Political Theories
Against Autonomous Subject: How it is Possible and not Possible to Correct Political Form
Keywords: autonomy, subject, the political, political form, political evil, Russian politics
Elaborating on the problematicsof the political form that the author started in the series of his previous research papers, S.Kaspe addresses the topic of an autonomous subject i.e., the one who produces and establishes this form. Revealing the internal contingency of both notions that are firmly entrenched in the language of political philosophy and political science, the author shows that the widely spread hopes in Russia for the autonomy of a subject as the best means of correcting political form are poorly justified. According to Kaspe’s opinion, non-autonomous subjects within the autonomous political is the state that the Russian society should aspire to.
DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2015-78-3-6-36
Theory of Democracy as Analogue of Scientific Research Programme
Keywords: theory of democracy, scientificresearch programme, hard core of program, belt of auxiliary hypotheses
The article justifies the possibility of applying I.Lakatos’ theory of the scientificresearch programmeto the array of theories referred to as the theory of democracy. Having convincingly demonstrated that, despite all the differences between the humanities and the natural sciences, the corresponding array of democratic theories can be viewed as analogous to what Lakatos refers to as thescientificresearch programme, A.Shvyrkov identifies and describes the hard core of this array, its positive and negative heuristics, and a belt of auxiliary hypotheses. The author's analysis leads him to conclude that the theory of democracy as an analogue of the scientificresearch programmehas passed the peak of its development and entered a phase of stagnation.
Paradigms of Social Development
Andrey Akhremenko, Ilya Lokshin, Yegor Yureskul
Economic Growth and Policy Choice in Authoritarian Regimes: “The Missing Link”
Keywords: total factor productivity, policy, economic growth
The paper analyzes the prerequisites of economic growth in an authoritarian context. On the basis of the analysis of the formal dynamic model, the authors show that the total factor productivity (TFP) is even more important for the perspectives of economic growth in non-democratic regimes than the long time planning horizon of the key economic agents. According to their conclusion, it is TFP that constitutes a key factor in determining sustainability of an economy under shocks caused by bad policies. In addition, when TFP is high it is easier to align economic preferences of different social groups. The theoretical approach utilized in the paper allows taking into account the three layers of explaining economic successes and failures simultaneously: the layer of the policy choice made by power elites, the layer of political institutions, and the layer of the fundamental economic factors that define the prospects for the economic development.
Post-Soviet Space
Ethnicization and Secondary Russification of “Imperial” Cities Space Case of Dushanbe
Keywords: empire, imperial city, local community, Tajikistan, Dushanbe
The article describes the role of Dushanbe as an imperial city in the social space of Tajikistan. Having carefully analyzed the functions performed by Dushanbe and its Russian-speaking residents in the internal structure of the Tajik community in the Soviet era, L.Blyakher shows that these functions are still relevant after the collapse of the Soviet Union. According to his conclusion, today the identification within the “Russian” town of Dushanbe, originally isolated from the local territorial communities, appeared to be one of the few options of the Tajik political identification that can serve as a basis for the formation of the political nation. And since the Russians as such left, a layer of the “Tajik Russians” (ethnic Tajiks who accepted Russian language and culture) is emerging to form the main population of Dushanbe. Thanks to their “Russianness” they can rise above the local identity and thereby preserve the overall balance of power in the republic.
DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2015-78-3-75-90
Andrey Korotayev, Leonid Isaev
Ukrainian Mosaic An Attempt at Quantitative Analysis of Ukrainian Electoral Statistics
Keywords: Ukraine, elections, Yanukovych, Party of Regions, quantitative analysis
On the basis of the mathematical analysis of the electoral statistics A.Korotaev and L.Isaev come to the conclusion that V.Yanukovych lost Ukraine long before the events of 2013–2014. The research conducted by the authors shows that before the start of these events most of the country’s south-east regions that supported the Party of Regions were characterized by a very high level of political passivity, which contrasted with the Central and especially Western Ukraine, as well as Kiev, where high political activity of the population was combined with pro-orange sentiments. Thus, in November 2013 Yanukovych found himself in a very disadvantageous position, which largely led to his downfall.
Antithesis
Keywords: ideology, Victory Day, national reconciliation
This paper proposes an alternative approach to understanding the Victory Day as a holiday, the ideological component of which can not be reduced to either its officially declared side or to the side that is denounced by the opposition. According to L.Fishman, Victory Day is to a certain extent archetypal, and this “archetypality” is not limited to its opportunistic political-symbolic load. The real background of this holiday in the modern Russia is that it largely exposes the very nature of ideology. Therefore, it makes sense to analyze the role of the 9 May Holiday as a Victory in war in terms of the nature of ideology. Considering that it is “victory” that constitutes the key concept here, rather than the date tied to it, Fishman reveals the content that the ruling elites, although not always intentionally, embed into the celebration of Victory.
DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2015-78-3-111-119
Russia: From Society with Rentier Economy to Rentier Society
Keywords: rentiersociety, rent, capitalism, socialism
Developing the idea of the gradual transformation of capitalism into a rentier society expressed in the article that was written in collaboration with L.Fishman (see Politeia, 2015, ¹ 1), D.Davydov analyzes the specifics of Russia as an emerging rentier society. According to the author’s assessment, rent problems in our country are not limited to the “oil curse”, and involve a wide range of rental by their nature relations. In justifying this argument, the author considers a set of factors conducive to the emergence of a rentier society in Russia, showing that, in contrast to the Western countries where such a society can theoretically be a stable formation, in the Russian conditions sliding into the rentier state is fraught with economic disaster.
Foreign Policy Perspective
Test by Ukraine Polish Conservatives Seeking Foreign Policy Strategy
Keywords: right-wing conservatives, liberal conservatives, foreign policy strategy, European integration, European Union, geopolitics
The dramatic events in Ukraine related to the “Euromaidan revolution” in 2014 had huge foreign policy repercussions. For several reasons, including the historical ones, Poland appeared to be involved into the Ukrainian affairs more than any other European country. So how does the Polish strategy in relation to Ukraine look, and how is it being implemented? In search of an answer to this complex question A.Smirnov considers the position of the Polish right-wing conservatives that represents a curious synthesis of the overall Western, European and national-patriotic dominants of political consciousness.
Historical Retrospective: Reflections and Hypotheses
Disintegration of Property Rights System in USSR: 1985–1991
Keywords: property institution, informal economic activity, management control, late USSR
The article continues the series of works by the author devoted to the study of processes of formation of the institution of property in Russia (see Politeia, 2009, ¹ 4; Politeia, 2013, ¹ 4) and attempts to analyze the transformation of the system of property rights in the late Soviet Union from 1985 to 1991. It is those years that witnessed the disintegration of the property institution formed in the USSR and birth of the system of property rights that was established in the post-Soviet Russia.
DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2015-78-3-150-161
Keywords: ethnicity, Russian Empire, Japanese migrants, socio-political discourse, Russian-Japanese War
The article that is based on the material of the Russian Empire on the eve of and during the Russian-Japanese war of 1904–1905 analyzes mechanisms of actualization and politicization of ethnicity under the influence of processes that occur in the international arena. Having considered the transformation of the Russian socio-political discourse about the Japanese who lived in Russia at the turn of the 19th–20th century Ya.Guzei shows how, as the dispute with Japan escalated into the armed conflict, ethnicity turned into the distinguishing feature of the Japanese in the symbolic field of the Russian Empire, transforming the previously unnoticed migrants into the nation hostile towards the Russian national interests.
DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2015-78-3-162-174
Gubernatorial Readings
Russian Literature and Russian Way Twenty-First Gubernatorial Readings. Tyumen, April 27th, 2015
Keywords: culture, education, Russian literature, Russian way, Russian society
The material published here is a report on the Twenty-First Gubernatorial Readings held in Tyumen, April 27th, 2015, 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 interdependence and mutual influence of the Russian literature and the Russian society and a lecturer – A.N.Varlamov, Professor, Doctor of Philological Sciences, Acting Rector of the Maxim Gorky Literature Institute, Editor-in-Chief of the journal Literary Studies.