Post-Soviet Space
Political systems of Russia and Kazakhstan: comparative analysis
The author is focused on studying the issue of vitality of the political structure in post-Soviet states and the possibility in principle of their further political evolutionary transformation. Russia and Kazakhstan - countries having a lot in common, according to K.Truevtsev - were chosen as objects of the comparative analysis. Meanwhile, the transformations in Russia, especially in the years 1990-1993, were of a revolutionary kind, with the majority of soviet system's components having undergone radical modifications. Kazakhstan's political regime was also desovietized, but the changes were mostly evolutionary. In other words, that was the realization of Gorbachev's model of progressive transformation from totalitarianism to democracy through "soft authoritarianism". From this starting point K.Truevtsev assesses the prospects of further political development of the countries concerned.
DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2005-36-1-5-21
Pages: 5-21
Foreign Policy Perspectives
Valery Fyodorov, Dmitry Polikanov
Public opinion and foreign policy of modern Russia
The article is based on the analysis of opinion polls on foreign policy that are regularly conducted by the All-Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM). The authors analyze how important the public mood is in the elaboration of foreign policy decisions (the study includes historical retrospective). The attention is focused on the society’s reaction to government's foreign policy steps. Comparing opinion polls data for several years, the authors reveal the tendency that Russia locks itself within its own limits, sticks to its own problems or, at most, those of the former Soviet republics and several distant foreign states (such as the USA, the European Union, China). This provokes loss of interest to foreign policy in general by VCIOM respondents'.
DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2005-36-1-22-39
Pages: 22-39
Political Cultures
Conservatism in the globalized era: replacement or preservation of rule-proclaiming paradigms
The author shares the view that conservatism presents the deepest and structurally most complex philosophical, ideological, political and cultural phenomenon of a mainly Western intellectual tradition, and one of the most significant elements determining civilization’s development. At the same time, he considers conservatism to be a time-dependent, active and viable category. The article analyzes various approaches to the perception of conservatism. A special emphasis is placed on particularities and prospects of conservatism (as an ideology, political practice and cultural tradition) in the light of accelerating globalization.
DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2005-36-1-40-63
Pages: 40-63
Migration Perspectives
Old and new faces of a national problem
The author is focused on the phenomenon of a "new national question" that came to the top of agenda during the last several decades. The article analyzes the reasons for its appearance, its difference from traditional factors creating national problems and provoking inter-national antagonisms. A.Galkin studies mass migration flows heading from the third world countries to the most developed states of the Western Europe against the background of globalization, rapid development of mass-media (the awareness of different living standards is now occurring everywhere), qualitative perfection of means of transportation, etc. The author does not forget about social, socio-psychological, and political (including electoral) consequences of the "new national question".
DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2005-36-1-64-84
Pages: 64-84
Europe: from temporary foreign workers to new ethnic minorities
The article covers the particularities of a migration model characterizing the Western Europe of recent decades, demonstrates how it differs from models of the past, including the recent one. A special emphasis is put on the development in the leading European countries of multiple unsociable ethnic enclaves whose very existence hinders migrants’ adaptation to cultural, linguistic and other contexts of a country of residence. Based on the analysis of all the tendencies related to ethnic migration the author proposes three possible scenarios for further development of the situation, makes prognoses and provides quantitative estimates.
DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2005-36-1-85-107
Pages: 85-107
Russia: demographic aspect of the immigration problem
The article analyzes migration processes in the post-Soviet Russian Federation. The author studies the dimensions and dynamics of migration, the structure of immigrants to Russia. The attention is specifically focused on the state-level migration policy, on radical change of which V.Perevedentsev sets hopes for mitigating the country's depopulation. Supported by numbers, he proves that without it the very survival of a nation could be threatened.
DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2005-36-1-108-122
Pages: 108-122
Laboratory
"Electronic government" and society: attempt of comparative analysis
The article provides a comparative analysis of a phenomenon generally called in the modern literature an "electronic government" (e-government). The author studies state and municipal government’s electronic infrastructure rapidly developing since 1990s and comprising technologies of a via-internet interaction between government authorities, on the one hand, and citizens, civil society institutes, business structures and non-governmental organizations, on the other. Y.Irkhin compares similar tendencies in such different countries as the USA, Canada, Great Britain, Finland, Australia, Singapore, South Korea and, naturally, Russia.
DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2005-36-1-123-143
Pages: 123-143
Academia
Perception and essence of the political
A fourth article from a series of publications on the most significant problems of political philosophy tries to discover the essence of notion "the political". The author comes to it through consideration of various interpretations of the notion "politics" (politics as government, politics as public activity, politics as authoritative distribution of resources). At the same time, T.Alekseyeva notes that she uses one, but not the sole possible way of reasoning.
DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2005-36-1-144-170
Pages: 144-170
Debut
First ladies institute (the US example)
The article is based on the author's empirical study of the American material. The attention is focused on the "first ladies" institute as a political phenomenon and significant electoral factor. The work analyzes particularities of the dynamics and development stages of the "first ladies" institute, as well as changes in its representatives' official status. C.Kim explains, among others, why the "first ladies" institute had been first established in the USA and why it didn’t get similar development in other Western democracies.
DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2005-36-1-171-180
Pages: 171-180
Book Review
The author names V.Nikonov’s book among the few works aimed to provide a professional approach to the reconstruction of complex history and the comprehension of a controversial essence of the Soviet social experiment. To his mind, the book stands out both in comparison with Soviet models of strict determination, narrowness and subjectivism in interpreting soviet history and a publicist boom of both perestroika and post-perestroika periods. V.Zhuravlev believes that the book under review not only reconstructs the events of the Soviet period, but also helps understand its deep social and psychological roots.
DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2005-36-1-181-188
Pages: 181-188
The book under review presents a fundamental collective monograph on the beginning of perestroika in the USSR, with perestroika’s active players – M.Gorbatchev's followers or important witnesses of events – sharing their recollections on perestroika and assessing it from today's perspective.
The author is focused on an attempt to find answers to the following questions: was perestroika a start to the democratic modernization of Russia or a time of illusions and lost opportunities? What are the social and political meaning and prospects of current reforms? Is perestroika a phenomenon of the past, the present or the future? How to implement a reform so as not to lose all the valuable the country had had and to use new achievements? V.Fedotova believes that M.Gorbatchev made an attempt to reform the Soviet system (a little too late) and called for a new thinking (a little too early).
DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2005-36-1-189-200
Pages: 189-200
Chronicle
Time to eat through. Russian political parties in spring 2005
In a traditional "Politeia’s" quarterly review the author analyzes the alignment of political forces in Russia in spring 2005, provides the chronicle of main developments in the life of Russian political parties during the reviewed period. The author focuses on political consequences of mass discontent and resistance provoked by monetization of social benefits.
DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2005-36-1-201-232
Pages: 201-232