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In this chapter we will look at some of the consequences of a sequence of nuclear disasters that occurred in the Southern Ural region of Russia beginning in the 1940s. Drawing upon the historical record, we document the steady increase in radiological contamination that resulted from a combination of accidents and a nuclear naivete that took nearly 60 years to outgrow. We will then analyze the dynamics of response to this contamination and health catastrophe. We will look at the population's reaction over the years, as well as the government's policy, or lack thereof, toward containing pollution, improving safety management, and protecting the health and environmental rights of the region's citizens. We will also compare the coping mechanisms of two different Russian cultures – that under the Soviet regime and that after perestroika – as a young democracy. Finally, we will examine the effects of social movements and community action, issues of community conflict, and the phenomenon of ecodisaster tourism.¹

Sustainability is a catch term for the different way of life required to counter the ills of the modern era. It encompasses new social and economic as well as ecological relationships. Sustainability theory is, by its nature, hopeful in envisioning an alternative corrective course of action. This volume deals with “the negative legacy problem” that confounds this optimism because we have so profoundly contaminated and altered the earth in lasting ways. Any effort to create a sustainable future will have to deal with this legacy. It is a huge and profound burden faced unevenly by people and non-humans today and that we have left for future generations (see Edelstein, 2006).

In a seminal essay, Mumford (1963) argued that society is forced to adapt to the demands of the technological systems it chooses. He distinguished between what he called “Authoritarian” and “Democratic” technics. Societies choosing the former path select technological and energy systems that are high risk and therefore demand authoritarian, centralized, secretive and closed social controls. In contrast, the second low-risk path allows for decentralized, open, participatory and democratic control. The two directions, and thus the resulting social forms, could not be more contradictory.¹ Democratic technics, not Authoritarian, are necessary for a sustainable future.

Tatyana J. Andrushchenko is dean of the School of Psychology and Social Work, head of the Department of Social Work and professor of psychology at Volgograd State Pedagogical University. Dr. Andrushenko earned her Ph.D. in Psychology from the Russian Federation Education Academy, Institute of Psychology. Her primary work is in child development, counselling methods, interpersonal communication, and the evaluation of social psychological services. She has participated in exchange programs in Denmark, the Netherlands, and the US. tandr@vspu.ru

This chapter provides a brief overview of our understanding of major public health challenges and environmental concerns in Karakalpakstan today, and highlights questions that still remain unanswered. As seen in the case of Muynak, the fishing town on the southern edge of the former Aral Sea, ecological disasters do not happen alone – they spur socioeconomic disasters that only heighten the health disasters. The loss of the sea, the loss of local livelihoods, and mass out-migration of the population, along with economic depression following the collapse of the Soviet Union, have adversely affected the community living in Muynak. They face major public health challenges, such as tuberculosis, multidrug resistant tuberculosis, and anemia as a result of their impoverishment. The desiccation of the Aral Sea is but one of the many disasters linked to intensive cotton cultivation in Uzbekistan. Pesticide contamination and the salinization of drinking water in Karakalpakstan are yet other environmental disasters that further threaten the health of the population and of future generations. Currently, there is an urgent need for greater international involvement and collaboration with Uzbeks to reverse the poor public health trends and to study the extent of environmental contamination in communities across Karakalpakstan, in order to reduce the health threats presented by these.

C.A.R. Crosland (1918‐1977) was a British politician and a Cabinet Minister. He was also a former lecturer in economics at Oxford. His interests in Labour politics and in the mixed economy led him to write The Future of Socialism. Published in 1956, it is a contemporary classic of political economy and social economics. Abridged when it was reprinted in 1964, however, the edition of the Future which readers today will know is significantly different from the original edition that exercised so much influence in the 1950s. Attempts to provide a variorum that identifies the differences between the editions. Finds that 172 pages were subject to alteration and deletion. Suggests the ways in which the changes might have altered the message that the author intended to convey.

This paper sets out to describe the development of problem‐structuring methods within operations research (OR) and to suggest that these might define new areas of collaborative activity between library management and OR modellers.

The paper identifies a requirement for the twenty‐first century academic library to be flexible, inclusive and responsive to rapidly changing environments. The use of problem‐structuring methods provides OR modellers with a methodological approach that can assist decision making under just these conditions, and so a management approach that places problem‐structuring methods firmly within library planning processes is suggested.

Since the rapid growth of library OR in the 1960s and 1970s (using primarily statistical and quantitative techniques) there has been a significant downturn in new applications and model developments within the last 20 years. This has coincided with a debate on the future of OR that has moved it away from the application of quantitative techniques, and the new paradigms evolving from that debate could stimulate a regeneration of interest in library OR.

The paper explores a possible future for library OR. The application of OR methods within libraries has undoubtedly had its successes and a wider appreciation of the potential use of problem‐structuring methods within library management could resolve many of the issues associated with planning library operations on the brink of the second decade of the twenty‐first century.

This chapter describes the growth and decline of Library Operational Research (Library OR) since the first descriptions of such activity appeared in the 1960s. The changing nature of OR and of the academic library is discussed and a case is made for recognition of a new paradigm in Library OR. First explored are the origins of OR and its application to academic libraries, summarizing some of the critical assessments of Library OR from those active in the field, and exploring some of the literature that relates to the development of OR itself, the academic library as an entity, and the modeler/library–practitioner interaction. Each indicates that a new way of working in Library OR is required if it is to deliver the results that OR has delivered in other contexts. The growth and decline of Library OR has been very marked. The decline has coincided with a reevaluation of the nature and contribution of OR itself, particularly in relation to modeling activities. New modeling approaches have evolved involving problem structuring, and these new paradigms extend naturally to Library OR and would help ease a number of concerns raised against the use of traditional OR models. Practical implications of this chapter are that academic libraries are facing an era of unprecedented change and some of the issues to be addressed relate to identifying and managing strategy and managing change. The adoption of new paradigms could enliven the practice and contribution of Library OR.

What can the applied economist do? In order to explore issues playing out in the “real world” of the past or present, the applied social scientist has to make a series of decisions about what they will accept as the facts of the situation. Particularly for research questions in which the beliefs, plans, and motivations of individuals matter – such as institutional analysis – this task requires the development of some degree of intersubjective understanding, or verstehen. For over 50 years, the Bloomington School of Institutional Analysis has been using fieldwork and deep archival history to conduct meaningful institutional analysis that takes interpretation and the quest for understanding seriously. As such, those who wish to take up the call for economists to take an “interpretive turn” can gain a great deal of insight and practical advice from the study of the Bloomington School’s methods and approach.