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Debates over the remote and beguiling Southern Kuril Islands have revealed a kaleidoscope of divergent and contradictory ideas, convictions, and beliefs on what constitutes the "national" identity of post-Soviet Russia. Forming part of an archipelago stretching from Kamchatka to Hokkaido, administered by Russia but claimed by Japan, these disputed islands offer new perspectives on the ways in which territorial visions of the nation are refracted, inverted, and remade in a myriad of different ways. At the Edge of the Nation provides a unique account of how the Southern Kurils have shaped the parameters of the Russian state and framed debates on the politics of identity in the post-Soviet era. By shifting the debate beyond a proliferation of Eurocentric and Moscow-focused writings, Paul B. Richardson reveals broad alternatives and possibilities for Russian identity in Asia. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, when Russia was suffering the fragmentation of empire and a sudden decline in its international standing, these disputed islands became symbolic of a much larger debate on self-image, nationalism, national space, and Russia's place in world politics. When viewed through the prism of the Southern Kurils, ideas associated with the "border," "state," and "nation" become destabilized, uncovering new insights into state-society relations in modern Russia. At the Edge of the Nation explores how disparate groups of political elites have attempted to use these islands to negotiate enduring tensions within Russia's identity, and traces how the destiny of these isolated yet evocative islands became irrecoverably bound to the destiny of Russia itself

This paper examines the role of Japan in Russia's strategic, economic, and ideational re-orientation towards Asia. It focuses on the current state of bi-lateral relations, in particular developments before and after the 2012 APEC summit held in Vladivostok. The paper draws attention to emerging opportunities between the two countries, in particular in the spheres of energy, security, and the potential for increased Japanese investment in the Russian Far East. It also addresses the issue of the territorial dispute over the Southern Kurils/Northern Territories and its impact on the Russian-Japanese relationship. The paper charts a renewed effort amongst some in the Russian political and intellectual elite to emphasise Japan as a key partner for Russia's national development strategy, which is in turn related to various and diverging understandings of national identity, the nature of Russia's integration into the Asia-Pacific Region and changing regional geopolitics. © UNISCI, 2013.

This article discusses the strategies and country-specific challenges of conducting elite interviews overseas. Drawing on examples from fieldwork undertaken in the Russian Federation, it explores the ways in which the knowledge produced from such interviews is contingent on the analytical approaches selected; the researcher's time-specific entry into the field; issues of ethics; the contemporary political environment; and notions of insider/outsider. Undertaking elite interviews overseas places the researcher in a particularly intense and unique set of power relations with his or her research subjects. This provides both opportunities and challenges, which ultimately have the potential to elicit insights into the personal convictions and beliefs of the political and intellectual elite, as well as the contexts within which they operate. Adapted from the source document.

This article discusses the strategies and country-specific challenges of conducting elite interviews overseas. Drawing on examples from fieldwork undertaken in the Russian Federation, it explores the ways in which the knowledge produced from such interviews is contingent on the analytical approaches selected; the researcher's time-specific entry into the field; issues of ethics; the contemporary political environment; and notions of insider/outsider. Undertaking elite interviews overseas places the researcher in a particularly intense and unique set of power relations with his or her research subjects. This provides both opportunities and challenges, which ultimately have the potential to elicit insights into the personal convictions and beliefs of the political and intellectual elite, as well as the contexts within which they operate.

This book has been produced by a research team from NACRO (National Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders). Readers familiar with NACRO publications will feel a bit cheated because a large part of its solid empirical centre has been published elsewhere (Unemployment and Magistrates' Courts, NACRO, 1987) — in a more user‐friendly, and much less‐expensive, form.