The roots of Russian organized crime: from old-fashioned professionals to the organized criminal groups of today

This study focuses on the development of persons and organizations in the successor states of the Soviet Union, with an emphasis on Russia. It examines the development of criminal professionalism in Russia between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries and argues that exiling peasants to Siberia contributed to the development of a criminal underworld and the creation of a professional criminal underclass. In the early to late Soviet periods, vory v zakone, or “thieves-in-law,” evolved together with criminal groups as a means to survive in the GULAG, these criminal groups operating within the Soviet prisons and penal colonies. Inadequacies of the Soviet system of central planning led to the criminalization of the Soviet economy and the emergence of the thieves-in-law as critical players. Activities such as racketeering, robbery, and other crimes were dangerous but predominantly secondary. The roots of the Russian mafia lie in the innermost depths of the Russian shadow economy. Some of the key aspects of the post-Soviet privatization process are analyzed together with the interaction between various levels of the Russian government and organized crime groups. It is argued that the state was not corrupted by organized crime groups, but rather the organized crime groups became the state. In the new Russia, organized crime groups and corrupt government executives work together to generatea new criminal state.     

The Russian mafia: Expulsion of law

The purpose of this paper will be to determine whether the conditions that exist in present‐day Russia are congruent with Foucault's claim that power in modern societies is not ensured by law and punishment but by normalization and control, which go beyond the state and its apparatuses, and that law plays an increasingly subordinate role within contemporary disciplinary society. I will also see what conclusions can be drawn from the Russian‐Soviet case that are relevant to evaluating the paradigms supplied by Foucault in deciphering the modalities of power in the modern world. In what sense can he help us understand how discipline and law in Imperial and Soviet Russia created the necessary conditions for the emergence of the Russian Mafia? Law has been transformed in the hands of the Russian Mafia and has expanded its spheres of influence rather than being displaced. The conditions that exist in present‐day Russia can be applied to Foucault's claim that power in modern societies is not ensured by law and punishment but by normalization and control which go beyond the state and its apparatuses. But it is not the case that law plays an increasingly subordinate role in present‐day Russia. Rather, it is no longer controlled by the sovereign power of the monarchy or by the Soviet state and its apparatuses, but is now predominately controlled by the Russian Mafia.     

苏式民法调整对象定义的沉浮

本文在27个苏-俄密切联系国的范围内考察了苏式民法调整对象理论的流变。首先考察了在苏-俄产生的3个民法调整对象定义:不对称平行线说、商品经济说和新平行线说;然后考察了它们在东欧剧变后在苏联密切联系国的流变情况,分为继受、改造、更新、放弃规定4种情形。最后提出了中国应采用新平行线说的建议,并介绍了作者对《俄罗斯联邦民法典》第2条第1款的理解与俄国学者的理解的分歧。     

Church,State, and Society in the East

The articles in this issue of Russian Politics and Law review the role of religion in state-society relations in the former Soviet Union. They examine the role of the Church in several former Soviet republics and show that the Orthodox Churches in former Soviet states share many commonalities.     

Perception of white-collar crime among immigrants from the Former Soviet Union in Israel

This study examines how immigrants from the Former Soviet Union (FSU) who have lived in Israel for an average of 10 years perceive white-collar crime. After a survey of the literature about the Soviet economy and how Soviet society regarded white-collar crime, we examine the relationship between FSU immigrants’ tolerance of white-collar crime (relative to their Israeli counterparts) and the degree of their involvement in Russian culture and society. This involvement was analyzed using a system of variables that indicate the subjects’ affinity for Russian culture and society and rejection of (isolation from) Israeli society. The study’s 1,028 participants are a representative sample of the olim (immigrants to Israel) from the FSU between 1990 and 2005. Our findings reinforced the hypothesis that the more involved these immigrants are in Russian culture and society, and the more alienated they are from Israeli society, the more permissive their view of white-collar crime. Nonetheless, our study explains 27 % of the variance in their view of white-collar crime. Hence the question requires further research. Our findings are discussed in terms of the decisive impact of the Soviet process of socialization on the values, perspectives, and behavior patterns of Post-Soviet man and its ramifications for the rule of law and their conception of Israeli democracy.     

Baptism in rural Russia: Village women speak of their children and their way of life

The disintegration of the Soviet Union made possible the collection of oral history testimony from Russian villagers, with the objective of recording firsthand the experiences of the women who participated in (and, indeed, themselves carried through) the demographic transition in Russia. Informants understood christening as an important aspect of child care and took pride in having held to these practices despite the efforts of the Communist Party/State to eradicate institutionalized religion in the Soviet Union. Baptism as the basic ritual of incorporation was common in Russian villages right through the Soviet era. Despite the assaults of the 1930s and beyond that caused the loss of 90 percent of their places of worship and clergy and despite the risks to their own livelihood and safety, peasants contrived to provide their children, through baptism, with protection againts the spiritual and temporal dangers of this life and to offer them the hope of salvation in the next. Women found ways in these communities to maintain social bonds and to defend familial arenas over which they still had some control.     

俄罗斯民法典中私法自治原则的理性回归

前苏联时期，私法自治这一重要的民法基本原则遭到了根本否定。而前苏联解体后，在新颁布实施的《俄罗斯联邦民法典》中，则对这一原则又给予了重新肯定，使其得以实现回归。本文拟对其私法自治原则回归的理论准备、精神内核以及回归后的司法尝试活动进行探讨，以期拓展对俄罗斯民事立法的理论认识。     

Cracking Pandora’s box: The Soviet breakup and the onset of Buccaneer Capitalism

With the breakup of the Soviet Union and the advent of globalization, an international buccaneer capitalism has developed. Criminal enterprises that were previously intra-border have expanded across borders and provided for the willing buyers services and products not legally obtainable. This paper explains how buccaneer capitalism (the development of criminal enterprises conducted in emerging markets into legitimate businesses) has evolved. Examples of American buccaneer capitalism are presented as is a chart showing the Historiography of Russian/Soviet Crime.     

从所有权法向物权法的转型——以“《俄罗斯联邦民法典》完善计划”为向度

自"前苏联解体"20多年以来,俄罗斯物权立法逐渐摆脱计划经济时代的物权观念,不断地向着传统物权法的类型与体系回归。通过渐次的多级转换,俄罗斯物权立法从"所有权中心主义的物权立法"向"他物权日益凸显的物权立法"转化。近年来通过"《俄罗斯联邦民法典》完善计划"的实施使之具有了与大陆法系之德国法传统的物权法相类似的体系特征。     

The New Laws on the Judicial System,the Criminal Code,and the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation

New laws — the Law on the Judicial System of the RSFSR, the Criminal Code, and the Code of Criminal Procedure of the RSFSR — were passed on October 27, 1960, at the Third Session of the RSFSR Supreme Soviet (Fifth Convocation). These laws are in accord with the Principles of Criminal Legislation of the USSR and the Union Republics, the Principles of Legislation on the Judicial System of the USSR, the Union and Autonomous Republics, and the Principles of Criminal Procedure of the USSR and the Union Republics. The enactment of these laws by the Russian Federation constitutes an important landmark in the development of Soviet legislation.     

Law of the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic on the Adoption of the RSFSR Code on Marriage and the Family

The Supreme Soviet of the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic decrees:

Article 1. The RSFSR Code on Marriage and the Family is hereby adopted and shall be put into effect on November 1, 1969.     

Making love in Yeltsin's Russia: A case of ``de-medicalization' and ``de-normalization'

The collapse of the Russian currency in August 1998 and the continuingdeterioration of the economy that has followed vindicates those scholarswho have held a negative view of post-Soviet changes.¹They have argued for years thatthe collapse of the Soviet system is leading to the disintegration andcriminalization of Russian society. And the brief history of sexuality inpost-Soviet Russia perhaps illustrates that these scholars have a point whenthey argue that the collapse of the Soviet regime has triggered a destructiveprocess. The criminalization and related sexualization are part of a morebroad problem in post-Soviet society. The country has not been so muchas transforming into a Western style capitalist society as suffering a generalmeltdown.     

Russia and the illicit arms trade

Since the disintegration of the Soviet militaryindustrial complex, the prospect of conventional armsand nuclear, chemical and biological weapons of massdestruction and their ingredients finding their wayfrom Russia into other hands has become a matter ofconcern for both the Russian Federation and theinternational community. This article explores thescale, forms and consequences of illicit transfers ofconventional arms and weapons of mass destruction andtheir ingredients from the Russian Federation into theinternational community. Russian military and securityforces seem to have been the main sources of a widerange of illicit conventional arms, whether as aconsequence of the participation of Russian armedforces in regional conflicts or as a consequence ofthe sale of equipment by corrupt officers, the covertcommercial export by Russian arms manufacturers beinglargely confined to small arms and light weapons. Theillegal diversion of nuclear, chemical and biologicalmaterials from the Russian Federation seems to havebeen less than was at one time feared but Westernco-operation with the Russian Federation to reinforceexisting nonproliferation regimes remains a highpriority.     

Blind Alleys of Post-Soviet Development: Searching for Exits: Editor's Introduction

The articles in this issue of Russian Politics and Law show that Soviet legacies continue to shape the political development of all of the post-Soviet states. Some articles in the issue focus more specifically on Russia, highlighting how some of the political problems that have resulted from Soviet legacies have derailed the liberalization of the region's most important state.     

俄罗斯当代刑事立法关于犯罪概念的变革——兼与中国现行刑事立法相比较

俄罗斯1996年新刑法典关于犯罪概念的立法模式沿袭了1958年以来苏俄刑事立法采取的形式———实质概念模式。但是,新刑法典的规定和变革因批判地继承民族立法的传统,特别是反映俄罗斯刑事立法和刑法学发展的最新成果而显得更为科学和合逻辑性。新中国成立以来,刑法典关于犯罪概念的立法规定深受苏俄刑事立法的影响,但是,由于俄罗斯新刑法典的变革,两国关于犯罪概念的立法表述和内容有了较大的区别。这值得我们去了解和研究,以资借鉴。     

A Word About the Change of Title from Soviet Law and Government to Russian Politics and Law

With the final disintegration of the Soviet state in December 1991, the title Soviet Law and Government suddenly lost all meaning. After considering the unsatisfactory alternatives, we decided to rename the journal Russian Politics and Law. Yet, in every respect, the journal's coverage will remain much wider than the title implies.     

论俄罗斯联邦检察院在俄罗斯生态法实施中的监督功能

建立完善、有力的生态法律监督机制,是保障生态法律实施的重要条件.俄罗斯自独立以来,在法律监督方面不仅继承了前苏联的先进做法,而且根据国情又不断地加以创新.俄罗斯联邦检察院作为俄罗斯法律监督的主要国家机关,在俄罗斯生态法实施中所起到监督作用是全面的、深入的.通过对俄罗斯联邦检察院进行生态法实施监督的法律依据,监督的具体领域,专门的自然保护检察院在俄罗斯生态法实施中的作用,以及俄罗斯联邦检察院对生态法实施进行监督的方式做了具体分析,阐述了俄罗斯联邦检察院在俄罗斯生态法实施中的监督功能.     

Publisher's Note

Beginning with the Summer 1992 issue (vol. 31, no. 1), M. E. Sharpe, Inc., will publish this serial under the title Russian Politics: A Journal of Translations. The journal will continue to cover legal, governmental, and political affairs primarily in the Russian Federation but also in other Soviet successor states.     

论中国文学接受俄罗斯文学的多元取向

伴随着20世纪历史的变动,中国文学对俄罗斯文学的接受在不同阶段显示出不同的摄取侧重和价值取向,先后经历五四时代对19世纪俄罗斯现实主义文学的吸纳,1930至50年代前期对苏联革命文学、日丹诺夫主义的移植,50年代中期对"解冻"文学的译介及其后对"修正主义文学"的批判,自80年代中期起对"回归文学"的引进,90年代以来对俄罗斯文学的补充接受,以及对苏联解体以来俄罗斯当代文学的接纳.这一漫长的接受史程,既不断刷新着国人心目中俄罗斯文学的原有图像,也折射出接受者民族的历史传统、时代氛围、文化心理和现实需求,还透露出中外文学关系史的某些重要规律.     

Memory Disorder

During all the changes of the last fifteen years Russia has not been able to rid itself of partiality in peering into its own past. Beginning in the second half of the 1980s, when Gorbachev's liberalization freed the task of remembering from the control of official historiography, several new images of the past have emerged, profoundly changing Russian citizens' views of their country only to retreat once more to the periphery of public awareness. The tragedy of Stalinism finally became an object of public discussion, then was ousted from public consciousness once more. Attitudes toward the October Revolution, which laid the foundations of the Soviet system, underwent radical revision, while an idealized picture of prerevolutionary Russia was instilled in the minds of Russian citizens. When Russia was first bidding farewell to the Soviet period, the alternative image of the past that was supposed to form the basis of a new identity took root easily, but over time it has lost much of its power. Another schism developed between the view of the past propagandized by the authorities and the public's living memory. At the dawn of the twenty-first century Russia still cannot cope with the agonizing experience it endured in the twentieth.