Local Self-Government
Innovations and Traditions in the Reform of Local Self-Government in Post-Soviet Russia
The author identifies the stages of the post-soviet municipal reform and the factors, which hindered the democratization and autonomization of local self-government in Russia. The article gives a comparative analysis of the models of local self-government used lately. Besides, each model is illustrated by the examples of specific regions (Ryazan, Kursk and Voronezh regions, the republic of Tatarstan). A big attention is paid to the roles of the regions in the reform of local self-government and the choice of its model. The author mentions the fact that at the regional level, the civic society structures are not involved in the reform (at least after 1994), and studies the influence of the principles of the executive vertical on local self-governments.
DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2001-21-3-5-28
Pages: 5-28
Russian Regions
Energy Resources and the Development Problems of Russian Cross-Border Territories
The article reviews and substantiates the tightest links between the energetics and the politics. Being the most lucrative and globally significant part of the national economy the energy sector becomes the arena of the clashes of different political interests, which sometimes acquire acute forms and have different political cover. The author dwells on the economic peculiarities of Russian cross-border subjects and the energetic factor of their development. The article covers the problems of the competition between some subjects of the Russian Federation for the energy investments, which, as a rule, results in big delays in making the investment decisions. As the article reads, at the background of more and more loose connections between Russia and other former soviet republics the importance of the cross-border regions as the bridges of cooperation and the re-integration of the post-soviet environment is increasing.
DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2001-21-3-29-44
Pages: 29-44
Phenomenon of Moscow
Vladimir Kolossov, Nadezhda Borodulina, Olga Vendina
Youri Luzhkov: Political Leader’s Image
The authors concentrate their attention on the electoral campaign of the key politician of the post-soviet period - Youri Luzkov. They try to generalize the results of using political technologies aimed at the creation or changing the image of a politician. The arguments and the counter-arguments used in the struggle and how they are related to the public ideas of the «good» and the «bad» national leader are analyzed. The analysis was done on the basis of numerous publications (more then 200 articles) of 1998 - 1999. According to the authors, the instability and the exposure to the variations in electors’ opinion characterize the current political situation in Russian. This is caused by the loose articulation of the political interests of different social groups, and gives the room for manipulating the public consciousness with the help of Mass Media and for replacing the real picture of the world with the set of mythological ideas and symbols.
DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2001-21-3-45-70
Pages: 45-70
Moscow – the Image of a City not Looking Like a Portrait
The article analyzes the m echanisms of the formation of the image of a city and the peculiarities of its perception. The author uses the instruments of political science as well as sociology, psychology and geography. The evolution of the image of a city is retraced comparing the three periods of time: 1930-1985, 1985-1991 and the period after 1992. The transformation processes in Moscow take place under the tough pressure of the time factor, as a result, several development stages overlap. However, the new socio-economic requirements and realities just cover the old ones without replacing them.
DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2001-21-3-71-93
Pages: 71-93
Russian Socium
Russian Bureaucracy in the Mirror of Statistics
The empiric basis of the article is statistical materials about civil servants published in 1999, the most detailed one during the last 70 years. The author dwells on the latest changes in Russian civil service, which he describes as fundamental. The management personnel on the federal and regional levels is characterized according to the area of employment (legislative, executive and judicial bodies), to the gender and the age, to the rates of renovation, to the educational level and the type of the education. According to the author, the stable tendency to the massive personnel rotation related to coming of new regional leaders is a major problem. The reproduction of the patronage system is turning into a continuous process, which blocks the creation of the non-partisan, professional and politically neutral civil service system.
DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2001-21-3-94-106
Pages: 94-106
Political Cultures
Conflict and Compromise in the French Political Culture
The article reads about the priority of the political system of conflict and the political system of compromise in the solution of internal and external tasks. It is shown on wide material that the political culture of protest is more typical for France. The French model is compared with the English one, the latter prefers the pragmatic compromise. The author is reluctant to overestimate the experience of the last decade of the XX-th century, which may make an impression that the two models are merging. However, the article shows that the priority of the conflict in French political culture never meant permanent instability and chaos in the country. On the contrary, the French society is more prone to conservatism, to delaying the solution of vexed problems thus escalating socio-political contradictions. Russian traditions with all their specifics are much closer to the French model then to the English one.
DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2001-21-3-107-123
Pages: 107-123
Post-Soviet Environment
«Russian Issue» in the Context of Kazakhstan-Russian Relations
This article is on the «Russian issue», which the author considers to be one of the most complicated and controversial aspects of Russian- Kazakhstan relations. Russia believes that Russian emigration from Kazakhstan results from the deteriorating situation in that country. The author admits that there is an ethnic competition between the Russians and the Kazakhs, and identifies its most evident spheres.
DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2001-21-3-124-129
Pages: 124-129
Russians of Tadzhikistan in the Ethno-Social Structure of the Republic
This article covers the evolution of the Russian community in Tadzhikistan since the time of its formation till now. The main attention is paid to the current position of the decreasing Russian community, the economic, cultural and psychological aspects of their life in the most unstable of former Soviet republics. The author assesses the prospects of their coming back to Russia since most of the Russians living in Tadzhikistan now have taken the Russian citizenship.
DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2001-21-3-130-138
Pages: 130-138
Public Expert Examination
Russian and Ukrainian Experts in the Quest of the New Algorithm of Intergovernmental Relations
The review covers the round table discussion of Russian and Ukrainian experts where the scenarios of bilateral relations based on the results of the ten years of independent existence were considered.
DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2001-21-3-139-142
Pages: 139-142
Russian Political System: an Opinion from the Outside
Privatization, Modernization and Regionalization of the Russian Empire
The Polish researcher concentrates on the Soviet modernization initiated in the 80-th by the country’s leadership and its consequences. However, the author goes far beyond these chronological frames in order to solve the tasks, which have been set, and compares the current processes with the fundamental problems in the Russian Federation. The article touches upon the issues of privatization and the peculiarities of the capital formation in modem Russia. The author pays a special attention to regionalism. He believes that it became the main sphere of the implementation of the policy and ideology in the post-soviet period.
DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2001-21-3-143-166
Pages: 143-166
Books Review
Thinking over the Time and the Labor (to the Publication of a Book by Hannah Arendt)
The bibliography research is devoted to Hannah Arendt, and the main attention is paid to her book «Vita activa». In this book, Hannah Arendt analyzes the fundamental problems of modem political science and philosophy - the influence of the progress of science and technology on human existence, the clash between morals and politics, action and contemplation, politics and philosophy. H.Arendt’s views are regarded in the context of her entire creative activity starting with her work «Roots of Totalitarism». Her agreements and disagreements with Max Weberi’s and Karl Marx’s ideas, her interpretation of the influence of Christianity on the attitude to active life and to labor are commented on in the article.
DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2001-21-3-167-176
Pages: 167-176
Chronicles
Political Parties in the First Half of 2001
The traditional for “Politeia” review gives the chronicle of the main events in the life of Russian political parties for the specific period of time. As usual, such chronicle covers the analysis of the alignment of Russian political forces. The formation of the party system and party building is assessed. Overcoming the split in the party of power, which followed the declared integration of the «Unity» and the «Fatherland», and the process of another demarcation in the liberal camp and further radicalization among the communists are considered in the review.
DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2001-21-3-177-208
Pages: 177-208