Suchergebnisse

The economic crisis fueled contradictions among the parties and weakened public support of internal and external policies of the Baltic states (Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia). Natural necessity to abandon previous one-sided Euro-Atlantic foreign political and foreign economic orientation in favor of more balanced approach towards relations with Eastern neighbours (primarily with Russia) has become the issue of key importance that turned out to be a stumbling block for main political parties (ruling parties, opposition, so called 'Russian' parties) in the Baltic states. The attitude to this problem became crucial during recent political crisis in Latvia, whereas in Lithuania and Estonia it led to changing rhetoric on foreign political issues by opposition parties. It is possible to nominally define the political situation in Lithuania as partisan consensus, whereas in Latvia and Estonia foreign political strategies complicated by unresolved domestic ethnic and language minorities problems are a battlegroud for ruling right-wing conservative coalitions and social-democratic oppositions. So, main social and political forces in the Baltic states faced the task to find a new consensus on foreign political issues in order to efficiently develop national economies under the conditions of financial economic turbulence in the EU and worldwide as well as to support social unity.

The expansion of Europe has been a much-discussed process. Unfortunately the publicists' and historians' interest has commonly been limited to surface aspects of power, to political, economic, and intellectual penetration. Yet a closer acquaintance reveals the existence of a yet deeper layer of hostile infiltration, a subtler and more subversive onslaught on native values and traditions. The "underground" portions of western expansion have hitherto rather escaped notice, let alone analysis, although among their victims their force was felt deeply if confusedly. Thus an anonymous journalist writing in Russia late in 1896 pointed to that melting away of native guideposts under the western impact when he lamented that "under the influence of historical conditions and progress many phenomena which distinguished Russian nationality are now changing and therefore prove no longer to be genuine and unchangeable…" No hallowed custom, no authority remained unimpaired, even though the surface structure of society and government was preserved and the sovereignty of the state untouched. The termites of western influence were eating away the substance and left only facades. And the invisible portion of western power, its ability to serve as a universal model, proved in the long run even more devastating than armies, battleships, or stocks and bonds.

The authors of the paper focus on the opportunities that translation activity opens up in the development and preservation of the languages of Russia, reviving the interest in the study and use of native languages in professional activities, including translation. The significance of translation activity as one of the most effective tools for the preservation of languages is substantiated. A concept of the periodization of the history of national translation in Russia is offered. The researchers have reviewed the literatures of the peoples of Russia and studied literary translation as a form of intercultural communication. New ideas on the formation of specific theories of translation using the languages of the peoples of Russia have been introduced. An attempt is made to provide a comprehensive definition of the term "translation with the languages of the peoples of Russia" along with the formation of a system of its basic categories. A model of specific theories of translation using the languages of the peoples of Russia is presented, and the principles of its variability are determined depending on the pairs of contacting languages. The prospects for the development of areas of translation activity using the languages of the peoples of Russia have been outlined, and a concept of translators' training with the languages of the peoples of Russia has been presented. Some aspects of the current state of translation in Tatarstan have been characterized.

Phenomenon of use of megaprojects as an instrument of territorial development has been poorly studied by the domestic (Russian) economic science that results in deficit of research directed on the integrated comparative analysis of processes of formation and realization of territorial megaprojects. Authors of the article set the task partly to fill this gap. Using the example of the historic infrastructural megaprojects (construction of Trans-Siberian Railroad (Transsib) and Baikal-Amur Mainline (BAM)). The authors examined the reasons for their successfulness and failures. The plans of the Russian Federal Government concerning the modernization these infrastructural megaprojects are revealed. Russia started another strategically crucial for the region of Ural and Russia in general megaproject "Ural Industrial – Ural Polar". The authors carried out an analysis of the stages of the life cycle of this contemporary important project and proved that it turned into a number of separate local investment projects which are not connected by a common conception. This circumstance lead to a considerable weakening of the cumulative integration results after its realization. DOI:10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n3s1p586

The article touches upon the issue of public-law analysis of the features of suspension and termination of pub-lic chambers and council members' powers in the Russian Federation of all levels. The author substantiates the point of view according to which the suspension and termination of the above-mentioned powers acts not only as a consequence of a change in the legal status of members of subjects of public control, or the occurrence of certain events, the expiration of certain deadlines, but also as a measure of influence (punishment) on these persons if their activities (behavior) does not correspond to the high status of a member public chamber (coun-cil). The paper examines the key problems associated with the implementation of the institution of suspension and termination of powers of members of the above-mentioned subjects of public control in Russia, developed and justified a system of measures to resolve these problems.

Existing research on the relationship between economic coercion and foreign direct investment suggests that sanctions have no effect on investments in targeted countries or may even encourage investment inflows. A key limitation of this research, however, is its aggregate country-level focus, which fails to capture company-level decision-making processes and factors shaping them. In contrast, this paper evaluates multinational companies' investment plans as reflected in new investment announcements and shows that sanctions in fact lead to significant adjustments in multinational companies' plans to invest in a targeted country. Our company-level analyses of new investment projects in Russia show that companies are less likely to announce new investments after the imposition of economic sanctions against the country.

The guidelines of the socio-political practices of the religious world of modern Russia are considered in the context of the tasks formulated in the National Security Strategy adopted in 2021. The author identifies the areas of security to which the religious community can make a serious contribution: human potential development; maintenance of civil peace and harmony in the country, development of mechanisms of interaction between the state and civil society; protection of traditional Russian spiritual and moral values, culture and historical memory. The problems of the activity of the religious world in these areas are presented, attention is focused on the formation of the civic identity of Russians within the framework of secular state-confessional relations.

AbstractIn the last decade, studies have documented how autocrats use elections as a way of legitimising and stabilising their regimes. Simultaneously, a literature on negative external actors (also known as 'black knights') has developed, emphasising how various international actors use anti‐democracy promotion strategies to undergird authoritarian regimes. In this article, these two literatures are fused in an attempt to shed light on the external dimension of authoritarian elections and what is termed 'black knight election bolstering'. First, five mechanisms are elucidated, through which external assistance increases the chances of 'winning' elections in authoritarian settings (signaling invincibility, deterring elite defection, undermining opposition activities, dealing with popular protests, and countervailing pressure from foreign democracy promoters). Second, it is argued that external actors are most likely to offer election bolstering when they face a particularly acquiescent partner or when electoral defeat is perceived to lead to radical and undesired regime change. The relevance of both factors is augmented when uncertainty of the electoral outcome is high. Finally, four cases of Russian intervention during elections in three authoritarian neighbour countries (Ukraine in 2004, Belarus in 2006, and Moldova in 2005 and 2009) are analysed. The case studies corroborate the theoretical arguments: not only does Russia engage in all five types of black knight election bolstering, but it does so only when one or more of the three explanatory factors are present.

The IV Russian International Conference on Cryo-Electron Microscopy (RICCEM-2023) was held at the Faculty of Biology of Lomonosov Moscow State University in a hybrid (offline and online) format and brought together more than 250 researchers from 10 countries. Following the conference, a special issue of the journal "Lomonosov Biology Journal" ("Vestnik Moskovskogo universiteta. Seria 16. Biologia") was published. This article briefly summarizes the main results of the conference and the content of the works published in the special issue.