War of textbooks: History education in Russia and Ukraine

Many scholars stress that teaching about the shared past plays a major role in the formation of national, ethnic, religious, and regional identities, in addition to influencing intergroup perceptions and relations. Through the analysis of historic narratives in history textbooks this paper shows how the governments of the Russian Federation and Ukraine uses state-controlled history education to define their national identity and to present themselves in relations to each other. For example, history education in Ukraine portrays Russia as oppressive and aggressive enemy and emphasizes the idea of own victimhood as a core of national identity. History education in the Russian Federation condemns Ukrainian nationalism and proclaims commonality and unity of history and culture with Russian dominance over “younger brother, Ukraine”. An exploration of the mechanisms that state-controlled history education employs to define social identities in secondary school textbooks can provide an early warning of potential problems being created between the two states.     

Evolving Dynamics of Societal Security and the Potential for Conflict in Eastern Ukraine

Abstract

In this essay we argue that changes in political structures in post-Soviet Ukraine have affected the potential for conflict during transition. Relying on organisational theory to determine the potential for conflict in Ukraine, we argue that this potential is structurally determined by the changing character of societal relations within and beyond Ukraine. The potential for conflict was always present in post-Soviet Ukraine, but this essay examines the facts of when, how and why conflict happened, and how it was related to weak state institutions, centre–periphery relations and an unsettled relationship with Russia. Relying on our analytical framework, we conclude that the conditions for further conflict greatly outweigh the conditions for peace.     

On the Road to Maidan: Russia's Economic Statecraft Towards Ukraine in 2013

Abstract

The events preceding the 2013 Maidan protests exemplified Russia's use of its economic power over Ukraine. In trying to prevent Kyiv leaving its orbit, Moscow threatened economic rupture and closed borders, used phytosanitary and technical norms to impose import bans, and demanded swift payment of Ukraine's debt to Russia. Accompanying these negative measures were incentives: Russia promised Ukraine significant concessions in the form of loans or preferential trade treatment. As a result of this pressure, President Viktor Yanukovych, against his own preferences, refused to sign the Association Agreement with the European Union. Nevertheless, Moscow's pressure did not succeed in compelling Yanukovych to join Russia's Eurasian Economic Union.     

苏联顾问在东欧:一个历史考察

二战之后,随着东西方冷战思维的形成和冷战的加剧,随着苏联东欧政策的根本转变,一大批苏联顾问出现在东欧地区.他们为什么而来?他们的到来给东欧各国造成了什么影响?本文拟根据近年来解密的俄罗斯档案材料,对二战后苏联派遣顾问到东欧地区的经过、动机与影响进行剖析和考察.     

The Invisibility of Wage Employment in Statistics on the Informal Economy in Africa: Causes and Consequences

Abstract

This article challenges the claim, along with the statistics that support it, that self-employment is by far the dominant employment status in the informal economy. The article begins by reviewing key insights from relevant literature on the informal economy to argue that conventional notions of ‘wage employment’ and ‘self-employment’, while unfit for capturing the nature and variety of employment relations in developing countries, remain central to the design of surveys on the workforce therein. After putting statistics on Tanzania’s informal economy and labour force into context, the analysis reviews the type of wage employment relationships that can be found in one instance of the informal economy in urban Tanzania. The categories and terms used by workers to describe their employment situation are then contrasted with those used by the latest labour force survey in Tanzania. The article scrutinises how key employment categories have been translated from English into Swahili, how the translation biases respondents’ answers towards the term ‘self-employment’, and how this, in turn, leads to the statistical invisibility of wage labour in the informal economy. The article also looks at the consequences of this ‘statistical tragedy’ and at the dangers of conflating varied forms of employment, including wage labour, that differ markedly in their modes of operation and growth potential. Attention is also paid to the trade-offs faced by policy-makers in designing better labour force surveys.     

从伊拉克战争看当代美国媒体管理战略

在新闻媒体方面,美国长期以来把自己标榜成客观、公正的典范。但实际情况是,美国的媒体并未走出受制于政府的阴影。媒体是美国国家利益的代言人,是美国国家总体利益的组成部分。一般情况下,美国政府对媒体的管理是采用一些主动的方式进行的,如召开新闻发布会、实施新闻审查等。在美国人中有这样一种传说,即“战争是新闻自由的最大障碍”。     

中东欧经济转轨与全球化

苏东剧变后,中东欧国家毫无例外地摒弃了计划经济,实行市场经济。从1989年开始,这个转轨进程已经历时14年,并与全球化进程有着密切的关系。     

新型两制关系视域中的中美贸易战

和平与发展的时代主题确立了新型两制关系的基础。社会主义与资本主义的区别从“有无剥削”转变为“何种平等”。社会主义市场经济通过政府作用锁定共同富裕目标,展示了与资本主义市场经济在价值理念和体制机制上的不同。中美贸易战属于资本主义摆脱战略困境的一部分。     

An Alternative Sociological Perspective on Economic Value: Price Formation as a Social Process

This paper identifies some deficiencies in the theory of value as found in traditional economics, specifically the fallacy of absolute value and its spurious resolution that treats prices as a priori parameters rather than as variables to be explained. One is a fallacy of omission, the other of commission, which together comprise the epistemological paradox of the modern neoclassical theory of value. This paper advances a different, sociological approach to economic value or market prices as a possible corrective to this paradox. Such an approach has origins in sociological economics or economic sociology, the main premise of which is that social influences in the economy affect the formation of value or price. This paper therefore explores the seldom examined social underpinnings of price formation and of market processes generally.