soviet citizenship and migration policies. These findings indicate the need to revise conventional scholarship on Soviet governance as a top-down, elite-driven, and recognize a wider, practical collaboration between the Soviet state and the Soviet people. In its place, I propose a new conceptual tool: “relational arithmetic,” grounded in the understanding of citizenship laws in action as an opportunity for interconnection rather than social closure.
NotePh.D.
NoteIncludes bibliographical references
Genretheses
Persistent URLhttps://doi.org/doi:10.7282/t3-903p-s364
LanguageEnglish
CollectionSchool of Graduate Studies Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Organization NameRutgers, The State University of New Jersey
RightsThe author owns the copyright to this work.
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