Acknowledgements

The author wishes to express sincere thanks to the staff and member groups of the Moscow Research Center for Human Rights for providing contact information and personal introductions to many of the human rights organizations profiled in this thesis. The Express Chronicle Human Rights News Agency also provided valuable access to back-issues of their newspaper and daily wire service. In addition, the Center for Civil Society International provided a great deal of support throughout the research process. Finally, the supervisory committee of Professors Steve Hanson, Leslie Eliason and Glennys Young deserve special thanks for working with the author to meet very difficult deadlines for completion of this project.

Dedication

I would like to dedicate this work to my parents, who raised me to appreciate all that I had and to never take things for granted. Their support over the years both emotionally and financially have enabled me to pursue a career path directed from the heart. I don't know if it was Mom taking me to environmental demonstrations at the age of two or all of that Dylan music she played when I was a child, or if it was Dad's words of wisdom about always doing right and committing yourself to what you believe in, but between the two of them, they played a big part in this, whther they know it or not. Thanks for believing in me.

In the spirit of Sakharov, Mandela, and Jonathan Livingston Seagull...