Russian Politics Research Articles

Идея народности и Русско-турецкая война в социально-политической философии А.Д. Градовского

The article reveals the process of formation of the concept of the rule of law in the socio-political philosophy of one of the leading theorists of Russian state law, Alexander Gradovsky. The scientific novelty lies in the harmonious combination of the ideas of the national state, nationality and national idea with the political realities and the general concept of the rule of law. Russian Russian politics of the second half of the 19th century, such as the Russo-Turkish war, have been examined and the factors influencing the formation of a national state governed by the rule of law have been identified.

Srednii mir. L’eurasismo e la riflessione storica di Nicola Ottokar

Abstract Within the generation of Russian intellectuals, emigrated because of the Revolution and disseminated in universities all over the world, a new critical elaboration of Russian history was born. It was an authentic cultural movement; it called itself eurasianist, and their historical theses took the name of Eurasianism. For the Eurasianists, Russian history underwent an epochal turning point following the Mongol invasion and domination, which dragged Russian politics, economy, and culture towards Asia. It was the Asian cultural influence that dominated the most profound Russian spirit and made the country the beacon of future civilization, in contrast to Western decadent capitalist materialism. Nikolaj P. Ottokar was a highly respected specialist of medieval Florence, but he was also a Russian émigré, who desired to make his homeland known in a Western Europe that had an image of Russia mostly filtered through the most recent events and ideological paroxysm of those years. Ottokar belongs to that generation of exiles and dedicated two books (1936 and 1950) to Russia’s history. Through the analysis of those texts and the historical part that Ottokar wrote for the Italian Encyclopedia under Russia, this article (the first of a wider project on the Russian historian) aims to analyze Ottokar’s historical thought on Russia and understand whether or not the medievalist shared the eurasianist theses.

Mythologization of the Reign of Emperor Paul in Russian Political Anecdote and Realities

Mythologization of the Reign of Emperor Paul in Russian Political Anecdote and Realities

Социально-философская утопия Франца фон Баадера и политика надконфессионального христианства Александра I

The German romantic philosopher Franz von Baader, who had a significant influence on the formation of the concept of “la Sainte-Alliance”, who had numerous contacts with Russian political, religious and cultural figures of the era of Alexander I, who took an active part in the secularization of Russian society in the 1810s, still remains outside Russian historical, cultural and philosophical context. The article analyses the “Russian” aspects of Baader’s philosophy and activities through his writings and letters, testimonies of contemporaries and unpublished material from the Russian archives. It also reconstructs his religious-political and philosophical project in the context of the policy of Christian liberalism of Alexander I.

Историческая политика в контексте трансформаций концепций национальной безопасности Беларуси и России: теоретические основания

The interrelated concepts of historical policy and memory policy are considered. The foundations of the relationship between the security policy of the individual, society and the state and the policy of memory are traced. The author notes the peculiarity of modern Russian and Belarusian historical politics, which is associated with the use of historical memory as a source of legitimacy of political institutions. The author shows the prerequisites for the securitization of historical and memory policy in the context of increasing risks and threats of an external nature and internal destabilization in relation to the political systems of Belarus and Russia.

Конфликтные грани культурного поля политики

Конфликтные грани культурного поля политики

The Genesis of Contracts of Sale and Supply in the Russian Political and Legal System of the 9th - 18th Centuries

The article examines the genesis of the legal institutions of purchase and sale, sale and delivery in the Russian state in the context of historical conditions that influenced the formation and development of the triumvirate of the relevant contracts. The author of the article analyzes the objective prerequisites, significant changes in the social and economic life of the state, the complication of social relations, as a result of which all the considered agreements arose. The article identifies and investigates the political and legal processes associated with the further evolution of these institutions, as well as the factors that determined their content.

Role of Siberia in Eurasian Stories of Russian Political and Economic Thought

Russia was and remains to be a Eurasian territory in terms of its geographic location. However, there is nothing specifically Eurasian, either ideologically, politically, culturally or economically, that would make it possible to speak seriously about Eurasianism as a basis for future international political and economic integration of different countries around Russian Siberia and – more broadly – Russia as its centre, without considerable economic achievements of Russia and serious financial inflows in the Siberian economy. The colossal space of Russian Siberia with scattered spots of current economic exploitation activity primarily designed and operated for excavation of natural resources, cannot serve the purposes of Eurasian integration in any way. There remain serious opportunities associated with the development of the Arctic territories, but they can serve Eurasian integration purposes only if large infrastructure projects are implemented that would link the southern and northern zones of Siberia into a single economic space.

Role of Siberia in Eurasian Stories of Russian Political and Economic Thought

Role of Siberia in Eurasian Stories of Russian Political and Economic Thought

Double Standards as Modus Operandi: Mixing Business and Politics in Russia

Based on expert interviews (n = 75) conducted between October 2018 and July 2019 in selected Russian regions, the authors identify several types of strategies used by businesses while dealing with the government. These include collusion, revolving-door affiliations, conflict of interest, ‘voluntary’ donations and other forms of support to the ruling party (and sometimes the opposition parties) in exchange for public contracts or preferential treatment. The study outcomes suggest that it is almost impossible to do business in Russia without using these types of strategies. The authors trace some of these forms back to the Soviet period and discuss possible remedies.

Spiritual and Moral Potential of Personality in the Social-Political Sphere of Modern Russia

Introduction. The article examines the spiritual and moral aspect of the political sphere. Due to the fact that the core of the potential of the Russian (Russian) politician has historically been the spiritual and moral principle of the Russian mentality, which is formed as a result of spiritual and moral development, in the process of education and training, then analytics, strategic management and the creation of a system of diligence gave the maximum effect of effectiveness in development of the country, were created on the basis of the spiritual and moral ideals of managers as the most important axiological guidelines of society. The purpose of the article is to study the influence of the spiritual and moral potential of a politician’s personality on the political sphere of modern Russia. Methodology. The theoretical and methodological basis of scientific research is cultural-historical, activity-based, integrated, transdisciplinary and psychosocial approaches. The intentional-dynamic concept and theories of cognitive dissonance, structuralist-constructivist, structuralist, ethnomethodological are used. Research Results. The research results in a scientific and philosophical substantiation of the fact that the spiritual and moral principle of the personality of a Russian politician is the essential basis of his resource development, a source of strength, motives and internal activity. The spiritual and moral potential of a politician’s personality determines the movement of deep essential vital forces that unfold through the mental program, which is the generic archetypal basis for self-realization, determining the strategy and tactics, the vector of the country’s development. Determined by the civilization of Russia, the mental programs of the behaviour of the politician’s personality create his stable stereotypes of behaviour and values, preserving the Russian (Russian) mentality, spiritual and moral values and Russian culture as a way of being of society at the genetic level. In connection with the identification through spiritual and moral values with Russian identity, the civilizational foundations of other countries are alien to him and his activities are aimed at strengthening the Russian statehood. Discussion and Conclusion. In the modern political sphere of Russia, there are contradictions between the objective laws of the development of the potential of a politician’s personality and his subjective preferences, which create new realities that violate the foundations of the country’s civilizational development; traditional, culture-forming and external, civilizational alien, changing the essential of Russian civilizational foundations, weakening the fulcrum in the mentality of political leaders. The resolution of contradictions is determined by the peculiarities of the cultural, historical, spiritual development of Russia, which contain the mobilization potential of the individual and society; the power of a political personality, which is an active subject of political activity, realizing its spiritual and moral potential, launching the deep essential forces of the generic archetype of spiritual and moral qualities, carrying out the processes of self-organization of the system, sustainable development and stabilization of society. Strengthening Russia as a world power is possible only for a political subject of the corresponding mentality, giving strength and the essential basis of movement and development, due to the fact that it is the mentality of a politician, which is a manifestation of the mental program of society, that creates the possibility of successful actions in the cultural and educational space of his country. Only in this case politics will act as a spiritual and moral ideal and an important axiological guideline for society and every citizen.

Preparing for the Parliamentary Elections of 2021: Russian Politics and Society

Preparing for the Parliamentary Elections of 2021: Russian Politics and Society

Russian Political Discourse on Illegal Drugs: A Thematic Analysis of Parliamentary Debates

Background Since the beginning of the twenty first century, there has been an intensified political debate about drugs in Russia. The drug problem is now regarded as one of the country’s most serious problems and as an issue of top priority for the Russian government. Objectives: The aim of this qualitative study is to explore how illegal drugs are discussed in Russian political discourse. Methods: The material includes an analysis of 177 speeches made in the lower house of the Russian parliament, the Russian State Duma, between 2014 and 2018. The data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis (CDA). Results: In general, the study found that the debate about the drug problem was characterized by consensus, and there were small differences between the Deputy members in their understanding of the problem. Three main understandings of the drug problem were identified: (1) Illegal drugs as an increasing problem in Russia, (2) Drugs as an external threat, and (3) A need for a more repressive drug policy. Conclusion: There was a general consensus about how the drug problem should be regarded among the politicians, with a focus on a war on drugs and an absence of harm reduction ideas.

Orthodoxy, Music, Politics and Art in Russia and Eastern Europe by Moody Ivan (review)

REVIEWS 351 Moody, Ivan and Medić, Ivana (eds). Orthodoxy, Music, Politics and Art in Russia and Eastern Europe. Centre for Russian Music, Goldsmiths, University of London and Institute of Musicology, Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, London and Belgrade, 2020. 263 pp. Illustrations. Music examples. Tables. Notes. Bibliographies. Available at http://dais. sanu.ac.rs/bitstream/id/42626/Orthdoxy, Music, Politics and Art.pdf. The relationship between the Orthodox Church and politics in Russia and Eastern Europe has often been tense and contradictory. Much the same might be said of the intersection between nationalism and Marxist-Leninist doctrine during the Soviet era, when a need to appeal to nationalism in its various guises often broke the surface of public discourse, problematizing a seemingly inherent connection between Orthodoxy and national identity that highlighted some uncomfortable contradictions vis-à-vis the official atheism of the state. This volume, edited by Ivan Moody and Ivana Medić, presents a collection of thirteen papers by an international roster of scholars that begin to scrutinize the highly complex relationship between Orthodoxy, culture and politics in Eastern Europe and Russia. The outcome of a conference held at Goldsmiths, University of London in March 2013, this publication is dedicated to the memory of Alexander Ivashkin (1948–2014), and contains a number of chapters by his colleagues and former students at Goldsmith’s Centre for Russian Music. The volume is admirable in scope, covering a diverse range of contexts and topics from Achilleas G. Chaldaeakes’s exploration of eighteenth-century ecclesiastical policy in the sacred music of Patriarch Athanasios V (c.1655–60–after 1721) which opens the volume (and includes some beautiful facsimile reproductions of Byzantine manuscripts) to Tara Wilson’s closing chapter on the influence of Russian Orthodoxy on the ‘post-post-modern’ aesthetics of the redoubtable Vladimir Martynov (b.1946). Beside the range of topics covered, a major strength of the volume is the consideration of figures from Russian, Latvian, Serbian and Bulgarian traditions that remain somewhat underappreciated in Western scholarship such as Sergei Vasilenko, Stepan Smolenskii, Nikolai Korndorf, Vladimir and Juri Glagolev, Andrejs Selickis, Stevan Mokranjac, his nephew Vasilije Mokranjac, Ljubica Marić, Vasil Kazandzhiev and Konstantin Iliev, to name just a few, whose activities are contextualized alongside more familiar names including Sergei Prokof´ev, Sergei Eizenshtein, Sofiia Gubaidulina, Galina Ustvol´skaia and Al´fred Shnitke. The volume’s origin as a record of conference proceedings is sometimes apparent, with some chapters offering a broad survey-format introduction to a particular topic and others adopting a more analytical approach to specific composers or repertoires. This is addressed to an extent in the Foreword with the acknowledgment that ‘the book comprises shorter essays, as well as longer, SEER, 99, 2, APRIL 2021 352 thoroughly researched studies’ that seek to explore the topic ‘unhindered by specific ideological considerations or disciplinary straightjackets’ (p. 13). Such an approach often allows for a degree of discursive freedom throughout the volume, and many chapters complement one another in a number of illuminating ways: Medić’s survey of Serbian piano repertoire inspired by the Orthodox church works particularly well alongside Predrag Đoković’s overview of Serbian sacred music during the Communist era in this regard, while Moody’s central chapter functions as an effective locus to the volume in its consideration of the ways in which Orthodoxy can be understood to mediate a dialogue between politics, socialism and modernity in the art music of twentieth-century Russia, Bulgaria and Serbia. However, it does sometimes feel as though the publication lacks cohesion, and there are some areas that would benefit from a greater sense of continuity. Sofiia Gubaidulina, for example, is described as a ‘believer among atheists’ (p. 210) which, though used as a means of emphasizing her unique position as ‘a woman among men […] and a Tatar-Russian daughter among Muscovite Russians’ (p. 210), seems to be slightly at odds with the characterization of late-Soviet intellectual culture in other chapters, where religious (or at least spiritual) belief and the composing of religious music are presented as being fairly widespread amongst Gubaidulina’s contemporaries, despite Nikita Khrushchev’s reinvigoration of antireligious propaganda during the late 1950s and early 1960s — consider, for example, Moody’s...

Weiss-Wendt , Anton Putin's Russia and the Falsification of History: Reasserting Control over the Past (review)

SEER, 99, 2, APRIL 2021 378 The treatment of the interview data thematically allows for a comparison of the variety of experiences in each of the subjects under review, but it also serves to obscure the single life story thread that might otherwise have been written. Helpful very brief biographical data on nine of the respondents, on whose testimony McKinney draws most regularly, is provided in the introductory chapter, but readers are left to piece together the remainder on their own. As is now becoming standard for academic texts, this book has clearly been produced with electronic access and distribution in mind, including the sale and download of individual chapters. Useful cross-references are included to direct the reader to related themes and areas of discussion in other sections of the book. One downside, however, is that whilst each of the chapters has its own short bibliography at the end, there is no overall comprehensive bibliography for the complete volume. Whilst the index provides an outline guide to specific topics discussed in the text, it is not particularly detailed. This volume is likely to find its place in Russian and Soviet women’s history and gender studies. As those of us who remain fascinated with Russian history will already be aware and as McKinney references the remark of one of her own respondents in the conclusion, ‘In Russia, everything changes in five years, but nothing changes in 200 years’ (p. 278). University of Gloucestershire Melanie Ilic Weiss-Wendt, Anton. Putin’s Russia and the Falsification of History: Reasserting Control over the Past. Bloomsbury Academic, London and New York, 2021. x + 326 pp. Illustrations. Notes. Bibliography. Index.£85.00. The politics of history has become increasingly important for the current Russian regime. Anton Weiss-Wendt offers an extensive overview, covering all the central aspects — plus some rather peripheral ones. His account begins with the Commission against the falsification of history, established in 2005 by Dmitrii Medvedev and explicitly intended to combat what the Kremlin regarded as attacks on Russia. Instead of trying to ascertain the substance underlying such accusations against others, Weiss-Wendt immediately turns the tables on the Russians and argues that the Russian state is practising what it attributes to others: the falsification of history. Indeed, Russian officialdom often serves up dubious, one-sided, tendentious versions of historical events. Some statements made by former Minister of Culture Vladimir Medinskii, for instance, are simply ludicrous. Also very disturbing are the many examples which Weiss-Wendt gives of how the authorities REVIEWS 379 attempt to muzzle critical voices, and even persecute them. Although most of what he documents here is known from other sources, this is in my view the most important and valuable part of the book. That being said, I must point out several problematic aspects. Weiss-Wendt claims that he ‘strives for objectivity’ and avoids ‘emotional language’ (p. 255). According to a scholar quoted on the back-cover blurb, the analysis is ‘objective and the tone courteous’. I beg to differ, on both counts. Rather, Weiss-Wendt seems to be on a crusade, seeking to indict more than to explain. The book abounds in sweeping generalizations supported by only weak documentation.History politics inRussia is presentedasacentrallyorganized, top–down enterprise: ‘what may appear as an exercise in pluralism is actually a massive operation rigidly coordinated from the top’ (p. 43), but this flies in the face of much of the material Weiss-Wendt presents. To give just one example, we are told that around one hundred Stalin statues have been erected in Russia under Putin. If this was a ‘massive operation rigidly coordinated from the top’, surely that would indicate a conscious and deliberate campaign of official re-Stalinization. Indeed, Weiss-Wendt maintains that Stalin is currently making a ‘rapid ascent’ in the Russian public sphere, and that Stalinism has ‘penetrated the state’s foundational myth’ (p. 119). In fact, however, the vast majority of these statues have been financed and built by local Communist Party organizations, or a quack Ossetian activist who believes that Stalin was a fellow Ossetian. Many initiatives have been stopped or obstructed by (local) authorities; and due to the difficulties in obtaining an official...

Näkökulmia kieltenväliseen siteeraukseen journalismissa ja sen laadunarviointiin

Interlingual quoting (Haapanen and Perrin 2019) and other forms of translated reported speech form an essential part of journalistic translation. The research material of this paper covers a response given by a top Russian politician, in Russian, to a question by an English-speaking reporter at a press conference; of the simultaneous English interpretation of the response; and of reports covering the response in English and Finnish media. Journalistic translation is seen as translatorial action. In the analysis, translatorial action concepts introduced by Koskela et al. (2017) are applied, including duplicating, summarizing, and expanding source-language speech in the target language. The translated quotes found in the material are analyzed to see whether they correspond with the general journalistic functions of quotes (e.g., Haapanen 2017). The analysis shows that most translated quotes are in line with their journalistic functions. The results support previous findings (Schäffner 2012) of the downplayed role of interpretation as a journalistic source text and indicate that journalists may be more aware that they act as paraprofessional translators than previously suggested.

West–Russia–West: Early cases of interaction in economic thought

In this article, a specific pattern of West–Russia–West transfer in economic thought is described using two early cases from the 19th century. This pattern suggests that experiencing strong influence from the West, leading Russian economists developed and modified Western economic theories, adapting them to specific Russian political, ideological and cultural circumstances. As a result, they exerted a certain influence upon the next generations of Western economists. Two concrete examples are described: Smith–Storch–List (dealing with the theory of inner goods) and Haxthausen–Chernyshevsky–Marx (dealing with the problem of obshina — Russian rural commons).

West–Russia–West: The circulation of economic ideas

The paper serves as an introduction to the RuJE special issue on the circulation of economic ideas between Russia and the West. This circulation is a contentious issue, especially among Russian economists. In this article a specific pattern of West–Russia–West transfer is investigated. The pattern suggests that experiencing strong influence from the West, leading Russian economists developed and modified Western economic theories, adapting them to specific Russian political, ideological and cultural circumstances. As a result, they exerted a certain influence over the next generations of Western economists. Among these circumstances the paper mentions moral and religious factors, the peasant question, the special influence of Marxism, the development of mathematics and statistics in Russia in the 1890s–1920s, and the unique experience of building a planned economy.

Constitutional Reform and the Value of Social Citizenship

Abstract Viewed through the lens of social policy, Russia’s 2020 constitutional reform codifies existing priorities without addressing the issues that have fragmented the meaning of social citizenship. Placing these changes in theoretical and historical context, we identify the core causes of inequity in the social welfare system, the sustained gap between state promises, and Russians’ lived experience. Our case studies highlight the sources of shared social grievances and the obstacles to national collective action that maintain stability in the facing of increased localized protest actions. We conclude by emphasizing the importance of observing the opposing forces of continuity and change in Russian politics as they define and redefine the meaning of social citizenship.

Patriotic Legitimation and Everyday Patriotism in Russia’s Constitutional Reform

Abstract Russia’s 2020 Constitutional reform was notable not just for the substantial institutional changes introduced, but also for the almost complete lack of public discussion of those changes in elite debates or the public campaign for the nationwide vote. Instead, proposals to write social and patriotic issues into the Constitution absorbed the lion’s share of coverage. These issues were not superfluous, but rather reveal the dynamics of patriotic legitimation and the role of everyday patriotism in Russian politics today. Among Russia’s elite, patriotic legitimation regulates competition, determines the boundaries of acceptable public politics, and provides access to regime patronage. For the public, the avoidance of politics and the appropriation of Russians’ everyday patriotism facilitated the mobilization of an apolitical electorate in the nationwide vote. While the reform may have strengthened the institutional basis of Putin’s rule, it potentially limits the regime’s adaptability and could affect its long-term survivability.