Chapter i puts these questions into the context of feminist and political science theories and clarifies the study design and key concepts. Chapter 2 discusses the construction of a global normative consensus on violence against women and contrasts this consensus with Russia’s historical approach to gender violence. It also provides more background on gender in Russia and the impact of the Soviet collapse. Chapter 3 details the emergence of a women’s crisis center movement in Russia and the impact of foreign intervention on this mobilization. Chapters 4 through 6 examine the effect on activism, awareness-raising, and reform of this new Russian women’s crisis center movement as the activists worked with different types of intervention into three different gender violence issues: sexual assault, domestic violence, and trafficking in women. Chapter 7 situates this Russian case study within other interventions into gender violence politics elsewhere and considers alternative explanations. This conclusion elaborates the implications for the political science fields of comparative politics and international relations and makes suggestions for practical applications for those concerned with helping women globally.
For most Russian words, I have followed the Library of Congress system for transliteration. Exceptions are the proper names common in the U. S. press (such as Yeltsin instead of El’tsin) and those Russian activists and women’s organizations that represent themselves otherwise in English (such as Moscow-based Syostri [Sisters] instead of Sestry). The translations from Russian, unless specifically noted, are mine with some assistance from research assistant Gulnara Zaynullina.