Most cited papers in Soviet and Russian History

Soviet and Russian History

What are the most cited papers in Soviet and Russian History?

The most cited paper in Soviet and Russian History is "The USSR as a Communal Apartment, or How a Socialist State Promoted Ethnic Particularism" (Yuri Slezkine, 1994), with 1,072 citations. Next come "Consensus and Ideology in American Politics" (815) and "Embedded and defective democracies" (782).

Published TypeAccessCitations

Showing 50 of 100 papers. Every paper with more than 117 citations is listed.

Most cited papers, sortable by citations and release date
#	Paper
1	The USSR as a Communal Apartment, or How a Socialist State Promoted Ethnic Particularism Yuri Slezkine · Slavic Review	1994	1,072
2	Consensus and Ideology in American Politics Herbert McClosky · American Political Science Review	Jun 1964	815
3	Embedded and defective democracies Wolfgang Merkel · Democratization Open access	2004	782
4	Structure and Example in Modular Political Phenomena: The Diffusion of Bulldozer/Rose/Orange/Tulip Revolutions Mark R. Beissinger · Perspectives on Politics	14 May 2007	605
5	The Causes of Slavery or Serfdom: A Hypothesis Evsey D. Domar · The Journal of Economic History	Mar 1970	594
6	Enough! Electoral Fraud, Collective Action Problems, and Post-Communist Colored Revolutions Joshua Aaron Tucker · Perspectives on Politics Open access	16 Aug 2007	562
7	Empire of Nations: Ethnographic Knowledge and the Making of the Soviet Union Stephen Lovell · Nations and Nationalism	29 Mar 2006	530
8	Soviet Federalism and Ethnic Mobilization Philip G. Roeder · World Politics	1991	489
9	Subversive Institutions: The Design and the Destruction of Socialism and the State Robert Legvold, Valerie Bunce · Foreign Affairs	1999	488
10	STUDIES ON INFLUENZA IN THE PANDEMIC OF 1957-1958. II. PULMONARY COMPLICATIONS OF INFLUENZA† Donald B. Louria, Herbert L. Blumenfeld, John Ellis et al. · Journal of Clinical Investigation* Open access	1959	486
11	Autonomy as a Source of Conflict: Caucasian Conflicts in Theoretical Perspective Svante Cornell · World Politics	2002	405
12	Democratization Backwards: The Problem of Third-Wave Democracies Richard B. Rose, Doh Chull Shin · British Journal of Political Science	20 Mar 2001	400
13	Regime Cycles: Democracy, Autocracy, and Revolution in Post-Soviet Eurasia Henry E. Hale · World Politics	Oct 2005	384
14	Nationhood and the national question in the Soviet Union and post-Soviet Eurasia: An institutionalist account Rogers Brubaker · Theory and Society	Feb 1994	374
15	Should Transitologists Be Grounded? Valerie Bunce · Slavic Review	1995	370
16	Provincializing Europe: Postcolonial Thought and Historical Difference. Douglas R. Holmes · American Ethnologist	Feb 2002	339
17	IMAGES OF AUTHORITY: ELITES AND ICONS IN LATE SIXTH-CENTURY BYZANTIUM Averil Cameron · Past & Present	1979	324
18	The Great Divide: Literacy, Nationalism, and the Communist Collapse Keith A. Darden, Anna M. Grzymała-Busse · World Politics Open access	Oct 2006	317
19	:Defending the Rights of Others: The Great Powers, the Jews, and International Minority Protection, 1878–1938 Gale Stokes · The American Historical Review	Jun 2005	299
20	Postsocialist ≠ postcolonial? On post-Soviet imaginary and global coloniality Madina Tlostanova · Journal of Postcolonial Writing	20 Mar 2012	287
21	Nation-building in the Post-Soviet Borderlands: The Politics of National Identities Graham E. Smith, Vivien A. Law, Andrew Wilson et al.	10 Sep 1998	282
22	IDEOLOGY IN INFRASTRUCTURE: ARCHITECTURE AND SOVIET IMAGINATION Caroline Humphrey · Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute	16 Feb 2005	280
23	Russia's “Ethnic Revival”: The Separatist Activism of Regional Leaders in a Postcommunist Order Daniel S. Treisman · World Politics	1997	276
24	Social Structure and Development: A Legacy of the Holocaust in Russia Daron Acemoğlu, Tarek A. Hassan, James A. Robinson · The Quarterly Journal of Economics Open access	May 2011	268
25	The Origins of Soviet Ethnic Cleansing Terry Martin · The Journal of Modern History Open access	Dec 1998	264
26	Children's First Names: An Empirical Study of Social Taste Stanley Lieberson, Eleanor O. Bell · American Journal of Sociology	Nov 1992	250
27	Waves of War: Nationalism, State Formation, and Ethnic Exclusion in the Modern World Andreas Wimmer	22 Nov 2012	247
28	Virtual regionalism, regional structures and regime security in Central Asia Roy Allison · Central Asian Survey	Jun 2008	246
29	Russia between Europe and Asia: The Ideological Construction of Geographical Space Mark Bassin · Slavic Review	1991	241
30	History, Geography and Difference in the Post‐socialist World: Or, Do We Still Need Post‐Socialism? Alison Stenning, Kathrin Hörschelmann · Antipode Open access	Mar 2008	230
31	The Foundations of Ethnic Politics: Separatism of States and Nations in Eurasia and the World Henry E. Hale	30 Jun 2008	222
32	BlatandGuanxi: Informal Practices in Russia and China Alena V. Ledeneva · Comparative Studies in Society and History	2008	212
33	Soviet Hegemony of Form: Everything Was Forever, Until It Was No More Alexei Yurchak · Comparative Studies in Society and History	Jul 2003	203
34	Involution and Destitution in Capitalist Russia Michael Burawoy, Pavel A. Krotov, Tatyana Lytkina · Ethnography	Jul 2000	203
35	Clean fake: Authenticating documents and persons in migrant Moscow Madeleine Reeves · American Ethnologist	Aug 2013	200
36	Dictators without borders: power and money in Central Asia Navruz Nekbakhtshoev · Central Asian Survey	22 Jan 2018	198
37	Sectarianism and conflict in Syria Christopher C. Phillips · Third World Quarterly	Feb 2015	196
38	Extensive Farming in Estonia Started through a Sex-Biased Migration from the Steppe Lehti Saag, Lehti Saag, Liivi Varul et al. · Current Biology Open access	Jul 2017	194
39	Red Famine. Stalin’s War on Ukraine Taras Kuzio · Europe Asia Studies	14 Sep 2018	191
40	Managing Society: Protest, Civil Society, and Regime in Putin's Russia Graeme B. Robertson · Slavic Review	2009	191
41	Constructing Primordialism: Old Histories for New Nations Ronald Grigor Suny · The Journal of Modern History	Dec 2001	191
42	From Soviet Nomenklatura to Russian Élite Olga V. Kryshtanovskaya, STEPHEN E. WHITE · Europe Asia Studies	Jul 1996	190
43	Patronal politics: Eurasian regime dynamics in comparative perspective Matthew Frear · East European Politics Open access	2 Jul 2016	188
44	The Postcolonial Moment in Russia’s War Against Ukraine Maria Mälksoo · Journal of Genocide Research Open access	11 May 2022	183
45	The Soviet Union as a Work-in-Progress: Ethnographers and the Category Nationality in the 1926, 1937, and 1939 Censuses Francine Hirsch · Slavic Review	1997	181
46	The Parade of Sovereignties: Testing Theories of Secession in the Soviet Setting Henry E. Hale · British Journal of Political Science	2000	181
47	Opportunity, Honor, and Action in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of 1943 Rachel L. Einwohner · American Journal of Sociology	Nov 2003	181
48	Democratization and Disintegration in Multinational States: The Breakup of the Communist Federations Carol Skalnik Leff · World Politics	1999	176
49	Georgi Markov — Death in a Pellet R. E. B. Crompton, David Gall · Medico-Legal Journal	Jun 1980	174
50	Coloured markets in the Soviet Union Aron Kat︠s︡enelinboĭgen · Soviet Studies	1977	174

Citations are OpenAlex's own counts, from its 2026-09-23 snapshot, so the ranking can differ from Google Scholar or Web of Science. A paper is listed for a field when OpenAlex files it under one of the field's topics; retracted papers and papers whose citation count cannot be traced to citing works are left out, and a preprint and the article it became are shown once. Release dates are OpenAlex's: where a source gave only a month or a year, that is what is shown. How the lists are chosen.