Ṭalāq in a Kolkhoz: Taking Stock of Sharīʿa in Socialist Daghestan (1950s–1960s)

The Turkish Republic emerged onto the world stage as a secular and centralized nation state in the early 1920s from the remnants of the multi-ethnic, multi-religious and multi-lingual Ottoman Empir...

Reviewed by: Social Change in Contemporary China: C. K. Yang and the Concept of Institutional Diffusion Czeslaw Tubilewicz (bio) Wenfang Tang and Burkart Holzner, editors. Social Change in Contemporary China: C. K. Yang and the Concept of Institutional Diffusion. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2007. 342 pp. Hardcover $60.00, ISBN 0–8229–4297–6. Softcover $26.95, 0–8229–5933–X. Edited books often suffer from a variation in the quality of the contributions, weak or missing conceptual/theoretical frameworks, and the absence of a clear focus or coherence. Wenfang Tang and Burkart Holzner seem determined to avoid at least some of these common pitfalls when editing Social Change in Contemporary China: C. K. Yang and the Concept of Institutional Diffusion by providing the contributors with a broad theme (social change in contemporary China) and a conceptual framework (institutional diffusion theory). At the same time, the book is intended as a tribute to C. K. Yang, a noted Chinese sociologist, whose publications (most notably North China Local Market Economy [1944] and Religion in Chinese Society [1961]) have long been considered classics in the study of contemporary Chinese society. To demonstrate the enduring influence of Yang's scholarship, the contributors have been encouraged to build upon Yang's ideas and conceptual frameworks when generating insights in understanding institutional change in contemporary China. At the first glance, Social Change in Contemporary China holds to its promise to deliver a focused and extensive analysis of social institutions and institutional change in China, as well as to highlight the continued relevance of Yang's scholarship. Divided into three parts and fourteen chapters, this edited volume directs readers' attention to Yang's scholarly work and his theory of institutions (part 1), the evolution of public institutions in China (part 2), and Chinese family and community (part 3). In Part 1, Burkart Holzner traces Yang's academic career (chapter 2), while Chong Chor Lau introduces key concepts and findings from Yang's scholarly publications (chapter 3), and Ambrose King and Lizhu Fan focus exclusively on Yang's study of religion in Chinese society (chapter 4). In part 2, Isabelle Thireau and Hua Linshan examine the responses of migrant workers in Shenzhen to the Labor Law (chapter 5); Thomas Rawski looks at the entrepreneurial culture in China (chapter 6); Zhanxin Zhang, Wang Feng, and Tianfu Wang analyze income inequality in urban China (chapters 7 and 8); Ka-Ho Mok investigates the marketization of higher education in China (chapter 9); and Rancee Lee writes about Chinese medicine in Hong Kong (chapter 10). Finally, in part 3, Deborah Davis considers male and female claims to domestic space and property (chapter 11); Yanjie Bian, Deborah Davis, and Shaoguang Wang measure the Chinese family's guanxi networks (chapter 12); Jieming Chen examines intergenerational transfer of resources in urban Chinese families (chapter 13); and Cho-yun Hsu analyzes ritual circles in Taiwan (chapter 14). [End Page 566] Even a cursory glance at the themes of particular chapters suffices to conclude that for a book that purports to reveal "social change in contemporary China," the choice of topics examined is puzzling. Far from attempting to reflect upon an evolution of key dimensions of Chinese society during the post-1978 reform era, the contributors follow their own research agendas, which lead them to scrutinize only selected elements of larger social phenomena. The odd inclusion of analyses of Chinese medicine in Hong Kong and religious circles in Taiwan—at best peripheral to the broad theme of this book—reinforces the impression that these are conference proceedings, rather than a project conceived to deliver a coherent and comprehensive examination of social change in present-day China. It could be argued that the editors—the title notwithstanding—have never intended to present a collection of essays analyzing broad social change in China. This has been done effectively by others (e.g., Stockman 2000, Gamer 2003). Tang's introductory chapter indicates that the book's objective is to extend Yang's concept of institutional diffusion to examine institutional (not social) change in contemporary China as a complex interaction among culture, market, bureaucracy, and modernization (hence the subtitle). Although, as Thireau and Hua pointedly note, the concept of...

REVIEWS 563 Perović, Jeronim. From Conquest to Deportation: The North Caucasus under Russian Rule. Hurst & Company, London, 2018. xxiv + 466 pp. Maps. Illustrations. Notes. Bibliography. Index. £65.00. The North Caucasus remains one of the most complex and challenging landscapes for historians to explore. In addition to its physical extremes, its linguistic and ethnic diversity has long proven a challenge to simplify and summarize. Until recently, the historiography of the region in general has also been dominated by the conflicts that have occurred there. These range from the Russian war against Shamil in the nineteenth century, to the first and second Chechen wars at the end of the twentieth century and the ‘frozen’ conflicts in the Transcaucasus. Russian annexation of the Crimea, the bloody and violent civil war in Syria, and NATO plans to grant Georgia full membership have all in recent years added further military tension to the region, rendering the Black Sea in general one of the main nexuses of conflict in the modern world. Jeronim Perović in this volume does a masterful job of summarizing the historical background to Russian engagement in the North Caucasus in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, a critical element in understanding the wider security dynamic of the region even today. Although, as his title suggests, conflict is also rarely absent from this account, he manages both to synthesize much of the more recent writing on the region, which have added complexity and depth to our understanding of the sources of conflict there, and also to avoid repeating the Russophobe narratives which assign all problems in the region straightforwardly to Moscovite aggression. As the title suggests, Perović’s account seeks to provide an overview of the most formative events that have shaped the North Caucasus in the modern period, beginning from the war against Shamil in the nineteenth century to Stalin’s deportation of whole nationalities at the end of the Second World War. Although his final chapter and conclusion deal with the longer term consequences of the return of exiled peoples in the 1950s, the Soviet collapse in 1991, the Chechen wars, and the contested memorialization of all this recent history that continues even today, Perović’s detailed historical narrative account largely ends with the death of Khasan Israilov, a Chechen insurgent leader and German collaborator, at the hands of fellow Chechens in December 1944. Perović provides an impressive synthesis of much of the most recent Russian and Western writing on the subject in recent years. He builds upon and synthesizesThomasBarrett’sworkontheethnicmakeupoftheTerekCossacks, as well as Michael Khodarkovsky’s 2011 account of cultural misunderstandings between mountaineers and the Russian state over the obligations signified by oaths of fealty, to draw a picture of conflict drivers in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries that is both complex and multi-faceted. He SEER, 97, 3, JULY 2019 564 effectively also overturns traditional narratives of unified resistance to Russian rule in the region to draw a more nuanced picture of societies that were, at one and the same time, both militarized and highly fragmented. In addition, he argues persuasively, in line with much of the more recent historiography, that Naqshbandiya Sufi sects were not the key driver behind resistance to Russian rule in the region. He likewise builds upon, and effectively synthesizes, the work of Alex Marshall on the establishment of Soviet rule in the region in the 1920s and 1930s, in particular with regard to the Ali Mitaev experiment in Chechnia, and the disarmament and collectivization campaigns of that era. He further adds to this rich synthesis however some invaluable additional material of his own-notably a detailed account of collectivization in the late 1920s and early 1930s, as well as an account of the insurgency in the region during the Second World War that incorporates Khasan Israilov’s own diary. By drawing attention to the report of V. Pomerantsev, a Soviet journalist who visited Chechnya-Ingushetiia in 1939 as a reporter for the atheist journal Bezbozhnik, Perović here provides critical additional insight on the growing suspicion of the Soviet central authorities towards their regional governments in the North Caucasus. Pomerantsev’s report at the time sparked a violent political debate within the party...

The substantial institutional and organisational changes in Japan that followed the Meiji Restoration of 1868 have often gone down in history as an unmitigated success story. The objective of this paper is to analyse the course of the Meiji reform process to indicate how far it might offer any lessons for institutional and organisational reform in Japan at the start of the twenty-first century. I argue that the reality of the Meiji transformation was invariably more problematic than the successful image often portrayed. Analysis of the Meiji experience of three key areas at the heart of current debates in Japan financial institutions, business enterprise and the labour market suggests that in all three cases the process of institutional and organisational change before the First World War was slow and sporadic. The transformation was stimulated by a sense of national urgency and driven by political will. I suggest that great caution needs to be exercised in drawing any lessons for contemporary Japan from the Meiji experience, but that the analysis suggests firstly that it is unrealistic to expect fundamental institutional change within a very short time span, and secondly that the relative merits of importing new institutions and modifying existing ones are rarely clear cut. A further key difference between the late nineteenth and late twentieth centuries is also the nature of the global economy, and Japan’s radically different position within it.

Introduction: Assimilation, integration or transnationalism? An overview of theories of migrant incorporation

This article considers ways of shaping all-Russian patriotism among multi-ethnic youth of the North Caucasus and the role of historical memory of the Great Patriotic War in this process. The relevance of the topic is determined by the tasks of stabilising the socio-political situation in Russia in the context of the aggravated crisis of international relations and increasing geopolitical threats. After the Russian Spring and the incorporation of Crimea in 2014, the problem of patriotism has acquired great importance in this subject field. The practice of socio-political life has highlighted the need for scientific analysis of everything that affects the formation and development of patriotism as an integrating value and the basis for positive identification processes in a multi-ethnic society. No less significant is the task of identifying, scientifically describing and substantiating the value-meaning bases for the formation of patriotism of modern youth. The aim of this article is to identify the value-symbolic significance of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War as a basis for the shaping of all-Russian patriotism among polyethnic youth in the North Caucasus. The empirical basis of the article is the results of the research project ‘Patriotism through the eyes of youth’ implemented in April-May 2024 in the North Caucasus Federal District. In the course of the study, four focus groups were conducted in the Karachay-Cherkess Republic, the Republic of Dagestan, the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania and the Stavropol Territory. The participants of the focus groups were leaders and activists of youth organisations in the respective regions. The research was implemented to determine the specifics of perceptions of patriotism, patriotic activities, patriotic symbols, problems and effective practices of patriotism formation in the youth of the North Caucasian Federal District. The results of this study showed that the respondents' recognition of the importance of patriotism for the development of the North Caucasus, Russia as a whole, and society as a whole contrast with their real knowledge of the issue. At the same time, the memory of the Great Patriotic War, the joint feat of the peoples and the common Victory remains the main unifying symbol that contributes to the shaping of patriotism in the multi-ethnic environment of the peoples of the North Caucasus. The authors define the main problems of patriotism formation in the youth environment of the North Caucasus Federal District and suggest possible ways to overcome them.

Social media and internet public events

Rethinking power and institutions in the shadows of neoliberalism

Addressing trend-related changes within cumulative effects studies in water resources planning

This article is devoted to realization of a state policy of distribution of industrial goods on Don and the North Caucasus in days of the Great Patriotic War. The principles of use of a rationing system of distribution of essentials, her differentiated character, preferential categories of consumers providing allocation are considered. Concrete examples of application of coupons at acquisition of clothes, footwear and other goods are given. Conditions of execution of this order by local bodies of Don and the North Caucasus are analyzed; the attention to limitation of the allocated manufactured goods from the centralized funds is paid. Much attention is paid to the measures for research of additional sources of providing the population of Don and the North Caucasus taken from local bodies by essentials. The attention to especially difficult situation with providing the population of the region, owing to occupation consequences is paid. Data on restoration and development of the local industry, cooperative artels, increase in release of goods, necessary for the population, are provided. The role of the trade-union organizations in supply of the most needing workers with clothes, footwear and other manufactured goods reveals. The assessment is given to results of collaboration of local bodies and public organizations in providing the population with manufactured goods, the remaining difficult situation in questions of providing inhabitants of Don and the North Caucasus by essentials throughout the entire period of the Great Patriotic War is noted.

Conditions of Democracy in German Austria and Hungary, 1918–1919

Introduction. One of the problems for a multiethnic society (including that of the Russian Federation) in the context of the current globalization and the falsification of fateful events of the past (especially those of World War II) is a growing the need to update trends that ensure integration of a multiethnic national state. In the history of each society there are politically significant and value-semantic consolidating events that strengthen interethnic ties and relations. The memory of the Great Patriotic War occupies a special place in the national consciousness of Russian society. Goals. The paper aims to conduct a discourse analysis of scientific articles dealing with the Great Patriotic War published by journals of leading universities across the North Caucasus Federal District, and to determine how the memory of events of that war can be considered as a consolidating factor, a means of preserving and strengthening interethnic peace and harmony in the North Caucasus as a polyethnic region. Materials and Methods. The article uses the methodology of discourse analysis, focuses on studying mental models and determining the integrating properties of mental goal-setting. Discourse analysis of scientific articles investigating the Great Patriotic War is employed as a methodological toolkit. Results. The study of scientific publications about the Great Patriotic War concludes the consolidating message does prove a priority therein. All the articles emphasize the friendship and cohesion of the numerous peoples of the North Caucasus in the struggle against the common enemy — Nazi Germany. In addition, the publications draw attention to modern attempts to falsify the history of the Great Patriotic War. In this regard, the work stresses the necessity to preserve the memory of those who ensured Victory in this war and the demand to intensify patriotic education of Russian citizens, especially that of the younger generation.

In the Shadow of Great Powers is the second volume of Christoph Baumer’s History of the Caucasus. It covers the period from the Seljuk domination of the Southern Caucasus around 1050 CE to the present day. After the Kingdom of Georgia’s golden age of independent power and cultural blossoming in the 12th and early 13th centuries, the Caucasus was overrun by the Mongols and soon disintegrated into innumerable smaller kingdoms, principalities and khanates. At the same time, an Armenian kingdom in exile maintained a precarious independence in Cilicia, today’s southern Turkey, by applying a three-way diplomatic policy balanced between the Mongol Il-Khanate, the Crusader states and, to a lesser degree, the Mameluke Empire. Then followed four centuries during which the highly fragmented polities of the North and South Caucasus became political pawns of the regional great powers, above all the Ottomans, Iran and Russia. In the wake of World War I the South Caucasus enjoyed a short-lived independence whereas its northern neighbours were engulfed by the Russian civil wars. But by 1921 the Soviet Union had re-established Russian dominance over the whole region and, from a Western perspective, the region ‘disappeared’ behind the Iron Curtain. Nevertheless, the Caucasian nations kept their pronounced identities even under Soviet rule, giving rise at the dissolution of the Soviet Union to a number of internecine conflicts. Whereas the Russian Federation managed to maintain its supremacy over the North Caucasus – albeit at the cost of bloody wars and insurrections – Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia succeeded in more or less gaining control over their destiny. Of these three republics, only Azerbaijan secured a wide-ranging independence thanks to its fossil fuel resources. Following Russian interference, Georgia lost control over two of its provinces while Armenia remains dependent on Russian support in the face of its notoriously antagonistic relations with neighbouring Azerbaijan and Turkey over the unresolved issue of Karabakh. In the Shadow of Great Powers includes some 200 full-colour images and maps which further bring the turbulent history of this region to light.

Conflict and change are fundamental elements of social reality and of the Jewish historical experience. This collection presents the work of a distinguished group of scholars exploring the themes of social, political, religious, intellectual, and institutional movements and change in Jewish history. These scholars demonstrate that social change throughout Jewish life has assumed many different manifestations, and can occur in revolutionary and dramatic ways as well as in more common gradual and evolutionary processes. In the first volume, the essays revolve around two themes: "Mobilizations and Contentious Politics," and "Social Trends, Communal and Institutional Change." The second volume is devoted to "Developments in Philosophy, Ideology, and Religious Practice." Taken together, these two volumes present scholarship rich with both historical and contemporary relevance, of interest to academics and students in Jewish studies and the social sciences, communal leaders and policy makers, and anyone intrigued by the Jewish experience

Conflict and change are fundamental elements of social reality and of the Jewish historical experience. This collection presents the work of a distinguished group of scholars exploring the themes of social, political, religious, intellectual, and institutional movements and change in Jewish history. These scholars demonstrate that social change throughout Jewish life has assumed many different manifestations, and can occur in revolutionary and dramatic ways as well as in more common gradual and evolutionary processes. In the first volume, the essays revolve around two themes: "Mobilizations and Contentious Politics," and "Social Trends, Communal and Institutional Change." The second volume is devoted to "Developments in Philosophy, Ideology, and Religious Practice." Taken together, these two volumes present scholarship rich with both historical and contemporary relevance, of interest to academics and students in Jewish studies and the social sciences, communal leaders and policy makers, and anyone intrigued by the Jewish experience