Sovereign Democracy Research Articles

Concept of DEMOCRACY in Russian Political Discourse from Perspective of Chinese Linguistic-Cultural Tradition

The article is dedicated to the issue of defining the concept of DEMOCRACY. Its meaning in the Russian political discourse is clarified on conceptual, figurative, and value levels. The peculiarities of this concept in the Russian political discourse are identified from the perspective of the Chinese linguocultural tradition. The similarities and differences in the content of the concept of DEMOCRACY in the linguocultural traditions of Russia and China are examined. To achieve the stated goal, the method of linguocultural analysis of the text was used in the research. Informational and analytical texts on political topics published in the mass media of Russia and China were used as research materials. The concept of “sovereign democracy”, relevant to Russian political culture, and “people’s democracy”, represented in Chinese political discourse, are analyzed. The theoretical foundations and prospects for the development of these concepts, associated with national linguocultural traditions, are evaluated. The ecessity of forming a corpus of interrelated concepts for the development of national ideologies as complex and interacting images of national political worldviews is emphasized.

From Development of the Foundations of Sovereign Democracy Towards the Paradigm of a Unified System of Public Power: Milestones of Scientific Creativity of Valerian A. Lebedev (to the Anniversary of the Scholar)

The review article is dedicated to one of the landmark events for the entire legal world and the community of constitutional law scholars: the anniversary of Doctor of Law, Professor Valerian A. Lebedev, Honored Scientist of the Russian Federation, Honored Lawyer of the Russian Federation, Honorary Worker of Higher Professional Education of the Russian Federation. Prof. Valerian A. Lebedev started his work during a difficult period of reforms initiated for the development of Russian statehood, a change in the paradigm of constitutional law development and a radical restructuring of the basic principles of ensuring and protecting fundamental rights and freedoms of the man and citizen. The paper highlights the main milestones of Prof. Valerian A. Lebedev’s scientific work related to the study of the problems of genuine democracy and sovereignty of the people, the priority of development in compliance with the Constitution of the Russian Federation and substantiation of the concept of sovereign democracy, functioning on the constitutional mechanism for the protection of individual rights, ensuring the principle of political pluralism, building a unified system of public power and a unified legislative system of the country, implementation of the constitutional reform. The paper highlights critically important role of Prof. Valerian A. Lebedev and his scientific creativity for the transitional and modern path of development of the national statehood, comprehensive, acute, problematic nature of his works, the unique scientific foresight of the scholar, who not only foresaw the constitutional reform, but also revealed its key concepts-novels, pitfalls and prospects for improving specific constitutional law institutions. The possibility of studying modern and past research works by Prof. A. Lebedev is presented as a special value for the modern science of constitutional law, since their subject of research covers the key concepts and categories of the theory of Russian constitutionalism, correct understanding of which depends on the possibility of effective implementation of the constitutional principles of the existence of the state and society.

Economic initiatives of the first President of independent Ukraine in the context of the study of periodicals .

The subject of researchis: economic initiatives of the first President of independent Ukraine through the prism of studying periodicals. The purpose of the scientific articleis to investigate the economic initiatives of the first President of independent Ukraine through the prism of studying the periodicals of 1991-1994. Research methods. All components of the research are based on the main principles – sientificity, historicism, objectivity, systematicity, development, the priority of concrete truth, pluralism, as well asmethods of learning socio-economic processes of social development-analysis, synthesis, problem-chronological, comparative-analytical, archeographical, content-analysis,retrospective, statistical,system andintegrated approach. Work methodology. In the process of researching the specified issues, we took as a basis the main provisions: the history of Ukraine, economic history and the history of economic thought, the work of domestic and foreign scientists and practitioners in the specified field, Fund of the Presidents of Ukraine (iinterview, speeches of the President of Ukraine L.M. Kravchuk in front of domestic and foreign mass media), materials of the information service of the President of Ukraine, etc. Work results. In the context of the mentioned problems, we investigatedeconomic initiatives of the first President of independent Ukraine through the prism of studying periodicals. Field of application of results. The results of this study can be applied in the field of studying the problems of economic history and the history of economic thought, the history of the development of the national economy, and the history of Ukraine. Conclusions. So, researchof the economic initiatives of the first President of independent Ukraine through the prism of studying the periodicals of 1991-1994 gives reason to assert that Leonid Makarovych quite clearly understood what the economic course of a young independent state should socially oriented market economy, which proclaims the diversity and equality of all forms of ownership, including private ownership of the means of production, establishes the rights of the state to conduct its own economic policy, create its own budget, tax and banking system, monetary unit, labor market, valuable papers, as well asassistance to foreign investors, in particular, foreign business entities should have equal rights with domestic entrepreneurs, including property rights, reinvestment and repatriation of the corresponding share of profit with preferential taxation. Along with constant willingness to develop various ties with Western partners, priority and vital importance for L. M. Kravchuk remained all forms and directions of economic cooperation with sovereign republics. It should be noted that the outlined issues remain open because of the researchinitiatives of the first President of independent Ukraine, will provide an opportunity to follow the peculiarities of the formation and development of the institution of the presidency, as well as its influence on state-building processes, including economic ones.

‘Sovereign Democracy’: Russian Response to Western Democracy Promotion in the Post-Soviet Space

Russia became apprehensive after the outbreak of Colour Revolutions in three former Soviet republics. Post-revolution, Russia’s foreign policy in general and its outlook toward the West in particular transformed significantly. Russian response to Western democracy promotion became more pronounced. Against this backdrop, the concept of Sovereign Democracy has to be understood. It aims to not only defend the Russian regime from Western meddling but also undertake a vigorous international campaign to assert its great power status. This article deals with the meaning and rationale of Sovereign Democracy as a response to Western democracy promotion in a nuanced way. The study attempts to deal with the following research questions: How does Russia perceive and react to Colour Revolutions? How Sovereign Democracy enables Russia to restructure its foreign policy to challenge the Western democracy-promotion agenda in the post-Soviet space? How do the political institutions and historical narratives of anti-Westernism allow Russia to respond to Colour Revolutions? Lastly, whether Putin is able to reshape public opinion in Russia not only in favor of having an alternative model of democracy against the dominant Western one but also a favorable public opinion to justify Russian actions in Georgia, Ukraine, and Syria.

Ukrayna Krizi Bağlamında Putin Rusyası’nın Biyografik Anlatıları ve Rutinleri

The article argues that Russia's decision to initiate an attack on Ukraine in February 2022 was an inevitable move for both its material and ontological security. By adopting an offensive stance and directly engaging in a conflict with a former Soviet country, Russia transformed the ongoing tension with the West into a full-fledged confrontation. At this juncture, the article primarily emphasizes that Russia's assault on Ukraine has solidified its "anti-Western" rhetoric, which serves as a crucial pillar of its ontological security. However, it asserts that while this aggression bolstered the anti-Western discourse to some extent, it also harmed Russia's ontological security in terms of other biographical narratives and routines. In essence, the article examines the historical development of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and delves beyond the concrete steps taken, exploring the dangers posed by such aggressive behavior to Russia's ontological security, particularly with regard to its biographical narratives and routines. Within this framework, the article posits that Russia's ontological security relies on contemporary biographical narratives and routines rooted in the discourse of the “continuing state”, "strong state", sovereign democracy," "anti-Westernism," "anti-globalism," and "neo-Eurasianism.".

Through the Eyes of a Strategist and a Diplomat: Polish-American Relations post-1918

Through the Eyes of a Strategist and a Diplomat: Polish-American Relations post-1918

Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Sovereign Democracy: Some Remarks on the Annexation of Crimea by Russia

Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Sovereign Democracy: Some Remarks on the Annexation of Crimea by Russia

Soviet Union: to the centenary of formation

The subject. The article analyzes the constitutional and legal aspects of the formation of the USSR in the context of the theory of federalism. In the course of this analysis, the author examines the constitutional norms regulating the status of sovereign republics as members of the federation.The purpose of the paper is to classify USSR as a type of federation according to its constitutional regulation during all its existence as a state, and to define legal causes of falling soviet federalism experience.The methodology of the study includes general scientific methods (analysis, synthesis, description) and legal methods. In addition to this, historical method was also applicable.The main results and scope of their application. Taking into account various theoretical approaches to the classification of federations, the author comes to the conclusion that the USSR was formally created as a constitutional federation, since the issues of state sovereignty, the right to withdraw from the union and the competence of the new state were fully defined precisely in the Constitution of the USSR of 1924. At the same time, the functioning of public authority in the USSR on a contractual, consensual basis of central and regional authorities was absent.Conclusions. The Soviet Union came to the end of its existence almost in the status of a confederation, having in its composition sovereign states with independent legal systems, state sovereignties and established international relations for some of them.A lot of constitutional risks were laid in the previous periods of development of federal relations in the USSR and their consolidation at the constitutional level strengthened the centrifugal forces and brought eventually to be adopted on June 12, 1990 the Declaration on State Sovereignty of the RSFSR.

Features of the political regime of Russia

The authoritarian political Regime of Russia determines aggressive behavior of this country in the foreign and domestic politics. Because of this the studding of this regime is actual both in theoretical and practical points of views. The main features of this regime in Russian reality stems from its hybrid nature and they are: authoritarian autocratic characteristics; but it is not the traditional authoritarianism the theory and practice of which we know from history. First of all, its specificity follows from the propaganda load of the regime and due to the control over the state media, the government achieves an information dictatorship; which is enough to form public opinion and reduce the need for repression: The second feature is the coexistence of democratic elements (limited pluralism, multi-party system, opposition television) with the totalitarian ones (coalescence of ruling party and the state, secret police, servile political culture). The third feature is the autocratic nature, the Putin-tailored constitution, the legislative acts which in Putin’s view are necessary. To study the Russian regime we use the theory .of cyclic development, according to which authoritarian cycles of political modernization are associated with geopolitical successes, and short term liberalization efforts, which always ended in failures, are associated with unsuccessful domestic and foreign policy. In all these cases initiatives always comes from the political elites and people plays a role of their supporters. Because of this researchers believe that civic society could not acquire subjectivity. In our view, political culture has a decisive influence on the political regime in Russia. The characteristics of Russian political culture are: faith of a powerful state and leader; Great Russian messianic chauvinism, which is the idea of Russian identity and part of the mentality of the people, as well as the ideas of social equality of sovereign democracy, subjective orientations and imperial thinking, which playa dominant role in the public consciousness. Therefore, those researchers and statesman who believe that chauvinism comes only from Putin are wrong. The main reason must be the imperial consciousness of the people. The article confirms the hypothesis that the natural development of Russia is authoritarian. It will take decades (in case of the desire of the authorities) to eradicate from the minds of citizens the elements of authoritarian culture, which for centuries have been fixed in their minds and passed from generation to generation.

Surkovljevo shvatanje savremenog spoljnopolitičkog nastupa Rusije

Political theories, which are constantly upgrading and changing, are the foundation for creation of national and state ideologies. World powers strive towards spreading their own national interests through encouraging other countries of the world to accept their ideologies based on their own political theories. The geopolitical variability, not only regarding the spatial, but also the temporal factor, impacts the creation of new theoretical explanations and assessments. Liberalism as a dominant political theory in all its forms is no longer primary and present as it was in the beginning of the twenty first century. In the East emerges a new view and a new alternative to contemporary liberalism. The NeoEuroasian geopolitical vector is creating conditions for a more influential role of Russia in the contemporary world. After the crisis in the end of the previous and the beginning of this century, Russia stabilized its economy and formed a new state system which influenced it to become a strong competitor to the US in the geopolitical space. According to Vladislav Surkov, Putinism is the future of the Russian power, and sovereign democracy is the paradigm of its influence. In conclusion, this contemporary Russian political theory is in its beginning, not only within but also outside the Russian borders, searching for its path as the model of future, representing the manner for fulfilling the Russian foreign policy goals and interests. In this research, we will use the methods of analysis, synthesis, hypotethicaldeductive method, document content analysis, as well as comparative method.

Subramania Bharati and the Rhetoric of Enthusiasm

AbstractThis article identifies the rhetoric and sentiment of enthusiasm as a certain specifically Tamil historical-aesthetic-political conjuncture that operates in both an affective register and as a structure of publicity. The “people,” who emerge as a subject of politics within the crucible of the swadeshi movement, are both “the masses” (a populist political subject) as well as the anticipated citizens of a future sovereign democracy. To distinguish the Tamil conjuncture from the histories of European populism, Part I outlines the political implications of public enthusiasm in the European Enlightenment. Kant, in his articulation of enthusiasm as a form of reason, is the critical figure here. Whereas in English poetry enthusiasm was domesticated and contained, Bharati’s writings and their impact exemplify its very different trajectory in colonial India. In Part II, Bharati’s poetry is analyzed under three heads: the enthusiasm it manifests, its language and rhetoric, and its focus on nationalism and social reform. Part III describes the communicative technologies and the formation of Bharati’s public and then the colonial conjuncture in which his work encountered censorship and prohibition. The conclusion underlines the significance of Bharati’s writings and the relevance of the political enthusiasm they generated—and still do.

“Суверенна демократія” в українських онлайн-медіа: якісний контент-аналіз дискурсу 2020 року

In contrast to the idea of universalism, which appeared after 1945, a trend towards sovereignty is developing in the modern world. Subject to international norms and laws, this trend towards the supremacy of the interests of individual states and governments is coherent in a world of “clear identities”. However, it has led to the social sciences discussion of the peculiarities of Russian, Eastern European, and Eurasian sovereignty in terms of discourses. However, in the 21st century, not (only) expert discussions have influence, particularly in scientific circles, but also discussions broadcasted by the media. So, recently, through media channels, the idea of the possibility of the “sovereign democracy” existence is being promoted (while experts are still arguing about the possibility of the existence of such a form of government). Since this discourse is directly related to the Russian context, and in the Ukrainian information field, various influences are recorded through Russian narratives, the thought appeared to track whether the idea of sovereign democracy is broadcasted through the Ukrainian media space and with the kind of semantic load. An empirical sociological study analysed reports by Ukrainian online media during 2020, which addressed various aspects of sovereignty and democracy, in particular, “sovereign democracy”. With qualitative content analysis, eight contexts of application of these concepts have been identified. Among them are the following: “American issue”, “Belarusian issue,” and others. All contexts are illustrated with examples of the real discourse of the Ukrainian media. Among the main conclusions of the research is that the presentation of the substantive characteristics of the sovereign democracy concept in the Ukrainian media corresponds to its interpretation by Russian ideologues and has a different content, which is often detached from its conceptual understanding. Coverage outside the interpretation of “sovereign democracy” in the style of Russian ideologues revolves around the synonymous use of the terms sovereignty and democracy.

КОНЦЕПЦИЯ ПРАВОВОГО ГОСУДАРСТВА В ДОКТРИНЕ И ПРАКТИКЕ СТРАН ЦЕНТРАЛЬНО-АЗИАТСКОГО РЕГИОНА

This article researches the concept of law-abiding state in the doctrine and practice of the Central Asian countries. The analysis of the formation of law-abiding state and the legal systems of give sovereign republics, taking into account the world experience in this process, the relationship of law with morality, economy, state, politics, and other aspects of public life was carried out. Law is one of the highest social, spiritual and political values, one of the most important cultural phenomena, together with justice, humanism, etc. The authors explore the different points of view of various scientists on the This article researches the concept of law-abiding state in the doctrine and practice of the Central Asian countries. The analysis of the formation of law-abiding state and the legal systems of give sovereign republics, taking into account the world experience in this process, the relationship of law with morality, economy, state, politics, and other aspects of public life was carried out. Law is one of the highest social, spiritual and political values, one of the most important cultural phenomena, together with justice, humanism, etc. The authors explore the different points of view of various scientists on the legal state and the legal systems of the Republics of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. It is impossible to imagine a democratic state governed by law-abiding state without an organized, hierarchically constructed democratic legal system that protects the rights and freedoms of individuals. The term “law-abiding state” includes the legal framework of the legal state. This is especially true when we mean not just the concept of law-abiding state, but the modern democratic, secular, legal and social state. All of these major systemic entities are undergoing the same stage of formation as law-abiding state and civil society in the post-Soviet space. Many new legal phenomena need to be understood in theory and mastered in practice in systemic contexts - the system of legislation, the system of law and the legal system as well.

“Sovereign democracy”: the roots, contents and critique of contemporary Russian political thought

Background: The paper is devoted to the concept of ‘‘sovereign democracy’’ that emerged in Russia in 2005 and was thought to play an important political role. The concept, authored by Vladimir Surkov, the deputy chief of the Administration of the President, having both internal and external political goals, was the first attempt of the formulation of the values of the new political system under Vladimir Putin. The paper discusses the roots of ‘‘sovereign democracy’’, its contents, and critique. It also presents the circumstances of a decline of this concept in 2007–2008, which resulted from the new rhetoric of President Dmitry Medvedev.Objectives: The main goal of the following paper is to present and discuss the contents of the Russian political concept of “sovereign democracy”. Since this concept was the first, and as it turned out — only attempt by the Russian ruling elite to define its own ideological identity, the following study enables us to make some remarks regarding the axiology and ideological maturity of “Putinism”. Methods: The adopted perspective of the investigation imposes the employment of the his-torical method and the exegesis of the documents.Results: “Sovereign democracy” was the first effort of this kind to define contemporary Rus-sian national interests, the challenges and opportunities, both in internal and external dimensions. It embraces a diagnosis of Russia’s main problems in the first decade of the 21st century: the vulner-ability of the economy based on the export of oil and gas, the unfavourable international situation, and a possible unipolar world order. It has had national and international aims: consolidation of the political elite and a clear message to international society that Russia will not give up the reshaping of the world towards a multipolar one. Since its beginning, the concept was understood doubly — as a future “state ideology” and as a short-lived project for current political purposes. Despite the fact that it was officially adopted by the “One Russia” party, it was not recognised by V. Putin and did not obtain any official status. Conclusions: Being, in fact, the product of one man — Vladimir Surkov, the concept of sovereign democracy emerged in 2005 as a response to the need for a tool to mobilise society before parliamentary and presidential elections. As a result of the restrained and sceptical attitude of V. Putin and D. Medvedev, the concept was not developed and abandoned by the “One Russia”

OFFICIAL POLITICAL CONCEPTS AS ELEMENT OF THE NATIONAL SECURITY SYSTEM IN RUSSIA

This paper poses the question of the role of official political concepts in ensuring the national security of Russia from the perspective of a sociological approach. Based on the materials of Russian political practice at the beginning of the XXI century, the authors describe the existence of official interpretations of constitutional principles that influence law-making and law enforcement activities in Russia. The focus is on such concepts as sovereign democracy, the power vertical, and the national leader. The paper gives a brief description of each of these concepts. Being specific cliches, these concepts reflect a certain state of constitutional justice of the Russian society in the post-transition period. It is concluded that these concepts play a significant role in the regulation of public relations; an attempt is made to describe the mechanisms of this influence. Attention is drawn to the fact that these concepts were developed by political actors associated with the state, but subsequently received wide support from participants in public relations. The authors conclude that there are specific historical reasons for the emergence of these concepts related to national security interests. It is noted that the adoption of official strategic planning documents, primarily the National Security Strategy of 2015, entailed the formalization of official political concepts.

Russian sovereign democracy and the legacy of Stalinism

Russian sovereign democracy and the legacy of Stalinism

Extremism as a Threat to National Security: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

The editor-in-chief paper is devoted to one of the most serious problems of Russia’s national security, extremist activities, which poses a real threat to the life of the state, encroaches on the constitutional rights and freedoms of Russian citizens, sovereign democracy and public order. It is noted that for the Russian Federation, as a multinational state, extremism is a particular danger, since it undermines the peaceful coexistence of various ethnic and social groups. When describing the relevance of the problem, the paper takes into account the features and relationship of extremism with the predicted negative consequences in the context of globalization of the world economic relations and information and technological development of society in the era of neoindustrialization. The author questions the stereotype that exists in the public consciousness, according to which the extremist organizations, movements, the propaganda of radical views and crimes of an extremist nature are, to a greater extent, already a historical phenomenon, which are characteristic, first of all, of the 90-ies of the XX century. It is argued that the problem under consideration “mutates” and takes on new guises in the conditions of modern reality. It is established that the new legal tools and mechanisms developed over the years are being added as a result of scientific and technological progress. Thus, in the conditions of the sixth technological paradigm, there appear new varieties of extremism, for example, cyberextremism. At the same time, cybersecurity serves as a binding condition for the successful development and operation of industry 4.0 technologies. Based on the results of a comprehensive analysis of the research conducted by the author, as well as taking into account the opinions of the scientists expressed in the main topic of the issue, it is concluded that in the era of the deepening processes of digital interdependence, the international organizations, both intergovernmental and non-governmental, as well as the scientists and practitioners dealing with the security issues should accumulate their efforts to expand digital cooperation in order to protect human rights and eliminate the threats of cyberextremism. The shared human values such as equality, privacy, dignity, freedom, inclusiveness, respect and sustainability should serve as a beacon for legal scholars in the digital age. Modern technologies bring great benefits to all mankind. Moreover, they help protect human rights, but these same technologies can and are already being used to infringe on human rights by both the states and the private sector.

Russia’s Conception of a Just International Order and Its Commitments with the Council of Europe: A Difficult Match

In 1996 Russia was admitted as a member of the Council of Europe in the hope that this would help the country to democratise. However, as datasets and country reports show, during the last decades Russia has become increasingly authoritarian. An authoritarian country which frequently clamps down on domestic opposition cannot be a member of a more liberal international organisation which advocates supranational rules, such as the protection of human rights, without serious tensions. In fact, since at least the early 2000s Russia has rejected its role of a ‘norm-taker’ which passively adopts European norms, and has engaged in a prolonged struggle with Council of Europe. Despite this conflict, Russia has achieved some limited progress in the protection of human rights (e.g., the de facto abolition of the death penalty) thanks to the socialising effect of institutions. Since the mid- to late 2000s, Russia’s refusal to adopt European norms and the ongoing conflict with the Council of Europe has prompted Russia to define its original normative stance, alternative to Europe’s. The product of this intellectual elaboration is the notion of sovereign democracy. The concept is composed of: (1) an attempt to stretch the concept of democracy in such a way as to apply it to an increasingly authoritarian country such as Russia; (2) the rejection of foreign criticism of Russia’s democratic and human-rights deficit; and (3) a conception of a just world order composed of sovereign democracies, based on non-interference, rather than on supranational rules. Such a conception of an illiberal world order has aggravated, rather than ameliorated, the conflict with the Council of Europe, an organisation deeply imbued with the view of a just world order as a body of supranational rules and values.

FINANCIAL AND ECONOMIC SYSTEM OF YEMEN: IS RECOVERY POSSIBLE?

The regional war in Yemen (the Republic of Yemen) began on the 26th March 2015 in the result of the military intervention of the Arabic coalition headed by Saudi Arabia. Nearly all the northern part of the the country is under control of the alliance with the participation of the former ruling party “Yemeni General People's Congress” and Houthi rebellions from the Shiite movement Ansar Allah. In August 2019 the southern part of the country loyal to the coalition was threatened by disintegration as a result of expulsion of the structures of internationally recognized President A.M. Hadi, living in Riyadh since the beginning of the conflict, from the temporary capital Aden by forces of the pro-Emirates group headed by the Southern Transition Council.
 The war did not solve any domestic problems of Yemen caused by a massive peaceful protest in all parts of the country split by the crisis in 2011, disrupted the international plan of the peaceful solution to the crisis under United Nations auspices, which started in November 2011, and de facto worsened the split of Yemen, which appeared on the map of Arabia only in 1990 in the result of merging two previously existing sovereign republics – the Yemen Arab Republic and People's Democratic Republic of Yemen.
 According to the announcements of the UN, currently the country goes through the hardest humanitarian crisis in the world. The military actions devastated the economy of the country, almost entirely ruined the infrastructure and lead to the absence of food security. The UN estimated that in 2019 nearly 24.1 million people (80% of the population) were exposed to the risk of famine and diseases. In the result of the absence of sanitary conditions and vaccination of the population, the country faces large-scale disease outbreaks, such as cholera, diphtheria, measles and fever.
 In addition, analysts estimate that more than 40% of Yemeni families lost their main source of income, consequently, it is quite difficult for them to by goods included in the minimum consumer basket. Poverty is getting worse: before the crisis it affected nearly half of the population, and currently it affects about 80% of Yemenis.
 In the result of the inflation, the value of the national currency threefold dropped. Besides, the humanitarian crisis worsened, and failure in the operation of the facilities of the national infrastructure and financial institutions significantly influenced the activity of business society, especially small and medium-sized businesses.
 The military conflict in Yemen disrupted the social and economic activity both of individual institutions and of the state as a whole. In the hard situation is found the revenue part of the budget, whose main source of income was export of hydrocarbons. Financial losses from oil revenues resulted in severe shortage of the national currency and plummeting of state revenue. The aforementioned factors in combination with the fragmentation of the public institutions, including the Central Bank of Yemen, resulted in stopping flow of foreign currency for essential imports and payment of salaries in the public sector, which led to the growth of inflation and worsening humanitarian crisis.

‘The Foreign Within’: State–Civil Society Relations in Russia

The development of Russian civil society is linked to authoritarian government, fear of ‘colour revolutions’ and the ‘sovereign democracy’ that legitimises state control of civil society. This article acknowledges the narrowing room for manoeuvre of contemporary Russian civil society and discusses NGOs’ practices in the context of government pressures, the politicisation of transnational connections and the increasing geopolitical tension surrounding Russia. It describes the localisation and depoliticisation of Russian NGOs as well as their disruptive practices, and explains how narrowing civil society identities inform the self-governing of NGOs. Finally, it argues that seeing Russian civil society in simple dichotomies further narrows these identities.