Abstracts ¹ 3, 2003

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Russian polity

Alexei Salmin

Metamorphoses of Russian democracy – from spontaneity to improvisation?

The article covers the analysis of the transformations, which followed the disintegration of the Soviet Union. The author weighs and assesses functioning of both structures and phenomena (alternative-based elections, territorial decentralization of public administration, allegedly pluralistic Mass Media) comparatively new for Russia, and the nature of the changes at the inherited institutions (armed forces, law enforcing agencies, education and science). The specifics of the new Russian market bureaucratic environment (oligarchs, clans, teams, privatization factors and structures of Russian state authorities) are in the focus of A. Salmin’s attention too. In his opinion, not only the extra elements make the current Russian regime different from developed democracies but also certain institutional vacancies occurred at the state-society borderline, because of the evident social inability to political self-organization and advocacy.

DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2003-30-3-5-59

Pages: 5-59


Mikhail Lazarev

Institutional order and political loyalty

According to the author, the experience of the world history proves to the fact that those societies where the political culture and the political system were traditionally guided by the values of order and loyal attitude to existing institutions achieved more. And on the contrary, the societies where values of changes (“we’ll change forth with the old conditions”) led to the fact that it took the society too much time and too much effort to resolve the problems and the conflicts. However, the order in social relationships is a fundamental condition not only for the stability in a state and its functioning but their progressive change as well.

DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2003-30-3-60-69

Pages: 60-69


Irina Gavrilova

Third sector and civil society in Russia, problems and of formation and development

The author analyzes non-profit non-governmental organizations created by the people as a response to current social problems. This is the only way, in which the civil society is formed i.e. from the grass-root level. According to I. Gavrilova, public involvement into social activities fosters the process of political socialization, increases civil responsibility and strengthens democracy in the country. The article addresses the problems of the third sector in Russia, the reasons of its comparative weakness and the prospects of its further development. The author states that the public system works more efficiently when the third sector is involved into decision making, and this is possible on the basis of wider consensus between the key actors of the current society – the state, private business and the third (non-governmental) sector.

DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2003-30-3-70-84

Pages: 70-84

Public consciousness

Chantal Kourilsky-Augeven

Gender, local context and legal socialization: Women in Moscow and Ivanovo

The article is based on the survey conducted in Moscow, an economically developed capital city and Ivanovo, a regional city with depressed economy. The author assesses the differences the way women from these two cities understand their rights. The attention is focused on such concepts as freedom and work, links with family and outer world.

DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2003-30-3-85-103

Pages: 85-103

Political cultures

Konstantin Truevtsev

Arab world in the XX-th century, the development of the national idea

The author believes that the Arab national idea is closely linked with the appearance and development of Arab nationalism as an ideological political movement. Initially the Arab nation was associated with Asians territories and only after World War I it extended to the whole habitat of Arabs. Later the national idea turned into panarabic political project, which was actively implemented during Gamal Abdel Nasser’s presidency. The article addresses the influence of anti-colonial struggle, relationships with the West and the establishment of the State of Israel on the Arab national idea. According to K. Truevtsev, in the historical combat with pan-islamism pan-arabism obviously came to an all-around failure playing a support role in the Palestinian problem.

DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2003-30-3-104-118

Pages: 104-118

School

Tatiana Alekseeva

What is political philosophy? Article one.

The series of three articles is aimed to give an idea about the most important problems of political philosophy and the most interesting approaches to their resolution formulated in the course of the centuries-old history of the political thought. The work is based on the problem principle and is not supposed to be a consistent presentation of political theories and doctrines. The content of the subject of political philosophy is reviewed through the series of interrelated issues, the attempts to interpret which actually makes the treasury of world political philosophical ideas.

The author reviews the arguments used for the defense of this or that idea and so called through-and-through ideas, which have been present in the political philosophy since the antiquity till our times.

DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2003-30-3-119-157

Pages: 119-157

RELIGION AND SOCIETY

Mikhail Shakhov, Olga Shutova

State-confessional relations: typologies and the “power model”.

The article generalizes multifaceted typologies, applied by those who study state-confessional relations. The authors propose their own model of assessing such relations – a so-called “power model”, which suggests that state-confessional relations be studied as a single object. This provides for an opportunity to analyze the internal structure of the components of these relations, to study their interactions, and to compare their roles in the formation of religious policy of a state.

DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2003-30-3-158-178

Pages: 158-178

Book review

Aleksander Akhiezer

Philosophy of the catastrophic world (by the publication of the two-volume edition by V.S. Bibler)

According to the critic, all V. Bibler’s philosophy, understanding of which is only beginning, is full of the humanistic concern about the destiny of the world. Bibler’s main idea lies in the necessity and reality of the appearance of the modern type of Reason different from the reasons, which dominated in the past (antiquity, middle ages and modern times). People will be able to survive, maintain and develop viability in the more complicated and dangerous world only if they are able to increase their capacities to formulate and resolve still more complicated problems. Bibler saw the threat to this process not so much in the real and potential natural and technogenic calamities but in the calamities of the mind.

DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2003-30-3-190-201

Pages: 190-201


Mikhail Narinskiy

Multi-faceted globalization Facets of globalization. Difficult issues of modern development. M., Alpina Publisher, 2003, 592 p.

The collective monograph prepared by the Gorbachev-foundation (with the introduction by M.S. Gorbachev himself) addresses the phenomenon of globalization. Globalization is regarded both as an objective phenomenon and from the point of view of neo-liberal globalism i.e. the form, which this objective process acquired in the modern world. The book consists of three parts. The first one includes the chapters dedicated to the conceptual review of the certain aspects of globalization, the second one covers the analysis of modern problems in the context of globalization and the third part deals with the situation and prospects of Russia in the globalizing world.

DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2003-30-3-202-209

Pages: 202-209

Antithesis

Vladimir Ryzhkov

Authoritarianism and Russia

When answering the question whether the current russian regime is authoritarian we may rather speak about the growing tendency to authoritarianism and the gradual desmantling of democratic principles and institutions. Reviewing the main components of the emerging authoritarianism V. Ryzhkov identifies the establishment of the control over influential mass media, restoration of state propaganda, manipulation of elections, degradation of other public power institutions (parliament, judicial system, political parties system, regional bodies and local self-government.) The article addresses Putin's model of development, possibilities and changes of the authoritarian updating.

DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2003-30-3-179-189

Pages: 179-189

Chronicle

Yury Korgunyuk

Russian parties in autumn, 2003

In the “Politeia” traditional section the chronicle of the life of Russian political parties in autumn 2003 till the parliamentary elections on the 7-th of December is given. As usual the chronicle is accompanied with the analysis of the distribution of political forces in the country for this period. Special attention is naturally paid to the election campaign and its results. Author thinks that the painful effect of its final may be compared with the results of 1993 campaign. Although, unlike the elections results ten years ago the current results were quite expected.

DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2003-30-3-210-236

Pages: 210-236