Social Consciousness
National Self-Consciousness as a Source of Value and Political Motivations
Keywords: national and state identity, national self-consciousness, nationalism
According to A.Galkin’s assessment, the ever greater activation of the national identity that generates many new national problems is one of the most important components of the era of turmoil ushering into the world. This trend manifests itself in distinct ways on different continents and regions, but the similarity of looming shifts is beyond any doubt. The above said is fully applicable towards Russia. For several reasons, at the end of the last century the national self-consciousness of the ethnic core of the country – the Russian population – was significantly weaker than in many other countries, but today the situation has fundamentally changed, which under the conditions of dominant domestic and value conservatism is fraught with a surge of aggressive nationalism.
DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2015-76-1-7-23
Leonid Bliakher, Konstantin Grigorichev
Gazing at Mirrors: Semantic Transformations of Image of China in Russian Society
Keywords: Russia, China, transboundary, “yellow peril”, social consciousness
On the example of the Russian-Chinese border areas L.Blyakher and K.Grigorichev analyze transformations within the structure of the “image of the border” and the “image of the other” when translating these images into spaces that are far enough from the zone of contact between the two countries. The article shows how the Russian-Chinese border areas gradually grow into each other converging at the level of behavioral matrices and social networks, bringing to life such phenomena as “Russian China” and “Chinese Russia”. At the same time for the inhabitants of the Russian regions situated far from the border areas it is these border areas that serve as an “authentic” China, and depending on the special characteristics of the region that “reflects” this “China” its image acquires novel, sometimes unexpected features.
Paradigms of Social Development
Leonid Fishman, Dmitry Davydov
From Capitalism to Rent Society?
Keywords: capitalism, rent, rent society
This article analyzes the term “rent” as a metaphor and a possible conceptual framework for studying the modern Western society. Contesting the validity of the argument that the capitalist system is based on overcoming rent-seeking behavior, L.Fishman and D.Davydov demonstrate that rent relations permeate modern capitalism to a greater extent than the preceding societal formations. According to their conclusion, capitalism as a society of material welfare maximizers through work and investment represents a fragile shell that hides old rental principles, and this shell can break at any moment exposing an unprecedented in history rent society that is developing inside this shell.
DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2015-76-1-7-39-54
Reforms Under Exogenous Shock: Adoption of European Arrest Warrant as Response to Tragedy of 9/11
Keywords: external shock, reforms, European Arrest Warrant, 9/11
Searching for an answer to a question about the impact of crisis events on policy A.Dekalchuk refers to the history of extradition policy reform in the EU, showing how a group of the European level political entrepreneurs was able to use the tragedy of 9/11 so as to force the EU member states to agree upon the Framework Decision on the European Arrest Warrant that completely changed the extradition procedure within the united Europe. The author’s analysis convincingly demonstrates that through the manipulation not only can entrepreneurs “impose” upon politicians a policy decision that is completely disconnected with the problem revealed by the crisis, but also force them to agree upon an outcome that they initially deemed unacceptable.
DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2015-76-1-7-55-66
Chaos and Game without Rules: on Modern Crisis of Trust in Relations Between Russia and the West
Keywords: trust in international relations, Russia, EU, US, crisis, discourse, risks, uncertainty
The article attempts to understand the role of trust in international relations, identify obstacles to its formation and analyze the current crisis of trust between Russia and the West and possible ways out of it. According to E.Alekseyenkova’s conclusion, solution to this problem requires a tactics that is exactly the opposite to the one we observe today: opening borders instead of closing them, promoting business contacts instead of introducing trade sanctions, increasing the number of joint projects and dialogue platforms instead of shutting them down, providing at least unbiased information instead of promoting an image of enemy through mass media.
Political theory
Alternative Political Forms in Historical Times and Civilizational Spaces (II)
Keywords: political form, political order, political formula, evolutionary morphology
The article represents a sort of prologue to the debate about the political form as a phenomenon and as an analytical category. After the excursion into morphology and its inherent interpretations of forms (morphs, patterns, types, images etc.), as well as into the chronopolitical scheme of evolutionary morphology undertaken by the author in the first part of the paper (seePoliteia, 2014, № 4), M.Ilyin starts discussing specific ideas and proposals put forward by S.Kaspe in the article “On Notion of Political Form” published in Politeia, 2012, № 4. He focuses on the issues related to the conceptualization of political forms and evolutionary sequence of forms’ development.
DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2015-76-1-7-82-102
Theory of Agenda Setting vs. Framing: How These Approaches Relate to Each Other
Keywords: agenda, framing, attributive agenda setting, mass media
In the modern American and European political communication science the relationship between framing and agenda setting approaches are still debated. Whereas some authors believe that these concepts are not fundamentally different, others argue that these constructs are far from identical to each other. Having carefully considered arguments supporting both viewpoints, A.Kazakov agrees with the second approach showing that the concept of framing allows to take into consideration those factors that are out of the scope of the agenda setting theory. The author illustrates his conclusions with the concrete examples from the practice of information warfare around the events in Southeast Ukraine during the summer of 2014.
Russian Polity
Transformation of Russia: For People or Elite?
Keywords: Russia, reforms, transition, Yeltsin, Medvedev, Putin, political elite, financial elite, intellectuals, labor
The article investigates the course and the outcomes of the Russian reforms during the last 25 years. Carefully analyzed the situation in the country and the position of the main socio-economic groups of its population at the start of the reforms, at different stages of their implementation and today, at the beginning of 2015, L.Grigoriev shows that both the elite and intellectuals can hardly be satisfied with the results of the reforms. In the global long-term competition for the well-being a quarter of a century and two million educated citizens who left the country opting for a stable life and material well-being have been lost. The dependence on a number of factors and phenomena of the Soviet period as well as on the specifics of the transformation in the first half of the 1990s remains. The main problem of Russia after a quarter century of transformations is the following: how to provide for a qualitative progress under the established institutions, a complex set of socio-economic problems, the existing elites and the incredibly acute external circumstances?
DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2015-76-1-7-114-139
Inverse Authoritarian Modernization Impact of 2000–2001 Labor Reform on Political Regime in Russia
Keywords: authoritarian modernization, labor reform, Russian politics
The paper investigates the relationship between labor law reform carried out in Russia in 2000–2001 and the subsequent transformation of the Russian political regime. Based on the detailed analysis of prerequisites, course and consequences of the adoption of a new Labor Code in 2001, I.Grigoriev shows that the relationship between authoritarianism and reforms postulated by the concept of authoritarian modernization might be in fact inverse because tactical steps that the government has to undertake under relatively democratic conditions in order to implement unpopular reforms alter the political landscape, thereby creating potential for increasing authoritarian tendencies.
Ideologies
Conservatism and Modernization: Unity or Struggle of Opposites?
Keywords: conservatism, modernization, Westernization, traditional values, Russia
While discussing the question of the extent to which the Russian conservatism is compatible with modernization, N.Rabotyazhev analyzes the views of Slavophiles, liberal conservatives of the beginning of the 20th century and representatives of different currents within the post-Soviet conservatism. Having carefully considered modernization projects offered by the left and right conservatives as well as Izborsk club’s theorists, he comes to the conclusion that the Russian conservatives are not fundamentally against modernization, but are in favor of another modernization that is not identical to Westernization. According to the author, although this approach can be justified, it is only liberal conservatism that is able to ensure successful modernization.
DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2015-76-1-7-153-174
Gubernatorial Readings
Keywords: center, regions, regional politics, crisis, investments, import substitution, Tyumen region
The material published here is a report on the Nineteenth Gubernatorial Readings held in Tyumen, December 5th, 2014, under the framework of the joint project conducted by the journal Politeia and the administration of Tyumen region with the topic of the Readings being regional development and regional politics, and a lecturer – N.V.Zubarevich, Professor at the Faculty of Geography, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Director of the regional program at the Independent Institute for Social Policy.