The Politics of the Past in Dagestan: National Unity and Symbolic Revolt

Abstract

Dagestan is inhabited by numerous ethnic communities with their own languages, cultures and histories. However, despite its ethnic and cultural diversity, the republic’s authorities have consistently sought to promote a unified concept of Dagestani identity. This policy has been challenged by local ethnic nationalists concerned about the future of their ethnic communities, which they saw as being endangered by assimilation and marginalisation. This struggle to secure political and social benefits began in the Soviet period and reached its height in the early 1990s. Resentment was particularly widespread among the Kumyks and Lezgins. Their dissatisfaction with the status quo resulted in a competition between inclusive (national) and exclusive (ethnic) approaches, which in turn manifested themselves in debates over historiography. This essay analyses the development and outcomes of this struggle from the 1950s through to the early 2000s, with an emphasis on the early 1990s.     

Public sector audit and influence the investment institutional background during a pandemic

The study purpose was to assess the impact of public sector audit on investment climate formation under the COVID-19 pandemic and to develop recommendations to improve its effectiveness. For this purpose, a multistage research project was developed with the participation of auditors from Russia, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine. The project was based on the primary information obtained in the course of expert interviews. Testing the methodological approach with experts from these countries allowed proving the main study hypotheses, according to which the public sector audit has an indirect positive impact on investment climate formation. Such an audit influences the main impact factors through improving public administration efficiency, the fight against corruption, and the provision of the regulatory framework. During the testing, the main directions for improving public audit for a more favorable investment climate were formulated. The developed methodological approach makes it possible to obtain an expert assessment of the impact of the public audit on investment climate formation. At the same time, partial use of statistical methods makes it possible to replicate the study in the form of an expert interview, which increases its attractiveness for researchers in conditions of shortage of qualified interviewers.     

Limits of market-based strategies for slowing global warming: The case of tradeable permits

Concern over an enhanced greenhouse effect has yielded interest in an international effort to control rising concentrations of greenhouse gases. Among the possible mechanisms for doing this is a comprehensive marked-based approach. This approach would establish a global system of tradeable permits for the sources and sinks of the major greenhouse gases: carbon dioxide (CO₂), nitrous oxide (N₂O), methane (CH₄), and tropospheric ozone (O₃). (Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) are not closely considered here because they are already controlled under the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer.)The main finding is that - with the possible exception of CO₂ - not enough is currently known about these gases to accurately monitor such a system of tradeable permits. The main argument is made on the basis that the anthropogenic sources and sinks of non-CO₂ gases are quite uncertain, making nation-by-nation monitoring very difficult. Also, monitoring many of the sources and sinks for these non-CO₂ gases will be very complicated - the administrative costs of the endeavor may be much larger than benefits of including these gases in a global system of tradeable permits. One alternative to the proposed comprehensive marked-based approach is a more limited system that includes only CO₂. This finding has broader application to all greenhouse control mechanisms, not just tradeable permits.In addition to these natural science-related issues, the paper also briefly raises several other issues such as fear that markets will allow firms to buy up the environment.