Method
Unpacking Cosmopolitanism for the Social Sciences: a Research Agenda
Keywords: cosmopolitanism, methodological cosmopolitanism, methodological nationalism, social theory
The article by U.Beck and N.Sznaider, the Russian version of which we introduce to the reader, justifies the necessity of re-conceptualization of the social sciences through the cosmopolitan turn. The authors show that the methodological nationalism that equates societies with nation-state societies and views states and their governments as the primary focus of analysis deprives researchers of the opportunity to see the multidimensional process of changes that irreversibly transforms the very nature of the social world and the place of states in this world. According to their conclusion, the humanities and social sciences need to get ready for a transformation of their own positions – that is, to accept cosmopolitanism as a research agenda and raise some of the key conceptual, methodological, empirical and normative issues that cosmopolitanization of reality poses before the social sciences.
DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2013-70-3-6-30
Concept of Cleavages and Factor Analysis
Keywords: electoral cleavage, political cleavage, social stratification, factor analysis
The article presents and describes in detail the technique of factor analysis application for identifying ties between electoral and political cleavages as well as factors of social stratification of society. The use of this technique within the study of political and social content of the electoral cleavages in the post-Soviet Russia (1993–2011) allowed the author to obtain several nontrivial results concerning the structure of political space cleavages in the country. In contrast to the theory of problem dimensions, the proposed method provides an opportunity to study these cleavages in their natural unity, in which they exist within the political reality, rather than in the artificially “decomposed” form.
Ideologies
Russian National Identity in Mirror of Modern Domestic Conservatism
Keywords: national state identity, conservatism
On the basis of the detailed analysis of the major currents in the domestic conservatism, N.Rabotyazhev comes to the conclusion that, despite the popularity of the conservative attitudes in the Russian society, none of these currents are capable of offering an image of the Russian identity that is convincing and acceptable to the majority. Having clearly demonstrated that all versions of the conservative ideology (left, national-patriotic, and “bureaucratic” conservatism) that obtained relatively broad spread in the country, suffer from noticeable one-sidedness, the author suggests that “Vekhi” – “Novograd” direction of the conservative thought that views human personality as an absolute value could serve as a foundation of the modern Russian conservatism that is really able to provide an impulse for the formation of a new national identity.
DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2013-70-3-62-84
Keywords: Goebbels, Russia, Dostoyevsky, German-Russian relations, Nazism
The third article in the series Image of Russia and Formation of Political Worldview of Young Joseph Goebbels analyzes the last (1924–1925) stages of the future Nazi Minister's Russophile views evolution. The paper shows that Goebbels continued to view Russia as a “natural ally” of Germany even after he stopped studying literature and turned to political activity. The diary and early journalist publications of the novice Nazi suggest that Lenin's Russia preserved its attractiveness for him primarily because it continued to act as the same antipode to the liberal West as Dostoevsky's Russia used to be earlier. However, now Goebbels' hopes were no longer tied to the literary myth of the “holy country” carrying the religious and moral expurgation to the world, but to the practice of the Bolshevik “state socialism”. Explaining Goebbels' sudden turn to the anti-Soviet positions at the beginning of 1926, S.Allenov notes that the disagreements on the “Russian” question were the last obstacle in the way of his final rapprochement with Hitler, and his kind attitude towards Russia was the price he paid for the right of entry into the top of the NSDAP.
Antithesis
Land and Oil: On Legitimacy of Russian State
Keywords: natural state, legitimacy, power, elite, population
The paper presents an experience of the analysis of the Russian political system using the methodological approach proposed in the book by D.C.North, J.J.Wallis, and B.R.Weingast Violence and Social Orders. After considering the specifics of the Russian model of the organization of power, K.Petrov comes to the conclusion that Russia should be treated as natural state reproducing institutions inherent in any closed access order. According to his assessment, today Russia lacks even doorstep conditions for the transition to an open access system, and moreover, the trajectory of its current development casts doubt on the possibility of achieving them in the near future.
DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2013-70-3-106-118
Why Societies are Ruled by Immoral People
Keywords: immorality, politics, morality, psychological defect, power, control
The article is devoted to the discussion of the problem, the essence of which in the first approximation is reduced to the question of why societies are ruled by people whose moral qualities are of significantly lower level than “average” for a given society. In search for an answer to this question A.Shvyrkov examines mechanisms of formation of power pyramid and lays out a number of hypotheses linking the immorality and aspiration for power as an end in itself with the presence of certain human psychological “defects”.
Cathedra
Keywords: European Parliament, second-order elections, post-communist countries, electoral behavior, party systems
The article considers the voting results in the elections to the European Parliament in the post-communist EU countries in 2004, 2007 and 2009. On the basis of the descriptive analysis of the electoral statistics, A.Samoletova concludes that these results are adequately described by the theory of second-order elections. At the same time, her study shows that during the European elections one can clearly trace the specifics of the post-communist countries, where party systems are still in the process of transformation.
DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2013-70-3-131-146
J.C. de Borda and Marquis de Condorcet – Pioneers of Voting Theory
Keywords: Borda, Condorcet, voting procedure, candidates, voters, preferences, pairwise comparisons
The article describes the contribution to the voting theory made by the French scientists J.C. de Borda (1733–1799) and Marquis de Condorcet (1743–1794), who for the first time in the world history started to address voting as a scientific problem employing mathematical apparatus and method of model situations analysis for its solution. Having examined in details the works by Borda and Condorcet in this area, V.Volsky draws attention to the fact that it is these works that led to realization that the notion of the «majority of votes» is far from being unambiguous and its use for determining a winner during elections might lead to paradoxical results.
Book Review
Keywords: Constitution, form of government, political practice, constitutional reform
The previous issue of the journal Politeia presented the review of the book edited by A.Medushevsky Fundamentals of Constitutional Order in Russia: Twenty Years of Development, the author of which, having on the whole positively assessed the work, revealed a set of controversial issues and proposed a number of critical objections. Responding to these comments, Medushevsky analyzes the arguments presented by the reviewer and offers his answers to the questions that were posed.
DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2013-70-3-160-178
Gubernatorial Readings
Keywords: regional governance, communication, political dialogue, Tyumen region
The material published here is a report on the thirteenth Gubernatorial Readings held in Tyumen, June 2nd, 2013, 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 role and specifics of communicational practices in regional governance and a lecturer – E.N.Minchenko, President of the communication group “Minchenko Consulting”.
DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2013-70-3-179-201
Academia
Keywords: International Scientific Conference, NRU HSE, political processes
The Fourteenth International Scientific Conference “Modernization of Economy and Society” took place in Moscow, April 2nd–5th, 2013, held by National Research University – Higher School of Economics with the participation of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. Within the section “Political Processes” the panel “Political Power” was organized, which included four sessions: “Concept of Power and Democracy”, “Power in Local Communities”, “Soft Law and Political Power”, “Power, Violence and Human Rights”. The published material provides an overview of the reports made at the sessions.