General Crisis Research Articles

Transnational Perspectives on Modern Irish History, ed. Niall Whelehan

The quest to refresh the writing of history continues unabated. During the last ten years, ‘transnational’ has found favour as an approach and is now to be applied to Ireland. This application builds on long study of the Irish diaspora and continuing arguments about the possible exceptionalism of Irish developments, as evident in the thrust of the recent Festschrift for Sean Connolly (Ourselves Alone? [2016]). This present collection, edited by Niall Whelehan, mixes the narrowly focused—the Piedmontese reformer Cavour’s observations on what might be learnt from England and Ireland, and responses to Russian rule over Poland during the 1860s—with pieces that encompass several localities and longer periods. Efforts to show how the transnational differs from sustained comparison may not always convince. The editor suggests that early modernists handling Ireland were precocious transnationalists; particularly as they boldly crossed the Atlantic, but also, arguably, thanks to an earlier preoccupation with the general crisis of the seventeenth century (which took them into central and south America and the Pacific). From the eighteenth century, the editor contends, explicit comparison between Irish and non-Irish experiences lessened, with the famine of the 1840s a notable casualty. Yet surprising exceptions are unearthed: Nicholas Mansergh’s Ireland in the Age of Reform and Revolution (1940) and (much less familiar) a survey by the leading Irish historian F.S.L. Lyons. However, Lyons’s Internationalism in Europe, published in 1963, did not compare Ireland directly with the rest of Europe, despite the author being well placed to do so.

Bohaterowie czy antybohateriowie? Medialne wcielenia monarchów a problem „rozpadu” Hiszpanii

The article is dedicated to the media images of the Spanish Bourbon monarchy, especially the King Felipe VI and his wife Letizia, accompanied with an analysis of their role as (super) heroes or antiheroes of the nation. The author presents the problem of their standing in the public opinion in the face of participation of the royal family members in numerous political, sex and financial scandals, but also general crisis of the monarchy in Spain. Additional factors which make the King’s role of a superhero infeasible is a high level of contestation of the national idea in the society and augmenting secessionist tendencies, especially in Catalonia. In the atmosphere of probable disintegration of the Spanish state the monarch is unable to take substantial measures but remains obliged to make reference to them in his ceremonial public statements.

ECONOMIC MECHANISM OF SURVIVAL OF THE MINING INDUSTRY OF SOUTHERN RUSSIA

Article is devoted to the problems of a mountain industry of the South of Russia caused by a general crisis of the reformed economy. The directions of survival of the entities are sounded: involvement in the sphere of production of inventories of technogenic fields and enhancement of work of an economic mechanism in market economy. Features of a resource situation and an economic mechanism of mining and processing enterprises are characterized. The criterion of quality of mineral raw materials in the form of onboard content is formulated. The method of the multidimensional comparative analysis for complex assessment of variable technical and economic indicators of activities of the entity is offered. The role of categories flexibility and adaptability as conditions of efficiency of an economic system is opened. As the general direction the concept of decrease in capital and operating costs of the entity by a combination of traditional and conversion technologies in case of the single scheme of development of fields is offered. The characteristic of assessment of parameters of innovative development a method of production functions is this in case of conversion of the entity on innovative technologies. For mathematical handling of experimental results the approximated production function of Kobba-Douglas is recommended. It is offered to estimate a lost profit on the lost value of a useful component determined by the ceiling price of an industry that allows to come to single criterion -profit taking into account damage on losses of mineral in case of alternative technologies.

Family Associations as Social Capital for Families and Society

At a time of renewed interest in the family, family associations are attracting increasing attention. This is due to a growing awareness that fraying social bonds and the general crisis of the welfare system are related to lack of support for the family and its code of solidarity. This article explores a number of issues, starting with the question of the identity of a family association, both in theory, within the framework of relational sociology and international literature, and in practice, in light of the international federations of family associations’ membership criteria. Finally, family associations will be described according with the concept of social capital, to show that when families form associations with other families they become an irreplaceable resource for society.

ПРОБЛЕМИ ФОРМУВАННЯ ПОДАТКОВОЇ ПОЛІТИКИ УКРАЇНИ В ІТ-СФЕРІ

The article considers the peculiarities of taxation of IT services in Ukraine. It is determined that IT technologies are one of the priority areas of economic development of Ukraine. It is determined that the IT sphere is very important for Ukraine, because against the background of the general economic and political crisis, IT technologies are identified in Ukraine as one of the priority sectors of economic development, as evidenced by the significant contribution of export industry to total GDP and taxes. to the state budget. The volume of exports of IT services from Ukraine is researched and analyzed. The necessity of tax regulation of the IT taxation system in Ukraine is determined, the main tasks, principles and factors on the basis of which the taxation system of IT technologies is based are revealed. In the course of the research, tax incentives (privileges) used in the taxation of IT services in foreign countries were identified as appropriate and considered. In Ukraine, of all these benefits, only VAT exemption applies to all software supply transactions, ie benefits are applied not by a specific entity that has received the right to use them, but by all entities that carry out the relevant transactions. Thus, it was found that the application of such a benefit is not a right but a duty of the taxpayer. Priority areas for optimizing the IT industry have been identified. The priority directions of optimization of the branch of IT technologies are defined. It is determined that one of the main factors contributing to the development of the information technology industry and IT business in Ukraine is the ability to use a simplified taxation system, the so-called "third group", which is currently analogous to industry incentive systems in other countries. Therefore, for Ukraine, which is still successfully competing in the global market, it is necessary to create a tax regime similar to those in force in foreign competitors.

Проявление общенационального кризиса России в Сибири осенью 1917 г.

The paper considers the problem of the systemic crisis development in the Russian Siberian region in the autumn of 1917 as a part of the national crisis on the eve of the October political coup in the country. The purpose of the paper is to identify the essence of the general Siberian region crisis of this period, to define its internal and external manifestations, to understand the scenarios and ways of its overcoming in the concept of region public attitudes and social forces. The issue is investigated on the basis of dialectical materialism method through the historicism principles, the specific historical experience in connection with other historical events of the time. The First World War caused the huge over-extension of all society life areas in Russia. Socio-economic problems, unresolved on the eve of war, grew worse. The ruling elite failed to create the crisis management system adequate to the situation requirement, which led to the autocracy downfall and the democratic revolution in February of 1917. Having emerged from the wreckage of the old management system, the February power regime trying to carry out the revolutionary transformation in conditions of total war only worsened the national crisis and led to the state collapse. There appeared the projects to overcome the national crisis and revive the country, proposed by the Bolsheviks ("the proletariat tasks in the revolution") and the cadets ("the Kornilov action program") There were also the crisis separate overcoming scenarios offered by national and regional elites. This plan required the situation research in the Siberian region with the specific form of the systemic crisis, caused by both national problems and historical "Siberian issues". Moreover there appeared the regional scenario of crisis overcoming.DOI 10.14258/izvasu(2017)2-10

«Периферия», государство и революция, или морфология российской отсталости (Часть 2)

With this paper, we continue a series of publications on the theoretical aspects of Teodor Shanin’s conception of Russia as a ‘developing society’ first published in 1986 in the book Russia as a ‘Developing Society’. The Roots of Otherness: Russia’s Turn of Century. Vol. 1. In this part, the author considers the characterization of Russia as a “developing society” at the turn of the XX century, which cannot be understood outside the context of capitalism both internationally and intra-nationally. At the same time the unique/specific features that most profoundly characterized the Russian social scene at the turn of the century and made its mark as its past within its present were represented particularly by the state, ethnos and peasantry. The power of the Russian state apparatus, its share of resources, its control over the population and its legal claims exceeded those elsewhere where capitalism was on the march. Massive processes of consolidation and ‘extended reproduction’ of cultural patterns, language usage, fundamental symbols of identification and self-identification, as well as of related political loyalties, wielded together massive populations of different origins. Finally, during two centuries only, the Russian peasants moved all the way from the payment of tribute to unheard-of levels of exploitation and cattle-like enslavement of more than nine-tenths of the Russians; however, within another century came the emancipation from serfdom which made peasantry not only ‘free’ but landowning. The Russian dependent development of that time found its expression not only at the general level of the economic flows malfunctions and transformations but also at the distinct dimension of class generation and conflict. Parallel to the general crisis of the Russian political economy and the growing and increasingly explicit conflict between major social groups was an ideological/moral crisis expressed in perceptions, concepts and values (thus, the Russian intelligentsia confronted directly the state apparatus). The author concludes with the types of dissent initiated by men of knowledge, of ideas and of moral values, which was represented in different populist theorists including revolutionary populism and subjective sociology.

THE EDUCATIONAL POTENTIAL OF FATHERHOOD: CONCEPTUAL BASES OF RESEARCH AND SUPPORT

Introduction. Nowadays, under the conditions of a general crisis of family relations, fatherhood as a social phenomenon and institution increasingly attracts the interest of researchers in various fields of humanitarian knowledge. However, Russian researchers have not treated educational potential of fatherhood in much detail due to historically developed objective reasons. Most studies are conducted not systemically; many of them describe typical problems. Moreover, previous studies of the educational potential of fatherhood have not dealt with practical recommendations for support and development of fatherhood as an educational institution. The aims of this research are: the analysis of fatherhood as an educational institution; scientific and theoretical justification for opportunities to strengthen family relations and children welfare through pedagogical support for fatherhood period. Methodology and research methods. The methodological framework of the research undertaken by authors is based on institutional approach. The relevant directions of the research on the stated problematics are highlighted on the basis of the review of the Russian and foreign scientific literature; the analysis of normative documents and generalization of social and pedagogical practices. The theoretical analysis and synthesis of the data obtained during the surveys among men from different regions ofRussia and foreign countries allowed the authors to structure typical ideas about fatherhood and to model a concept for its educational resources. Results and scientific novelty. The problems complicating mass reproduction of effective “fatherly pedagogy” are designated: system crisis of a family and masculinity; socio-economic factors resulting in the low educational motivation of fathers; lack of clear and positive ideological and valuable bases of human existence, etc. The concepts “fatherhood” and “educational potential of fatherhood” are consistently interpreted. The concept “language” of the father-child interaction (FCI), new to psychology and pedagogical knowledge, is introduced. Given the above concept consists in the direct emotional and communicative interaction based on empathy and “episodic” relation of a father to a child's life, i.e. pragmatic love. The general logic of FCI can be presented as “language-form-value”; particular options of implementation of the general formula can be “sport-training-health”, “literature-reading-meaning”, “arts-concerts-tastes”, etc. According to the authors, practical application of concrete substantial forms-units (“languages”) of the FCI system is an effective pedagogical tool for individual and personal updating of fatherhood in order to positively influence the formation of a child’s socialization. The concept of educational potential of fatherhood which includes three key determinants is worked out: knowledge and erudition of a father-parent; his personal qualities; system of motives and values. Practical significance. The proposed three-part model of determinants for educational potential of fatherhood could be applied to undertake the diagnostics of this potential among parents for organization of their pedagogical support. The idea of “languages” of FCI might be useful for social projects implementation to support families and institute of fatherhood.

The Psychic Alternation Theory (PAT) – Model of Life Stage Crises in general and Mid-life Crisis in Particular

Human mind in the psychoanalytic framework is understood to be structurally consisting of the triad of Id, ego and super ego. According to the psychic alternation outlook; the ego rather than being a mere mediating force, is understood to be a dynamic concept, subjected to inherent internal transformations, periodically. Hence there is a cyclic transformation of the ‘ego’ under the influence of its inherently predetermined and periodically fluctuating driving forces (‘eros’& ‘thanatos’). The “Psychic Alternation Theory” postulates that, this inherent tendency towards ego transformations, contributes to the possible origin of life stage crises like Midlife-crisis. This transformation appears to be an unconscious tendency inherent to all individuals irrespective of racial, cultural or geographical differences. Moreover this transformation of the nature of the unconscious aspect of ‘ego’, from ‘life-centered’ to ‘death-centered’, seems to be persistent and periodically cyclic in any individual. In spite of this the appearance of a life-stage crisis at any vulnerable point in lifespan is not a universal phenomenon, owing to the influence of the ‘ego-strength’ emanating from the cross sectional disposition of the ‘will’.

El desafío del cinismo antiguo en la polis (s. IV-III A.C.): una vida de esfuerzo y de reacuñación de los valores

Hombres y mujeres de un tiempo de crisis, los primeros cínicos representa­ron un verda­dero desafío para sus contemporáneos. Radicalmente opues­tos a los modos de vida y de pensamiento impe­rantes, lejos de apartarse en un retiro indiferente, se mantuvieron conscientemente en el interior de la socie­dad de su tiempo. Lo hicieron ante todo como el mejor modo de realizar el cinismo por ellos descu­bierto, a través del desaprendizaje y desembarazo de todo aquello que está en el origen de la esclavitud y desdicha reales del individuo, y como el mejor modo de confirmar las claves de la verdadera libertad y felici­dad. En ese contexto hostil es donde, como atletas y soldados de la filosofía, se entre­naron y combatieron cotidiana y públicamente, con el objetivo de convertirse en seres autosufi­cientes, libres y felices. Antístenes, Diógenes, Crates, Metrocles y su hermana Hiparquia (esposa de Crates) represen­taron por excelencia ese lado más decidida­mente heroico y desafiante del cinismo antiguo. Poco después otros, como Menipo o Bion, pro­si­guieron este desafío en el mundo helenístico, aunque quizá en su caso se tradujo más en críticas y sátiras literarias que en un compro­miso real de vida. Sin embargo, será sobre todo en época imperial cuando pro­liferará la figura del falso cínico vulgar, que ocultaba los vicios del parásito bajo la apariencia y la indumen­taria del filósofo.

Las últimas visitas del priorato de San Salvador de Chantada (Lugo) por los abades de Valladolid: edición y estudio

Bearing in mind the general crisis of the 14th and 15th centuries, this work studies the impact of the reformation initiated by San Benito el Real de Valladolid and the consequent dependence of all the reformed monasteries to this house. In this work we shall concentrate on four monastic visits in the last years of the Priory of San Salvador de Chantada, Lugo, before the Ecclesiastical Confiscations took place. Transcriptions of these visits can be found in the appendix.

The Swift and Secret Messenger: John Wilkins’s Mercury and the Paradoxes of Language

Abstract John Wilkins’s Mercury or the Secret and Swift Messenger: Showing How a Man May with Privacy and Speed Communicate His Thoughts to a Friend at Any Distance was first published in 1641. As a book on cryptography presenting a variety of secret means of communication at a distance it seems to have appeared at just the right time, when the biblical curse of the confusion of tongues was doubled by the curse of political confusion on the brink of the English civil war. However, the book seems to be more than just a detailed account of methods of secret writing; its topic gives the author a chance to present his views on language which he would later develop in his life’s work An Essay towards Real Character and a Philosophical Language published in 1668. The Essay had received much greater critical attention than the early pamphlet, which is usually referred to as merely a prelude to an account of his universal language project. Indeed, in the little book on cryptography, Wilkins already demonstrated his awareness of the conventional character of language and its role within the system of human interactions, as well as advertised a project of philosophical language that would enhance communication between all nations and remedy the curse of Babel. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate that the value of the pamphlet lies also in the insight that it gives into the seventeenth-century debates on the nature of language and into arguments which were often provided, in equal measure, by theology, Hermetic lore, mythology, literature and early modern science. Wilkins’s meticulous recording of the contradictory views and propositions on language produces a sense of methodological inconsistency that leads to ambiguities and paradoxes. However, in the medley of concepts and the collection of linguistic “curiosities” that Mercury presents, a careful reader will discern the growing mistrust of language as a means of representing reality and as a foundation of knowledge, which was one of the symptoms of the general crisis of representation leading to an epistemological shift that started in the seventeenth century.

ELABORATION OF THE REGIONAL CLUSTERS IN HOTEL ECONOMY

The modern approach to the cluster methodology usage in the sphere of hotel economy is presented in the article. It was proved, that the one of forms of such integration is a formation of hotel cluster. Just in the hotel cluster (association) and not at the level of separate hotel enterprise are formed such processes as: integration of objects, organization of unitary informational system; selective support by the local budget of building hotels and other lodging means; innovative policy and introduction of new technologies; allotment of the territory for building; revision of transport routes; development of engineer-technical nets and so on. There are presented the data about the situation and dynamics of development of the hotel services sector іn Zaporizhzhya region. The analysis of hotel economy of Zaporizhzhya region testifies that the causes of significant fluctuations of the number of guests in hotels were not only the general economic crisis but also the appearance of new form of competition between autonomous hotels, hotel nets and private apartments of lodging type. The number of placed foreign citizens that are the source of currency costs and services export also changed. The results of analysis indicate the essential discrepancies between the main characteristics of the hotels of different, types, the comfort level and the state of material-technical base that is insufficiently developed. The analysis of financial-economic activity of hotel complexes, especially, profitability of their work, testifies that the special attention of enterprise leaders must be paid to the reduction of spendings on exploitation of hotels that form the cost price of hotel services and, accordingly, their price. The features of inclusion of small hotels to the general strategy of hotel economy reorganization are determined.

The Great Recession in the US from the Perspective of the World Economy

In this article, the economic crisis from the US perspective is analyzed, using a Marxist approach. As the so-called Great Recession constitutes a general crisis of the capitalist economy at world level, this article intends to provide an analytical framework to explain it from the profitability of capital point of view, while emphasizing the meaning of the real estate bubble and the placement of the US economy in the world system. In doing so, an additional objective of this article is to provide elements to reveal the limitations of the conceptions of the theory of the crisis based on income distribution, finance, neoliberalism, and generally any aspect outside the core of the process of capitalist valorization as the key explaining factor.

Liberation through Consumption: Six Hypotheses on the Passage from Exclusive Neoliberalism to the New Runfla Capitalism

Throughout this last decade and a half, and in parallel to the general crisis of global capitalism, a wide popular urban sector of the periphery (from Argentina but also from elsewhere) sought a favorable cycle that included themselves in consumption. One could think of this new access to wealth as a process of liberation (unlike the orthodox critique that interprets it as alienation), with the caveat of amplifying the very notion of “liberation”. With the increase of consumption there are new modes of sensing, desiring, thinking, socializing; but also other ways of being, loving, enjoying, and dying that have been radically altered. New possibilities emerge and the traditional knowledge of governing populations radically breaks down. Far from pointing to a decline in the old forms of social organization, collective action opens a new gap in a time that is unprecedented and incalculable.

The political origins of inequality: why a more equal world is better for us all

Inequality is the defining issue of our time. But it is not just a problem for the rich world. It is the global 1% that now owns fully half the world's wealth-the true measure of our age of inequality. In this historical tour de force, Simon Reid-Henry rewrites the usual story of globalization and development as a story of the management of inequality. Reaching back to the eighteenth century and around the globe, The Political Origins of Inequality foregrounds the political turning points and decisions behind the making of today's uneven societies. As it weaves together insights from the Victorian city to the Cold War, from US economic policy to Europe's present migration crisis, a true picture emerges of the structure of inequality itself. The problem of inequality, Reid-Henry argues, is a problem that manifests between places as well as over time. This is one reason why it cannot be resolved by the usual arguments of left versus right, bound as they are to the national scale alone. Most of all, however, it is why the level of inequality that confronts us today is indicative of a more general crisis in political thought. Modern political discourse has no place for public reason or the common good. Equality is yesterday's dream. Yet the fact that we now accept such a world-a world that values security over freedom, special treatment over universal opportunity, and efficiency over fairness-is ultimately because we have stopped even trying in recent decades to build the political architecture the world actually requires.Our politics has fallen out of step with the world, then, and at the every moment it is needed more than ever. Yet it is within our power to address this. Doing so involves identifying and then meeting our political responsibilities to others, not just offering them the selective charity of the rich. It means looking beyond issues of economics and outside our national borders. But above all it demands of us that we reinvent the language of equality for a modern, global world: and then institute this. The world is not falling apart. Different worlds, we all can see, are colliding together. It is our capacity to act in concert that is falling apart. It is this that needs restoring most of all.

Nuit Debout: Frankreich gerät in Bewegung!

France is in motion! In spring 2016, a huge movement against the French labor law reform formed and is since then protesting in the streets and squares all over France. The article examines these struggles and asks, why the movement is currently on the rise. It discusses the struggles in relation to the general crisis dynamics and focuses on the protests of trade unions and civil society (Nuit Debout). Furthermore, the labor law reform of the Valls-Government is being illustrated in the context of the recent French labor market policy and its continuities.

Możliwe drogi rozwoju „rzadkich” filologii. Przeszłość, teraźniejszość i wizja najbliższych lat

The article discusses the issue of the need for changes in the curricula of the philologies of smaller languages, what Polish philology means in Hungary and what Hungarian philology is in Poland. The author’s comments are based on many years of professional experience gained at universities in Hungary and Poland, while teaching and conducting research in these philologies. The need to modify the curriculum is due to the general crisis of philological training and the fact that at the time of connecting our countries to the European area of education it was unclear what competences would be required in a bachelor’s and a master’s degree (apart from the evident cases such as teacher training). The current university programs, particularly at the undergraduate level, include “unnecessary” amounts of theoretical knowledge at the expense of practical knowledge on geography, culture, contemporary and broadly defined cultural competences. In the author’s opinion, the new programs should place less emphasis on “classical” areas of philology, including historical linguistics and the history of the literature of 11th to 18th centuries.

Możliwe drogi rozwoju „rzadkich” filologii. Przeszłość, teraźniejszość i wizja najbliższych lat

Artykuł omawia kwestię potrzeby wprowadzenia zmian w programach kształcenia na „rzadkich” filologiach, jakimi są filologia polska na Węgrzech oraz filologia węgierska w Polsce. Uwagi autora opierają się na długoletnich doświadczeniach zawodowych uzyskanych na uniwersytetach na Węgrzech i w Polsce podczas pracy dydaktyczno-naukowej prowadzonej właśnie na wymienionych „rzadkich” filologiach. Potrzeba modyfikacji programów wynika z ogólnego kryzysu kształcenia filologicznego oraz z faktu, że podczas dołączania się naszych krajów do europejskiego obszaru kształcenia nie zostało sprecyzowane, do czego będzie uprawniać dyplom licencjata i do czego dyplom magistra (poza ewidentnymi przypadkami, np. kształceniem nauczycieli). Obecne programy uniwersyteckie, szczególnie na studiach pierwszego stopnia, zawierają „niepotrzebną” ilość wiedzy teoretycznej na niekorzyść wiedzy praktycznej w zakresie krajoznawstwa, kultury współczesnej oraz szeroko rozumianych kompetencji kulturowych. Zdaniem autora w nowych programach należałoby kłaść mniejszy nacisk na „klasyczne” obszary filologiczne, w tym językoznawstwo historyczne i historię literatury do XIX w. na korzyść kultury współczesnej, językowego obrazu świata oraz szeroko rozumianych kompetencji kulturowych.

Politics and the Food Production Crisis in Tanzania

Opinion is now universally agreed among all people of conscience, that the so-called Tanzanian experiment is a complete and dismal failure. Reviews critical of this ‘experiment’ and warning about the impending catastrophe, which began to appear in the international press in the middle of 1980 as a whisper, had become an uproar by late 1982 as the hopes and optimism that accompanied the apparent and aberrant recovery of 1976-79 were dashed and shattered by the return of the food crisis in 1980 and the perseverance and intensification of the general economic crisis. The pace of deterioration of the economy has accelerated since 1980.