"Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Armenia has struggled to establish itself, with a faltering economy, emigration of the intelligentsia and the weakening of civil society. This book explores how a new national elite has emerged and how it has constructed a new national narrative to suit Armenia's new circumstances. The book examines the importance of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict with Azerbaijan, considers the impact of fraught relations with Turkey and the impact of relations with other neighbouring states including Russia, and discusses the poorly-developed role of the very large Armenian diaspora. Overall, the book provides a key overview to understanding the forces shaping all aspects of present-day Armenia."--Provided by publisher.
This paper aims to explain the characteristics and internal mechanisms of protest activity and solidarity among Russia's industrial workers over the past two decades. Both academic discussions and officials' attitudes toward protests prove contradictory. Even in periods of increase, labor activism has remained limited. Yet authorities continue to show concern about real and potential discontent, while academics puzzle over the dominance of quiescence as well as the reasons for sporadic activism. The research presented in this article advances our understanding of both: the limits of protest, and the causes, forms and goals of Russian labor's periodic collective activism. We rely on a combination of available statistical and recent survey data to try to resolve the paradoxes of labor's quiescence and conflict, as well as elites' neglect and concern. The research finds changes in patterns of labor activism over the two decades. During the 1990s, most strikes were limited, defensive, managed, or desperate in character. In Russia's recovered economy, from 2006 a qualitatively different, "classical" pattern of strikes and labor relations emerged. Workers' collective actions mainly affected large, profitable industrial and transnational enterprises and took the form of "normalized" bargaining and conflict between labor and management. With the 2008–09 recession workers returned to the defensive strategies of the 1990s, protesting wage cuts and factory closures. Survey research from 2010 shows workers to be almost evenly divided between groups with positive and negative attitudes toward solidarity and bargaining.
Nobel's Russian connection has surfaced recently in a letter sent by him to the Russian Minister of War, reporting on progress during 1889 and 1890 on his new smokeless powder, Ballistite. The letter was found in Swedish archives with other documents, indicating that Russian army officials maintained ties with Nobel, and received a large number of Ballistite samples. Nobel's involvement with Russian development was not described before by major written sources in English. The documents have also exposed Nobel's difficulties in production and marketing across Europe, from mid 1889 to mid 1890. The new findings are useful in understanding the 'longue durée' aspect of Ballistite, described only briefly in the literature.
Abstract. Revolution is an historical process that generates a rapid and radical (social, economic and political) change in society. This conceptual paper shows basic characteristics, taxonomies and situational causes of revolution. Moreover, this study also suggests that acurrent and distinct form of revolution, not included in previous studies, is terrorism. Overall, then, it seems that terrorism has many analogies with some drivers of revolution (e.g., economic, social, political and demographic determinants) and can generate changes in society, similarly to revolutions.Keywords. Social change, Political change, Structural change, Internal war, Rebellion, Insurrection, Coup d'État, Terrorism.JEL. N30, O30, O31, I23.
In: Slovak journal of political sciences: the journal of University of Saint Cyril and Metodius in Trnava = Slovenská politologická revue, Band 13, Heft 1, S. 5-23
This article treats the historical- political developments of the political class phenomenon. It analyses in detail the concepts of "political class", "elite" and "oligarchy", their definiteness, composition and structure, and it emphases on the characteristics of oligarchy in politics. In this sense, the separate political layers and their relationship with the contemporary political oligarchy have been outlined through in-depth theoretical analysis.
Abstract. Background: Sexual and gender minority youth (SGMY) have heightened risk of suicidality; yet, we know little about their experiences when utilizing crisis services. Aims: The purpose of this study was to understand the characteristics and experiences of SGMY when in contact with SGMY-specific suicide crisis services. Method: Data were from 592 SGMY who contacted the most widely utilized national US SGMY-specific crisis services provider. Results: High rates of suicide ideation (65.2%) and attempts (31.9%) were documented, with gender minority youth endorsing higher rates of suicide attempts. Participants contacted the center by phone (57.8%) more than by online chat/text (42.2%). Participants reported discussing their sexual orientation (60.6%), gender identity (43.8%), and identity disclosure stress (56.6%) with counselors. Participants rated the crisis service as helpful. The counselors were perceived as warm, compassionate, and knowledgeable about common concerns for SGMY and they were likely to contact the crisis center again. Participants reported using chat/text over phone because it provided them with more confidentiality and privacy; however, phone contacts were rated more positively than text/chat. Limitations: The sample was predominately White and was not representative of the broader population of SGMY, limiting the generalizability of the results. Conclusion: SGMY reported positive experiences with a national SGMY-specific crisis service. The findings highlight the critical need for and utility of SGMY-specific suicide prevention crisis services.
Fears have often been expressed outside the Soviet Union that the influx of Russian words into the non-Russian languages is part of an attempt to russianize them with a view to make them ultimately superfluous. These fears now seem to be greatly exaggerated, as there is little evidence to show that these languages are losing their vitality or are doomed to extinction. While the total lexicon of any given language, in this case Uzbek, the third language numerically (after Russian and Ukrainian) and the largest non-Slavic language, may have a significant number of Russian loanwords, it does not necessarily follow that all these words are in fact an essential segment of the language. The life and viability of a language depend not upon the percentage of so-called foreign words in its vocabulary, but upon its daily use in ordinary situations and in creative writing. The major problem in this area has been the apparently large number of Russian borrowings seen in the non-Russian languages, especially those in non-Slavic ones using Cyrillic. Words are often taken in their Russian orthographic shape without regard for the internal rules of the various languages. Even a cursory glance at any newspaper is enough to show the casual observer that these languages have been russianized to a certain extent. Soviet sources have always emphasized that there has been a "sovietization" of non-Russian languages, while admitting that Russian is the main source for new vocabulary. However it is pointed out that most of these borrowings are "international" words taken into the several languages via Russian. Counter arguments have emphasized that the "common-spelling" principle, by which all words from Russian, be they "international" or not, are borrowed in their exact Russian spelling, proves that russianization, not sovietization, is taking place.
