Chinese migration: still the major focus of Russian Far East/Chinese North East relations?

Abstract

In contrast to Sino-Russian relations at the state-level, regional cooperation between the contiguous Russian Far East and Chinese North East has been difficult to achieve, despite the existence of seemingly natural economic complementarities. This article asks why this is the case and argues that one important stumbling block, i.e. negative reactions to Chinese labour migration, has become less problematic. Situating Russian Far East/Chinese North East relations in a regionalist framework the article compares the salience and framing of major issues in regional relations in Chinese and Russian media at the national and regional levels. Contrary to earlier research, the findings suggest that economic and regional development issues, and not Chinese migration into the Russian Far East, are by far the most salient sets of issues on both sides. However, significant differences in the framing of these issues suggest that a convergence of opinion on the desirability of regional cooperation masks contradictory expectations for the direction of regional development.     

俄罗斯应用型本科高校人才培养模式及其借鉴意义

苏联的本科高校在专业设置和课程安排等方面存在过多、过细、过窄的问题。近年来,俄罗斯本科高校越来越重视培养应用型人才,不断提出新的人才培养目标。根据社会需要、时代特点与国际发展趋势设置专业,突出了新兴的、跨学科的、科技方面的、生活服务方面的以及环境保护方面的专业。我国高校应借鉴俄罗斯经验,在高等教育与经济发展之间建立起一种良性的动态平衡。     

The Russian mafia: Expulsion of law

The purpose of this paper will be to determine whether the conditions that exist in present‐day Russia are congruent with Foucault's claim that power in modern societies is not ensured by law and punishment but by normalization and control, which go beyond the state and its apparatuses, and that law plays an increasingly subordinate role within contemporary disciplinary society. I will also see what conclusions can be drawn from the Russian‐Soviet case that are relevant to evaluating the paradigms supplied by Foucault in deciphering the modalities of power in the modern world. In what sense can he help us understand how discipline and law in Imperial and Soviet Russia created the necessary conditions for the emergence of the Russian Mafia? Law has been transformed in the hands of the Russian Mafia and has expanded its spheres of influence rather than being displaced. The conditions that exist in present‐day Russia can be applied to Foucault's claim that power in modern societies is not ensured by law and punishment but by normalization and control which go beyond the state and its apparatuses. But it is not the case that law plays an increasingly subordinate role in present‐day Russia. Rather, it is no longer controlled by the sovereign power of the monarchy or by the Soviet state and its apparatuses, but is now predominately controlled by the Russian Mafia.     

Natural population movement and marriage restrictions and hindrances in Styria in the 17th to 19th centuries

To marry has never been an egalitarian option or everybody's wish. There have always been calculations or considerations, structural or individual hindrances and even societal restrictions for individuals to get married despite wishing to do so. Without any doubt and apart from the debate on determination or love and free choice in former times, to marry has always been a societal event, a mutual relationship between personal wishes and societal environmental expectations.

And apart from all the debates on paradoxes in modernization processes, it is clear that in pre-modern times societal marriage restrictions were widespread.

It is very unlikely that people should have been forbidden to marry because they should not have sexual contacts, just for morality reasons. The keys have been considerations and calculations on reproductivity, economic and social resources, social and human capital. This paper deals with aggregated vital data from four parishes in Styria, Austria, covering the outgoing 17th century until the end of the 19th century, in order to detect hints of marriage restrictions.

The paper proves the well-known variety of marriage systems in pre-industrial and pre-modern times. It supports the idea that the presence of marriage restrictions hindered population growth, but the absence of such restrictions did not automatically foster more societal transparency and developmental chances in a modern sense, as mortality and inequality were very strong factors in pre-modern agrarian societies. In the end, the question of marriage restrictions was apparently posed and answered by privileged groups.     

Securitizing “spiritual-moral values” in Russia

This article examines how “spiritual-moral values” (SMV) became securitized, or defined as a matter of national security in Russia. I analyze speech acts to show how moves to securitize SMV spread from the political fringe to the center of power, and from individual sectors to the strategic level. This “moral turn” in Russian politics is not merely a superficial attempt of the elite to distract the masses and rally the conservative electorate. The securitization of SMV has wider implications: It is, in the most direct way, the regime’s way of preventing a “color revolution.” By introducing a “state of siege” to the sphere of fundamental moral values, this securitization aids the construction of a national identity that is incompatible with basic human rights. An existential threat is constructed in order to justify extraordinary measures and establish a new social contract in which modernization is sacrificed at the altar of security.     

Business-government cooperation in VET: a Russian experiment with dual education

Upgrading skill formation has become an increasingly urgent task for societies facing the challenges of rapid technological change and globalization. However, reform of systems of vocational education and training (VET) poses severe challenges for aligning the interests of schools, firms, households, and governments, even in societies with relatively efficient markets for labor and education. Where market institutions are poorly developed, these challenges are particularly acute, resulting in endemic mismatches between the supply and demand of skill. Currently governments in many countries, including the United States, Russia, and China, are seeking to adopt elements of the German dual education model. The Russian federal government has undertaken several initiatives designed to upgrade VET by encouraging closer cooperation of vocational schools and firms at the regional level, including the adoption of dual education programs. This paper focuses on one such project: a 2013 pilot program administered by the Russian Agency for Strategic Initiatives, to foster the development of new models of dual education. The paper compares the 13 pilot regions with regions that submitted proposals but were not selected and with all other regions along multiple economic, social, demographic, and institutional dimensions. The findings suggest hypotheses about the conditions that enabled the pilot regions to take advantage of federal policies encouraging the adoption of dual education. More generally, the paper sheds light on institutional solutions to collective action dilemmas in skill formation in transitional and developing societies.     

中国边疆跨境非传统安全：挑战与应对

中国边疆邻国众多、民族多样、文化多元,地缘政治与周边环境复杂。在深度全球化时代,各国利益相互镶嵌,安全互依互保。随着中国全面扩大对外开放以及"一带一路"倡议的推进,边疆跨境非传统安全问题愈加复杂多元,互为关联,关涉政治、经济、文化、生态、公共卫生等诸多领域,涵盖地缘、认同、利益与网络等不同安全场域,并融入周边安全、国际安全与人类安全之中。在新形势下,边疆跨境非传统安全及其治理呈现出越来越多的新问题与新难题,只有以总体国家安全观为指导,促进国际与国内相涉行为体之间的协同共治,加强边疆跨境非传统安全全方位、多层次的体系性治理,才能有利于推进维护总体国家安全。     

民国时期哈尔滨俄侨学术活动的文化遗产

民国时期,哈尔滨的俄侨学者进行了活跃的学术活动,留下了宝贵的文化遗产,撰写出学术著作（含手稿）至少200部,创办刊载了6 000多篇学术文章（含报告）的学术期刊十余种。哈尔滨俄侨学术遗产流散到世界各地。国外主要分布在俄罗斯、美国、日本等国,其中俄罗斯最多。俄罗斯联邦国家档案馆学术图书馆、俄罗斯国家图书馆、俄罗斯科学院远东研究所图书馆和哈巴罗夫斯克边疆区档案馆,是俄罗斯哈尔滨俄侨学术遗产四大收藏地。国内主要分布在哈尔滨、长春、北京、上海等地。黑龙江省博物馆（前身为东省文物研究会博物馆）、吉林大学亚细亚文库、中国国家图书馆是中国三大收藏基地。国内外都十分重视哈尔滨俄侨学术遗产的保护,但只有在西方国家哈尔滨俄侨学术遗产得到有效利用。     

Regions with regionalism? The rescaling of interest groups in six European states

In many European countries a regional or meso level of government has emerged, with significant policy responsibilities. It has been suggested that the representation of social and economic interests has not followed, so that policy communities remain state‐wide, giving ‘regions without regionalism’. This study of interest groups in six European states examines their adaptation to devolution, focusing on organisation, cognitive change and relationships. It finds there has been a regionalisation of interest representation, but it is uneven, depending on the strength of regional government, territorial identities and the interests of social actors. Business, trades unions, farmer organisations and environmental groups are all cross‐pressured on the regional question. The region is emerging in some cases as a site of interest intermediation. Territorial policy communities are emerging in some regions, but in most cases these supplement, rather than replace, state‐wide policy communities.     

市场导向下的山地农业区产业扶贫研究

产业扶贫作为解决山地农业区贫困的重要手段,通过开发符合市场需求的产业让农民脱贫致富。受市场发育不完善,产业发展供需不协调的影响,当前山地农业区扶贫产业市场导向不足、可持续性不强。从山地农业区的产业形态看,产业仍以传统种养殖业为主,重生产、轻销售,培育依靠行政主导。山地农业市场趋向弱、效益低与独特的自然地理环境、农业自身产业属性和社会组织条件相关。增强山地农业区扶贫产业市场导向需要解决好产品供需问题,优化发展环境,结合本地优势选择特色产业,注重拓宽销售渠道,完善产业保障体系,以产业的持续效益带动农民增收致富。