Political culture
Empire in jeopardy: the end of debates on politics and culture.
According to the author the new alignment of forces in the system of international relations, which shaped by the beginning of the XXI-st century may be efficiently integrated into the imperial model. The world the way it exists now is the sphere of the might of the West, and first of all, its current nuclear the United States of America. All the events in the world become sort of the internal affairs of the global empire of the West. The current degree of globalization renders the serious potential of sustainability to this empire. The article highlights different problems of further global unification, in particular, the problems related to value potential and explicit Christian roots of Western civilization.
DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2003-28-1-5-18
Pages: 5-18
Public consciousness
Public tolerance: needs and obstacles.
The authors are convinced that the culture of tolerance is a necessary condition for strengthening of young Russian democracy, which is currently surviving a deep crisis. It is especially important since modern development polarizes private interests, and it is getting more and more difficult to reduce these to the common denominator. The corner stone of tolerant attitude to private interests and opinions, to groups and individuals expressing them is to recognize otherness as something natural and integral. The article covers the review of the social component of tolerance. An emphasis is made to the historical specifics of Russian tolerance.
DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2003-28-1-19-33
Pages: 19-33
New view of the society? Changing ideas of the power, justice and solidarity.
The empiric basis of the article is the comparative Russian-French survey conducted among school children in Moscow, Ivanovo and Paris in 1993 and 2001 respectively. The author analyzes the specifics of the legal socialization of the youth, the dynamics of their ideas of the social arrangement along the “power-society” axis. O. Zdravomislova believes that the experience of the 90-ies influenced the social ideas of the Russian people. However, it does not yet give grounds to speak about shaping of the new conception of social life. According to the author, at the moment it is only possible to see how the younger generation starts to grasp the very general ideas of democracy and liberal values.
DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2003-28-1-34-51
Pages: 34-51
Antithesis
The author focuses on the causes of the decline of Russia and the prospects of its revival. The article is written as polemics with an American researcher Thomas Graham. A. Zubov consistently analyzes and challenges Graham’s position on the time of the beginning of the decline and the synonymy of the tsarist Russia and the Soviet Union. The author proves that pre-bolshevik Russia was a different country, it was normal for its time although a bit lagging behind in the development of social relations and national economy. The current situation in Russia is the price to pay for the way of violent redistribution of power and property once chosen.
DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2003-28-1-52-79
Pages: 52-79
Post-soviet space
Interregional relations as a factor of stability in the republic of Belorus.
The article covers the review of the complicated and controversial phenomenon of modern Belorussia and the reasons of comparative internal stability in the country. According to I. Kirilkina, one of such reasons is the lack of the threat to the current stability in Belorussian regions. Another important factor decreasing the possibility of conflicts is changes inside ethnic minorities. At the same time, the author speaks about the possible prerequisites of the internal tension growth. She mentions changing of the situation in the export oriented sectors as one of the circumstances, which could impact future stability. Besides, the fact that the European Union is going to be next door may also significantly change the situation in some Belorussian regions dividing them into winners (first of all, the regions of new transport corridors) and losers.
DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2003-28-1-80-91
Pages: 80-91
Recent history
The article focuses on the last two years before the disintegration of the Soviet Union. R. Simonyan emphasises the role of the three Baltic union republics. The author gives consistent arguments against the common mass consciousness myth that the Baltic republics were almost the principal cause of the onset of centrifugal processes in the USSR. The blame is laid on the union leadership, which due to its short-sighted and incompetent policy provoked radical changes. The author believes that these were the Baltic republics, which offered a realistic way to keep the Soviet Union, and the central leadership, on the contrary, did everything to destroy it.
DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2003-28-1-92-120
Pages: 92-120
The seven-th congress of the Russian deputies: political drama in five acts.
The author focuses on the VII-th congress of the people’s deputies of Russia. The congress took place in December 1992 and holds a special place in recent history due to its political heat and the consequences of the decisions made. It is worthwhile to mention that V. Sheinis is a direct witness and active participant of the events, which took place at the congress. In the article he gives his opinion of the protagonists who represented different political camps analyzing the obvious mistakes of the presidential side and its lost opportunities. The author believes that from the historical point of view the VII-th congress was a defeat for all – for the president and his supporters, for the opposition and for the society.
DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2003-28-1-121-140
Pages: 121-140
Cathedra
The article covers attempts to define the structure of Polish political field, to reveal the origins of the lines of the main political watershed reviewing all that in the wide political context. The author moves and substantiates the thesis that the specifics of Polish political differentiation can be best explained from the point of view of the periphery status of this country in comparison with Russia and Western Europe. The classical Lipset-Rokkan model is used in order to interpret both modern situation in Poland and the situation at the turn of the XIX-th and XX-th centuries according to the scheme “centre-periphery”. The author also tries to understand whether the conclusions made in his article are applicable to other countries of the region, in particular to Russia.
DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2003-28-1-141-164
Pages: 141-164
Overlapping of conflicts: Russian experience in the light of the revision of Lipset-Rokkan formula.
The author inquires about the adequacy of Lipset-Rokkan formula for studying of social conflicts in the future. He thinks that Lipset-Rokkan model is quite adequate for this purpose if to develop its theoretical basis and to view the social conflicts designated by Lipset-Rokkan theory as the stages of a single process. Yu. Korgunyuk draws attention to the coincidence of the conflicts designated by S. Lipset and S. Rokkan with the stages of the modernization process reviewing each of these stages. The author points to the necessity to differentiate between overlapping of conflicts and their mere co-existence. The situation with overlapping of conflicts is considered using examples from Russian political history.
DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2003-28-1-165-192
Pages: 165-192
Laboratory
Fuad Aleskerov, Vitaliy Platonov
Indexes of parliament representativeness.
The authors introduce and analyze two indexes characterizing the degree of recording of electoral preferences based on the method of proportional representation. The calculations of these indexes are made on the basis of the results of the elections to the State Duma in 1993-1999.
DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2003-28-1-193-200
Pages: 193-200
Chronicle
Political parties in Russia, December 2002-March 2003
In the traditional for “Politeia” review the chronicle of the main events in the life of Russian political parties in the period between December 2002 and March 2003 is given. As usual, such chronicle is supplemented by the analysis of the alignment of political forces in the country at this period of time. Special attention is paid to the developments in Russian political field in the light of the beginning of the regular parliamentary election campaign.
DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2003-28-1-201-231
Pages: 201-231