Article
Rebuilt Empire or a New Collapse: Geopolitical Visions of Russian Students
This paper presents findings from in-depth interviews (N = 136) conducted among students at leading Russian universities. Qualitative analysis reveals a three-way divide in how the students imagine Russia’s future. The largest group is optimistic about Russia, seeing it as a global power. A second, smaller group expects Russia to decline in the coming years, while the third group is undecided and unwilling to make forecasts. The paper considers the arguments of the ‘optimists’ and ‘pessimists’, who respectively backed and criticized Crimea’s incorporation into Russia. The paper highlights the association between support for the annexation and optimism about Russia’s future.
The authors compare the normative views of Russian and French students concerning the President of the country. The research is based on 200 interviews conducted in Moscow and in Paris. In the majority of cases students offered similar key features of an ideal president. However, the research shows that the category of an ideal president has different meaning among the young of Russia and France. So similar at fi rst glance, the images of the ideal French and Russian leaders, in fact, refl ect the different national views on the personal qualities which are necessary for the head of modern state.
The article is an attempt to analyze the Russian school of law features and history of development over the last century, characterized by the priority of the positivist theory of law over natural law approach. In particular, the author examines the differences in interpretation of such concepts as "rule of law", "rule by law" and "Law-Bound State” by Russian and foreign lawyers and concludes that these concepts are mixed and misunderstood. Based on the interpretation differences, the author concludes that there is significant difference in mentality not only between Russian and foreign lawyers, but also between lawyers in Russia: law enforcers on the one hand and human rights activists, advocates and some of independent scientists – on the other – and, consequently, specific criteria for the specialist selection in competent state bodies exists.
As an example of the interpretation differences, the author analyzes in detail the decision of the Russian Federation Constitutional Court dated March 19, 2014 on the constitutionality of Treaty between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Crimea on the admission of the Republic of Crimea into the Russian Federation and the establishment of new subjects within the last. The author revealed at least eight violations of its own procedures and controversial law interpretations committed by the Constitutional Court.
The article examines collective attitudes of American and Russian students towards their
countries’ events they are either proud, or ashamed of. Basing on the quantitative questionnaire
and the in-depth interview with the students of leading Russian and American universities the
authors identify the major differences in these views: time localization, contents structure, either
hard or soft power prevailing. The research stresses that the perceptions of the past have been
one of the core components of national identity and may have an impact on citizens’ political
behaviour in the present. Thus sharp contradictions in assessments of today’s younger generation
and their understanding of the past might influence the relations between Russia and the USA in
the future.
The article deals with the processes of building the information society and security in the CIS in accordance with modern conditions. The main objective is to review existing mechanisms for the formation of a common information space in the Eurasian region, regarded as one of the essential aspects of international integration. The theoretical significance of the work is to determine the main controls of the regional information infrastructure, improved by the development of communication features in a rapid process.The practical component consists in determining the future policies of the region under consideration in building the information society. The study authors used historical-descriptive approach and factual analysis of events having to do with drawing the contours of today's global information society in the regional refraction.
The main result is the fact that the development of information and communication technologies, and network resources leads to increased threats of destabilization of the socio-political situation in view of the emergence of multiple centers that generate the ideological and psychological background. Keeping focused information policy can not be conceived without the collective participation of States in the first place, members of the group leaders of integration - Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan. Currently, only produced a comprehensive approach to security in the information field in the Eurasian region, but the events in the world, largely thanks to modern technology, make the search for an exit strategy with a much higher speed. The article contributes to the science of international relations, engaging in interdisciplinary thinking that is associated with a transition period in the development of society. A study of current conditions in their relation to the current socio-political patterns of the authors leads to conclusions about the need for cooperation with the network centers of power in the modern information environment, the formation of alternative models of networking, especially in innovation and scientific and technical areas of information policy, and expanding the integration of the field in this region on the information content.