Russia,Europe, and the New World Order

The very name of our topic, so popular a subject for discussion at the threshold of the twenty-first century and evoked in the title of our article, conceals a dual problem.     

After the Velvet Revolutions: Altered Life-Chances, Fragile Legitimacy, and Split-Consciousness in Post-Communist Eastern Europe

This article deals with (i) changes in the objective and subjective life-chances of people in Eastern Europe as affected by the transformation of their economic and political systems, and (ii) the emergence of a new dominant meritocratic ideology of distributive justice and the survival of a now old subordinate egalitarian one. We investigate whether, and if so, how and to what degree, changes in people's (perceived) life-chances influence their (de)legitimation of the market economy and the pluralistic system of democracy as well as their (de/re)legitimation of the ancien regime. Especially, the question of whether, and if so, how and under which conditions, a phenomenon that has been called split-consciousness will occur with respect to people's choices between those opposing systems is answered. Several hypotheses are presented that deal with the above mentioned topics. The hypotheses are tested empirically by using cross-national data stemming from the International Social Justice Project.     

The "Archival Revolution" in Russia (1991-1996)

The radical changes in archival policy and practice and in the use and publication of documents that have occurred since August 1991 have required from the outset the development of new terms and concepts to describe them. This was obvious at least to active participants in the reforms. V.P. Kozlov, a professional historian who became one of the heads of the State Archival Service, applied the term "new space of archival information" in 1992. The ideal model of this "new space" consisted, according to Kozlov, above all in open access for users, as well as of becoming an integral part of international information systems and commercializing the use of archival information. In fact, this involved no less than revolutionary changes in archival policy (a new legal status for archives) and in archival practice (calls to reject the "hoarding ideology," etc.).     

Lustration and Truth Claims: Unfinished Revolutions in Central Europe

This article focuses on discourses conducted in Central/East European countries, and Poland in particular, with respect to the issue of participation of former secret agents in the new power structures. It exposes the reader to the range, style, content, and variety of lustration discourses. It explores their relevance for the ongoing power struggle, paying special attention to their focus on and contribution to the processes of construction and control of truth about the past.
Given that the procedural and legal-institutional issues occupy a marginal place in the debate, it is inferred that the main sources of discord are more ideological and political than legal. The two main strains within the global lustration discourse are identified as: (1) dystopian discourses that paint a frightful picture of a lustrated society and imply that the upheaval of lustration would ruin the chance for democratic evolution, and (2) affirmative discourses that assert the need for lustration and portray the refusal to implement it as a barrier to successful transition to democracy. The article elaborates on assumptions and beliefs, which tend to link the dystopian opposition to lustration with the left-wing political affiliation or self-identification and the affirmative discourse with the right-wing orientation.     

Recruitment patterns,gender, and professional subcultures of the judiciary in Russia

This article explores sources of recruitment of judges and the influence of the social characteristics of judges on professional culture. Using the original survey and interview data from the Russian Federation, the authors identify and explain the changes in recruitment patterns that followed the judicial reform in the early 2000s. The authors look for profession-related differences between judges who had prior experience of work in the prosecutor's office and judges who were recruited from the court's non-judicial technical staff or from police investigation. Other key issues addressed are the bureaucratization and feminization of the judiciary. Using the survey designed to reveal professional values, norms and attitudes of judges, the authors highlight different professional subcultures constituted by certain combinations of social characteristics of judges.     

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.     

Privatization, Competition, and Budget Constraints: Disciplining Enterprises in Russia

We investigate whether privatization, competitive forces, and the hardening of budget constraints played efficiency-enhancing roles in Russia in the immediate post-privatization period. We find evidence of a positive impact of privatization on labor productivity: a 10% point increase in private share ownership raises real sales per employee by 3–5%. The evidence on product market competition is weaker, depending on model specification. Soft budget constraints are usually found to reduce restructuring but the effect is small and insignificant. We find that in terms of their impacts on productivity, privatization and subsidy reduction are substitutes; privatization and competition (measured as the geographic scope of markets) are complements; and that competition and subsidy reduction are independent.     

"Interdependence": The Reality,the Concept,and the Policy

During the entire postwar period, the term "interdependence" has figured repeatedly in statements by American governmental figures and in the writings of bourgeois political scientists. In the past two or three years, it has acquired a new ring. Whereas previously American expressions regarding "interdependence" applied to relationships within the framework of NATO, today they have to do with a considerably broader sphere of foreign policy relationships of the United States, including those involving the entire capitalist world and the developing countries. In a number of cases, American writers working on the "interdependence" problem have also included certain aspects of the relation between capitalist and socialist states. They undertake to analyze, from the standpoint of bourgeois political science, various aspects of "interdependence" — economic, physical-geographical (deriving from mankind's ever more intensive joint utilization of the atmosphere, the waters and floor of the world ocean, near outer space, solar and subsurface energy, etc.), military-political (having to do with the threat of destruction of world civilization should a nuclear war occur), cultural, and so on.     

俄罗斯死刑状况论析

反对国家杀人的废止死刑运动已成为国际趋势。历史上,俄罗斯死刑经历了从私刑向国家刑罚转化之后,死刑强弱同封建政治统治变化之间密切关联,其间不乏废止死刑的努力。苏联虽大力推动死刑废止,反而出现了特定时期的死刑滥用,死刑长期处于明废而实有的状态。加快国际化进程,尤其是加入欧盟的努力,为俄罗斯死刑废止注入了强大的推动力。但与此同时,国内社会矛盾多发,有组织犯罪严重,特别是面对极端纳粹组织———光头党的血腥行为,俄罗斯完全实现死刑废止,面临着国内民意以及各种政治势力间的极大挑战。     

Household formation, institutions, and economic development: Evidence from imperial Russia

Household formation patterns have been adduced in recent years by historians and other social scientists to account for the economic development of western Europe. The so-called European Marriage Pattern, which prevailed throughout northwest Europe, is viewed as having been particularly conducive to early industrialisation and economic growth. But to what extent were household formation systems exogenous to the broader economic and social context in which they were located? Evidence from nineteenth-century Russia indicates that family systems were influenced by the same variables that determined the shape of the local economy; they were part of a complex web of institutions and thus cannot be viewed as independent determinants of economic development.     

Russia Outside the Security System

This article considers the reasons for and likely trajectory of the confrontation with the West that the Russian government began abruptly in 2014. While Russia's leadership quickly recognized that its confrontational strategy in Ukraine was a strategic mistake, it could not reverse course. As it has continued to escalate the confrontation, it has become hostage to an aggressive policy that cannot end successfully for Russia.     

美俄以危机管理机制之比较——兼谈对中国的启示

在后冷战时期,如何进行有效的危机管理已成为各国政府面临的最大战略挑战,美国、俄罗斯和以色列在危机管理方面各有其鲜明的特点,本文在研究上述三国危机管理机制构建及运行效能的基础上,针对我国目前危机管理机制尚不健全的现状,有针对性提出了几点建议。