Abstracts ¹ 2, 2018

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Paradigms of Social Development

Alexey Malashenko, Yuliy Nisnevich, Andrey Ryabov

Modern Barbarism: Reasons and Concequences

Keywords: barbarism, civilization, the revolt of the masses, vertical invasion of barbarians, mass man

The article is devoted to the analysis of the phenomenon of “barbarism”, which is still relevant today for the public and political sphere. The authors focus on the so-called “vertical barbarism”. In contrast to the “horizontal barbarism”, which is known since the ancient times, “vertical barbarism” is not associated with the direct clash of peoples, but rather with complex social processes, primarily, powerful vertical mobility and vast expansion of the access of broad social strata to the achievements of civilization.

The authors believe that the birth of the “vertical barbarism” is associated with the phenomenon described as “the revolt of the masses” by Jose Ortega y Gasset, the Spanish philosopher. This is one of the most important

social and cultural shifts in the history of mankind, when the development of democracy and industrial technologies resulted in a new space for people’s existence and brought to the forefront of public and political life the “man of the masses”. “The revolt of the masses” in the first half of the 20th century entailed a wave of the “vertical barbarism” across Europe, which resulted in the establishment of fascist, Nazi and right-wing authoritarian regimes in several European countries. After the end of the World War II, the first wave of the “vertical barbarism” rolled back, and the consumer society started to develop, in which a “mass man” turned from an aggressive political subject into a relatively passive political object.

The authors interpret the recent political wakeup of a “mass man” as a new wave of the “vertical barbarism”. In their opinion, this wave is caused by the fear and frustration of a “mass man” who failed to adapt to the vast expansion of the space for her life and the qualitative change in the social sphere engendered by the development of democracy and the technological revolution of the late 20th — early 21st century. The lack of proper attention from the political forces and structures to the ongoing shifts aggravates the situation, making a “mass man” feel “abandoned” by the power and the state, which encourages her to rebel against the established order and throw out a challenge to the modern civilization.

DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2018-89-2-6-22

Pages: 6-22

Russian Polity

Rostislav Turovsky

Presidentia Elections in Russia: Opportunities and Limits of Electoral Consolidation

Keywords: strategic voting, incumbent, opposition, presidential elections, parliamentary elections, transfer of electorate

The article analyzes the processes of electoral consolidation around incumbents, as well as opposition candidates in the presidential elections in Russia. On the basis of the comparative analysis of the parliamentary and presidential campaigns within 6 electoral cycles, the author reveals shifts in the turnout and voting patterns for candidates in the presidential elections in comparison to the previous State Duma elections. His research shows that almost all viable candidates in presidential elections rely on the electorate of a certain party — usually the one from which the candidate is nominated (the only important exception to this rule is the vote for P.Grudinin in the 2018 elections). The study also shows that the increase in turnout in the presidential elections plays into the hands of the incumbent (except for B.Yeltsin in 1996), although in some cases it can boost support for a strong opposition candidate (e.g., G.Zyuganov in 1996) or an entirely new candidate (e.g., M.Prokhorov in 2012). Having compared voting patterns between parliamentary and presidential elections, the author comes to the conclusion that an incumbent is usually able to court swing voters, and, depending on the political context, voters from various party clusters such as supporters of “A Just Russia”, LDPR, liberal parties and the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (the latter — at the level of certain regions). Opposition candidates possess much more limited opportunities or lack them altogether. The author interprets the revealed trends as a manifestation of strategic voting, which is based on a rational choice of voters in favor of an incumbent.

DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2018-89-2-23-50

Pages: 23-50


Elena Shestopal, Natalia Smulkina

How do Russians Perceive their Country Today?

Keywords: political perception, country’s image, image of government, image of the people, political context, factors of perception, identity

The article is based on the materials of the study of the perception of Russia by its citizens, implemented at the Department of Sociology and Psychology of Politics of the Faculty of Political Science of the Lomonosov Moscow State University. The research technique of the study included methods of semi-structured interviews and projective tests. To interpret the data, the authors used both qualitative and quantitative methods, in particular, coding and scaling answers to open questions and statistical analysis. As a result of the empirical analysis, the authors revealed certain features of the formation of the image of Russia in the minds of Russians regarding their rational and unconscious perceptions of territory, people, government, political leaders and the role of the country in the international arena. The authors also tracked the impact of certain factors on this process and recorded differences in the image of Russia among residents of different regions.

According to the conclusion of the authors, although the process of the development of the image of Russia and the formation of the Russian national-state identity has been going on for as long as a quarter of a century, it is still far from completion. The psychological state of Russian society is extremely volatile. The revealed distrust of the citizens towards the government and the state proves that the negative trends dating back to the 1980s that led to a serious complex of “national inferiority” have not been completely overcome. The rise of national pride that took place in 2014 has not yet taken root.

DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2018-89-2-51-68

Pages: 51-68

Religion and Politics

Yury Medvedev

Protestant Roots of Modern Statehood (About Impact of the Reformation on Development of the Institution of State)

Keywords: state, Reformation, Protestantism, church, hierarchy

The concept of state as an institution with monopoly over legitimate physical violence, which dates back to the Modern history, in many respects echoes the ideas of the Reformation and Protestantism. In this sense, one of the most important features of Protestantism is the denial of or a significant decrease in the role of church hierarchy, which had serious political consequences. The idea of an intermediary between God and a man has always been fundamental for Christianity: Christ himself is understood through this role, and the fundamental doctrine of the Christian religion — The Christian Doctrine of the Trinity — speaks about it. Protestantism deemed the church hierarchy an unnecessary duplication of the mediating role of Christ by making Scripture the main source of faith, by largely eliminating the mystical component, and by marginalizing the principle of apostolic succession. Disagreement with a free will concept, which prevailed in the Protestant doctrine, also became an essential factor in delegitimizing the church hierarchy.

By clearly separating the state and the church, the Reformation helped to secure the church’s monopoly over salvation of human souls and the state’s monopoly over regulation of secular personal relations. After becoming a solely secular institution, whose legitimacy is predominantly based on rational and legal grounds, the state largely lost its paternalistic functions. It now remains an exclusively external force, whose interaction with its citizens mainly comes down to “selective” acts of coercion.

DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2018-89-2-69-83

Pages: 69-83


Maria Ukhvatova

Blessing of the Guardians (Religious Rhetoric at Inauguration of Governors in Russia)

Keywords: ROC, religion, politics, conservative turn, Orthodoxy, inauguration

Russia recently experienced a so called “conservative turn”, which was accompanied by a significant strengthening of the Russian Orthodox Church’s (ROC) role in social and political life. The increasingly frequent participation of bishops in official state events, including inaugurations, reflects this trend. On the basis of the analysis of the speeches of the Orthodox clergy at inauguration ceremonies of the heads of subjects of the Russian Federation in 2012—2017, the author shows that the “conservative turn” did not leave the ROC untouched. The author was able to spot an “authoritarian” message in the overwhelming majority of speeches. Not only does the Orthodox clergy emphasize spiritual and moral values, which are interpreted as the foundation of state, but it also shows strong support for the lack of alternation of power, ties success and prosperity of regions to the cooperation of regional authorities with the Church and insists on the divine nature of power per se. If in the early 1990s the ROC criticized the “compulsory statehood”, which deprived people of the opportunity and desire to think independently, and proclaimed principles of equality, freedom and spiritual revival, today its discourse fits perfectly into the conservative discourse of the authorities. According to the author’s conclusion, the leadership of the ROC should be regarded as part of the “conservative coalition” of modern Russia. Such acknowledgment opens up opportunities for a deeper understanding of the reasons for the transformation of the Russian political regime.

DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2018-89-2-84-101

Pages: 84-101

Practical Sociology

Igor Zadorin

“Frontier” Regions: Territorial Identity and Perception of “Specialness”

Keywords: frontier, mass consciousness, value orientations, territorial and civil identity

The article presents the results of the comprehensive study conducted by the ZIRCON Research Group in four frontier regions of Russia (Crimea, Primorsky krai, Kaliningrad and Murmansk regions) and two control regions located in the Russian geographic core (Kostroma region and Chuvashia). The research methods included collection of data on the current situation in the regions, mass opinion polls and a series of discussion focus groups that included representatives of (1) small and medium-sized businesses, (2) civil society, and (3) expert community. The sample included adult population of these regions at the age of 18 years and above. The sample size was five thousand respondents.

The study focused on the following components: the rootedness of the population (whether people are potentially ready to move to another region); territorial identity; perception of the region of residence and its population; perception of the characteristics of the inhabitants of the region; the level of trust and the propensity for solidarity; the level of openness; the presence/absence of “defence consciousness”; views on the prospects for the development of the region and its “mission”; the perception of the region as “special” in comparison with other regions of the Russian Federation; the level of political loyalty of the population; the perception of and the attitude to the “federal center”; the attitude to the expansion of the powers of the region.

The study’s ultimate aim was to reveal the link between the territorial identity of the population of the participating regions and their people’s perception of the prospects for the development of the region, including its relations with the federal center and other subjects of the Russian Federation.

DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2018-89-2-102-136

Pages: 102-136

Cathedra

Eduard Shults

Classification of Revolutions: New Approach

Keywords: theory of revolution, classification of revolutions, types of revolutions, subtypes of revolutions

The article is devoted to one of the key problems in the theory of revolution — the problem of the classification of revolutions. All of the existing approaches to the classification of revolutions typically reflect theoretical views of researchers. Theoretical concepts always prevail over the real events, whether revolutions are classified according to their mission, civilizational features, driving forces or ideological orientation. Those cases that do not fit the theoretical concept are usually simply ignored. The article proposes a fundamentally different approach to the problem. In contrast to a theory-driven approach, the author suggests revolutions should be classified from the point of view of revolutions themselves as a phenomenon and an object of the analysis with the help of two criteria: first, algorithm (course and stages of revolution) and the temporal sequence of revolutions; second, tasks that revolutions solve. On the basis of the comparative analysis of all the revolutionary events that took place in the world, he comes to the conclusion that there are two types of revolutions, each of which is divided into three subtypes. This analytical model allows, first, to introduce a single classification element of revolutions that encompass all phenomena of this kind; second, to explain differences in the manifestations of revolutions; and third, to move from the specific to the general (i.e. generalized theory of revolution) and to raise the question of the theoretical justification for the origin of revolutions.

DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2018-89-2-137-155

Pages: 137-155


Nikolai Grishin

History of the Origin of Electoral Commissions

Keywords: electoral policy, electoral management, electoral bodies, electoral commissions

The article focuses on the specifics of the origin and stages of development of the institution of electoral commissions as the most common bodies of electoral management.

The author critically analyzes the range of the meanings of the term “electoral commission” and formulates his own definition — independent collegial bodies responsible for holding elections. Such a definition allows him to capture the essential characteristics of an institution, as well as to clarify the spatial and chronological boundaries of its origin. On the basis of the set of historical sources published in recent years, he shows that the first central electoral commissions appeared in the last quarter of the 19th century (in Colombia and Peru), which is more than half a century earlier of what the conventional wisdom holds.

Electoral commissions have long been associated primarily with the developing countries. However, since the end of the 20th century they began to spread rapidly in the developed democracies. Today, this institution is in high demand in the countries with very different political regimes and levels of centralization of the electoral management. According to the author’s conclusion, the potential of electoral commissions is far from exhausted. It is highly plausible that the institution of independent collegial bodies of electoral management, while retaining its basic features, will continue to evolve, and its certain modifications will play an important role in the electoral management system.

DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2018-89-2-156-169

Pages: 156-169

Gubernatorial Readings

Transformation of Russia’s Human Capital (Thirty-Second Gubernatorial Readings. Tyumen, April 25th, 2018)

Keywords: human capital, social skills, economic growth, institutions, education, motivation

The material published here is a report on the Thirty-Second Gubernatorial Readings held in Tyumen, April 25th, 2018, under the framework of the joint project conducted by the journal Politeia and the administration of the Tyumen region. The topic of the Readings is the transformations of Russia’s human capital. V.E.Gimpelson, Director of the Center for Labor Market Studies at the National Research University Higher School of Economics, in his speech provided a definition of human capital and discussed in details a number of questions related to its current state and future development in Russia (supply and demand of human capital in the Russian Federation, the quality of Russia’s human capital and prospects for its growth, resources for investment in human capital etc.). M.A.Giltman, Professor of the Tyumen State University, in his presentation analyzed formation of the human capital in the Tyumen region, primarily in the sphere of education. A.M.Gretsova, HR Director of the West-Siberian Bank of PJSC Sberbank of Russia, and E.A.Rudyk, Head of the Personnel Evaluation and Development Department of RN-Uvatneftegaz, shared their experience in accumulating hu- man capital within their corporations, focusing on the institution of mentoring. M.M.Skvortsov, Director General of JSC “TALK”, winner of the contest “Leaders of Russia”, devoted his speech to the role of the projects of the forum “Russia — Land of Opportunities” in shaping demand and supply of human capital. V.V.Yakushev, Governor of the Tyumen region, summed up the discussion by drawing attention to the complex nature of the formation of human capital and the important roles that the state, business and family can and should play in this process.

DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2018-89-2-170-198

Pages: 170-198