RUSSIAN POLITY
VERY SMALL BUSINESS IN A VERY BIG STATE, OR WHAT TO HOPE FOR WHEN THERE IS NOTHING TO HOPE FOR
Keywords: state, informal economy, distribution, public service, common good
The article discusses the relationship between the sphere that constitutes the economic basis (“fodder base”) of the state, the specificity of the mechanism by which the state extracts resources and the distinguishing features of the political structure of the society in the post-Soviet Russia. Based on the analysis of the transformations that the Russian state has undergone over the past 25 years, L.Blyakher identifies three stages in its development (state as a seller of services; state as a distributor of goods; and a modern, transitional stage), demonstrating that these stages are conditioned upon the nature of the “fodder base”. The author focuses on the role of the informal economy in this interaction. The article shows that during the crisis of the traditional “fodder base” of the Russian state the low-level informal economy reproached in everyday life is the only sphere that is not harmed.
DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2015-79-4-5-24
HYBRID NEOLIBERALIZATION: STATE, LEGITIMACY, AND NEO-LIBERALISM IN PUTIN’S RUSSIA
Keywords: neoliberalism, neopatrimonialism, legitimacy, reforms
The article attempts to identify and explain the changes and continuity in the implementation of the neoliberal policy in Putin's Russia. Bereft of the opportunity to consider the whole array of factors that determine the process of neoliberalization, I.Matveev focuses on the internal springs of the changing economic and social policies such as the dynamics of state building and transformation of the dominant forms of the regime legitimacy. In the first part of the article he shows how the weakening of the state under Boris Yeltsin and then its “strengthening” under Vladimir Putin influence the process of privatization and (re)nationalization; in the second part of the article the author demonstrates how the wide plebiscite legitimacy of Putin was combined with the acceleration of neo-liberal reforms in the social sphere. According to his conclusion, despite the increasingly more active state intervention into the economy, in the modern Russia it is not so much about the failure of neoliberal policies, but rather about the specific local version of “real neo-liberalism.”
POLITICAL THEORIES
FOUCAULT’S TWO BODIES Questioning Contemporary Foucault Studies
Keywords: Michel Foucault, Colin Gordon, Foucault Effect, Foucault Studies, cultural studies
Knowing and quoting Foucault is unavoidable for contemporary Humanities. Dominating English-speaking tradition even created a particular interdisciplinary field of Foucault Studies. Their representatives analyze the manifold socio-cultural and political phenomena by means of Foucault's theory. Recent paper takes into consideration the characteristic features and main stages of Foucault Studies’ development. Special attention is paid to the shift of foucauldians’ (as a corporation of Foucault’s followers) approach from the interpretation to abridgment and instrumentalization of thinker’s concepts.
DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2015-79-4-5-48-68
CONCEPTUAL RETHINKING OF NATIONALISM UNDER GLOBALIZATION
Keywords: globalization, nationalism, national state
The conventional wisdom holds that in the modern world global processes are opposed to national institutions and cultural values. In criticizing this viewpoint, Ya.Bakhmetyev hypothesizes that it is based on the conceptual simplification of the notions of nationalism and globalization at the theoretical level, which turned into the speculative analysis of reality. The theoretical analysis conducted by the author, including the analysis through the deconstruction of the relevant notions and concepts that are based on the latter, points to the need of rethinking the political aspects of nationalism and globalization, as well as connection between nation and national state.
Post-Soviet space
Keywords: communication systems, social consciousness, socio-political mass media, Ukrainian crisis, political psychology, Karpman’s triangle
The article justifies the possibility of applying S.Karpman’s psychological model of interpersonal relationships to the studies of political communication. After analyzing the role structure of participants of interaction within the framework of codependent relations, described by the so-called “Karpman’s triangle”, N.Legoshina shows that such a role model constitutes a powerful technology of influence on mass consciousness, including the influence through the formation of public opinion by mass media. The distinguishing features of this technology and the specifics of its application are discussed in the article on the example of mythologizing the image of Russia, Ukraine and the United States during the coverage of the Ukrainian events of 2014–2015 by the socio-political media.
DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2015-79-4-5-87-99
ROLE OF RUSSIAN LANGUAGE IN POST-SOVIET CENTRAL ASIA
Keywords: Russian language, post-Soviet space, Central Asia, language policy, “soft power”
The article discusses the role of the Russian language in the Central Asia – the region of the former Soviet Union. Carefully analyzing the use of the Russian language as a means of everyday communication and lingua franca, its popularity in the fields of culture, science and media, the accessibility and prestige of the Russian-language education, D.Letnyakov shows that, despite the policy of “nationalization” of the language sphere that is in one way or another conducted by all states in the region, the Russian language still plays an important role in the Central Asian societies. At the same time, according to his opinion, the current state of the Russian language and the Russian culture is largely the inertia of the Soviet period, the effect of which will gradually fade, and if Russia fails to develop and implement a clear strategy of “soft power”, it will soon lose its benefits in the Central Asia, and the latter will be really lost for Russia.
Antithesis
Maria Krechetova, Georgy Satarov
POWER AND VIOLENCE Case of Russia
Keywords: political power, legitimate violence, illegitimate violence, Russia
In order to assess the threat of the Russian authorities’ exercising mass physical violence, M.Krechetova and G.Satarov analyze prerequisites for the realization of this threat and the restrictions that the political leadership may face if it possesses an intention to turn to such measures. After thoroughly elaborating on the terminology used, the authors consider the basic conditions for the growth of political violence (including political rent and weakness of authorities), explore the dynamics of the political violence in Russia and simultaneously touch upon the specific conditions of the expansion of violence in our country. After that the authors, relying on the ideas of Hannah Arendt, refer to the morphology of physical political violence, describing its triggers and limits.
Laboratory
ANALYSIS OF 6th UKRAINIAN VERKHOVNA RADA STRUCTURE ON BASIS OF DEPUTIES’ ROLL-CALL VOTING
Keywords: Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, power distribution in parliament, power index, Banzhaf index, α-index, consistency index, political maps
The article presents the results of the application of mathematical methods to the analysis of the structure of legislative bodies (on the example of the 6th Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada). The study conducted by V.Oleynik is yet more proof of the efficiency of applying such methods to solving these problems. Building political maps and calculating consistency indices allowed the author to obtain the realistic picture of the distribution of power between the factions in the Ukrainian parliament in the period of 2007–2012. It has been demonstrated that the power of a faction (measured by Banzhaf index) is far from being determined by the proportion of seats it is entitled to; in fact, it may be zero for non-zero values of the proportion of seats. In turn, utilizing α-indexes enabled a more subtle analysis of power distribution, which clearly demonstrated that small factions might exert greater influence than large factions that hold extreme positions.
DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2015-79-4-5-140-161
Gubernatorial readings
Keywords: Russia, Russian society, public opinion, crisis, Tyumen region
The material published here is a report on the Twenty-Second Gubernatorial Readings held in Tyumen, November 10th, 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 challenges and threats facing the Russian society today and a lecturer – M.K.Gorshkov, Director of the Institute of Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), member of RAS.