Problematising the community-contribution requirement in participatory projects: evidence from Kyrgyzstan

This article examines the extent to which the World Bank-funded Village Investment Project in Kyrgyzstan promoted empowered participation of citizens in co-financing arrangements. It is based on in-depth qualitative interviews and focus-group sessions in 16 rural communities. The study found that the poor and marginalised did not always have the ability to engage in the processes of consensus building, influencing local decision making, and exercising free choice with regard to the contribution requirement. Participatory projects must carefully design arrangements and operational procedures for the co-financing component of the project, in order to support citizen empowerment and democratic inclusion.     

How General is Control Balance Theory? Evidence from Ukraine

This study tests control balance theory using interview data from a random sample of adults in a large city in Ukraine. This is the first empirical assessment of the theory to employ a random sample of adults in a nonwestern culture, and it is one of only two studies to incorporate Tittle’s theoretical revisions and measurement strategy for the control ratio. Although we found no evidence of a relationship between projected deviance and a dichotomous measure of control imbalance, respondents with a relatively large control imbalance were significantly more likely to project deviance than were other respondents. In addition, findings provide partial support for predicted contingent relationships involving constraint and self-control. We discuss possible ways in which the socio-cultural circumstances of Ukraine help to explain these findings.     

Low Self-Control in “Bad” Neighborhoods: Assessing the Role of Context on the Relationship Between Self-Control and Crime

Although a wealth of research has substantiated the relationship between self-control and offending independent of an array of theoretically relevant covariates, little is known about the contextual variability of this relationship. Our study contributes to the literature by assessing neighborhood variability in the explanatory effect of self-control on individual offending in two Eastern European cities: Lviv, Ukraine and Nizhni Novgorod, Russia. Using data elicited from interviews with 1,431 respondents across 41 neighborhoods, we examine the extent to which the relationship between self-control and offending is moderated by neighborhood socioeconomic status (SES), and investigate the role of illegal opportunities and neighborhood morality as intervening processes accounting for the cross-level interaction between self-control and neighborhood SES. Estimates from hierarchical linear models indicate that self-control effects on offending are contingent upon ecological characteristics. However, neighborhood morality, and not neighborhood SES or neighborhood opportunities for crime, is a direct moderator of these effects.     

Distributive justice attitudes in Ukraine: Need,desert or social minimum?

This paper presents research findings based on a factorial survey study of attitudes toward the justice of income distribution in Ukraine. The factorial survey design was used for the first time in a representative large-scale survey in Ukraine and provided an opportunity to investigate the effect of multiple factors concerning individual, family and enterprise characteristics in complex subjective evaluations of just earnings. The focus within this study lays on three fundamental principles, according to which the just income is assessed: equality, desert and need principles. Empirical results of the study show that Ukrainian respondents pay attention to almost all characteristics used in the vignettes, a fact which empirically supported the basic idea of the multiprinciple justice theory. Some generational differences in justice perception were uncovered and discussed. The analyses also revealed an overall domination of the need principle in the judgments on income justice. However, the need criterion loses its relative significance at the expense of the desert principle, as soon as rather large income amounts are treated. This finding leads to the reflection that the need considerations appear to be popular in the post-Soviet countries to the extent to which they find support among low-income population and not because of the Soviet ideological heritage.     

“东突”民族分裂主义与暴力恐怖主义滋生与蔓延的成因分析

"东突"民族分裂主义与暴力恐怖主义滋生与蔓延的成因极其复杂。"双泛"思潮在新疆的传播和蔓延为滋生"东突"民族分裂主义提供了思想理论基础和精神支柱;宗教极端主义思想的不断传入,与"东突"民族分裂势力合流,使其转变为以民族分裂为目的的暴力恐怖势力;宗教管理的失控致使非法宗教活动猖獗,成为"东突"民族分裂与暴力恐怖分子不断滋生的土壤和温床;国际恐怖势力的积极扶持,使"东突"民族分裂势力迅速完成了由单纯的民族分裂势力向以民族分裂为目的的暴力恐怖势力的嬗变,并有恃无恐地从事分裂与恐怖活动;南疆部分地区相对贫困与能源资源十分丰富之间形成的巨大反差被"东突"分子所利用成为新时期滋生民族分裂恐怖分子的潜在诱因;现实政策的失误与"东突"分子的频出及分裂与暴力恐怖活动高发之间有着无形的联系。     

Destined for deadlock? Russia,Ukraine, and the unfulfilled Minsk agreements

ABSTRACT

Bringing peace, security, and stability to the war-torn region of Donbas has proven to be a challenging – some would say near-impossible – task. The “Minsk II” agreement, signed in February 2015, was supposed to put an end to the armed hostilities, resolve the underlying political issues, and gradually restore Ukrainian government control of the country’s eastern border. None of this has happened. Despite continuous Western support and pressure, progress in the implementation of the peace plan signed in Minsk has been slow, also after the much-anticipated Paris summit of the “Normandy Four” (Russia, Ukraine, Germany, and France) in December 2019. This article discusses the underlying causes of the current stalemate, emphasizing factors such as the inherently complex nature of the conflict, the process through which “Minsk II” came into being, the vague and ambiguous language of this and other agreements, practical challenges related to the timing and sequencing of agreed-upon measures, and Russia’s persistent non-acknowledgement of its role in the conflict.     

论东部地区战略性产业结构的合理布局

区域战略性产业是关系到国民经济发展和区域战略性产业结构合理化的关键性、全局性和长远性的产业。东部地区战略性产业结构为东部地区乃至全国产业结构合理化作出了贡献。但随着内外条件的变化, 东部地区战略性产业结构应选择海洋产业、电子信息产业、新材料产业、可再生能源产业和金融业进行布局。     

Demonizing the enemy: the influence of Russian state-sponsored media on American audiences

ABSTRACT

There is growing anxiety about the influence of international propaganda on public opinion. Under what conditions can countries shift foreign public opinion against an adversary? Does making people aware that news is coming from a foreign source mitigate its influence? I examine these questions in the context of Russian propaganda in the United States. I subject subgroups of Americans to an article from Russia Today (RT), a Russian international television network, criticizing the Ukrainian government. I vary whether audiences are aware of the message source, and/or the intentions, of the Russian-funded network. I show that exposure to information about Ukrainian human rights violations lowers Americans’ evaluations of Ukraine irrespective of source awareness – indicating that making people more aware of foreign propaganda does not attenuate its influence. The findings have important implications for understanding the micro-level effects of international propaganda and the effectiveness of counter-propaganda strategies.     

借俄罗斯经济复苏契机振兴东北老工业基地

近年来,俄罗斯经济持续增长,呈现出明显的经济复苏的新气象,过度依赖自然资源的经济增长模式正在改变,吸引外资力度在不断增大,这一切对东北老工业基地的振兴产生巨大的影响。尤其是俄东部大开发和大型基础设施的建设,更是直接给东北振兴带来了新的机遇。东北地区应借助这一有利时机,发挥自身优势,确定“桥头堡”战略,把东北建设成为对俄产业链条的核心、贸易基地、经贸活动的咨询中介中心,推动东北老工业基地的振兴。     

Fighting for the Soviet Union 2.0: Digital nostalgia and national belonging in the context of the Ukrainian crisis

This paper focuses on the use of Soviet-era symbols, myths, and narratives within groups on VKontakte social media site over the initial stage of the Ukraine crisis (2014–2015). The study is based on qualitative content analysis of online discussions, visual materials, and entries by group administrators and commentators. It also applies link-analysis in order to see how groups on social media are interrelated and positioned online. It reveals that these online groups are driven primarily by neo-Soviet myths and hopes for a new version of the USSR to emerge. Over time, the main memory work in these groups shifted from Soviet nostalgia and “pragmatic” discourse to the use of re-constructed World War II memories in order to justify Russian aggression and to undermine national belonging in Ukraine. Reliance on the wartime mythology allowed for the labelling of Euromaidan supporters as “fascists” that should be eliminated “once again.” This powerful swirl of re-created Soviet memories allowed effective mobilization on the ground and further escalation of the conflict from street protests to the armed struggle.