Alexandra Orlova
Alexandra Orlova received her PhD in law from Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, in 2004. She also holds a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) from Osgoode Hall Law School and has been called to the Bar of Ontario since 2002. Prior to pursuing her graduate studies, she articled with a large Bay Street firm and served as a legal counsel for the Ministries of Tourism and Culture, Recreation and Citizenship in the Ontario government. Orlova has taught at Toronto Metropolitan University in the Faculty of Arts, Department of Criminology since 2005.
Orlova's main research interests focus on transnational organized crime, global constitutionalism, human rights and international crimes. She has been published widely in a variety of high-impact, international peer-reviewed journals, has co-edited a book with colleagues from the Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University and presented her work at a variety of national and international conferences.
Orlova lectured as an invited international expert at the Railway Police College in Zhengzhou, China pertaining to issues of national security, terrorism and organized crime. She co-organized a number of international SSHRC funded conferences, which brought together scholars, practitioners and government officials from many different jurisdictions.
Orlova is a member of editorial boards of Trends in Organized Crime journal and Contemporary Readings in Law and Social Justice journal. She provided expert opinion pertaining to organized crime and human trafficking to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the Norwegian Refugee Council’s Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre as well as for lawyers representing victims of organized crime and human trafficking in Canada and the UK. In addition to pursuing research, Orlova has acted as a supervisor to PhD and MA-level students, as well as supervised undergraduate and graduate research assistants.
Edited Books
Место Западных Идей в Российском Общественном и Правовом Сознании (The Place of Western Ideas in Russian Socio-Legal Consciousness) I.O. Dementev,, A.V. Orlova,, V.A. Chalyi (eds.), (Kaliningrad, Russia: Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University Press, 2016) 4 [in Russian].
Edited Journal Volumes
“New Governance Strategies for Preventing Corruption: Law, Theory and Practice,” Gerry Ferguson, Suvrajyoti Gupta, Alexandra Orlova, Poonam Puri (eds.), (2018) 9:1 Jindal Global Law Review.
Papers in Refereed Journals
Orlova, A.V., “Conflict and Crime: Will the Russia-Ukraine Conflict Result in the Rise of the Russian Mafia?” Chinese Journal of International Review 4:2 (2022), 225009-1 to 225009-25.
“Russia’s Utilization of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Lockdowns, Re-Sovereignization and Disengagement from the West,” Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies 29:2 (2022), 119-145.
“‘Digital Sovereignty,’ Anonymity and Freedom of Expression: Russia’s Fight to Re-Shape Internet Governance,” UC Davis Journal of International Law and Policy 26:2 (2020), 225-247. (Funding for this article was provided by Toronto Metropolitan University Faculty of Arts Special Grant (SPG))
“The Soft Power of Dissent: The Impact of Dissenting Opinions from the Russian Constitutional Court” (2019) 52 Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law 611-642.
“‘Foreign Agents,’ Sovereignty, and Political Pluralism: How the Russian Foreign Agents Law Is Shaping Civil Society” (2019) 7:2 Penn State Journal of Law & International Affairs 382-417 (Winner of the New York State Political Science Association’s (NYSPSA) Arthur L. Galub Best Faculty Paper Award).
“Russian Politics of Masculinity and the Decay of Feminism: The Role of Dissent in Creating New ‘Local Norms’” (2018) 25 William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender and Social Justice 59-86.
“Sovereignty, Dissent, and the Shaping of International Consensus around Human Rights: An Examination of Russian “Disengagement” from the European Court of Human Rights” (2018) 35:3 Arizona Journal of International and Comparative Law 435-468.
“Challenging Everyday Violence of the State: Developing Sustained Opposition Movements through Anti-Corruption Protests” (2018) 42 Research in Social Movements, Conflicts and Change 173-196.
A.V. Orlova and V. Boichev,, “‘Corruption is Us’: Tackling Corruption by Examining the Interplay between Formal Rules and Informal Norms within the Russian Construction Industry” (2017) 33:4 Journal of Developing Societies 401-427.
“’Public Interest,’ Judicial Reasoning and Violence of the Law: Constructing Boundaries of the ‘Morally Acceptable’” (2017) 9:2 Contemporary Readings in Law and Social Justice 51-80.
“Privatizing Homosexuality: Russia’s Reassertion of ‘Moral Sovereignty’ over Gay Rights” Human Rights and International Legal Discourse” (2017) 11:2 = 122-181.
“Plugging the Baby Gap? The Struggle to Reverse Demographic Decline in Russia” (2015) 3:3 Russian Law Journal 83-109.
“A Promising Solution? Changing the Current Russian Business Climate by Amending the Criminal Code” (2012) 23:5 European Business Law Review 809-830.
“Stoking Dangerous Fires: Nationalism and Hate Crime in the Russian Federation” (2010) 2:3 Journal of Eurasian Law 37-62.
“The Russian ‘War on Drugs’: A Kinder, Gentler Approach?” (2009 56:1 Problems of Post Communism = 23-34.
“Russia’s Anti-Money Laundering Regime: Law Enforcement Tool or Instrument of Domestic Control?” (2008) 11:3 Journal of Money Laundering Control 210-233.
“A Comparison of the Russian and Canadian Experiences with Defining ‘Organized Crime’” (2008) 11:2 Trends in Organized Crime 99-134.
“Korruption in Russland. Vom Mythos des Marktes und des Staates als Gegenmittel” (Corruption in Russia: What remedy can finally cure it? Comparison of Yeltsin’s neo-liberal and Putin’s statist reforms) (2008) 1 Osteuropa 21-34 [in German].
(Most cited non-English language journal as evaluated in the Journal Citation Report (2001) of the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI).)
“Missing the Mark: The Russian Experience with Defining ‘Organized Crime’”(2007) 1:2 Columbia Journal of East European Law 207-230.
“A Hope for the Future? Prosecuting Crimes Against Humanity in Russia's Courts” (2007) 7 International Criminal Law Review 45-76.
A.V. Orlova, & S.Baglay “Stumpfe Waffen des Gesetzes: Der Kampf gegen den Menschenhandel in Russia und der Ukraine,” (A Comparative Analysis of Russian and Ukrainian Legislative Efforts Directed Against Human Trafficking) (2006) 6 Osteuropa 169-191 [in German].
"Trafficking of Women and Children for Exploitation in the Commercial Sex Trade: The Case of the Russian Federation" (2005) VI:II Georgetown Journal of Gender and the Law157-178.
A.V. Orlova, & J.W. Moore,, “‘Umbrellas' or ‘Building Blocks’? Defining International Terrorism and Transnational Organized Crime in International Law” (2005) 27:2 Houston Journal of International Law267-310. (This article was cited by the Supreme Court of Canada in R v. Venneri [2012] 2 S.C.R. 211 at para.39 (majority opinion, written by Fish J.)
“Organized Crime and the Rule of Law in the Russian Federation” (2005) 2:1 Essex Human Rights Review23-37.
“From Social Dislocation to Human Trafficking: The Russian Case” (2004) 51:6 Problems of Post Communism14-22.
Book Chapters
“Russian Organized Crime and Political Power” in Felia Allum and Stan Gilmour (eds.), The Handbook of Organized Crime and Politics (Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar, 2019), forthcoming.
“Влияние Запада: правовой колониализм или космополитизм? Место зарубежной правовой позиции и соразмерности в продвижении защиты прав человека” Ma(Western Influence: legal colonialism or cosmopolitanism? The place of foreign legal ideas and the concept of proportionality in protecting human rights) in I.O. Dementev, A.V. Orlova, V.A. Chalyi , (eds.), Место Западных Идей в Российском Общественном и Правовом Сознании (The Place of Western Ideas in Russian Socio-Legal Consciousness) (Kaliningrad, Russia: Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University Press, 2016), 153-177 [in Russian].
“The Fight Against Transnational Organized Crime in Russia” in Felia Allum and Stan Gilmour (eds.), Routledge Handbook of Transnational Organized Crime (London and New York: Routledge, 2011) 494-508.
P. Burstein, P. & A.V. Orlova,, “Criminal Organization Legislation: Politics and Practice” in M.E. Beare (ed.), Honouring Social Justice (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2008) 251-270.
Other Publications
“Роль конституционных судов в конструировании концепции «общественного интереса» и влияние на права меньшинств” (“The Role of Constitutional Courts in Construction of ‘Public Interest’ and Impact on Minority Rights”) II International Conference proceedings titled, Тамбовские правовые чтения имени Ф.Н. Плевако (Tambov Legal Readings Dedicated to 175th Anniversary of Fyodor Plevako), (Tambov: Tambov Federal University Press, 2017) 91-96 [in Russian].
Winner of the President’s Blue & Gold Award of Staff Excellence as a member of the Lincoln Alexander School of Law at Toronto Metropolitan University Startup Team (2020)
Winner of the Arthur L. Gallub best faculty paper award for the New York State Political Science Association (2019)
| Degree | Institution | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Ph.D. (Doctor of Laws) | Osgoode Hall Law School, York University | 2004 |
| LLB (Bachelor of Laws) | Osgoode Hall Law School, York University | 2000 |
Called to the Bar of Ontario (2002)