Book Manuscript
The Power of Ethnic Groups (under review by Oxford University Press) – answers why some Soviet successor states experienced secessionist civil war after the collapse of the Soviet Union. I use structured comparison to detail social-political histories of Russia, Moldova, and Ukraine and fuzzy sets to assess twenty-four explanations of secessionist violence across the full range of former Soviet cases. A key finding of the book is that following state collapse, ethnic civil war will happen only in countries where a highly coherent ethnic group senses an existential threat from the state and is then able to respond to the threat violently due to its well-developed ethnic bonds. The fuzzy set truth table for the book may be found here.
Publications (selected)
Refereed Journals:
Feinstein, S. (2025) “Measuring and Validating the Ukrainian Ethnic Coherence Instrument” Post-Soviet Affairs
Feinstein, S., Poleacovschi, C., Nelson, T., Smith, K. (2025) " Microaggressions in Engineering Education: Where are they happening? Who are the targets and perpetrators?" ASCE Journal of Civil Engineering Education
Estes, K. and Feinstein, S. (Accepted 2024) “External Threat and the Contours of Ukrainian National Identity” Europe-Asia Studies
Feinstein, S. and Poleacovschi, C. (2023). “Making democracy work in a refugee camp: Social capital and the emergence of empowerment.” Development in Practice
Feinstein, S., Poleacovschi, C., Drake, R., Winters, L. (2022) "States and Refugee Integration: A comparative analysis of France, Germany, and Switzerland" Journal of International Migration and Integration
Feinstein, S. and Pirro, E. (2021). "Testing the World Order: The Strategic Realism of Russian Foreign Aggression." International Politics. 58 (6),
Smith, Kalynda, C. Poleacovschi, S. Feinstein, S. Luster-Teasley (2022) "Ethnicity, Race, and Gender in Engineering Education: The Nuanced Experiences of Male and Female Latinx Engineering Undergraduates Targeted by Microaggressions" Psychological Reports
Faust, K., Roy, A., Feinstein, S, Poleacovschi, C., and Kaminsky, J. (2021) "Individual Responsibility towards providing Water and Wastewater Public Goods for Displaced Persons: How much and how long is the public willing to pay?" Sustainable Cities and Society. (Vol. 69, May)
True-Funk, A., Poleacovschi, C., Jones-Johnson, G., Feinstein, S., Smith, K., Luster-Teasley, S. (2021) "The Intersectional Student: Gender and Race Microaggressions In Engineering and Their Consequences." Journal of Management in Engineering. (Vol. 37, Issue 3)
Poleacovschi, C., Faust, K., Roy, A., and Feinstein, S. (2021). "The Identity of Engineering Expertise: Implicitly Biased and Sustaining the Gender Gap." ASCE Journal of Civil Engineering Education (vol. 147, Issue 1) Featured as the issue's "Editor's Choice"
Works in Progress
“The Breakdown of Authoritarian Regimes: Economic Growth Models.”
"The Violent Thaw of Frozen Conflicts: Why Separatist Movements in Soviet Successor States Return to Violent Conflict."
The Power of Ethnic Groups (under review by Oxford University Press) – answers why some Soviet successor states experienced secessionist civil war after the collapse of the Soviet Union. I use structured comparison to detail social-political histories of Russia, Moldova, and Ukraine and fuzzy sets to assess twenty-four explanations of secessionist violence across the full range of former Soviet cases. A key finding of the book is that following state collapse, ethnic civil war will happen only in countries where a highly coherent ethnic group senses an existential threat from the state and is then able to respond to the threat violently due to its well-developed ethnic bonds. The fuzzy set truth table for the book may be found here.
Publications (selected)
Refereed Journals:
Feinstein, S. (2025) “Measuring and Validating the Ukrainian Ethnic Coherence Instrument” Post-Soviet Affairs
Feinstein, S., Poleacovschi, C., Nelson, T., Smith, K. (2025) " Microaggressions in Engineering Education: Where are they happening? Who are the targets and perpetrators?" ASCE Journal of Civil Engineering Education
Estes, K. and Feinstein, S. (Accepted 2024) “External Threat and the Contours of Ukrainian National Identity” Europe-Asia Studies
Feinstein, S. and Poleacovschi, C. (2023). “Making democracy work in a refugee camp: Social capital and the emergence of empowerment.” Development in Practice
Feinstein, S., Poleacovschi, C., Drake, R., Winters, L. (2022) "States and Refugee Integration: A comparative analysis of France, Germany, and Switzerland" Journal of International Migration and Integration
Feinstein, S. and Pirro, E. (2021). "Testing the World Order: The Strategic Realism of Russian Foreign Aggression." International Politics. 58 (6),
Smith, Kalynda, C. Poleacovschi, S. Feinstein, S. Luster-Teasley (2022) "Ethnicity, Race, and Gender in Engineering Education: The Nuanced Experiences of Male and Female Latinx Engineering Undergraduates Targeted by Microaggressions" Psychological Reports
Faust, K., Roy, A., Feinstein, S, Poleacovschi, C., and Kaminsky, J. (2021) "Individual Responsibility towards providing Water and Wastewater Public Goods for Displaced Persons: How much and how long is the public willing to pay?" Sustainable Cities and Society. (Vol. 69, May)
True-Funk, A., Poleacovschi, C., Jones-Johnson, G., Feinstein, S., Smith, K., Luster-Teasley, S. (2021) "The Intersectional Student: Gender and Race Microaggressions In Engineering and Their Consequences." Journal of Management in Engineering. (Vol. 37, Issue 3)
Poleacovschi, C., Faust, K., Roy, A., and Feinstein, S. (2021). "The Identity of Engineering Expertise: Implicitly Biased and Sustaining the Gender Gap." ASCE Journal of Civil Engineering Education (vol. 147, Issue 1) Featured as the issue's "Editor's Choice"
Works in Progress
“The Breakdown of Authoritarian Regimes: Economic Growth Models.”
"The Violent Thaw of Frozen Conflicts: Why Separatist Movements in Soviet Successor States Return to Violent Conflict."
