Official Rhetoric Research Articles

Ядерная стратегия КНДР и готовность к применению ядерного оружия

Active efforts by both countries on the Korean Peninsula to build up military capabilities over recent years have increased the conflict potential of Northeast Asia and raised the possibility of conflict, including one involvingnuclear weapons use. In connection with the nuclear status and perception of the DPRK in the expert community, especially in the West, it is customary to speculate about the outbreak of the conflict on its initiative. However, the intentions of the DPRK leadership and readiness to use nuclear weapons should be assessed not on the basis of official rhetoric, which is part of propaganda and information warfare, but on the basis of nuclear strategy. The present article attempts to identify the real nuclear strategy of the DPRK based on the analysis of its nuclear doctrine and trends in the development of the nuclear and missile program.

Федеративная модель Церкви в западном богословии

The author attempts to reconstruct in the most general detail the history of the application of federative terminology to the description of the structure of the Christian Church. The concept of federation appeared in the 18th century in the works of Protestant church historians who believed that the formation of the initial church structure was modeled on the federative political structures that emerged in Greco-Roman antiquity. Further mastering of the relevant political terminology by church authors was facilitated by the formation of the theory of political federalism in the 19th century and its popularization in the political and public life of many states. The author shows how since the end of the 19th century the concept of federation has been applied to the church constitution at its modern stage. This practice was especially characteristic of the representatives of the Anglican Church, in whose official rhetoric the image of federation took an important and prominent place. It was in the midst of the Anglican Church that the formula of the Church as a federation was born. Thanks to Protestant influence, federative terminology enters the language of ecumenical theology, being used there in particular to denote an intermediate form of ecclesiastical union. However, federative formulas in ecclesiology were accompanied by constant criticism, mainly for allegedly bringing with them alien and profane associations. An irreconcilable position was taken by Catholic authors, who for a whole century have been developing a theological refutation of ecclesiastical federalism. Under the influence of their criticism, as well as significant historical and ideological changes, the image of federation gradually disappeared from the language of Christian theology, surviving ultimately in the form of a general and unanimous denial that the Church is not a federation. The author is trying to show that despite some artificiality in the use of federative terminology, there were certain theological insights behind its use concerning the status of particular Churches and the nature of their mutual unity. These intuitions were largely ignored by the general development of ecclesiology in the twentieth century with its main interest in the global and universal dimension of the Church.

Communication Regime in Georgia: Dialogue in the Context of Severed Diplomatic Relations

This article presents the results of a research on the information and communication situation in Georgia, the role and importance of national and foreign communication resources, conducted by the annual monitoring of the friendliness of communication regimes of the National Research Institute of Communication Development (NRICD). The authors examined the main challenges and threats in the communication regime of the two countries. The article reveals the latent problems of the communication regime, including the concentration of media in the hands of a narrow circle of individuals and political forces, as well as the increasing politicization of information. The article examines the peculiarities of presentation of news materials that shape anti-Russian rhetoric and agenda. The communication regime between the two countries is largely determined by the continuing tension around the Tskhinvali region and Abkhazia, as well as the instability of the internal political situation. The increasing fragmentation of Georgian society, the extreme polarization of various political forces, and the growing role of non-regional actors have a great impact on Georgian political discourse and official rhetoric and serve as a facilitator for the complication of bilateral relations.The article uses the materials of the annual monitoring of the communication regimes of post-Soviet countries. Monitoring is provided by the National Research Institute for the Communications Development (Moscow).

Israel in the Context of the “New Bipolarity”

The study is dedicated to the main guidelines of the foreign policy of the State of Israel in the context of the current transformation of the world order. Before the start of the special military operation, despite a fairly strong strategic alliance with the United States, Israel pursued a pragmatic foreign policy and maintained mutually beneficial bilateral relations with the leading powers of the non-Western world - especially Russia, China and India. However, the sharp escalation of the situation in the Palestinian territories in October 2023 put Israel in front of an existential choice under the conditions of the emerging new bipolarity, and this choice was made in favor of the United States and its NATO allies. Now the official rhetoric in Israel has become consonant with the one that prevailed during the period of the severed relations between Russia and Israel. Nevertheless, in formulating policies where Russian and Israeli positions do not coincide, both sides continue to coordinate all actions within the framework of a joint dialogue. The article focuses on the main issues on which Russia and Israel differ: Ukrainian, Iranian, and Palestinian factors. China and India occupy a special place among Israel’s foreign policy priorities. The importance of these countries for the Jewish state will be increasing due to the inevitable isolationist tendencies in the region, which are growing against the backdrop of the worsening Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The article examines the main trends in Israel’s relations with some Arab countries, China and India.

The Invention and Vicissitudes of the “Three Great Marvelous Traditions” (san da youliang chuantong 三大优良传统) in Contemporary Chinese Buddhism

Abstract Religious life after the Cultural Revolution was more than just a revival of traditions. Much depended on the theoretical framing provided by Buddhist elites, the most prominent of whom became Zhao Puchu (1907–2000). As president of the Buddhist Association of China, he (re-)introduced the so-called renjian fojiao 人间佛教 (Buddhism for a Human Realm) as “guiding thought” and connected it with the “Three Great Marvelous Traditions,” which he identified as “equal weighting of agriculture and chan,” “strong concern for scientific research,” “friendly international exchange.” This article examines the trajectories of this construction and attempts to explore how it has been interpreted and used in official rhetoric and wider discourse over the past four decades, including possible reinterpretations after Zhao’s passing away. In a broader sense, this conceptual history may also raise the question of what the changing connotations of “tradition(s)”—old or new, dead or alive—have become in contemporary China.

Preemptive Legitimation: China’s Official Rhetoric, Escalations, and China-Taiwan Relations

Preemptive Legitimation: China’s Official Rhetoric, Escalations, and China-Taiwan Relations

Эволюция политики КНР по взаимодействию со странами Центральной Азии в сфере безопасности

The geopolitical and geostrategic position of Central Asia and, in particular, oil and gas reserves, the potential of transit and communication routes have led to a new round of interest of the leading world powers in the countries of the region. At the same time, for the People’s Republic of China, which is usually considered as the main “creditor” of the Central Asian countries, interaction with the states of the region in the field of security becomes a priority. This article identifies changes in the PRC’s approaches to ensuring security in the states of Central Asia by studying the rhetoric of officials representing the relevant Chinese departments, as well as taking into account the chronology of the signing of relevant agreements between the Chinese side and the countries of the region, establishing and changing interaction formats. In addition, the content and scope of China’s military and military-technical cooperation with the countries of Central Asia are analyzed from 2001 to 2023. Concerning the data presented, a conclusion is made about the main regional factors that influenced the evolution of the PRC’s policy in the region in the field of security. Based on the proposed logic of the work, the author identifies several stages of the PRC’s policy towards building interaction with the countries of Central Asia. At the initial stage of interaction, China’s policy in Central Asia was determined by the need to protect its own borders and limit the spread of the “three forces of evil” from Central Asia to Chinese territory. In 2009–2010 the PRC is becoming an important economic partner of the countries of Central Asia, and the basis for the goal setting of its security policy is the protection of its transport, energy, infrastructure (or generally economic) projects. In the future, most of these projects will be complemented and expanded as part of the implementation of the Belt and Road initiative in the region. Since 2019 the PRC has added to the format of interaction with the countries the component of bilateral anti-terrorist exercises, which it conducts under the auspices of its own campaign “Cooperation‑2019”. At the present stage, the interaction of the PRC with the Central Asian countries in the field of security is formed under the influence of the “China + Central Asia” format, where there are no external players like Russia or India and Pakistan.

The “War of Resistance against Japan”: Shaping the Image of the Aggressor by the Chinese Communist Party

The Sino-Japanese War of 1937–1945, known in China as the “War of Resistance against Japan”, remains an integral part of the official rhetoric of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Considering the key role of the War of Resistance in understanding the perception of Japan by China today, this article studies the formation of Japan’s image by the CCP during and after the war. The research is based on official publications of the CCP, statements of party leaders, and works by Russian and foreign researchers. The first part deals with the perception of Japan by the communists during the war. Particular attention here is paid to the importance of the context of the Chinese Civil War and the global revolutionary and class struggle in shaping of the image of the aggressor. The second part traces the evolution of Japan’s image following the changes in political priorities of the CCP after the war and the increasing prominence of the “victimization narrative” in China in recent decades. The third part illustrates the connection of historical memory to the current problems of Sino-Japanese relations and reveals the role of Japan’s image in contemporary political rhetoric of the CCP. The analysis clearly demonstrates the influence of political and ideological factors on the formation of the image of the aggressor. At the same time, it is obvious that the complexity of Japan's perception intrinsic to the war period in China remains up to the present day.

Благосостояние и семейные ценности: конструирование модели благополучной казахстанской семьи (на материалах газеты «Казахстанская правда»)

The article considers the specificity of the concept of family and welfare and their influence on the construction of the model of a prosperous Kazakhstani family and welfare of the entire Kazakhstani society. It is empha-sized that the welfare of the Kazakhstani family is inextricably linked to the process of internalization of values as the construction of the meaning matrix of society. In order to reveal the peculiarities of the impact of the mass media on the reproduction of generally significant perceptions of Kazakhstani people about family wel-fare, the author conducted a content analysis of the newspaper “Kazakhstanskaya Pravda”, which allowed to select some of the most meaningful publications in the newspaper read by ordinary citizens The analysis of the newspaper showed that the formation of attitudes towards family welfare depends on the constructs by which these categories are labeled in official rhetoric. As a result of the study, it was concluded that well-being and family values are the most important indicator of the well-being of the objectively existing social environment, family and society.

“Decoding” Policy Perspectives: Structural Topic Modeling of European Central Bankers’ Speeches

This research analyzes the speeches and interviews of high-level European Central Bank decision makers from 1997 to 2021 to identify clusters of prominent topics. Transparency is a crucial aspect of modern monetary policy, and public speeches and interviews by central bankers play a vital role in achieving it. Our study employs structural topic modeling to compare the prevalence of topics during the Global Financial Crisis, pandemic crisis, and periods of heightened inflation. Additionally, we explore the impact of central bank independence on official rhetoric.

Do Shia-Sunni Tensions Affect Iranian-Saudi Relations?

Today the rivalry between Iran and Saudi Arabia is one of the defining factors in the Middle East political arena. The Islamic world's division into Shiite and Sunni is often considered a factor affecting bilateral relations between Tehran and Riyadh. Iran positions itself as the center of gravity for all the Shiites in the region, while Saudi Arabia seeks to form an anti-Iranian alliance on a Sunni basis. This article assesses the impact of the doctrinal tensions between these two branches of Islam on the Iranian approach towards its relations with Saudi Arabia. For this purpose, the author analyses the rhetoric of Iranian officials, clerics, and state-run media in the context of the main concepts of the Iranian contemporary religious ideology. The author concludes that criticism of Saudi Arabia has lost its religious connotation and Tehran does not position its confrontation with Riyadh as a fight against the enemies of Islam or apostates. The traditional epithets classifying their holders as supporters of the forces of darkness and actively used against the Western countries and Israel are not cited by critics of the Saudi dynasty. Moreover, the criticism of Wahhabism as a religious movement is not linked to the kingdom's current political leadership. On the contrary, the Iranian criticism of the Saudi foreign and domestic policies focuses on condemning the Saudi authorities' infringement on human rights and media freedom, supporting the protest movement in Iran, and fighting the Houthis. Even the persecution of Shiites in Saudi Arabia, to which the Iranian press has devoted considerable attention, is viewed from the perspective of the global concept of human rights, rather than as the struggle of one religious group against another. The kingdom itself is not considered an ideological enemy of Iran, which since the Islamic Revolution has been the US and Israel. The statements by some representatives of the Iranian political establishment on the need for peaceful coexistence between the two countries, along with the March 2023 agreements on normalizing bilateral relations indicate Tehran's pragmatic approach to interaction with Riyadh which is not affected by the ShiaSunni controversy in its dogmatic and religious dimensions.

The BRI: A new development cooperation paradigm in the making? Unpacking China’s infrastructure cooperation along the Maritime Silk Road

This special issue aspires to contribute to the nascent literature on the developmental impact of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and its implications for global development governance. It is our contention that the BRI offers a unique window for a better understanding of China’s dual role as a development agent and a development-norms shaper. This introductory essay attempts to systematize theoretical insights drawn from in-depth empirical research along key nodes of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road (MSR), one key dimension of the BRI.This special issue provides valuable insights into BRI implementation on recipient countries by examining key infrastructure projects with the aim of uncovering the complexity of the variables determining BRI dynamics and outcomes. The contributions highlight the versatility and the fragmentation of the BRI as a cooperation platform, and the variegated nature of engagement patterns and outcomes on the ground. The findings of this collection of studies suggest that these variations are ultimately a function of the complex interaction between institutional contexts and agents from both sides (China and host countries), and that the quality and sustainability of such interplay has a significant bearing on developmental outcomes. Moreover, as with traditional donors, inconsistencies between the official rhetoric and the actual implementation dynamics and developmental outcomes may subsequently undermine China’s legitimacy as a development ‘norm-maker’ and cooperation partner. Overall, our findings question the exceptionalism of China’s development cooperation approach and hence the prospects for the emergence of an alternative and more effective development paradigm appear slim at this juncture.

Los neoliberarchivos de Teresa Margolles

In Lote Bravo (2005), What Else Could We Talk About? Cleaning (2009), and Irrigation (2010), contemporary Mexican artist Teresa Margolles exposes and denounces the política de negación, or politics of denial, that conceals or disregards the violence and the precarious conditions that define life along the US border in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico. Here, neoliberal rationality has empowered a corrupt political and economic class to sanction behavior that favors profit over life and creates a culture of fear and death. To investigate Margolles’s confrontational approach and her recurring engagement with this border city, or “cyclical border encounters,” I adopt the concept of neoliberarchivos, defined as contemporary artworks that act as anti-neoliberalist counterarchives, rendering visible the exercise of violence upon bodies as seen in the feminicidios, masculinicidios, and juvenicidios that have occurred for the last three decades on the border. In the form of installation, sculpture, video art, site-specific artworks, and performance, the neoliberarchivos document and display marginalized knowledge and contest official rhetoric. The neoliberarchivos of Teresa Margolles exemplify a significant trend in global contemporary art that seeks to destabilize hegemonic economic and power structures dominant at the border through a counterarchival impulse.

Politiskās cīņas par Raini un Aspaziju

One of the key responsibilities of the state authority is to win and keep the public’s support for political choices, adherence to requests, etc. Propaganda is a powerful tool for winning over folks’ loyalty. Creative individuals in the world of art and culture frequently participate in the dissemination of an ideological statement. Rainis (1865–1929) and Aspazija (1865–1943) are popular and respected poets and public figures. People are listening to their opinion; therefore, it is in the interests of both independent Latvia and the Soviet occupation authorities to make them their “allies”. In the case of Rainis – even after the death of the poet. The case study of the interaction between poets and state authority in the context of Latvian literature history enables us to understand the tactics used by the state authority to enlist the aid of creative individuals and use them to carry out propaganda objectives. These tactics also included intimidation and subjugation, the spread of purposefully false information, and the concealment of the truth. The study examines the period from the 1920s to the 1970s, concentrating particularly on the first year of the Soviet occupation (1940), and examines the ways in which the names Rainis and Aspazija appear in the official rhetoric of the occupying power – in press materials and fiction. The study also examines how the poets’ works were used to further propaganda goals.

Exploring Work Ethic in Ghana

This paper explores the philosophical, sociological and historical basis of work-ethic in Ghana, bearing in mind Marx Weber’s Protestant Work Ethic and its effects on largely Christian and capitalistic population of Ghana. It relies on normative ethics, the collective national perception of work and actual productivity in certain industries, the quality of made-in-Ghana goods and services, and the pursuit of professionalism, aided by extensive literature review and content analysis. The author raised the dialectical but main research question as to whether Ghana has a national ethical code beyond the imported Judo-Christian, and other faith-based but incongruent moral dictums on work. The second research question is whether the ethnic groups in Ghana have their unique but positive culturally relative or philosophical takes on work? Third inquiry was whether the myriad cultural values coalesce into a cultural ethical relative value system for Ghana? The key outcome of the exploration revealed, there appears to be disconnect between official rhetoric on productivity and the phenomenon of work in the nation and among the ethnic groups. This is due to the absence of a well-defined national or regional overarching moral basis for work. There is also the lack of the cultural estimation of productivity as a measure of a well-functioning workforce and society like Germany and Japan, or a more laissez faire nation like the United States of America. As novel as this paper is about Ghana’s work ethic, it may not inform policy on national productivity or even help to define the national work ethic, due to the fact that the author is not a politician with power over policy direction in Ghana.

Turkey vs Egypt in the Eastern Mediterranean

The object of the study is Ankara's foreign policy strategy. The subject of the study is the positions of Turkey and Egypt in the Eastern Mediterranean region. The aim is to identify the possibility of a Turkish–Egyptian alliance in the region after the extremely tense relations recorded since 2013, the establishment in Egypt of a new president A.F. Al-Sisi, the ideological antipode of R.T. Erdogan. The relevance of the study is evidenced by changes in the rhetoric of Turkey's top officials and the demonstration of readiness to build a dialogue with Cairo. Particular attention is paid to Ankara's position on the establishment of maritime borders in the Aegean and Mediterranean Seas on the basis of bilateral agreements. Research methods: analysis of strategies, official documents, logical-heuristic and system methods, as well as analysis of political events in the region. Based on the analysis of primary sources (foreign policy strategies 2020-2023), it was revealed: since 2020, the Eastern Mediterranean region has been the main vector of Ankara's foreign policy. As noted in the reports of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, the country is 70% dependent on foreign energy supplies, which explains Ankara's uncompromising position on securing its right to extract gas from the depths of the Eastern Mediterranean. Attempts to restore relations with Egypt are a geopolitical necessity. However, Cairo found itself in the position of Turkey's competitor in an effort to turn into an energy hub when exporting gas from Israel to Europe. Egypt attaches paramount importance to the issue of energy security, which is confirmed by the Egypt Vision 2030 strategy. The most advantageous for Egypt is the preservation of the Egypt-Israel-Greece-Cyprus block. Based on the conducted research, it can be concluded that there is an extremely low probability of a Turkish-Egyptian rapprochement. The findings of the study can be taken into account when studying and forecasting Turkey's foreign policy.

The Chinese mega-project "One Belt, One Road" in the Central Asian region: geopolitical rhetoric and prospects for implementation

The Chinese infrastructure project "One Belt, One Road" worth $1 trillion has significant landscape, socio-economic and political consequences for the Central Asian states through which it runs. This article explores how the Chinese initiative has an impact on the local infrastructure and local communities of the region. The implementation of the project in the Central Asian states shows not only the strengths of the Chinese program, but highlights its shortcomings of yesterday, current risks and potential prospects. The explanatory concept "hierarchical realism" is used in the work, which allowed us to get closer to a better understanding of the difficulties in the implementation of the Chinese megaproject "One Belt, One Road". This concept helps us to reveal the existence in the past of Beijing's hierarchical view of the international system, according to which China plays a much more dominant role than it is expressed in China's official rhetoric. It was the elements of the hegemonic style in the implementation of the megaproject "One Belt, One Road" in the countries of Central Asia that led to the fact that Chinese plans were met here very coolly at first. The authors analyze the historical turn in the implementation of the Chinese megaproject, which is associated with the implementation of the Xi'an Declaration. The pioneering nature of the decisions taken at this summit in May 2023 consisted in their humanitarian and social orientation in order to overcome Beijing's previous hierarchical view of the Central Asian region.

Називаючи речі своїми іменами. Російська пропагандистська риторика як вірогідний доказ геноцидних намірів

The number and scale of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by the Russian military in Ukraine since the start of the all-out invasion in February 2022 have prompted many experts and politicians to define this brutality as genocide and seek prosecution of the perpetrators under international law. Ukrainian investigators and prosecutors, in cooperation with foreign colleagues, are carefully documenting relevant facts, while lawyers and diplomats are looking for optimal ways to administer justice within existing or newly created international judicial institutions. At the same time, many express a warning that among the four types of crimes recognized by the UN as the most serious and those that do not have a statute of limitations, the crime of genocide is the most difficult to prove in judicial practice, because the number of war crimes in itself, however brutal and large-scale, does not make them genocide from a legal point of view, if the most important and necessary for such a formal and legal qualification is not proven: genocidal intent on the part of the military and/or political leadership of the aggressor country. Politicians usually do not give such orders in writing, and even make them orally, as a rule, in a veiled form. Therefore, it is necessary to prove genocidal intentions in court on the basis of indirect evidence - an analysis of the entire sum of the statements of high-ranking officials of the aggressor country, who ideologically justify and encourage genocide, using various euphemisms at the same time (calling, for example, for the extermination of the fictional "Nazis" in Ukraine, under which they have meaning all self-conscious Ukrainians), as well as - on the basis of a comparison of veiled genocidal statements with the corresponding systematic actions of the occupying forces and the administration, which clearly translate the ideological instructions of the leadership into the practical plane. The author of the article shows that the genocidal intentions of the Kremlin, despite all their rhetorical veiling, can be proven if the corresponding anti-Ukrainian rhetoric of Russian government officials, experts and propagandists is systematically analyzed, deconstructed and contextualized as a certain integrity, in close connection with the specific actions of the occupying army and administration.

New Approaches of Beijing to the Historiography of People’s Republic of China and Communist Party of China: ‘Rectification of Names’ during Xi Jinping Era

The article analyzes the trends in China’s political discourse on the eve of the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of China (autumn 2022) regarding the official historiography of the last hundred years. The conclusion is made that to strengthen Xi Jinping’s position as a national leader, (which includes the legitimacy of extending his mandate for more than two five-year terms), the period of “Reforms and Opening Policy (1980–2010s)” had been thoroughly reconsidered. At the same time, the official rhetoric reinforces nationalist motives, devalues the positive impact of foreign assistance in previous decades, emphasizes the unprecedented challenges China is currently facing and the efficiency with which the current leadership led by Xi Jinping is coping with them. The key document that captured these trends was the so-called “historic resolution” of the 6th plenum of the 19th CPC Central Committee (November 2021), the analysis of which is central to the article. The authors argue the historiographic assessments put forward in the document will determine China's perception of Party history for at least the coming decade. Given the new approaches to recent history, the entire period, which commenced in 2012 should be now called “Xi Jinping Era” or the “New Era,” (xin shidai), which will thus be distinguished from the preceding “Period of Reforms and Opening”.

Seeking balance: Chinese middle-class parents’ choice imaginaries under Synchronous Admission Reform

The Chinese government recently launched a new admission reform — Synchronous Admission Reform (SAR), to restrict parental choices. The values of educational equality, reducing academic burden, and students’ overall development are reiterated and heightened. This paper examines to what extent parents embrace the official rhetoric and how they conceive different values. Narrative interviewing is conducted with 10 middle-class parents who have chosen schools under SAR. This provides initial and vivid parents’ voices. A conceptual apparatus of “choice imaginary” is coined to explore how parents understand, negotiate, and mediate the admission reform. Thematic analysis is then utilized to unpack parents’ choice imaginaries. The findings reveal parents’ mentality of “seeking balance” between conflicting values of competition versus health, suzhi (quality) versus scores, and social equality versus self-development in the choice process. Shedding light on parents’ meaning making of policy values, this study provides the domestic and international audience with a micro and psycho-anthropological way of examining the effects of school choice reform.