Beyond the Natasha Effect: Determinants of Human Trafficking Policy Variation in the Post-Soviet Region

Abstract

This dissertation examined how human trafficking policies diffused in the post-Soviet region, a significant source region for female victims of sex trafficking dubbed Natashas. The main research question examined why some countries adopted policies while others did not. More specifically it examined whether human trafficking variations in all 15 countries of the former Soviet Union were due to internal determinants and/or from external pressure from the international community. Case studies with fieldwork in Russia, Latvia, and Ukraine determined the situation within the policy subsystem concerning adoption. The qualitative research was supplemented with a pooled time series analysis from 2003-2012 of all 15 countries of the former Soviet Union that determined the scope of human trafficking policies and a preliminary model for policy implementation. My research expanded the diffusion of innovation framework to explain the policy adoption variations throughout this region by adapting it fit the international context and supplemented with theories from morality politics and feminist policy. The results demonstrated that both international and external factors influenced the adoption of human trafficking policies in the 15 countries of the former Soviet Union.