Article
Imagining Modern Ukraїnica
The author argues that, with very few exceptions, the history of Ukraine of the nineteenth century, written in any language, still largely presents a tabula rasa. Key topics remain unexplored by scholars, including the history of concepts used at the time – a sine qua non for any sustained analysis of the cultural sphere. There is no cohort of universally recognized authorities on the history of the late imperial period in Ukrainian lands that is comparable with the group of highly reputed experts on the Early Modern period, for example. The author concludes that the question posed by Mark von Hagen in his 1995 seminal article “Does Ukraine Have a History?” remains open when it comes to the nineteenth century. The twenty years of immense opportunities that have passed since 1995 seem to have been largely wasted on petty bustle and the wars over history and memorial politics.
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Eugenij Anisimov notes the high level of research made by Tatiana Tairova-Yakovleva, in particular considering the pieces about Ukrainian history. He notes that the problem of treason by I. Mazepa can be interpreted more generally and the fact of treason undoubtly took place.
Alexander Besov believes that the book about Hetman Mazepa by Tatiana Tairova-Yakovleva focuses rather on teleology than history. However, he fi nds the way of the author’s interpretation of the «Russia-Ukraine relations» in late 17th - early 18th centuries quite mistakable.
Alexander Kamenskii thinks that Tatiana Tairova’s book is a serious attempt of constructing a scholar biography of Ivan Mazepa. In several cases she has managed to refute some myths in historiography. One may hope that the book will stimulate other historians to conduct further research. However, they will not be able to ignore Tairova’s conception.
A. S. Karevin considers that Tairova-Yakovleva’s book is full of numerous mistakes, contradictions and baseless conclusions. The drawbacks make us not to regard the book as established scientifi c study.
Kirill Kochegarov fi nds that Mrs. Tairova-Yakovleva’s book combine several interesting observations with unacceptable and controversial points. In generally the very idea of the study seems to idealize the Mazepa personality as well as his policy. The author also overestimates the importance of the so-called Moscow clauses, grossly exaggerates Mazepa’s participation in the Russian foreign affairs, and erroneously regards centralizing military administration measures of Russian government as large-scale administrative reform in Ukraine. Moreover, active role in Church reform of Peter the Great declared by Mrs. Tairova-Yakovleva Mazepa’s has not been proved.
Igor Kurukin: Despite the information on administrative reform of 1707 (s.322-330) given by the author, it isn’t clear, was the Ukrainian autonomy liquidated or not. There is a disputable question on what extend was Mazepa supported by the Ukraine people as well as cossack «starshina». Provinces being attached to Russia Baltic were able to remain independent for one and a half centuries. Being different by birth Ukrainian elite did’t manage to develop rules of corporate behavior and solidarity.
Plokhii Serhii: The myth of Mazepa as betrayer have been solidly examined in Mrs. Tairova-Yakovleva’s scientifi c and creative lab. The author has succeed in showing — and more carefully than her redecessor — the diffi culty of both personal and public, geopolitics, choice which Mazepa had to make. The book is, if it is a proper name, the most balanced judgment of the hetman I have ever read.
Chukhlib Taras. The violation of oath to the Russian monarch by Ukrainian Hetmanstate was interpreted by Ivan Mazepa and his government as tyrannical action of Peter the Great. Therefore, the hetman received the right to refuse from «the high hand» of tsar and look for another suzerain to maintain his vassal autonomy.
T. H. Tairova-Yakovleva finds this decision quite adequate and revealing us the logic of actions of the Ukrainian leader.
This paper analyzes Belarus energy system, relations between Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia in the framework of the Customs Union and the Common Economic Space. The consequences of the recent political crisis in Ukraine will inevitably lead to the review of the relations between the European Union and Russia. In these new conditions, the members of the Common Economic Space of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia must develop a new concept of energy security. This new concept should allow to decrease substantially the influence of the export of hydrocarbons on the economic development of abovementioned countries, thus increasing the competitiveness of their national economies. As a first measure, the members of the Eurasian Union should create the single energy market
This paper is devoted to the problem of cultural crisis and those points of view on this problem that were maintained by russian and western philosophers. It was written a lot of books concerning this subject. At the beginning of XX century many philosophers within different philosophical tradition and schools began to reason about the crisis of culture. For some of them it was important to stress religious aspect of crisis: the mankind has lost the belief in God — this is the reason of crisis. For others it was importatt to understand the social aspect of cultural crisis.
Cultural crisis is the crisis of values: human and freedom. In the first half of the XXth century the culture has not found answers for two questions: what is freedom and what is human?
The book is the collection of papers on history, archaeology and art critics of North-West Russia and Baltic area.
The paper outlines key concepts of Hanna Arendt’s political philosophy. The main purpose of the work is to analyze the political virtues — courage, pride and respect, as well as the fundamental abilities (powers) to forgive and to promise. Besides, it’s important to pay attention to Arendt’s understanding of political sphere (as the Web of Relationships) and the role of language in political life. Taking these into account, the main political virtues and abilities of ζῷον πολιτικόν bind together past, present and future of political body into one space of history (ἱστορία).
In his article Vladimir Kantor explores the destiny of Russia intelligentsia within the context of cultural crisis that took place at the turn of XIX and XX centuries, analyzing the Vekhovs, a group of leading intellectuals who ran a collection of essays, titled "Vekhi", studying their relationship towards that Russian cultural phenomenon. To author, the intelligentsia is considered as a critical factor in the development of Russian history. Within a context of the struggle around the "Vekhi", by referring to famous philosophical and literature books, published in 1909, the author focuses on relationships between intelligentsia and ordinary people, their attractive and repulsive interaction, which represents the key theme of the Russian destiny. Any historical movement occurs through tragedy; heroes who move the history have to sacrifice themselves to provide that movement. Confirmation to that idea would be rejection and exclusion of the Russian intelligentsia from the country's mentality throughout a number of generations which ultimately led to its tragic being.