Modern Russian State Research Articles

Legal Status of Moskovia during 16-17th Centuries

The authors of this article consider the development of the political, administrative and spheres of the early modern Russian state against the backdrop of similar processes taking place in the neighboring states of Europe at this time. Analyzing the administrative and legal practices inherent in European states and in Russia of the late middle ages - early new age, the authors come to the conclusion that the notion of Muscovia, formed as despotic state based on the absolute power of the Moscow tsars and the lack of rights of their subjects, is based on the subjective impressions of foreign observers. The latter, getting into the closed Moscow society, failed to understand the peculiarities of the Russian state power mechanisms functioning and their legal basis, based on not recorded in written law. Having perceived the official Moscow political declarations as the real legal foundation, on which the early Russian state was built, foreign observers did not notice the everyday life behind this front facade, which had little in common with the officially proclaimed doctrine. The reality was to build thin balance of interests between the supreme power and local government, based on the observance of old traditions by both sides. In this regard, the Russian state of the late middle ages - early new age can be considered legal one, if we understand by a law not only the written law, but also the customary one.

Транспарентность современного российского государства и защита прав личности (некоторые вопросы) [На фр.

Транспарентность современного российского государства и защита прав личности (некоторые вопросы) [На фр.

The integration of law and integrality of the legislation as necessary conditions for the success of law enforcement in interstate integration

УДК 341.1+342.2 Subject. The article substantiates the need for a special system of legislation for any project of international integration. Only such system, being integral, may, firstly, become the basis for the formation of an integrative law of this integration project, and secondly, have a supranational constitutionality, giving the ability to individual enforcement. Purpose. The purpose of this paper is the design of the constitutional-legal mechanisms of international integration in the scope of an integrative understanding of law and law enforcement. Methodology. The author uses methods of theoretical analysis, particularly the theory of integrative legal consciousness, as well as legal methods, including formal legal method and comparative law. Results, scope of application. The author points out that the formation of a single legal space in the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), as well as in Customs Union and the Eurasian Economic Community before, is a development of constitutional law of supranational level, not of international law. The integration of law and integrality of the legislation are prerequisite for the success of the interstate Eurasian integration. Integration of law means the completeness of its internal structure, implies the indissoluble inner coherence of the law, its wholeness, unity. Coherent legal norms, embodied in legislation, can only create the phenomenon of law. The law should be understood as a metasystem, supersystem, it accumulates all socially significant systems and integrates the values of the law itself, its principles, values, other social regulators and regulated spheres of social relations. Attempts to apply the concept of "integration", but to abandon the notion of "integrality" are unreasonable, this terminological dichotomy is just a word game. If we talk about law, it is more appropriate to talk about it’s iintegrity, but if we talk about legislation, emerging to accelerate and deepen integration processes, it is more appropriate to talk about integrality. The author critically analyzes the features of an integrative understanding of law that are highlighted in the legal literature. The results of the study can be applied in the design of the constitutional-legal mechanisms of interstate Eurasian integration in the framework of the legal modernization of the modern Russian state. Conclusions. The author comes to the conclusion that the use of integral norms of the legislation makes the law alive and develop the integration models. Instability of legal regulation is a serious challenge to the integrity of Russian law. Emerging legislation of the Union State of Russia and Belarus and the Eurasian Economic Union are integral, but the law of these political and legal entities is not integrative today, it does not exist simply. As a consequence, law enforcement in the States participating in the interstate integration is carried out only through the implementation of national legislation.

РЕАЛИЗАЦИЯ ПРОГРАММ ТРАНСПОРТНОГО РАЗВИТИЯ БРЯНСКОЙ ОБЛАСТИ

One of the important factors limiting social and economic development of Russia is considered to be the state and efficient functioning of transport and logistic infrastructure. 
 The creation of a modern road and transport net-work is one of the factors providing sustainable eco-nomic growth, implementation of social programs and, eventually, improvement of the quality of human life. 
 Interaction of financial state interests and private business through mechanisms of state-private partner-ship has to become the main objective of modern Rus-sian state policy in favor of intensification process of capital investments increase in transport infrastructure.
 The use of such mechanism will allow carrying 
 out projects which the state and business cannot im-plement alone. It will help to reduce social problems, will become the driving force of Russian economy, will promote the establishment of the international financial center in the Russian Federation.
 The purpose of the study is to research compre-hensively the existing funding mechanism and distribu-tion of budget funds for creating transport infrastruc-ture with economic substantiation possibility of attract-ing and using non-budgetary sources.

Development of the Russian Model of Federalism: Relationships of Center and Regions in 2007-2016

This article was written by Yuriy Pochta for the Council of Europe and was published in the spring of 2016 in the collection: Regionalisation trends in European countries 2007-2015. A study by members of the Group of Independent Experts of the European Charter of Local Self-Government / Editor: Prof. Francesco Merloni. Strasburg, 2016. Yuriy Pochta is a member of a group of independent experts of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, which is the pan-European political assembly representing local and regional authorities from the forty-seven member states of the Council of Europe. The Congress entrusted the Group of Independent Experts on the European Charter of Local Self-Government with the task of producing a comparative academic study. This study is based on information from Council of Europe member States affected by the regionalisation process and on recent regionalisation developments in Europe. The intention is to review the situation regarding regionalisation since the 2007 report of the European Committee on Local and Regional Democracy (CDLR). Following on from this, the idea is to achieve a broader understanding of the phenomenon from both the legal and institutional angles. The main aim of this study is to evaluate regionalisation trends, towards both more and less regionalisation, in individual countries and consequently in Europe as a whole. At the same time it seeks to determine whether the various countries considered actually have regional institutions as defined by the 2009 Council of Europe Reference Framework for Regional Democracy. In preparing his section on Russia, Yuriy Pochta proceeded from the fact that the modern Russian state emerged relatively recently - at the turn of 1980-90-s. of the 20th century and its formation, including its federal structure continues. It is shown that since 2007 the process of regionalization of the Russian Federation is developing successfully. Having opted for the creation of a democratic society, post-Soviet Russian Federation borrowed Western model, adapting it to its own circumstances. The impact of these conditions leads to the fact that it is quite difficult to relate the existing Russian federal system to the classic Western model. On this occasion Russian and Western scholars participate in a lively debate about the nature of Russian federalism - whether it is real or a simulation, whether it is in the crisis. But in 2014, in connection with the entry of the Crimea and Sevastopol to the Russian Federation, Russian federalism issues become even more urgent, raising a number of questions about the evolution of Russian federalism, the possibility of the organic integration of the two new subjects in the federation in a situation of sharp complication of Russia's relations with the West, led by the United States, caused by the political and socio-economic crisis in the Republic of Ukraine.

THE CULTURAL AND RELIGIOUS DIMENSION OF THE FOREIGN POLICY OF RUSSIA AT THE TURN OF 17TH AND 18TH CENTURIES

The author of this article aims to examine the role and place of the Russian Orthodox Church in Russia's transition from the regional state of the Middle Ages to an absolutist state of Modern history. Transformations in states' domestic and foreign policies that took place in Modern history cannot be reduced to a simple set of changes in various spheres of life of states, nations and peoples. By studying the transition from one type of statehood to another one we are dealing with a fundamental transformation of the entire state organism, the state as a cultural phenomenon, with a change in the very notion of what a state is and what its goals, objectives and functions are. The process of transformations in statehood affected all countries of the world including our Motherland. In Russia these changes had their own cultural and historical specificity which was largely formed by religiosity of our people and was rooted in the Orthodox faith. Therefore, the author considered it necessary to raise the question of how the cultural, historical and religious identity of the Russian people could influence the course of reforms in the sphere of the Russian state system in Modern history. The author focuses on the foreign policy of the Russian state built on cultural and religious values in I7th-I8th centuries. This foreign policy is seen as an alternative paradigm of the modern Russia's foreign policy. The author believes that the modern Russian state does not shape its foreign policy on the basis of core values of the Russian world view arising from the religious consciousness of our people. This fact deprives Russia’s foreign policy of unity with cultural and historical tradition of our state and in many respects weakens it. The article provides a possible answer to the question why a tendency to the framing of a foreign policy on the basis of values and religious outlook inherent in the Russian people did not prevail in the foreign policy of the Russian state.

Функции надзорного производства в гражданском процессе

In this article the author analyses correlation between terms tasks and aims of the civil procedure in whole and these ones of the supervision proceedings in particular. Addressing Soviet and modern Russian jurists’ opinions, the author based on contextual reading of the law rule of the Civil Procedure Code of the Russian Federation that determines aims and tasks of the civil procedure offers her own vision of correlation between the above-mentioned terms and supposes division into the main and additional tasks of the civil procedure. Named tasks of the civil procedure the author considers that determining functions of the civil procedure as means to complete these tasks is needed. Comparing other authors’ terms of the civil procedure function the author formulates her term of a function of the civil procedure. Moreover the question concerning possible synonym of terms: principles, tasks, aims and functions of the civil procedure is also considered. Concluding characterization of the civil procedure functions the author disserts about functions of each stage of the civil procedure, with a particular focus on optional stages of the civil procedure, one of which is the supervision proceedings. Based on functions of the supervision proceedings in the civil procedure the author divides such functions into check, regulatory, protecting, control and right-conferring functions. Employing in particular historic-legal and comparative methods of research, the author of this article characterizes each of the above-mentioned functions, also through determining tasks of each particular function of the supervision proceedings in the civil procedure. In conclusion the author writes that it’s necessity to determine the functions of the supervision proceedings in civil procedure for the purpose of correct understanding the role of the supervision proceedings in the civil procedure of the modern Russian State.

Domestic Model for Provision of the National and Public Security at the Present Stage of Political Modernization

In the context of the global development processes, shaping the new threats and risks for the individual, society and state development, Russia as a protector of the national prosperity is proceeding to the new state policy in the field of national and public security. However, the modern Russian state is characterized by the non-complex structuring but socio-political anomie, the public capital being distributed unfairly. The divide is negative in character. Moreover, it is non-productive and it does not prevent from the further disintegration of the social texture. As a result, on the one hand, there is a sense of relative and temporary well-being, and on the other hand, there is a feeling of non-participating in the process of shaping the future image. In addition to that, there remains a hidden uncertainty whether we ought to consider a person to be an object or a subject of security in this “national formula”. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n6s4p577

The brief review of semiotics, semantics and pragmatics of Perm animal style in Russian and foreign publications

Abstract: Perm animal style is a kind of biomorphism in the art of Kama region’s peoples. The phenomenon of Perm animal style is connected with other kinds of animal style and has an influence on contemporary art, and therefore attracts the interest of Russian and foreign experts. The objective of this research is to make a review of some historical, archeological, cultural and artistic publications of Russian and foreign authors, adverting to the analysis of semiotic system, common outlook and the role of animal style in the formation of Kama region biomor -phism’s identity. Keywords: biomorphism, Perm animal style, Finno-Ugric culture, ethno-futurism.The preservation of local and national figurative systems is the essential condition of their oblivion pre-vention, especially in the modern conditions of world culture development, which has globalization and urban-istic character. Such ethnic figurative systems are con-nected with nature in a more balanced way, as compared to the modern trends, grown out of cultural symbols con-vergence. It means that they are national and authentic patterns which can contribute to the creation of video- ecological cultural environment in the modern world and provide ideal conditions for our country identity in the framework of multipolar cultural world. Except for the global self-identity, the issue of inner identity is one of the most acute in the modern Russian society.The modern Russian state includes dozens of areas, each having the unique history. Despite the growing tempo of globalization, the “Mental borders” of these territories are vividly seen both, in people’s perception and in the administrative state division. Strange as it may seem, near-the –folk data about the territory of settlement cause more interest among all the layers of the society, than medieval and new age history. For example, in Perm Krai, Komi Republic, Republic of Udmurtiya and in other neighbouring Ural areas the issue of initial national iden-tity and the awareness of connection with other native peoples sounds more than acute. Various youth and cul-tural projects and associations prove that point. For in-stance, KAMWA, the association of Finno-Ugric youth etc, the growth of interest to native language learning.Speaking about material culture, folk and applied arts in connection with the Perm Krai area, the creation of decorative articles – “decorative metal works” – is the closest and the most comprehensible form of the envi-ronment’s aesthetic vision. Decorative metal works have always been present in the routine and spiritual life of the Ural man [4]. The beginnings of Ural’s artistic metal works essentially correspond to such phenomenon as “Perm animal style”. The vast collections of Perm ani-mal style articles are assembled in Perm Krai and Komi Republic museums. Besides, the archeological findings, corresponding to this flow, are presented in the collec-tions of the Hermitage and the number of Moscow and Scandinavian museums.Certainly, Perm animal style is not the only example of early biomorphic syncretism in the world culture. It also existed as the element of development in Scyth-ian, Finnish and ancient Greek cultures [5]. However, it is exactly Perm animal style which has the number of unique traits with the meanings still difficult for inter-pretation, as it was developed in the conditions of partial ethnicism. The interest to its articles semantics’ study has both philosophic-cultural and purely historic-archeolog -ical grounds. Therefore the study of Perm animal style as a simultaneous illustration of history and material culture is always placed at the turn of several scientific spheres. This style’s semiotics, semantics and pragmatics are equally important for its understanding. The study of perm animal style from such point of view undoubtedly contributes to the enrichment of contemporary local and world culture.The objective of this research is to make a review of some historical, archeological, cultural and artistic pub -lications of Russian and foreign authors, adverting to the analysis of semiotic system, common outlook and

State Metallurgy Factories and Direct Taxes in the Urals, 1700–50: Paths to State Building in Early Modern Russia

Historical-sociological descriptions of rise and development of modern bureaucratic attribute great significance to war and taxation. According to so-called military-taxation theory, collects taxes, which grant it resources to survive in geopolitical competition. The ability of a to regularly raise necessary tax revenue to conduct war is viewed as one of most important indicators of successful building. According to this theory, that adopt most productive taxes and institutionalize most modern forms of tax administration are able to mobilize ever greater quantities of labor and materiel and therefore have edge in this perpetual arms race.... In long run, military competition led all surviving states to converge on efficient and productive tax systems, and those tax systems in turn led to militarization and bureaucratization of society. (1) The history of early modern Russian state, too, has been analyzed through prism of military-taxation theory. Chester Dunning and Norman Smith detect a fiscal-military in Russia in 16th century, while Endre Sashalmi prefers period between second half of 17th century to first quarter of (18)th century for emergence of a Russian fiscal-military state. (2) By contrast, Janet Hartley concludes that Russia could hardly be defined as a fiscal-military even in (18)th century. (3) The observations and conclusions of these authors (as well as my own) should be taken as preliminary and open to discussion, because of both current of historical research and existence of important theoretical problems that still require further attention. From 20th century through present day, historians of taxation have reconstructed budget, yearly fluctuation of returns from various types of taxes, and structure of tax apparatus. They have also reconstructed composition of tax apparatus and its daily activities related to collection of taxes and revenue from population. (4) Yet more research is required, working with sources of (16)th through (19)th centuries to resolve new and important theoretical problems. One such question concerns manner in which we approach itself. As Douglass North, John Wallis, and Barry Weingast note, economists and social scientists concerned with understanding how develops and interacts with larger society have modeled as a revenue-maximizing monarch, a stationary bandit, or a single-actor 'representative agent.' By overlooking reality that all states are organizations, this approach misses how internal dynamics of relationships among elites within dominant coalition affect how states interact with larger society. (5) Their approach may not be entirely new, after all, Max Weber already recognized as a human community, one that claims a monopoly of legitimate use of physical force within a given territory. (6) North, Wallis, and Weingast are right, however, to remind us that as a human community is an organization, and that its internal structure and institutions have had a decisive effect on course of building. (7) In Russia, state emerged in late (15) th century as an organization of hereditary landowning class (termed nobility in (18)th century), centralized and united around figure of monarch. Social collaboration within ruling class was in many respects what allowed Russian autocracy to function. Regionally based, independent magnates were absent. As David Goldfrank notes, the aristocracy contributed only glue, not centrifugal counter-force to central establishment. (8) Occupying a office was both right and duty of ruling class. The Russian administrative apparatus of (17)th and (18)th centuries performed function of a corporate structure for ruling class. …

Modernization of the social policy of the modern Russian state

Modernization of the social policy of the modern Russian state

How Muscovy Governed: Seventeenth-Century Russian Central Administration

AbstractThe modern Russian state's first governmental administration, the chancellery system (prikaznaia sistema), guided Muscovy from the 1470s to the 1710s. A handful of state secretaries (d'iaki), subordinate clerks (pod'iachie), and several nascent bureaus matured into over ten permanent, well-codified bodies with decision-making boards, archives, professional hierarchies, and merit-based hiring and promotion by the 1550s. By the 1670s there were 60 chancelleries, and their Moscow staffs by the 1690s had increased to about 3,000, from the highest civil ranks (boyars and okol'niche) through the professional administrative ranks: duma state secretaries (dumnye d'iaki), the state secretaries, and clerks. The chancelleries (prikazy) discharged an array of state, royal court, and church functions, but military concerns were foremost. An arresting internal complexity typified the larger, more important chancelleries, like the Military and Foreign Affairs Chancelleries, divided into sub-units. The chancellery system was entirely homegrown, owning nothing to Roman Imperial and Medieval Latin traditions. The Russians borrowed some paperwork (scrolls) and zealous attention to that from the Mongols, as they did Byzantine and Lithuanian legal elements. Documentary language was a vernacular, Middle Russian register, with burgeoning specialized vocabulary and phraseology. Strict oaths guided conduct, though judicial bureau personnel were notorious for bribe-taking. Foreign travel accounts commented on the obsequiousness of documentary format wherein petitioners referred to themselves as “slaves” (kholopy) and used first-name diminutives. Seventeenth-century Muscovite centralized administration acquired Weber's hallmark features of a bureaucracy; the prikazy guided Muscovy and acculturated its subjects, from tsar to peasant, into its rationale, mechanisms, and operations. Weathering major social traumas and challenges, such as Ivan the Terrible's Oprichnina, the Time of Troubles, the Thirteen Years' War, and the 1682 Musketeers' Uprising, the chancelleries provided the bureaucratic continuity for the Imperial Russian and Soviet states.

Identity formation in the Russian Cossack revival

COSSACKS, THE FIERCE WARRIORS ON HORSEBACK who ruthlessly pushed back the Russian frontier in the name of the tsars, seemingly passed into history with the rise of the communist regime and the modem Soviet army. Recent years, however, have witnessed a sudden and dramatic resurrection of the Cossacks as a distinct group and social force in the former Soviet Union. As Gorbachev presided over a crumbling Soviet empire, descendants of the Cossacks began to shake the dust off their grandfathers' uniforms and to proselytize for a renewed kazachestvo, or Cossackdom, with its historic role of 'defending the Fatherland'. With a programme that is nationalistic at a basic level, today's Cossack revival movement is an interesting case study for the overall emergence of nationalist movements in all areas of the former Soviet Union. Significantly, the Cossacks base their programme and identity on a revival of their historical traditions in the context of the current period of social change. This article explores, first, the major elements at work in the process of modem Cossack identity formation and revival, and, second, the unifying ideals for the revival movement. It focuses solely on the Russian Cossacks, or those who are loyal to the modern Russian state, including those living beyond the boundaries of Russia in other former Soviet republics. The observations presented are based on an analysis of current Russian Cossack publications and personal interviews with members of the Cossack revival movement in various areas of Russia.

The Use and Abuse of Sovietology

This is a work by a fighter, a thinker, and an idealist. Leo Labedz is a fighter who minces no words in his contempt for the apologists of totalitarianism. He never rests in his efforts to enlarge the scope of human freedom, and many have felt the sharp edge of his political scalpel. He is a thinker with a penetrating mind and en-cyclopedic knowledge. He is an idealist who believes in sacrificing for the just cause to which he has dedicated his life. With these words of extraordinary praise, Zbigniew Brzezinski opens this volume of critical and polemical essays by Leopold Labedz. His knowledge of Soviet affairs, as seen through the eyes of the crusaders and critics of the Modern Russian State, is peerless. Chapters, which include major studies of Alexandr Solzhenitsyn, George Orwell, Noam Chomsky, George Kennan, and Leszek Kolakowski among others, es-tablish Labedz as among the most incisive analysts of Soviet affairs as well as those who presume special expertise in this ar-cane field. Labedz's impassioned writing covers not only Sovietologists, but also the major fault lines with which totalitarian systems have been uniquely identified. His writings on the Holocaust, student revolt, European unity, and the meaning of detente, help provide a perspective with which to assess present moods and policies within the still ever-present Soviet bloc. The anthology was prepared and edited by Melvin J. Lasky, the editor of Encounter, in which many of these materials initially appeared.

Apostle of Obscurantism: the Archimandrite Photius of Russia (1792–1838)

The archimandrite Photius of Russia, one of the most unusual figures to appear in a national history hardly lacking in the bizarre, played a unique role in the development of the modern Russian State. Possibly no other Russian churchman in modern times enjoyed so much power, however briefly, and used it for such unfortunate purposes as Photius. Through his influence upon the emperor Alexander i he determined the history of the Russian empire in such a manner that beneficial trends of growth were terminated and salutary movements aborted, to the great disadvantage of later generations. Had he lived during the reign of Nicholas ii, not a century earlier, Photius would undoubtedly have garnered something of the immortality accorded to those who brought Russia to its final dissolution; yet his role in the decline and fall of the Romanovs was no less than that of those who followed later.