Paradigms of Social Development
Power and Political Capital Considerations at leisure
Keywords: positive political capital, negative political capital, power, social consciousness
The article is devoted to the analysis of an important part of the social consciousness that the author defines as political capital. He views political capital as such a state of mass consciousness, under which a substantial amount of competencies is delegated to political power institutions and their leaders. Thereby, the society recognizes their right to make universally binding decisions as well as implement various actions, including enforcement measures, which are essential for the realization of these decisions, and, accordingly, declares its readiness to obey them. This is the basis for building prerequisites for the political process such as legitimacy of political system (regime), law-abiding people, and many others. Exploring the structure and content of political capital in relation to the modern society as a whole, A.Galkin also traces the impact of the dynamics of this capital on the situation in the post-Soviet Russia.
DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2013-71-4-6-22
Maria Krechetova, Georgy Satarov
Keywords: language substitution, forecast, authoritarianism, dictatorship
The article raises the question of using “language substitutions” and euphemisms when defining contemporary political regime in Russia. The problem is considered on the examples of the expert discussion on the terms “dictatorship” and “authoritarianism” as well as short-term and medium-term forecasts of the political development of Russia carried out by the Fund Indem. The authors conclude that without reflecting on substitutions that occur as a result of playing around the words, concepts and meanings, and without acknowledging their consequences we risk finding ourselves in a situation described in a famous article by Benjamin Whorf The Relation of Habitual Thought and Behavior to Language, when workers comfortably smoke while standing near the gasoline tanks since the latter are labeled as “empty”.
Political Theories
Peacemaking as Peace Reproduction: Theoretical Opportunities for Rethinking
Keywords: peacemaking, peace reproduction, positive peace, negative peace, universalism, event ethics
The article investigates theoretical opportunities for rethinking the process of peacemaking as peace reproduction. Having analyzed in details the concepts of negative and positive peace, D.Tomiltseva considers conditions for overcoming the logic of “current situation” that makes conflict close on itself, as well as common ethical foundations of peaceful interaction. The author pays particular attention in the article to the problem of determining actors involved in the peace reproduction, and its influence on the development of specific peacemaking strategies and tactics.
European Polity
Test by Euroscepticism: European Integration Crisis in Mirror of Conservatism
Keywords: European Union, European integration, conservatism, euroscepticism
On the basis of the analysis of the evolution of the EU right and center-right parties’ programs tenets under the conditions of the European integration project crisis A.Smirnov comes to the conclusion about the ideological and political degeneration of the forces that position themselves as conservatives. According to his assessment, desperate euroscepticism as well as equally desperate euro-optimism evenly characterize the diseased state of the European conservatism that is identified with so many different moods and vectors of political activity. Although the ideology of conservatism retains its relevance in modern Europe and a significant number of European citizens are interested in the expeditious development of the social world order model with the historically rooted system of values and development guiding principles, this “social request” that is in fact formed in the framework of the conservative discourse remains unrealized since there are no forces that are ready to take on its implementation.
DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2013-71-4-49-66
Discourse of The National in Modern German Society
Keywords: Germany, nation, national identity, discourse of the National
The article analyzes the concept of “discourse of the National”, considers its elements and investigates levels and mechanisms of transmitting the National through various channels of communication on the example of the united Germany. The author briefly describes the history of the discourse of the National transformation in the German society, analyzes its current status and prospects of development.
Russian Polity
Political Regime and Property Rights in New Russia Experience of the 1990s
Keywords: power, business, political system, institution of property, privatization
This article examines the processes of formation and transformation of the property rights institution in the post-Soviet Russia. The analysis conducted by the author shows that the 1990s witnessed a real chance of creating an efficient institution of property. However, neither the “power” nor the “business” that prioritized short-term interests associated with the distribution of state property as opposed to long-term benefits from having a well-specified and well-secured system of property rights, made a request for its formation. The problem of isolating “society” from defining rules of the game on this field was of no less importance. “Business” did not view “society” as a strategic partner, which ultimately left it one on one with the strengthening state and allowed the “power” that relied on the coercive resource to unilaterally change the configuration of the functioning regime of institution of property.
DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2013-71-4-79-93
Big Business and State Under Putin Transformation of Agency Relationship
Keywords: state, business, interests, dominance, agency relationship
In the article the author attempts to employ a “principal-agent” model for explaining the evolution of the relationship between power and business during V.Putin’s first and second presidential terms. After compellingly demonstrating that from the beginning of the 2000s the state led by a new leader acted as a principal, whereas large business played the role of an agent, M.Sakaeva shows that, although state and private business were extremely interested in the balanced interaction, the internal instability of the positions reconciliation system exacerbated by the steps of one of the strongest business players that put the ruling elite in danger, led to the state re-orientation towards dominance strategy.
Russian Regions
Igor Bobrov, Maxim Cherepanov, Alena Shishelyakina
Russian Nationalism in Tyumen Region: Transformation of Organizational Forms, Ideas, and Strategies
Keywords: Russian nationalism, nationalist organizations, Tyumen region
The article is devoted to the evolution of the Russian national movement in the Tyumen region in the 1990–2010s. The authors consider changes in the social composition of the movement, in the political ideas it transmits, in different groups’ strategies. The empirical basis of the study includes semi-structured interviews with the representatives of the movement as well as the materials of focus groups with the activists from the Tyumen nationalist organizations.
Cathedra
Role of Expert Communities in Memory Politics in Russia
Keywords: memory politics, history politics, expert community, power structures
Having carefully analyzed the evolution of public strategies in relation to the past in the post-Soviet Russia, A.Miller stresses a sharp increase in the number of more or less organized expert groups that are concerned with memory politics as well as significant changes in the content of the public agenda in this area. The fact that in many national republics memory politics is in harsh contradiction with the task of forming All-Russian national identity places the problem of historical myth unity on the territory of Russia to the foreground. The author thinks that in the near future a serious fight will unfold around this aspect of memory politics, in which expert communities may play an important role.
DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2013-71-4-114-126
Ethnic Heterogeneity: Main Concepts and Measurement Problems
Keywords: ethnicity, ethnic fragmentation, ethnic polarization, ethnic heterogeneity index
The article examines ethnic heterogeneity indicators that characterize the degree of society fragmentation and polarization. The author lays out formal definitions of seven fragmentation and polarization indices, discusses different approaches to measuring “cultural distance” between ethnic groups, and provides an overview of indices usage in the works devoted to studying relationship between ethnic heterogeneity and xenophobia, civil conflicts, human well-being and quality of governance.
DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2013-71-4-127-149
Gubernatorial Readings
Keywords: competitiveness, economic growth, balanced development, Tyumen region
The material published here is a report on the fourteenth Gubernatorial Readings held in Tyumen, October 8th, 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 challenges and risks related to maintaining competitiveness of the Russian economy, and the lecturer – A.B.Idrisov, the founder and managing partner of the company “Strategy PartnersGroup”.
Book Review
Keywords: Michel Foucault, text, discourse, life experience
Expressing high opinion of the reviewed work, A.Teslya draws attention to the fact that the author does not claim authentic reflection of M.Foucault’s thoughts, and his goal is to convey his own understanding of Foucault, where a man and a thought are inseparable and at the same time are laid out from the personal perspective – the perspective of something that is conformable to the author, that is perceived by him as important or, on the contrary, causes his rejection. According to the reviewer’s conclusion, P.Veyne managed to preserve a perfect balance between memoir fragments and interpretation of the philosopher’s key attitudes, paint a friend’s portrait, whose image, as it was seen with the author’s own eyes, was clarified by reading texts that were unavailable during Foucault’s lifetime or appeared to be out of sight at that moment.
DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2013-71-4-168-175
Keywords: Germany, nation-state, democracy, the Weimar Republic
According to V.Lyubin’s conclusion, the work by H.A.Winkler represents a deep study of the failed democracy in the Weimar Republic, on the example of which he clearly shows how the actions of politicians can lead the country to a national catastrophe. The monograph can be rightfully considered one of the best works on the subject, and the results obtained by Winkler must be taken into account in discussions on the post-imperial society and prospects of its democratization.