Social welfare services within and across de facto borders: The role of civil society organisations in Abkhazia and Transnistria

PhD student: Gaëlle Le Pavic
Summary: Processes of globalization seem to cause the blurring of (country) borders and increase interconnection, but at the same time new (country) borders are continuously drawn. The collapse of the Soviet Union created new countries, but also regions that declared independence but are not recognized within the international community. These are called de facto states. This research brings together insights from three disciplines - Social Work, International Relations and Border Studies - to explore the interaction between de facto borders and people's access to social welfare services. We do this by focusing on the role of civil society organizations (CSOs). Although CSOs provide crucial welfare services in the Post-Soviet region, their role and the interaction between their actions and the de facto borders has never been explored. The Post-Soviet de facto states Abkhazia and Transnistria are ideal empirical cases to uncover these interactions.
PhD in Social Work
Promoter(s): Ine Lietaert, Fabienne Bossuyt (Department Of Social Work And Social Pedagogy , Ghent University)
Periode of time: October 2020 - January 2024