Regional disparities and economic growth in Russia: new growth patterns and catching up

The regional disparities in Russia are increasing since transition started in the 1990s, as result of the structural processes of reorganisation and reallocations of resources taking place in the territory. The scopes of this contribution are two folds: to clarify the theoretical and policy background in analysing regional development in the transition and in particular in Russia, and to analyse the specificity of the spatial development and the regional disparities patterns in Russia. The economic geography is recognised among the different theories, very useful for helping to understand in particular the recent phenomena of new concentration pattern in Russia, giving a key of analysis of new polarisation trends: new trends toward urban concentrations in the Western regions, de-population of the Eastern regions, rural decline in those regions faraway from large urban agglomerations. In fact the empirical analysis indicates two dominant phenomena in the up-surging of regional disparities: the increasing weight of the capital city, Moscow as agglomeration effects brings the polarisation phenomena; and the strengthening of the natural resources and energy endowed regions. There is the question whether Russia, at this stage of development, can pursue an active regional policy toward equity targets or whether, for the target of sustaining macro-economic growth, there is the urgency to keep selected priorities based on the best performing poles. A difficult balance between the two targets would be the most suitable answer.     

Russia: A Country with an Unpredictable Past

Russia is a key player in the Kyoto process, and the fate of the Protocol itself heavily depends on future developments in the country, in particular in its energy sector. This article analyses the contradictory and complex relationships between carbon dioxide emissions, gas exports to Western Europe and the energy security of Russia. The paper reviews emerging trends in the energy sector of Russia that will have a long-term impact on these three parameters and assesses the possible influence of these trends on the implementation of the Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution in Russia. Proceeding from the latest developments in the Russian energy scene, the author tries to forecast how Russia will integrate into the international community in the energy sphere. The study concludes that gas export commitments to Europe will be met despite the serious problems in the domestic gas sector, that energy saving in Russia is the most feasible way of finding a compromise between the three parameters, and that enhancing the energy security of Russia might have rather controversial consequences for Europe.     

Tell Me Who is Your Enemy...

The purpose of the article is to show through the analysis of some recent publications, art exhibitions, trials and other types of discourse, who is considered to be “an enemy” in Russia today and how law enforcement and the judiciary respond to so called “threats,” emanating from the constructed enemies. The analysis reveals some dangerous tendencies in the formation of a common identity for people living in Russia. For instance, search for a “national idea,” “traditional roots,” “patriotism,” and “distinctive nature,” aimed at the formation of this common identity and strengthening the state, is implemented in a way, which leads to the exclusion of ‚others’ and thus undermines the possibility to lay the foundation for the multicultural state based on peace, harmony and tolerance. Russia must become a common house for all ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities living in it, and no one representing them should be in a position of the less favored and less protected. National identity in a multinational state can be only a plural identity, providing for the possibility of living in several communities simultaneously.     

An examination of the experience of cryptocurrency use in Russia. In search of better practice

This study concerns the use of crypto-currency with specific reference to the situation in Russia. A variety of such systems exist; Bitcoin, however, is perhaps the best-known example and will be used as synonymous with the concept throughout this article. Our findings not only show how the views of Russian government bodies are formed and developed, but also sheds light on the specific innovative methods which legal entities use for development of the economy. Consideration will be given to recent developments within Russia which has been more active than many countries in seeking to clarify the status of Bitcoin and providing for the regulation of the technology.     

The Mutation of International Law in Contemporary Constitutions: Thinking Sociologically about Political Constitutionalism

This article proposes a sociological critique of theories of political constitutionalism, which distinguish sharply between political and judicial constitutionalism and express hostility towards constitutions allowing extensive judicial control of legislation. It argues that such theories are usually undermined by a sociologically deficient account of politics. As an alternative, this article proposes a theory of politics based in a model of systemic inclusion. Using this perspective, it claims that constitutions with a strong judicial emphasis, especially where judicial functions are supported by international norms, have served, in many societies, as an effective precondition for the emergence and persistence of a relatively secure, differentiated political domain. These claims are exemplified through analysis of recent constitution‐making experiments in Russia, Kenya and Bolivia.     

Minority Religions and Social Justice in Russian Courts: An Analysis of Recent Cases

This paper presents a number of important recent cases from Russia involving new and minority faiths. The cases are examined to see how these unpopular groups are dealt within the context of a rapidly changing Russia. Conclusions are drawn about how the legal system in Russia operates concerning minority faiths, using the sociological variables discussed in this issue's introduction.     

全球重大灾难对中国城市防灾减灾的警示

文章简介了近年我国若干城市安全减灾应急工作及系统的快速发展，阐述了我国国家、省市及社会安全减灾应急现状，SARS及印度洋特大地震海啸灾害对其的促进和警示教训；进而纵论国际安全减灾应急体系近年概况，美、俄、日、法等国近年建立部级政府机构由来；最后指出我国这一领域的问题并提出我国安全减灾应急体系建设的体制、机制、法制；经费及国际合作等相应建议。     

Editor's Introduction

Fear is the unifying theme of the articles that follow. Not the strakh about which Anatolii Rybakov wrote, but rather the fear for the future of stability, democracy, and social justice in Russia. But most of our authors conclude either on a hopeful note or with recommendations for action. In the first article ("The Electoral Map of Contemporary Russia"), Vladimir Kolosov and Rostislav Turovskii present the findings of their analysis of voting behavior in Russia's many regions. While not unlocking individual motivations at this level of analysis, they examine the commonplace assertion that the presidential election of June-July 1996 turned on the decline in people's living standards since the overthrow of Communism and the collapse of the Soviet Union. Almost all press commentary has reported, or assumed, that the anti-Yeltsin vote reflected disillusion with a government that has increasingly impoverished most Russians. Conceding that "the political stratification of Russian regions into reformist and oppositional regions has intensified," the authors nevertheless find that poorer regions sometimes supported Yeltsin over the Communist candidate, Gennadii Ziuganov. Thus, for example, Yeltsin carried Ivanovo Oblast despite its having the highest unemployment rate in the country. They find no direct connection between quality of life and voting patterns in the elections. Political criteria, not economic determinism, offer the best explanation for why people voted the way they did.     

Birthplaces,migration and identity in the 2001 census for Ukraine

Ukraine used to be one of the most ethnically mixed Soviet republics due to a high level of immigration, mostly from other parts of the Soviet Union. This article uses the sample of households available at IPUMS International to study the information about birthplaces, migration and marriage partners in recently released microdata from the 2001 census. Since Ukraine’s independence in 1991 a large emigration surplus and ethnic estrangement have turned the country into a place with a lower degree of internal migration and ethnic intermarriage. With the exception of the capital Kiev, there was relatively little interchange of migrants between the eastern, Russian-dominated regions and the western regions. The highest degree of intermarriage was among people with at least one partner born abroad, most often in Russia. There is evidence of an elite of migrants from Russia to the Russia-oriented south-eastern provinces, who may feel especially threatened by the Ukrainian nationalistic takeover of power which happened after the Maidan insurrection.     

“Execute Not Pardon”: The Pussy Riot Case,Political Speech,and Blasphemy in Russian Law

In February 2012, in the full swing of the then-current presidential campaign in Russia, a short video of the “Pussy Riot” feminist band, beseeching the Virgin Mary to “drive Putin away” while performing a wild dance in front of the altar of Russia's major Orthodox Cathedral, was uploaded to YouTube. The performance was followed by the rapid arrest of three band members and a trial in a criminal court that sentenced them to two years in a penal colony on charges of “hooliganism motivated by religious hatred” and transformed the case into a symbol of the infringement on freedom of political expression in Putin's Russia. Through a legal analysis of the trial materials, this article examines the reasoning used by Russian law to authorize limitations on freedom of religiously contextualized speech and discusses the case's implications for expanding the “forbidden ground” excluded from legitimate public debate in contemporary Russia.     

Family systems in central Russia in the 1830s and 1890s

Czap, Moon, and Mironov have suggested that two regional models for the rural family existed side by side in 19th-century Russia. This article approaches the question by examining the rural family as a statistically describable system occurring in a given economic and institutional context. The material applies to 8 local communities representing central Russia in the 1830s and 11 in the 1890s, the majority being the same communities in both cases. The aim is to determine from the household arrangements, economies, and institutional frameworks of these communities the kind of context in which a certain family system occurred. By relating these conclusions to data on the economic circumstances and social structures of the different parts of central Russia, two regional family systems are identified. Czap's “Eastern European family type” predominated in this area in the 1830s. Because the reforms and reorientation of economic activities in the 1860s brought about changes in household arrangements, however, a pattern characteristic of communities with a substantial degree of social stratification became the norm for most of the area.     

Family systems in central Russia in the 1830s and 1890s

Czap, Moon, and Mironov have suggested that two regional models for the rural family existed side by side in 19th-century Russia. This article approaches the question by examining the rural family as a statistically describable system occurring in a given economic and institutional context. The material applies to 8 local communities representing central Russia in the 1830s and 11 in the 1890s, the majority being the same communities in both cases. The aim is to determine from the household arrangements, economies, and institutional frameworks of these communities the kind of context in which a certain family system occurred. By relating these conclusions to data on the economic circumstances and social structures of the different parts of central Russia, two regional family systems are identified. Czap's “Eastern European family type” predominated in this area in the 1830s. Because the reforms and reorientation of economic activities in the 1860s brought about changes in household arrangements, however, a pattern characteristic of communities with a substantial degree of social stratification became the norm for most of the area.     

Mentally disordered offenders and the European Court of Human Rights

Mentally disordered offenders find themselves at the intersection of the healthcare system and the criminal justice system in most European countries. Decisions on their care often involve lengthy discussions in relation to care versus control in society. In this article, the focus is on one aspect of this debate — that of human rights. An analysis of cases, taken to the European Court of Human Rights by mentally disordered offenders, demonstrates the difficulties inherent in ensuring appropriate care to individuals and safeguards to the public at the same time. The issues raised include the problems raised by indeterminate sentences, the use of detention for preventive purposes, and debates about treatment.The countries represented in this selection of cases are Belgium, Norway, Poland, the Netherlands, Russia and the United Kingdom.     

The Russian Orthodox Church as the Church of the Majority

The author examines the evolution of relations among Church, state, and society in Russia over recent years in the light of comparisons with other predominantly Orthodox Christian countries.     

The Politics of Fear

The article attempts to analyze the mechanisms of political control used by the Kremlin vis-à-vis its rivals. Russian authorities had opted the politics of fear, which include overt intimidation and public discrediting of the regime's critics, and selective persecution and open harassment of opposition activists and/or supporters. This approach to political control to some degree reproduced similar mechanisms that had enabled regime survival in the late-Soviet period, and fit general trends of repressive policies in a number of contemporary authoritarian regimes. The article discusses causes and mechanisms of the politics of fear in contemporary Russia, its roots in comparative and historical contexts, and strengths and weaknesses of repressive policy in Russia from the viewpoints of the regime, the opposition, and Russian society.     

Entry Bar as Surreptitious Deportation? Zapret na v'ezd in Russian Immigration Law and Practice: A Comparative Perspective

Since 2013, a three‐year entry bar (zapret na v'ezd) has been issued in Russia to migrants with a record of two or more administrative offenses. This article examines the sociolegal characteristics of zapret na v'ezd by situating it in a global, comparative perspective, vis‐à‐vis the legal developments in the areas of deportation and removal in the United States and the United Kingdom. This article argues that the Russian entry bar law experienced a shift, established by other migration‐receiving jurisdictions, from controlling the migration process to controlling the social conduct of migrants, toward an increased reliance on deportability as a form of post‐entry control of the migrant population. At a broader level, I aim to shed more light on the migration governance processes in Russia—the third largest destination of migrants worldwide—by moving away from the intellectually dead‐end explanations that consider Russia as a deviant exception.     

Transferability of parliamentary experience: The Russian example

The article looks at the development of parliamentary institutions and procedures in Russia and the extent to which Russian politicians have been interested in learning from ‘mature’ democracies.

There are few examples of parliamentary practices being transplanted without significant adaptation. The debate in Russia on the role of parliament indicates that the idea of imitating foreign models has to compete with the powerful notion of rediscovering a national democratic tradition and both are used rhetorically to support particular interests. Parliamentary rules and practices are organically linked with party organisation, with the balance of parties at any given time, with electoral law, and with the relationship of the executive to the legislative branch. Changes in political habits take time.

International contacts are valuable because they lend confidence and authority to those who are working to build on democratic habits, but it is more important that parliamentarians and officials should find solutions which are internally consistent, which work with the grain of their own slowly evolving political culture and which reflect the most positive of their own traditions, than that they should assemble best practice from around the world.     

Criminal Justice Policy Transfer To Post-Soviet States: Two Case Studies Of Police Reform In Russia And Ukraine

The aim of this article is to review the impact of two British research projects on the policies and practices of local police forces in two former Soviet states: Russia and Ukraine. Using a case study approach, the article explores the ways in which the political, cultural and ideological context within which the police operate, and reform is being attempted, shape attitudes towards reform amongst the police and the public, and the outcomes achieved. The article draws upon an evaluation of the impact of two independent 3-year applied research projects, which aimed to investigate specific crime and policing issues in Russia and Ukraine, implement pilot projects and evaluate their impact in order to make recommendations for more general criminal justice policy reform. The overall results of the projects suggest that, despite significant interest in the concept of police reform and the adoption of western concepts, particularly at the local level, significant barriers to large-scale policy transfer persist, many of which are largely beyond the influence of local practitioners and western reformers.     

Advanced directives,the right to die and the common law: recent problems with blood transfusions

The Australian common law suffers from a lack of judicial authority on the right to die, in particular the right of patients to make anticipatory decisions to refuse treatment. Recent cases concerning the right of patients to refuse life-saving blood transfusions have highlighted the need for a substantial judicial clarification of this area. This article critically examines one of the most recent Australian cases in detail and compares its approach with those from other common countries. After taking this comparative analysis the article puts forth a common law model of anticipatory decision-making and examines how that model might work in the context of current legislative frameworks.     

风险社会语境下的俄罗斯生态安全立法

近年来，生态安全作为一种全新的国家安全观日益受到国际社会的广泛关注。俄罗斯是较早进行生态安全立法实践的国家，在生态安全理论研究、生态安全立法体系化以及生态安全保障制度构建等方面都有可圈可点之处。俄罗斯生态安全立法理论及实践的经验可以为我国立法发展及应对生态安全问题提供学理上的参考和可借鉴的实证路径和范式。