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«Вечер мерцаний» [“The night оf glimmers”]
No full textThis is an extensively documented record of the aftermath of a failed poetic performance called “Vecher Mertsanii” (“The Night of Glimmers”). The performance took place in Moscow on December 19th, 1907, and its failure led to the shift in the policy of “Obshchestvo svobodnoi estetiki” (“The Society of Free Aesthetics”) from something that initially encouraged all forms of artistic experiment to something entirely subordinate to the vigilant leadership of one person exercising (if not exceeding) his authority – Valery Bryusov
The Role of Demographic and Socio-Economic Characteristics in Affecting Subjective Well-being. The Case of Hungary
No full textThe paper investigates the influence of various demographic and social factors on the perception of well-being in Hungary. For the purpose of the analysis, various measures of subjective well-being have been developed, as dependent variables, using both narrower and broader set of items, and principal factor analysis was applied to construct normalised indices. Demographic predictors include gender, age, family composition, residence; sociological predictors contain education, labour market position, income and wealth as well as questions on health and religiosity.
Hungary is an interesting case to study, given the well-known strong deficit in subjective well-being. The phenomenon is particularly motivating in the light of the official propaganda by the governing political forces on the country’s economic and social progress. Low level of subjective well-being is confirmed again, partly in international comparison, partly from the perspective of temporal change. Furthermore, detailed analysis of the data reveals that Hungarians seem to be markedly divided by age, residence and social status for higher or lower assessment of well-being. Regression models prove that material conditions have the strongest impact on subjective well-being, even if controlled for education and labour market position. The results on subjective-wellbeing raise questions for public policy in Hungary
Välispoliitika muutuvas maailmas: väljakutsed ja võimalused Eesti kui väikeriigi vaatenurgast
No full textSmall state foreign policy in the changing world order: Opportunities and challenges for Estonia
The changing world order is ushering in a competition of new ideas and norms. Small European countries in particular are dependent on open rules-based trade regimes, and institutions like the EU, and NATO. To adapt to these developments small states should increase their activity and scope of their foreign policies. This article uses Acharya’s concept of a multiplex world order to understand the changes influencing small states. This article argues that small European states should pursue foreign policy strategies of engagement to succeed in a multiplex world. This should be done by adapting to the changing world order, developing relationships outside of the transatlantic region as well as deepening new relationships within the transatlantic region. Estonian foreign and defence policies will be studied in depth to highlight the challenges and opportunities available for small states.The article concludes that a paradox is developing for small states: as nationalism rises and global institutions faulter, small states will need to be global in foreign and defence strategies. While small states face resource limitations, there are certain smart strategies that can make adaptation to the new world order more successful
Сохранить свое, не пренебрегая чужим: Культурные коды детской литературы Русской эмиграции [To Preserve Our Own Without Neglecting the Foreign: Russian Émigré Children’s Literature Cultural Codes]
No full textThe article treats the problem of the “own” and the “foreign” in culture, applying it to the history of Russian first-wave emigration in general and its children’s literature, in particular. Relying on the comparative analysis of various émigré cultural discourses and their hermeneutic reading as the methodology, as well as the vast number of sources (émigré periodicals of various ideological, aesthetic, and artistic orientation, émigré writers’ and prominent cultural figures’ memoirs), the author reconstructs the history and formal / functional paradigms of children’s literature (also understood as literature for children’s and / or familyreading) during the emigration of the 1920s–1930s.
Two major theoretical issues discussed in the article are the formation of the mechanisms of the cultural / literary canon amid the changed existential circumstances, and the functional shift of children’s’ literature during the diaspora towards the pedagogical rather than the aesthetic or the artistic.
The undertaken analysis makes it possible to argue that the children’s’ literature canon during emigration a) preserved the traditional Russian classical literary canon, b) enriched it by means of including quite a few names and titles formerly considered “trivial”, c) included a number of “texts for children” written in exile as well as memoirs of the “good olden times” in the lost / abandoned motherland, d) made use of children’s books by foreign authors translated into Russian both before and during the exile period
Income Stratification in Russia: What do Different Approaches Demonstrate?
No full textThis paper provides empirical analysis of income stratification in contemporary Russian society and its dynamics in recent decades. The paper analyses in detail different approaches (absolute and relative) to defining income groups. It is shown that the most widely used thresholds of the absolute approach cannot be efficiently applied to contemporary Russian society, as they fail to define the subgroups within the population, while relative approach, based on the median income as the social standard of living, appears more effective for income stratification in Russia. A specific income stratification scale is suggested. Its application shows that middle-income groups currently dominate in income structure, however, the incomes of their representatives are not high in absolute terms and their living standards are quite modest. Income stratification in Russia has been noticeably transformed over the last 20 years – the middle-income group has been growing while the low income and high-income groups’ shares have been declining. The proposed scale implies possibilities for structural adjustments such as regional- and settlement-specific disparities in income distribution; it can be easily replicated and allows broad potential for future research, including international comparisons of income stratification in societies undergoing transitional processes
«Существо дотоле невиданное» (рассказ «Уля» и оптическая тема в творчестве Андрея Платонова) [“Sushchestvo Dosele Nevidannoe”: Short Story “Ulya” And The Optical Theme In Andrei Platonov’s Works]
No full textThis article offers a comprehensive analysis of vision-related motifs in more than 30 works (both fictional and non-fictional) by Andrei Platonov. Its primary focus is aimed at a “children’s” short story Ulya (1939), which contains a whole series of vision-related motives representative of the writer’s artistic thinking. The analysis shows that the theme of vision combines “electromagnetic” and “ophtalmologic” discourses: the former refers, for instance, to the subject of the wholeness of the matter, while the latter consists of such motifs as “true” and “false” vision, etc. The article also explores some mythopoetic allusions in theshort story’s structure, and the relation of Ulya to literary tradition
“You can’t corrupt eight million voters”: corruption as a topic in Miloš Zeman’s populist strategy
No full textThis paper can be seen as a contribution to the debate on political populism. More specifically, we focus on the relation between populist strategies and the perception of corruption. The issue of corruption and the fight against it is a part of various political strategies, programs, and rhetoric. In some cases, however, it lingers only on a rhetorical level, and the issue of corruption is used by politicians merely as a tool for gaining political points or to harm political opponents, whom they label “corruptionists”. The goal of this paper is to provide an interpretation of the ways in which Czech President Miloš Zeman constructs the issues that are related to the topic of corruption and to interpret how such content figures into the theoretical framework of populism. Methodologically speaking, the text is established as a CAQDAS dataset created by all of Zeman’s speeches, interviews, statements, etc., which were processed using MAXQDA11+ software. This paper shows that the dominant treatment of the topic of corruption by the president is primarily linked to the creation and assignment of delegitimising labels (“corruptionist”) to his opponents or the legitimisation of his allies and himself (as “corruption fighter”), which is the quintessence of populist strategies
Book Review: Indonesia: twenty years of Democracy
No full textIndonesia: Twenty Years of Democracy (Elements in Politics and Society in Southeast Asia) by Jamie S. Davidson, 2018, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Набоков и советская литература («Приглашение на казнь») [Nabokov And The Soviet Literature: Invitation To A Beheading]
No full textThis article explores a multifaceted dialogue with the Soviet Literature in Vladimir Nabokov’s writings of the 1920s and 1930s, especially in the Russian original of Invitation to a Beheading (1935–36). As the draft of the novel shows, Nabokov initially thought of alluding to the nascent cult of heroic aviators in Stalin’s USSR and to the odious collective work of Soviet writers, headed by Maxim Gorky, glorifying the use of forced prison labor during the construction of Belomorkanal. Though Nabokov eventually rejected the idea, he continued his polemic against the Soviet literature by taking issue with Yuri Tynianov’s historical novel Kiukhlia (1925) about Wilhelm Küchelbecker. While Tynianov portrayed the latter’s imprisonment and exile as a spiritual death, Nabokov allowed his imprisoned protagonist to develop his creative imagination and poetic vision when awaiting his execution in solitary confinement. The article argues that the historic Küchelbeker resembled Nabokov’s “poet in prison” more closely than Tynianov’s one-sided representation