Belokrenitsky Vyacheslav

Russia and the Islamic world: political and demographic trends.

The author focuses his attention on the link between world politics and world demography. It is through the prism of demographic processes that V.Belokrenitsky makes a historic review of the relations between Russia and the Islamic world. He also makes a corresponding analysis in terms of comparing demographic capabilities of Russian population in general, on the one hand, and its Muslim component, on the other. The article analyzes different scenarios (favourable and unfavourable ones) of demographic changes and situation in Russia.

DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2007-47-4-104-121

On the Issue of Political Culture and Political Regime of Eastern Variety (Personalistic Authoritarianism in Pakistan)

The author proposes that the power and influence of charismatic person in the Asian-African political cultures and systems of governance are more pronounced that in the case of the West. The personalistic authoritarianism that follows manifests itself in the predominance of nominal or defective democracies. Pakistan serves to illustrate the thesis. The paper traces the traditional mentality of the Muslim community in the colonial India, which was favorably disposed towards accepting a personalitic authority, goes on to elaborate the point by analyzing the role and status of the Pakistan ‘founding father’ Muhammad Ali Jinnah and personalistic rule of Liaquat Ali Khan, Field-Marshall Muhammad Ayub Khan, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and General Zia ul-Haq. The present day regime headed by General Pervez Musharraf according to the author fits neatly into the personalistic pattern while applying the group of interests approach it can be characterized as a military-bureaucratic authoritarianism. At the same time, as the author maintains, the specific features of the Eastern political culture and political regimes should not distract from taking into account the different impacts which certain authoritarian rules inflict upon social and economic fabric.

DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2005-37-2-72-95

Pages: 72-95