Vertical Mobility in Russian Politics

On December 8, 2022, an international academic conference dedicated to the year 1922 as an important milestone in the history of American and European Modernism was held at the Russian State University of Humanities (Moscow). The conference aimed at the cultural reconstruction of 1922 and was organized by the Department of Comparative-Historical Literary Studies, Russian State University for the Humanities, and A.M. Gorky Institute of World Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences. American literary history occupied a prominent place in the program of the conference. The plenary session was devoted to T.S. Eliot, whose poem The Waste Land was published in 1922. Olga Polovinkina (Russian State University for the Humanities, A.M. Gorky Institute of World Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences) spoke about the importance of the aesthetics of the music hall for the strcture The Waste Land. Igor Shaitanov (Russian State University of Humanities, The Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration) drew a parallel between The Waste Land and Evegny Zamyatin's Alatyr’. Vassily Tolmatchoff (Lomonosov Moscow State University) suggested a new interpretation of the “Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”. A.A. Astvatsaturov (St. Petersburg State University) considered T.S. Eliot’s modernist work in comparison with the creative attitudes and self-fashioning of Henry Miller. Alexandra Zinovieva (Lomonosov Moscow State University) spoke about Countess Marie Louise Elisabeth Larisсh von Moennich, the heroine of T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land, and her participation in German and Austrian cinematographic projects of the late 1910s — early 1920s. Olga Panova (A.M. Gorky Institute of World Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Lomonosov Moscow State University) reconstructed the year 1922 in the history of the Harlem Renaissance. Irina Morozova (Russian State University of Humanities) presented the year 1922 as an important period in the history of American pharaohmania. Olga Antsyferova (St. Petersburg State University) analysed the book 1922: Literature, Culture, Politics (ed. by Jean-Michel Rabaté; Cambridge University Press, 2015) showing how the methodology of historical simultaneity works on the material of culture studies.

On November 13—14, the All-Russian scientific conference "The Scandinavian-Baltic Region in the 20th Century. Small Countries in the Context of Global Change" was held at the Institute of World History of the Russian Academy of Sciences. This is the fifth conference organized by the Institute of World History of the Russian Academy of Sciences, bringing together specialists in the study of the Nordic and Baltic countries. The event was attended by scholars from leading Russian scientific organizations: the Institute of World History of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Lomonosov Moscow State University, MGIMO University under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia, Russian State University for the Humanities, and the State Academic University for the Humanities (Moscow); the St. Petersburg Institute of History of the Russian Academy of Sciences and St. Petersburg State University (St. Petersburg); Northern (Arctic) Federal University (Arkhangelsk); and the Zhukovsky and Yuri Gagarin Air Force Academy (Voronezh). Conference participants discussed a wide range of issues, focusing on topics such as the history of the First and Second World Wars and the fates of individuals against their backdrop, the role of the Nordic and Baltic countries in international relations during the interwar period and after the end of World War II, the problem of forming a new historical memory in the postwar period, the collapse of the USSR, and the changing geopolitical situation in the region.

Pivotal trends in the life of our country in the late 1980s and early 1990s were the sharp increase in international activity at all levels, which required the training of a significant number of specialists in international affairs, and the growth of interest in social sciences. The establishment of the School of International Relations at St. Petersburg State University, the oldest university in Russia, reflected these trends. In a short period, it has become one of the leading Russian and World centers for studying international relations. Using the best Russian and foreign experience, from the beginning, the School staff set a course to create its original model, capable of successfully competing with other centers for the study of international relations. Its distinctive features included the setting of the highest goals for the School to rapidly transform into a leading center for international relations studies in both Russia and the world, and to maintain that status. The entire academic and research work has been characterized by interdisciplinarity, and the School’s life and activities have been marked by maximum of internationalization. The Federal Law “On Lomonosov Moscow State University and St. Petersburg State University” (2009) created favorable conditions for the implementation of a original development model. The main achievements have been the creation of a dynamic teaching staff and the involvement of motivated students (including international students from 109 countries), the organization of the educational process at a high level, especially in the Master’s program (most of the 16 Master’s programs are the first and sometimes the only ones in Russian higher education), the holding of major scientific conferences, including two Saint-Petersburg Congresses on International Studies, the constant growth of publication activity, engaged participation in analytical and expert work, and the activity of Russian and international professional associations. Graduates of the School successfully work in government bodies, business structures, scientific, cultural, and educational institutions, media outlets, and other areas.

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A brief report on the conduct of the scientific event in the “round table” format on the topic “The United States of America in 2019”. A Round-Table discussion was organized by the Council of Young Scientists of the Institute for the U.S. and Canadian Studies, Russian-Academy of Sciences (ISKRAN). The participants are graduate students and young researches of ISKRAN, Primakov National Research Institute of World Economy and International Relations, Russian Academy of Sciences (IMEMO RAN), Institute of Latin American Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences (ILA RAN), Institute of Europe, Russian Academy of Science (IE RAS), Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IOS RAS), Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU), Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO University), National Research University Higher School of Economics (HSE University), Institute of History, Archaeology and Ethnography of the Peoples of the Far-East, Far-Eastern Branch of the RAS (IHAE FEBRAS).

Professor A.D. Bogaturov is a leading Russian IR scholar, orientalist and founder of the scientific school of applied analysis of international relations. A.D. Bogaturov graduated from the Faculty of International Relations of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations in 1976, defended his PhD thesis on foreign policy of Japan in 1983 at the Institute of Far Eastern Studies of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, and in 1996 at RAS Institute for US and Canadian Studies - his doctoral thesis on the relations of the USSR/Russia and the USA in East Asia. He was a visiting professor at the Brookings Institution, Columbia and Princeton Universities (USA). He worked at RAS Institute for International Security Problems, RAS Institute of World Economy and International Relations, RAS Institute for US and Canadian Studies, RAS Institute of Far Eastern Studies, Lomonosov Moscow State University, and the Diplomatic Academy of the Russian Foreign Ministry. In 2007-2012 he was deputy-rector at MGIMO University, dean of the Faculty of Political Science (2006-2007) and founder of the Department of Applied Analysis of International Problems. Professor A.D. Bogaturov launched the leading in Russia scientific journal on the theory of international relations - International Trends. For many years he had been organizing winter schools for young researchers in Russia, CIS, which helped many of them to become leading IR scholars. He is the author of more than 200 scientific works, including fundamental works on history and theory of international relations, international political analysis published in Russia, as well as in the USA, Japan, Germany, France, South Korea, and Italy. In his interview A.D. Bogaturov describes the way how the systematic approach influenced the teaching of IR history in Russia and how it gradually led to the formation of the Russian theory of international relations.

В настоящей статье рассматривается проблема развития критического мышления у студентов неязыковых специальностей на занятиях по английскому языку. Актуальность данной темы обусловлена тем, что в современном мире, характеризующемся стремительным развитием информационных технологий и глобализацией, критическое мышление становится одним из ключевых навыков, необходимых для успешной профессиональной деятельности и личностного роста. Цель исследования заключается в выявлении эффективных стратегий и техник, способствующих формированию и развитию критического мышления у студентов неязыковых специальностей в процессе изучения английского языка. Материалы и методы исследования включают в себя анализ научной литературы по проблеме развития критического мышления, а также эмпирическое исследование, проведенное на базе трех российских университетов (НИУ ВШЭ, МГУ им. М.В. Ломоносова, СПбГУ) в период с сентября 2022 года по май 2023 года. В исследовании приняли участие 150 студентов 1-2 курсов неязыковых специальностей (экономика, менеджмент, юриспруденция, социология). Методы исследования включали анкетирование, тестирование, наблюдение за учебным процессом, а также статистическую обработку полученных данных с использованием программы SPSS Statistics 23.0. Результаты исследования показали, что наиболее эффективными стратегиями развития критического мышления у студентов неязыковых специальностей на занятиях по английскому языку являются: 1) использование аутентичных материалов (научные статьи, публицистические тексты, видеолекции), стимулирующих аналитическое мышление и способность к критической оценке информации; 2) применение интерактивных методов обучения (дискуссии, дебаты, ролевые игры, кейс-стади), развивающих навыки аргументации, контраргументации и принятия решений в проблемных ситуациях; 3) внедрение технологии проблемного обучения, предполагающей создание на занятиях проблемных ситуаций, требующих от студентов самостоятельного поиска решений и творческого подхода. Согласно результатам тестирования, у 78% студентов экспериментальных групп наблюдалось значительное повышение уровня критического мышления (прирост составил в среднем 23%), в то время как в контрольных группах данный показатель увеличился лишь на 5%. This article examines the problem of developing critical thinking among students of non-linguistic specialties in English classes. The relevance of this topic is due to the fact that in the modern world, characterized by the rapid development of information technology and globalization, critical thinking is becoming one of the key skills necessary for successful professional activity and personal growth. The purpose of the study is to identify effective strategies and techniques that contribute to the formation and development of critical thinking among students of non-linguistic specialties in the process of learning English. The research materials and methods include an analysis of the scientific literature on the development of critical thinking, as well as an empirical study conducted on the basis of three Russian universities (HSE, Lomonosov Moscow State University, St. Petersburg State University) in the period from September 2022 to May 2023. The study involved 150 students of 1-2 courses of non-linguistic specialties (economics, management, law, sociology). The research methods included questionnaires, testing, monitoring of the educational process, as well as statistical processing of the data obtained using the SPSS Statistics 23.0 program. The results of the study showed that the most effective strategies for developing critical thinking among students of non-linguistic specialties in English classes are: 1) the use of authentic materials (scientific articles, journalistic texts, video lectures) that stimulate analytical thinking and the ability to critically evaluate information; 2) the use of interactive teaching methods (discussions, debates, role-playing games, case studies) that develop argumentation, counterargument and decision-making skills in problematic situations; 3) the introduction of problem-based learning technology, which involves the creation of problematic situations in the classroom that require students to independently find solutions and a creative approach. According to the test results, 78% of students in the experimental groups had a significant increase in the level of critical thinking (an average increase of 23%), while in the control groups this indicator increased by only 5%.

Dedicated to the memory of the outstanding Russian Serbo-Croatian scholar V. P. Gudkov (1934-2020), the collection presents articles by his students and colleagues from Lomonosov Moscow State University, St. Petersburg State University, the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Academy of Sciences and Arts of the Republika Srpska on the topical issues of studying and teaching Slavic languages and literatures, primarily (but not limited to) of the South Slavic area. The publication is addressed to a wide range of specialists in Slavic studies.

The article deals with the course and results of the International scientific conference «Art and Culture of the Middle Ages: Heritage and Perspectives of Comprehension» (https://actual-art.spbu.ru/o-konferentsii/arkhiv/2020/iskusstvo-i-kul-tura-srednevekov-ya.html), as part of the international symposium «Actual Problems of Theory and History of Art», held by St. Petersburg State University together with Lomonosov Moscow State University and the leading museums of Russia in the mode of the Biennale. The event was organized with the support of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (project No. 20-012-22040) and took place in St. Petersburg on October 26–31, 2020.

Many publications have been devoted to the geological and geomorphological study of both Lake Ladoga and Lake Onega – the largest lakes of Northwest Russia and Europe. The last comprehensive geological studies of Lake Onega were carried out by Polar Marine Geosurvey Expedition as part of a geological survey at a scale of 1: 500,000 [12] and by Finnish researchers [19] at the beginning of the 21st century. Subsequently, these data were included in the third-generation State Geological Map at a scale of 1:1 000 000 [13]. Study of the basin’s geological structure was resumed in 2016 by researchers from the Northern Water Problems Institute of the Karelian Research Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg State University, Lomonosov Moscow State University and Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia, as well as representatives of other scientific organizations. The works included geological sampling, drilling from ice platform, seismoacoustic profiling and side-scan sonar. The aim of the works was to clarify data on the structural features of the Upper Pleistocene and Holocene deposits of Lake Onega and the genesis of the lake basin relief. Based on the data obtained in the course of field studies, a new distribution scheme of the Lake Onega Quaternary deposits was drawn up. Comparison of the scheme with the data on the bottom topography made it possible to characterize its genesis and draw up a geomorphological scheme. The data presented in this article can be used to update and supplement the State Geological Map of the Northwest Russia, as well as to solve other problems of Quaternary geology and paleogeography.

Young scholars from Moscow (Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russian State University for the Humanities, A.N. Kosygin Russian State University, Institute of Slavic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Library of the Russian Academy of Sciences), Kaliningrad (Immanuel Kant IKBFU), St. Petersburg (St. Petersburg State University, Russian National Library) and Nizhny Novgorod (N. I. Lobachevsky Nizhny Novgorod State University) and from Poland (Bialystok State University) attended the conference. During the first session, Slavic literature was examined from the point of view of poetics and intertextual connections based on the material of Slovenian (short prose of I. Cankar), Czech (drama by V. Havel), Polish (poetry of A. Mickiewicz), as well as Serbo-Croatian (the anthem of the former Yugoslavia) literature; the second meeting combined reports with literary and philosophical issues, examining Polish (J. Iwaszkiewicz, Ch. Milosz), Czech (R. Maly), Bulgarian (V. Paskov) and Macedonian (M. Andreevsky) literature; the focus of the third session was the types of Russian-Slavic literary connections using Russian-Czech examples (correspondence be-tween A.N. Pypin and E. Krasnogorskaya, comparison of the activities of F.L. Chelakovsky and A.S. Pushkin, Russian echoes of the drama R.U.R. by K. Capek), as well as Russian-Balkan materials (translations of J. Dučić’s poetry, echoes of the Balkan vampire theme in Russia in the XIXth century); the fourth meeting was dedicated to the problems of studying modern Slavic literatures, the participants turned to Czech (M. Urban, S. Beeler), Slovak (P. Vilikovsky) and Bulgarian (T. Dimova) literatures. The subsections were moderated by employees of the Institute of Slavic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, specialists in Slavic literatures. Meeting participants and moderators actively engaged in scientific dialogue, identified problematic issues, and outlined further prospects for research. In addition to the speakers who took part in the conference every year, new participants joined the conference this year, which indicates the relevance of this regularly held scientific event.

The annual conference “Slavic World: Community and Diversity” is a good platform for young researchers from different universities and research centers, both domestic and foreign, where they can share their scholarly achievements with colleagues and talk about their own vision of a particular problem related to the study of the diversity of the Slavic world. The work of the “Linguistics” section was divided into four thematic blocks: “Translation and interlanguage equivalence in Slavic languages”, “Slavic languages in the past and present”, “Language and traditional culture”, and “The language of texts of the Middle Ages and Modern times”. Young scholars from Moscow (Institute of Slavic Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences; Vinogradov Russian Language Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences; Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russian State University for the Humanities), St. Petersburg (St. Petersburg State University), Sofia (Andreichin Bulgarian Language Institute, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences), and Helsinki (University of Helsinki) spoke at the conference. The subsections were moderated by researchers from the Institute of Slavic Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences: Sergej A. Borisov, Mikhail N. Saenko, Maria V. Yasinskaya, and Gleb P. Pilipenko. Almost every report was accompanied by a discussion, during which the audience gave the authors advice, recommended certain additions, and suggested possible directions for further research.

The article is devoted to the study of the features of the polycode text as a type of media text in the Internet space. Using the method of comparative analysis, the authors identify the ratio of verbal and non-verbal elements in the text, explore the techniques and methods for creating polycode text, including genre varieties of PR-text, drawings, iconic signs and symbols, photos and video images. The empirical base of the study is based on the texts of the official accounts of the three largest Russian universities: Lomonosov Moscow State University, St. Petersburg State University, Far Eastern Federal University in the social network Instagram. As a result of the study, the authors came to the conclusion that only in the unity of the verbal and non-verbal components a text is the most effective as a communication tool. The advancement of digital technologies contributes to the creation of various types of polycode texts, which have different degrees of impact on the audience, and contribute to building brand communication.

The All-Russian (with international participation) conference “Physics of low-temperature plasma” (PLTP-2017) was held in 5-9 of June in the capital of the Republic of Tatarstan in Kazan on the basis of the Kazan Federal University.The conference was the 16th in a row and continued the glorious tradition of holding such forums started more than half a century ago back in 1966. For a long time the conference was held on the basis of Petrozavodsk University, and since 2014 the tradition to hold this large-scale event has moved to Kazan. The organizing committee of the conference was presented by leading world scientists and specialists in the field of physics and applications of low-temperature plasma.Registered participants, and there were more than 500 of them, represented institutes of RAS, research institutes, Russian and foreign universities and companies producing advanced plasma equipment that is used in many industries.The conference discussed issues related to fundamental research in the physics of low-temperature plasma, as well as a wide range of its application. The work conducted in 8 areas - from “Physics of gas discharges” to “Plasma in the synthesis of nanomaterials.” Particular attention was paid to the plenary reports of leading foreign and Russian researchers.Speakers were academicians and corresponding members of the RAS, professors and doctors of advanced universities in Russia, Europe and the United States.From the Joint Institute for High Temperatures of the Russian Academy of Sciences, with plenary lectures, Academicians Eduard Son and Oleg Petrov spoke. One of the leading universities in the US and the world, Princeton University, was presented by two scientists: Mikhail Schneider and Andrei Starikovsky. The report of M. Schneider was devoted to the behavior of nanoparticles in an arc discharge plasma, and the speech of Professor A. Starikovski - plasma aerodynamics. Plasma science of France was also represented quite widely: the conference was attended by professors Jacques Amouroux, Jean-Pierre Boeuf, Leanne Pitchford and Ana Lacoste. A large delegation came from Sofia University (Bulgaria). Professors M. Benilov and V. Guerra presented the University of Madeira and Lisbon University (Portugal).As for Russian scientists, many of them are employees of the leading institutions of the Russian Academy of Sciences, such as the JIHT, TIPS, ITAM SB, JINR and others. Russian university science was represented by participants from the M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University, St. Petersburg State University, MIPT, MEPI, Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, TSU, TSPU, etc. Tatarstan universities represented by scientists of KFU, KNITU-KAI and KNITU-KHTI did not stay aside. Also scientists of institutes subordinated to state corporations ROSKOSMOS and ROSATOM took part in the conference.The welcoming and warm atmosphere at the conference made it an excellent platform for exchanging experience and generating new ideas in the field of low-temperature plasma physics.By the decision of the organizing committee, Kazan will be the place of the next conference - PLTP-2020.

Political parties play a fundamental role in the representative political systems of northern industrialized democracies. They connect civil and political society, advance the perceived interests of individuals, groups, and social strata while aiming consciously to develop these constituencies, and provide a link between society and the state, espousing the claims of the one and enforcing the rules of the other (Sakwa 1995, 169). Political parties provide representation and accountability, electoral pressure for partisan constituencies, and the basis for structuring political choice in the competition of interests in the political arena. In short, they serve as an integral aspect of representative democracies, and thus are perceived as the bedrock for the process of democratization. It is the argument of this article, however, that Russia's transition to democracy actually has been inhibited by the development of a dysfunctional and extremely unstable party system. An important starting point for understanding the woeful state of Russia's contemporary party system is examining the motivations surrounding the choices made by self-interested political elites. The desire of those who already possess power to maintain it and the desire to obtain the goods of political office--most notably power and personal enrichment--by those who seek them, have adversely impacted party system formation. These motivations also have had an impact on the structure of the institutions of government with which the parties interact, creating a political environment that reduces the importance of the role played by parties. In this regard, Russia's transition to democracy played a key role, because it served to enhance the freedom of action of the political elites, allowing them to better mold the political system according to their desires. This analysis emphasizes the profound impact of two factors on the development of Russia's party system: the course of the initial transition and the role of elites during and after the transition process. The sudden collapse of the Soviet system disrupted the development of the nascent party system, severing its connections to society and leaving it to be reconstituted from above by elites in circumstances that limited its connections with the society and the political system. In these circumstances, the parties became led by the elite. The later changes made to the overall political system during the 1993-95 and 1999-2000 election cycles have reinforced the party system's susceptibility to the behavior of the elite but at the expense of developing links between political and civil society. Those changes also shaped the incentives for elite action in ways that have led away from the development of a well-structured party system. Until the party system re-establishes its links with society and the incentives of party elite behavior are shaped by the need to promote societal interests rather than their own, Russia's party system will continue to be dysfunctional in the ongoing process of democratization. The remainder of this article is divided into five sections. Section one discusses how the collapse of the Soviet Union granted elites the leeway to fashion a party system and political institutions according to their own desires. Sections two and three describe the major developments in party system formation during the 1993-1995 and 1999-2000 election cycles, respectively. Section four draws on the historical evidence described in the preceding three sections to outline the principal factors that have contributed to the dysfunctional nature of Russia's political party system and its impact on the consolidation of Russian democracy. Section five offers general conclusions and prescriptions for the future. Impact of the Soviet Union's Collapse on the Emergence of a Nascent Multiparty System Competitive provoke party development, and this is one reason that founding elections are considered to be so important in transitions to democracy (O'Donnell and Schmitter 1986, 57). …