Military technology,missile defence,new global threats and south Africa

An examination of the increase in corruption in Russia and other countries in the Eastern European region, focusing on the links to morality.     

Suing the State in Russia

An expert on Russian law and politics uses statistical data as well as field-work in Moscow, Saratov, and Yekaterinburg to examine the uses of arbitrazh courts in Russia. Data on cases initiated by the state and by private enterprises are compared to determine whether there is a trend of increasing faith in the court system to fairly resolve disputes between private actors and the state.     

Islam and Ethnicity in the Republics of Russia

An American sociologist reports results of survey research conducted in 1993 among Muslims in the five Islamic Autonomous Republics of Russia (N = 4,955). The data demonstrate that the strength of Islam as both a religious and social institution varied regionally despite the shared experience of Soviet anti-religious policies. Muslims in Chechnya and Dagestan were much more likely to report that they actively practiced Islam than Muslims living in Kabardino-Balkariya, Tatarstan, and Bashkortostan. Moroever, religious practice was high among non-traditional groups of Chechentsy and Avartsy. The young, the urban migrants, the highly educated, and men reported high levels of active worship. In Bashkortostan, Tatarstan, and Kabardino-Balkariya, in contrast, active religiosity was primarily confined to old, rural women with low levels of education. These differences, it is argued, are linked to the Sufi Islam tradition present in Chechnya and Dagestan but absent in the other Muslim autonomous republics. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: O50, R10, Z1.     

市民社会与俄罗斯的社会转型

市民社会的功能在于整合社会,俄罗斯最初是通过构建市民社会来瓦解传统的极权主义制度而促使社会转型的,但由于市民社会成分在长期过度的社会控制下,市民社会成分爆发出来的力量不是消除社会张力,而是引发社会冲突,它发挥的是否定和破坏功能,因此,在社会转型中,俄罗斯社会出现了经济严重滑坡、政治风诡云谲、社会危机四起的情形。结果,俄罗斯只能重新依赖于强化国家基本职能、加强社会控制来实现社会稳定和社会的理性转型。     

The Mafiya and the New Russia

The rise of the Russian mafiya , a distinctive form of organised crime, reflects more than just the temporary dislocations and uncertainties of the country's transition from a Soviet state to a free market democracy. Rooted in Russian tradition and Soviet practice, it is also a formidable obstacle to this evolution. This has serious implications for the new Russian polity: weakening central authority, diluting the state's monopoly of coercion, discrediting the market economy and ultimately usurping and distorting the very functions of the state. Any solution will have to come not from tougher policing (which itself would threaten a return to authoritarianism) but from a wider political and cultural response.     

全球化语境下的俄罗斯

当代世界正在进行的所有社会文化过程中,全球化现象当属第一.20-21世纪之交的社会学、政治学和文化学认为,全球化是指世界各个国家和地区在社会和经济、财政和科技、艺术和科学方面的一体化过程,需符合发展中国家,首先是欧洲大西洋板块,亦即美国和欧洲各大国出台的一整套应普遍遵守的法则.     

Africa and the world

The relationship between Russia and the Central Asian republics during the Soviet era is commonly presented as an imperial one. However, their economic relations did not fit the conventional ‘metropole‐colonies’ framework. The establishment of the CIS in 1991 has heralded a new chapter in relations between the Russian Federation and the Central Asian states. Forces of both repulsion and attraction are at work, the outcome of which remains uncertain.     

俄罗斯转型中的几个问题

制度变迁带有路径依赖性质,俄罗斯体制转型经历了很长的时期,从新经济政策转向计划体制,又试图从计划体制转向市场体制,但是转型的效果都不好,苏联时期转型的最大特点是把社会主义同商品市场完全对立起来,所以改革只是对原有计划体制的修补,从戈尔巴乔夫后期开始推行激进的转轨,最终导致苏共解散和苏联解体。独立后的俄罗斯全面推行激进的“休克疗法”,但实际上只有“休克”没有“疗效”。俄罗斯转型失败的教训值得我们借鉴。     

当代俄罗斯的保守主义

当前俄罗斯主要的政治思想是保守主义,它的提出具有深刻的背景,其内涵是对俄罗斯主流政治价值观——主权民主思想的延续与发展。俄罗斯以保守主义为指导采取的政治举措具有积极的意义,并对俄罗斯的发展产生重要影响。当代保守主义的兴起与发展体现了俄罗斯政治转轨从制度巩固到观念巩固的基本特点。俄罗斯保守主义的前景取决于统一俄罗斯党的发展变化、俄罗斯克服金融危机的能力和水平,以及俄罗斯政治转轨整体进程的根本要求。