Mother Russia and the crisis of the Russian national family: The puzzle of gender in revolutionary Russia*

Once upon a time there lived a rich widow, with a beautiful face and vigorous body, not old and not young, by the name of Mother Russia. She had been married twice, the first time to the peasant‐bogatyr Mikula Selianinovich, and the second to the no less renowned v/arnoT‐bogatyr Il'ia Muromets.

Her husbands had left her countless riches. And God had blessed both her marriages with many children. For the most part, her children were hard‐working people and valiant warriors. They worked their father's land and protected it from hostile neighbors.

But, as always happens, the family was not without its black sheep. Mother Russia also had some children who were good‐for‐nothings, idlers, drunkards, and empty‐headed chatterboxes. And it was not surprising that these good‐for‐nothings grabbed power over all the widow's other children.

As the loving mother began to grieve and take ill from their indecent debauchery, they assumed control over her and all her possessions. And they began to squander and drink up her wealth, and to send all sorts of healers to try and cure their sick mother.¹     

Interfaith dialogue at peace museums in Kenya

This paper makes a case for further studies on the contribution of peace museums to interfaith dialogue debate. Based on our experiences as museum curators, teachers and peace researchers and a review of published materials, we argue that there is a lacuna in the study on the contribution of peace museums to the interfaith dialogue debate. The development of community peace museums in Kenya,, in predominantly Christian communities, and the use of traditional religio-cultural artefacts in peace education and peace building is a case of interfaith dialogue worth documenting. With religious conflict threatening to tear the fabric of society apart, the question of interfaith dialogue is now paramount in the search for sustainable peace and development.     

The Internet and Anti-military Activism in Russia

This study investigates the forms and networks of civic activism on the Russian-language segment of the internet through the data of anti-military web pages and weblogs in 2007. The results of the web page analysis are complemented by interviews with Russian activists and discussed in the context of the role of the internet in Russian democratisation. Although the state of anti-military activism on the Russian internet currently seems fragmented, the role of the internet and one particular weblog platform, LiveJournal, are considered to contain important potential for future forms of Russian activism.     

转型期的俄罗斯外交战略

冷战后的俄罗斯社会处于改革和转型过程中,其对外战略也经历了一个转变过程:由最初的全面倒向西方,逐步演变为全方位、多极化和实用主义的外交取向,最终目标是恢复俄罗斯的大国地位.与西方的关系由热变冷,逐步拉开距离;与东方的关系则由冷变热,逐步修复传统友好关系.普京上台后,俄罗斯的外交战略更加清晰,实用主义色彩更加浓厚,基本确定了未来俄罗斯外交的总体走向.     

The study of international political economy in Russia

The author argues that international political economy (IPE), however prominent in the West, has not been established in Russia as an academic discipline. In the Russian policy community, the main debate is between liberal institutionalists, who advocate the country’s integration into the global economy, and the so-called dirigists, who promote relative economic autonomy. These two schools, however, only now begin to find their way in academia. Three main problems impede IPE development in Russia—the excessive separation of political science from economics, the deficit of theoretical generalization, and the weakness of educational curricula.     

俄罗斯"社会安全"问题探析

苏联解体后 ,俄罗斯政局动荡 ,经济滑坡 ,两极分化严重 ,人民生活水平大幅下降 ,社会紧张局势加剧 ,社会治安状况恶化 ,俄罗斯民众的社会安全感急剧下降 ,社会安全问题成为俄罗斯一个重大而迫切的问题。俄罗斯政府的反危机措施不力 ,尤其是车臣分子的恐怖暴力活动使俄罗斯的社会安全问题更加尖锐和复杂。俄罗斯社会安全问题的尖锐是由苏联解体和从计划经济向市场资本主义经济过渡引起的经济和社会全面变化的自然后果。     

Electoral Fraud and Electoral Geography: United Russia Strongholds in the 2007 and 2011 Russian Parliamentary Elections*

Despite United Russia’s (Edinaya Rossiya—UR) dominance in repeated Russian legislative elections, the correlates of the party’s electoral support remain noticeably understudied beyond the influence of electoral manipulation. I pinpoint the specific contours of UR’s strongholds in the two most recent parliamentary elections in Russia—2007 and 2011—focusing on raion- and regional-level correlates of the vote using an original dataset. UR has been undergirded by geographically concentrated ethnic minorities and the countryside, and these patterns of support have persisted even in the absence of fraud, suggesting that the dominant party’s electoral windfalls cannot be attributed solely to electoral malfeasance.     

The Reform of Skill Formation in Russia: Regional Responses

Abstract

Effective systems of vocational education are crucial to economic and social development. However, the coordination of labour market demand and the supply of skill requires either well-functioning labour market institutions or institutionally embedded strategic partnerships among government, labour and employers. In particular, the transplantation of German-style dual education methods to a different environment poses significant institutional dilemmas. Russia presents a useful case for examining the conditions under which such arrangements can be established. Based on a series of interviews in six Russian regions and a set of case histories, we seek to draw testable hypotheses that can be applied to other settings.