Russian Political Reactions to a Changing Climate: Environmental Cases in the Arctic and Siberian Hydrosphere

Russia’s environmental challenges after the fall of the Soviet Union are rarely studied in Western academia. This thesis seeks to fill the void in the literature and challenges the “universality” of Western models for environmental policymaking. Through a three-tiered case study on Lake Baikal, Sakhalin Island, and the Arctic, this work examines the efficacy of community organizations in shaping policy and gives a solid scientific foundation for the reader to judge the resulting policy outcomes.