Russian Perspectives Research Articles

Muslim medical culture in modern Central Asia: a brief note on manuscript sources from the sixteenth to twentieth centuries

This article surveys the body of medical literature, in Arabic, Persian and Turkic, produced and circulated in Central Asia from the sixteenth to twentieth centuries, on the basis of catalogues of Islamic manuscript collections in the region, highlighting royal patronage of medical knowledge as well as the continuation of traditional modes of transmitting medical lore into the colonial and Soviet periods. The survey is a reminder that indigenous medical lore in Central Asia left a substantial body of still-unexplored sources, and that the encounter of traditional Central Asian medical practices with ‘modern’ medicine cannot reasonably be studied solely on the basis of Russian colonial or Soviet perspectives.

Rethinking Octatonicism

Recent and long-standing debates about the role of octatonicism in works by Stravinsky and other late-chromatic and early-modernist composers have taken place with little mention of how octatonicsim is viewed in Russia—the country of Stravinsky’s birth and formative years as a composer. In this article, the author seeks to put music that is often considered octatonic in North America into a Russian framework. He does this by examining the work of three Russian music theorists: Boleslav Yavorsky, Sergei Protopopov, and Yuri Kholopov. The author seeks not to invalidate American views on octatonicism but, rather, to enrich the current discussion with Russian perspectives.

Economic issues of disaster and disaster risk reduction policies: International vs. Russian perspectives

Historical facts and research literature provide evidence about increasing vulnerability of the global economy to natural hazards and disasters. The paper highlights the factors contributing to the economy's vulnerability to disasters and disasters' impact on economic growth both in a global and Russian perspectives. Two interpretations of disasters' controversial effects on economy are provided. It is argued that despite minor macroeconomic effect of disasters in historical perspective and even some positive feedback of those on economic growth the disasters should not be considered as Shumpeterian creative force. Considering the catalyzing effect on economic growth limited by single and mostly minor hazard impact and increasing number of major (severe) impacts that debilitate even the most developed economies, the disasters should rather be treated in negative socio-economic terms. This implies a set of comprehensive measures to reduce disaster risk. Such measures are analyzed as approaches and priorities from perspective of economics within the framework of disaster mitigation policy.

The Natural Musician: On Abilities, Giftedness and Talent. By Dina Kirnaskaya. Trans. by Mark H. Teeter.

This book, translated from the original Russian, offers the prospect of a rare window into the thought emerging from that part of the contemporary Russian education system that is concerned with the selection and training of the musically gifted. Its author is Professor of Psychology and Musicology of the Gnesin Academy of Music in Moscow, a multilevel institution offering specialist music training from elementary to postgraduate level. She is also a journalist, having served the BBC Russian Service among others. Russian work on music psychology so rarely reaches an English-language audience that Oxford University Press deserves credit for seizing this opportunity. Indeed, in over thirty years of engagement with the English-language domain of musical expertise and its development, I cannot recall coming across such a substantive contribution from a contemporary Russian author. In this context it is noteworthy that the bibliography of The Natural Musician contains reference to predominantly English-language scholarship of the last quarter century, mostly already well-known to the English-speaking research community. This means that a reader wishing to gain a greater understanding of currents in contemporary Russian scholarship on music education is not going to be entirely satisfied. However, there are some nuggets of distinctly Russian perspectives peppered throughout the work that are worthy of attention.

State of Orthopaedic-Traumatologic Service in Russian Federation and Perspectives for Introduction of Innovative Technologies in Traumatology and Orthopaedics

State of Orthopaedic-Traumatologic Service in Russian Federation and Perspectives for Introduction of Innovative Technologies in Traumatology and Orthopaedics

Central Asian and Russian perspectives on China's strategic emergence

This article employs fieldwork research and literature analysis to examine contemporary perceptions of China's emergence in popular and elite opinion in Russia and the Central Asian states, particularly Kazakhstan. It initially establishes a framework for understanding China's emergence, emphasizing a trilateral dynamic between the hegemonic position of the US in Asia, the evolution of the strategic choices of China's neighbours and the development of strategic regionalism as a mechanism for managing regional spaces. Choosing to take the Commonwealth of Independent States as a particular case of this framework, it argues that the interaction between Russia, China and the US remains highly fluid, particularly under the conditions ‘of re-setting’ the US-Russian relationship. This means that regional contexts are highly significant; and it establishes Central Asia as an important new strategic region for working out relations between Russia, China, and the US through their interactions with regional states. The second part of the article examines Russian and Central Asian responses to China's emergence. It looks at three categories of motivation in China's regionalism: its system for accumulative growth; its problems with weak constitutionality and transnational security in its western regions; and its concern with US/NATO encroachment on its western frontier and the US attempt to turn Central Asian elites away from their traditional alignments. The third part looks at China's promotion of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) as its mechanism for strategic regionalism in Central Asia. The article questions the SCO's significance in terms of its capacity for governance and functionalism, and points to the problem of institutional competition, notably with Moscow's preferred structure of the Collective Security Treaty Organization. The article concludes that China will be an unconventional superpower that presents different facets of itself in different regional contexts. There will not be a single model of China's emergence and it will continue to develop its international role through a mix of adaptation and experimentation. However, China's strategy will pose a problem for Russia and Central Asia since it seeks to create a strategic space that does not challenge the West, but exists substantially outside the West. Russia, in particular, has to decide whether it will be able to maintain its current stance of independence between Europe and Asia as China's rise shifts the frontiers between East and West.

On the Recent Development of International Law: Some Russian Perspectives

There are some new features and new trends in the development of international law at the beginning of the new century and new millennium. The relatively short historical period of 60 years since the end of World War II caused nonetheless a change in the look of international law and of its role in the life of society. The present article touches upon the most important changes and characteristics of contemporary international law regarding three aspects, namely the Russian theory of international law, the official Russian position and the relations of the internal legal system towards international law. It addresses several important issues: the growth and expansion of the legal foundation of the life of the international community; the strengthened role of law in international relations; the change of correlation between coordinating and subordinating principles; the development of international procedural law, general international law and jus cogens; the strengthened need for dynamism in norm-formation; the growth of the “presence” and functioning of international law within domestic jurisdictions; the change in the relations between the fundamental principles; and the humanization of international law. Two other issues which are still related to these trends are also covered by the article: the problem of the “myths” of international law and the threat of its fragmentation.

The Jews and revolution: Russian perspectives, 1881–1918

Contemporaries and historians of the Russian revolutions have often made a great deal of the Jewish role in the events of 1917. In late 1917, for instance, it was commonplace to assert that the Bolsheviks were simply part of a Jewish conspiracy. This paper takes a look at the various Russian perspectives on the revolution and its Jewish aspects, focusing in particular on the views of leading intellectuals, writers and politicians, such as S.M. Dubnov, Maxim Gorkii and Aleksandr Blok. It reveals that attitudes were not always straightforward, even amongst the liberal elements of the intelligentsia.

Assuming the Inevitable? Overcoming the Inevitability of Outer Space Weaponization and Conflict

Is armed conflict in and from space inevitable? In recent years a consensus has emerged that space has become increasingly militarized – in the sense that technologies placed in outer space are increasingly used to facilitate and augment traditional military activities. But actual use of weapons in or from outer space remains highly controversial. The aim of this article is to assess the attitudes of major space-faring powers towards space weaponization. Central here, the article argues, is the question of whether the weaponization of space and/or conflict in space (taken here to mean the occurrence of military conflict in outer space itself, or from the Earth directed at any systems deployed in outer space) is inevitable, and the extent to which the major space powers espouse this proposition. This article shows that the idea of inevitability retains a prominent place (although for subtly differing reasons) in American, Chinese, and Russian perspectives on space weaponization. What it is that is inevitable frequently varies, based on assumed but underspecified technological developments. This risks creating a discursively constructed security dilemma that increases the likelihood of actual space weaponization. It leads to the conclusion that renewed negotiations between the major space powers and international cooperative agreements are essential to combat the fatalism of the inevitability thesis.

Exchange programs for educators: American and Russian perspectives

International exchange and training programs play a significant role in the development of international cooperation between educators from different nations. More and more teachers and school administrators participate in exchange programs and implement new curricular and instructional practices in their institutions. This paper presents findings of a phenomenological interpretive case study of the impact of international exchange programs for educators on their participants’ pedagogical practices, social status and professional careers. The study was conducted in 2005 in the US and Russia. Through observations and in‐depth interviews with 35 informants, the author compares the perception of exchange programs and their outcomes for American and Russian alumni. The findings demonstrate differences and similarities in participants’ perspectives on their roles in international programs and on the application of program outcomes.

Between Assertiveness and Insecurity: Russian Elite Attitudes and the Russia-Georgia Crisis

A political scientist discusses the content and sources of Russian elite perspectives on international affairs. The "color revolutions," the perceived specter of Islamic radicalism, contestation over Russian identity, and evolving perceptions of Russia's international leverage are examined for their impact on elite attitudes. Discussion of the crisis in relations between Russia and Georgia illustrates the article's theme about the relationship between insecurity and assertiveness.

Russian Perspectives on Elder Abuse: An Exploratory Study

ABSTRACTThe purpose of this exploratory study was to analyze Russian perceptions of elder abuse as reflected in their examples of abusive behavior from an adult child to an aging parent. Also of interest was the possibility of gender differences in the Russian perspectives on elder abuse. The convenience sample consisted of 21 Russian participants (10 males, 10 females, and one without gender identified), who provided examples of extreme, moderate, and mild abuse from an adult child towards an aging parent. Most examples of extreme abuse were forms of physical violence. Typical examples of moderate abuse were instances of psychological aggression–particularly verbal aggression–and neglect. The most common examples of mild abuse were verbal aggression and neglect. One-way analyses of variance revealed statistically significant gender differences in the number of references to psychological aggression in general and to verbal aggression in particular in the examples of moderate abuse, with females giving more examples than males.

The Legacy of the Soviet Union by Wendy s> Slater Andrew Wilson (review)

REVIEWS 55I co-operation between the US and Russia in the War on Terror;Washington rethinking its unilateralistapproach to security issues can provide the only basisforfutureprogress. In the author'sopinion, Russiafaced the bruntof internationalterrorismin the North Caucasusbefore the US was compelled to takeseriouslythe nature of the global threat posed by such militant groups and their decentralized networksin disparate geographical locations. Russia's terroristproblem has been rooted in Chechnya, and though Primakov does not examine the contribution of the overwhelming use of force by Russian armed forces in Chechnya since I994, he readily admits that mistakes have been made. Nonetheless, he is not a proponent of finding a negotiated settlement to Chechen ambitions to secure independence. This he justifies by detailed reference to Chechen terrorism. Having met with those responsible for the Nord-Ost theatresiege in Moscow in October 2002 as the situationunfolded, he concludes that their fanaticism cannot be reasoned with, offering only bleak hope that Russian authorities will foster talks with more moderate Chechen leaders. However, Primakovwrote before the terroristattackon the school in Beslan, North Ossetia in September 2004, which has provoked a security response from Moscow that makes the prospect of talks even less likely. Primakov's book will prove essential reading to academics and political plannersalike,seekingto understandfromwithin the natureof contemporary Russian perspectives on the radically altered international security environment and especially to gain insight into Russia's views on terrorismin the twenty-firstcentury. University ofKent atCanterbugy ROGER N. McDERMOTT Slater,WendyandWilson,Andrew(eds). 7heLegacy oftheSoviet Union. Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke and New York, 2004. xii + 275 pp. Tables. Notes. Index. ?5?.??. THIS is an excellent collection of essays seeking to outline the effects of the Soviet legacy ten years afterthe fall of the Soviet Union. The essaysgenerally are thoughtful,based on deep familiaritywith those aspectsof Soviet/Russian life with which each essay is concerned, and thought-provoking. In the Introduction, Sheila Fitzpatricklooks over the decade since I99I, arguing that the end of the Soviet Union means that important new perspectivesare brought to bear on both particularaspects of the Soviet experience and that experience as a whole, and that this has importantimplicationsfor Russians' understandingof both theircontemporarysituationand how they got therein the first place. Four essays look at issues of national identity. Vera Tolz exploresthe dynamicsof the differencebetween conceiving Russiaasa nationstate and as a multi-national state, and the implications this has for the conception of Russia's future. This is nicely complemented by Andrew Wilson's discussion of the differentviews of the nature of Eastern Slavdom held in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus.Dov Lynch explores the role played by de facto states in generating conflict in the post-Soviet space, focusing on 552 SEER, 83, 3, 2005 Nagorno-Karabakh, South Ossetia, Pridnestriaand Abkhazia, but surprisingly not Chechnya. Bhavna Dave explains how the Nazarbaev government has been able to manage ethnic relations in Kazakhstan. There are three essays on economic matters. Janine R. Wedel summarizes her arguments about the corruptway in which US aid has been deliveredinto Russiaand the implications this has had, while Alena Ledeneva looks at the survival in changed form of many of those informalpracticesthat had been so centralto citizens' survivalduringthe Soviet period. Philip Hanson analysesthe impact of the administrativeregionson economic performance,andfindsthatdespite the close linksbetween regional politicians and local businessmen, economic difficultiesare not a resultof the politico-administrativestructure.There are five essays on politics, law and foreign policy. W. E. Butler charts the substantialchanges that therehave been in the legal sphere,althoughthishas not led to a strengthening of civil society, while Martin Dewhirst focuses mainly on perestroika-eraGlavlit and its post-Soviet descendant. Vladimir Gel'man surveysthe literatureon politics in the regions, and Peter Duncan analyses the foreign policies of many of the Soviet successor states. Finally, Wendy Slater uses the fiftieth anniversary of Stalin's death to review the ambiguous image he currently has among Russian citizens and political leaders. Although the principalfocus of the book is upon Soviet legacies, there is no attempt to spell out what is meant by a legacy, nor to give a weighting to the importanceof differenttypesoflegaciesinthepost-Sovietperiod.Accordingly, a range of different factors form the focus of the individual essays: formal institutions, informal patterns of action, memories and...

Does Europe Exist as an Entity for Military Cooperation? Evolving Russian Perspectives, 1991–2004

A sea-change has taken place in Russian perspectives of Western European military integration since 1991. In the early 1990s, the Western European Union (WEU) and the European Union’s Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) were largely ignored in Russia. The Russia–WEU relationship was virtually non-existent, as was any discussion of the CFSP. According to Vladimir Baranovsky, “everything that related to the creation of Eurocorps or efforts to reanimate the WEU were viewed as not worthy of attention.” One reason for this was that existing European military mechanisms were not considered effective for the regulation of conflicts and crises. Indeed, according to politician Vladimir Ruizhkov, the question of a military relationship between Russia and Europe “a few years ago ... would have looked absurd.” Yet by 2003, European military integration—and Russian engagement with it—was considered to be among the most important priorities for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MID). Two main processes had raised Europe’s profile in military security discussions in Russia: the conflation of the WEU with the European Union (EU) and the intensification of the CFSP. These processes were seen to provide further arguments that the EU was becoming a serious international actor. Symptomatic of this shift in Russian perspectives, a military relationship between Russia and the EU has

Russia, Ukraine, and the Breakup of the Soviet Union by Roman Szporluk (review)

664 Рецензии/Reviews Emilian KAVALSKI Roman Szporluk, Russia, Ukraine, and the Breakup of the Soviet Union (Stanford: Hoover Institution Press, 2000). xlix+438 pp. ISBN: 0-8179-9542-0. The seeds of the Soviet Union’s decline were planted… at the moment of [its] greatest triumph – in 1945. This was not so clear during the post-war decade, but matters changed in the post-Stalin years. The Soviet Union’s new geopolitical environment began to exercise subversive long-term effect on the country’s domestic ethnopolitcs. (P. xxiv) In the context of current inquiries on the prospective developments in the post-Soviet space, it is a potentially riveting experience to take stock of the processes underscoring their direction. This is what Roman Szporluk has attempted in his book Russia, Ukraine, and the Breakup of the Soviet Union. The epigraph above seems to encapsulate the gist of his argument. The volume represents a collection of essays published between 1972 and 1997; thereby, it makes a reflection of the last two decades of the USSR and subsequently its breakup, with a particular emphasis on the Russian Federation and Ukraine. Szporluk’s volume, therefore, focuses on the nationalities issues and relationships between Russia and Ukraine during both the Soviet and postSoviet periods. The author himself admits that this book needs to be read as “a record of one scholar’s efforts over a period of years to understand the development of the Soviet Union which, as time went by, began to appear as its decline and then fall” (P. xx). The reader, unfortunately, is more often than not left with mixed feelings. On the one hand, there is the pleasure of engaging ideas and evaluating the significance of corollaries made three decades earlier. On the other hand, it is not apparent how this is relevant for current discourse. Perhaps the prescience and insights of the volu-me would have been made more pertinent as well as poignant if the individual essays were reconsidered in light of developments going on at the time of publication. Instead, they are presented in the form in which they were written (some of them a good thirty years ago). Thereby, the trajectories of the decline of the USSR and the construction of post-Soviet independent states would have been stressed in a more relevant context for current analysis. In effect, this is one of the main shortcomings of the volume: it is not apparent what it is about: is it about Russia, Ukraine, the breakup of the USSR, or all of these, or something else? 665 Ab Imperio, 4/2004 The book includes sixteen of Szporluk’s essays arranged chronologically . However, they seem to follow not only temporal, but also a thematic logic. Chapters 1 and 2 outline the problematic nexus between Soviet modernity and the concept of ethnicity; chapters 3, 4, and 5 center on the issues stirred by the Ukrainian idiosyncrasies of this relationship, whereas chapters 6, 7, and 8 emphasise the Russian perspectives; chapters 9, 10, and 11 focus on a number of Soviet points of view, and the remaining chapters discuss different aspects of post-Soviet existence. In spite of this organizing logic and the merit of the individual chapters, the volume as a whole fails to make a convincing impression. Szporluk’s interpretation of the relationship between modernity and ethnicity in the USSR elicits the impact of Stalin for maintaining and perpetuating the Soviet model. This model is interpreted as an attempt to set a pattern for relations in the larger socialist community at the time. However, especially after World War II, it became very difficult to sustain the viability and centrality of the Soviet Union in such symbolic framework of interactions . As Szporluk argues, this is not simply the result of a departure from 1920s internationalism, but also the outcome of a deeper ideational and material crisis within the USSR in the context of the dominant position of Russian ethnicity and language. These patterns are discussed within the context of a Ukrainian identity challenged both by Poland and Russia. The former has treated Ukraine as “Little Poland” and the latter as “Little Russia”. The noteworthy implications deriving from this problematique are that again...

Russian perspectives on the military uses of outer space

(2003). Russian perspectives on the military uses of outer space. Astropolitics: Vol. 1, No. 3, pp. 95-112.

Debating the Origins of the Cold War: American and Russian Perspectives

Part 1 Part I: The American Perspective Chapter 2 The Atlantic Charter, August 14, 1941 Chapter 3 Comment on the Results of the Decisions Made at the Yalta Conference Chapter 4 Secretary of State James Byrne's Speech in Stuttgart on Germany's Future, September 6, 1946 Chapter 5 Speech by J. Edgar Hoover, Director, Federal Bureau of Investigations, at the Annual Convention of the American Legion in San Francisco, September 30, 1946 Chapter 6 George K. Kennan's Long Telegram, February 1946 Chapter 7 Henry A. Wallace's Speech in New York City, September 12, 1946 Part 8 Part II: The Russian Perspective Chapter 9 Stalin to Politburo Four (Vyacheslav Molotov, Lavrenti Beria, Mikoyan, and Malenkov), Ciphered Telegram, December 9, 1945 Chapter 10 A Compilation of [Written] Comments on Draft Treaties Regarding Demilitarization and Disarmament of Germany and Japan Proposed by [U.S. Secretary of State James] Byrnes Chapter 11 The Minister of State Security Appeals for Measures to Close Down British Propaganda in the U.S.S.R. Chapter 12 President Harry S. Truman's Speech to Congress, March 12, 1947 Chapter 13 Instructions for the Soviet Delegation to the Meeting of Foreign Ministers in Paris, June 25, 1947 Chapter 14 Record of J[osef]. V[issarionivich]. Stalin's Conversation with the Czechoslovak Government Delegation on the Issue of Their Position Regarding the Marshall Plan and the Prospects for Economic Cooperation with the U.S.S.R. Chapter 15 Record of the Meeting of Comrade J[osef]. V[issarionivich]. Stalin with the Secretary of the Central Committee of the French Communist Party [Maurice] Thorez Chapter 16 Report by L. P. Beria and I. V. Kurchatov to J. V. Stalin on Preliminary Data Received during the Atomic Bomb Test Chapter 17 The [Nikolai] Novikov Report [Telegram]

The Chechen Crises and the ‘Spectre’ of Islam: Understanding Russian and Western Perspectives

This paper considers the context and geopolitical forces of the second Chechen conflict (1999-2000), with a view to understanding the underlying dynamic. It is not the intention of the author to explore or examine in detail the various allegations of human rights abuses in the Chechen war, but to consider the issues involved and the various international responses, in particular those aspects of the conflict that are frequently overlooked. Only an accurate understanding of these issues will permit any hope of conflict resolution. The Russian military action in Chechnya was a response to the ongoing crises within the Chechen republic. Russia feared that Chechen forces, many of which were bankrolled from sources outside the Caucasus (allegedly including Osama bin Laden and international terrorist organisations), would destabilise neighbouring republics. Evidence suggests that electoral manipulation disenfranchised the Chechen population, casting doubt on the assumption that Chechen independence demands can be assumed to represent the entire Chechen population. Interdependence of emerging security interests involves a normative element supporting respect for human rights. In this context, the newly emerging security cooperation in the region between the West and the Russian Federation allows a tacit understanding that Russia is the de facto intervention force in what is still designated an internal problem.

Evolving Russian Perspectives on Missile Defense: The Emerging Accommodation

This report illustrates the evolution of the Putin government's approach to strategic policy, including START II and the ABM Treaty. This includes Russia's attempts to advance "non-strategic alternatives" to BMD and Russian pronouncements regarding its likely "asymmetric" counters to U.S. BMD. Despite an initial reluctance to embrace the Bush administration's new approach to the bilateral strategic relationship, Vladimir Putin seems to symbolize a new pragmatism in Russian policy. Putin's plan was to exact maximal advantages for Russia while engaging the U.S. on arms control. For instance, while he invested considerable political capital in "saving" the ABM Treaty, he responded positively to the Bush Administration's proposal for a new paradigm of U.S.-Russia bilateral relations. By agreeing to significantly less structured arms control, the Kremlin has both accepted the inevitable and untied its own hands in pursuing the modernization of its nuclear and conventional forces.

The Russian software industry

Russia is a vast territory with seemingly endless natural resources. Indeed, gas, oil, coal, and lumber still constitute by far the largest part of Russian national produce, accounting for over 80 percent of exports. It is easy to overlook the software industry against this background, yet it is one of Russia's promising industries. Russia also has one of the largest pools of technical specialists in the world-a 1997 World Bank/UNESCO study stated that more than one million people are involved in research and development. The author provides a history of programming in Russia, an overview of Russian software companies, and problems and perspectives.