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Producción Científica ; A diversity of integrated assessment models (IAMs) coexists due to the different approaches developed to deal with the complex interactions, high uncertainties and knowledge gaps within the environment and human societies. This paper describes the open-source MEDEAS modeling framework, which has been developed with the aim of informing decision-making to achieve the transition to sustainable energy systems with a focus on biophysical, economic, social and technological restrictions and tackling some of the limitations identified in the current IAMs. MEDEAS models include the following relevant characteristics: representation of biophysical constraints to energy availability; modeling of the mineral and energy investments for the energy transition, allowing a dynamic assessment of the potential mineral scarcities and computation of the net energy available to society; consistent representation of climate change damages with climate assessments by natural scientists; integration of detailed sectoral economic structure (input–output analysis) within a system dynamics approach; energy shifts driven by physical scarcity; and a rich set of socioeconomic and environmental impact indicators. The potentialities and novel insights that this framework brings are illustrated by the simulation of four variants of current trends with the MEDEAS-world model: the consideration of alternative plausible assumptions and methods, combined with the feedback-rich structure of the model, reveal dynamics and implications absent in classical models. Our results suggest that the continuation of current trends will drive significant biophysical scarcities and impacts which will most likely derive in regionalization (priority to security concerns and trade barriers), conflict, and ultimately, a severe global crisis which may lead to the collapse of our modern civilization. Despite depicting a much more worrying future than conventional projections of current trends, we however believe it is a more realistic counterfactual scenario that will allow the design of improved alternative sustainable pathways in future work. ; Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad (Project CO2017-85110-R) ; Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad (Project JCI-2016–28833) ; MEDEAS project, funded by the European Union's Horizon2020 research and innovation programme under grant agree-ment no. 691287. ; LOCOMOTION project, funded by the EuropeanUnion's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programmeunder grant agreement no. 821105

AbstractThis paper reviews the extant literature on ways readers make meaning from fairy tales, and proposes a new cognitive model for the response to the traditional fairy tale. Much of the available research on literary responses to fairy tales comes from within the boundaries of psychoanalysis (Bettelheim 1975.The uses of enchantment: The meaning and importance of fairy tales. New York: Vintage; Dieckmann 1986.Twice-told tales: The psychological use of fairy tales. Wilmette: Chiron; Miller 1984.Thou shalt not be aware: Society's betrayal of the child. New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux), as well as folklore studies and anthropology (Zipes 1983.Fairy tales and the art of subversion: The classical genre for children and the process of civilization. New York: Wildman Press; Zipes 2006.Why fairy tales stick: The evolution and relevance of a genre. New York: Routledge; Zipes 2012.The irresistible fairy tale: The cultural and social history of a genre. Princeton: Princeton University Press.). Although these fields do not often overlap, the therapeutic potential of fairy tales and relatively recent popularization of practices such as bibliotherapy (Jack and Ronan 2008. Bibliotherapy: Practice and research.School Psychology International29(2). 161–182) have provided a fertile ground for linking the two disciplines. I propose a cognitive model for the emotionally integrating response to the fairy tale by first introducing Rosenblatt's (1978.The reader, the text, the poem. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press) transactional theory of making meaning from literature, and then in light of this theory, reviewing the psychoanalytic and anthropological evidence for fairy tales' unique effect on readers. Previous theories explaining the emotional benefits of reading fairy tales have failed to consider characteristics of the genre which are unique to it, and which give fairy tales a hierarchically higher status than other genres due to the distance between the reality they depict, and the current reality of the reader. Transactional theory indicates that this higher status may play a crucial role in the genre's ability to support healthy emotional development, as readers who establish close personal connections with the hierarchically valorized genre actually become active participants in a reading experience which provides them with comforting, indisputable affirmation of the uprightness of their own moral principles.

According to Leo Strauss, Max Weber has been the most salient proponent of modern social science, that is to say, of a value-free social science. The second chapter of Strauss' Natural Right and History consists of a critical overview of Max Weber's perspective and, in particular, of his attempt to build the modern social science edifice upon the ground of the distinction between facts and values. The work here delivered consists of a comment or close reading of the chapter of Strauss on Weber. The aim of this reading is to show how the Weberian distinction between facts and values dilutes the most basic skills of the man of science, leading towards a nihilistic social philosophy, and towards an absurd social science. At the same time, Strauss' reading examines the Weberian diagnosis of modern civilization, by means of an analysis of the sociological and political figures of the specialist, the philistine, and the extremist. After an account of Strauss' critic of Weber, this article considers the Straussian proposal of a return to political philosophy in its classical sense. ; En la perspectiva de Leo Strauss, ha sido Max Weber el más denodado proponente de la ciencia social moderna y de su pretensión de neutralidad valorativa. Strauss dedica el segundo capítulo de su Derecho natural e historia a una crítica de la posición de Weber y de su intento de erigir una ciencia sobre la base de la distinción entre hechos y valores. La comunicación que se lee en lo que sigue consiste en un comentario o lectura cercana del capítulo que Strauss dedica a Weber. Mediante esta lectura, se pretende dar a ver cómo la distinción weberiana entre hechos y valores resulta para Strauss lesiva de las más básicas aptitudes del hombre de ciencia, dando lugar a una filosofía social nihilista y a una ciencia social absurda. Simultáneamente, la lectura ofrecida por Strauss pondera la caracterización weberiana de la civilización moderna, identificando su tratamiento de las figuras sociológicas y políticas del especialista, el filisteo y el extremista. Tras reconstruir los argumentos de la crítica a Weber, se repone la propuesta straussiana de un retorno a la filosofía política en sentido clásico.

Envisioning morality, deviance, and regulation as enduring features of human group life, and using symbolic interaction (Mead 1934; Blumer 1969; Prus 1996; Prus and Grills 2003) as a conceptual device for traversing the corridors of time, this paper asks what we may learn about deviance and morality as humanly engaged realms of community life by examining Plato's (420-348 BCE) Republic and Laws. Focusing on the articulation of two model communities, with Republic primarily under the guidance of a set of philosopher-kings and Laws more comprehensively under the rule of a constitution, Plato considers a wide array of matters pertinent to the study of morality, deviance, and regulation. Thus, whereas many social scientists have dismissed Plato's texts as the works of a "utopian idealist" and/or an "ancient philosopher," Republic and Laws have much to offer to those who approach the study of human knowing and acting in more distinctively pragmatist sociological terms. Indeed, because these two volumes address so many basic features of community life (including morality, religion, politics, poetics, and education) in extended detail, they represent particularly valuable transhistorical and transcultural comparison points for contemporary analysis. Although the products of a somewhat unique period in Western civilization (i.e., the classical Greek era, circa 700-300 BCE), Plato's Republic and Laws are very much studies of social order. Plato's speakers, in each case, clearly have notions of the moral order that they wish to promote, but, to their sociological credit, they also embark on more distinctively analytic considerations of the broader processes and problematics of humanly engaged life worlds. Still, given the practical restraints of a single paper and the extended relevance of Plato's texts for the topics at hand, readers are cautioned that the present statement focuses primarily on those materials from Republic that most directly address deviance and regulation and mainly the first six books of Laws. Employing Prus and Grills (2003) depictions of deviance as a series of generic social processes as a contemporary reference point, the paper concludes with a consideration of the relevance and contributions of Plato's Republic and Laws for the study of morality, deviance, and regulation as fundamental features of human group life.

Envisioning morality, deviance, and regulation as enduring features of human group life, and using symbolic interaction (Mead 1934; Blumer 1969; Prus 1996; Prus and Grills 2003) as a conceptual device for traversing the corridors of time, this paper asks what we may learn about deviance and morality as humanly engaged realms of community life by examining Plato's (420-348 BCE) Republic and Laws. Focusing on the articulation of two model communities, with Republic primarily under the guidance of a set of philosopher-kings and Laws more comprehensively under the rule of a constitution, Plato considers a wide array of matters pertinent to the study of morality, deviance, and regulation. Thus, whereas many social scientists have dismissed Plato's texts as the works of a "utopian idealist" and/or an "ancient philosopher," Republic and Laws have much to offer to those who approach the study of human knowing and acting in more distinctively pragmatist sociological terms. Indeed, because these two volumes address so many basic features of community life (including morality, religion, politics, poetics, and education) in extended detail, they represent particularly valuable transhistorical and transcultural comparison points for contemporary analysis. Although the products of a somewhat unique period in Western civilization (i.e., the classical Greek era, circa 700-300 BCE), Plato's Republic and Laws are very much studies of social order. Plato's speakers, in each case, clearly have notions of the moral order that they wish to promote, but, to their sociological credit, they also embark on more distinctively analytic considerations of the broader processes and problematics of humanly engaged life worlds. Still, given the practical restraints of a single paper and the extended relevance of Plato's texts for the topics at hand, readers are cautioned that the present statement focuses primarily on those materials from Republic that most directly address deviance and regulation and mainly the first six books of Laws. Employing Prus and Grills (2003) depictions of deviance as a series of generic social processes as a contemporary reference point, the paper concludes with a consideration of the relevance and contributions of Plato's Republic and Laws for the study of morality, deviance, and regulation as fundamental features of human group life.

International audience ; The Ventotene Manifesto: birth of European federalism. Federalist-oriented texts are numerous in the resistance to such an extent that one can speak of inflation. Europeanist production, for the generation that experienced the war, is a means used to reject seniors' rationalism: the failure of collective security is denounced by this generation that is questioning a civilization that could advocate self-destruction , failing to provide a spiritual model. It is on this ground that appear the first european essays, calling for a, urgent union. Hundreds of projects arise, more or less utopian, taking into account the collapse of traditional political structures and proposing a European framework as a postwar solution. How, then, can we recognize a true federalist text from a fake? The posterity of Ventotene Manifesto, which will become the doctrinal reference of Federalists, would be enough to emphasize its originality and impact. We must also consider the genesis of the project, its implementation and its contents to understand what is special about this text, which refuses to draw from the classical solutions and constantly forward its "revolutionary" dimension. ; Les textes à vocation fédéraliste sont nombreux dans la Résistance, à tel point que l'on peut parler d'inflation. La production européiste, pour la génération qui a connu la guerre, est un moyen qui sert à rejeter le rationalisme des aînés : la faillite de la sécurité collective est dénoncée par cette génération qui remet en doute une civilisation ayant pu prôner l'auto-anéantissement, faute d'offrir un modèle spirituel unanime. C'est sur ce terreau que naissent les premiers essais européens, appelant à une union nécessaire. Ainsi fleurissent plusieurs centaines de projets, plus ou moins utopiques, qui prennent en compte l'écroulement des structures politiques traditionnelles et proposent le cadre européen comme solution d'après-guerre. Comment, alors, peut-on reconnaître un vrai texte fédéraliste d'un faux ? La postérité du Manifeste de Ventotene, qui va devenir la référence doctrinale des fédéralistes de l'après-guerre, suffirait à souligner son originalité et son impact. Il faut également tenir compte de la genèse du projet, de son exécution et de son contenu pour bien comprendre ce qui fait la spécificité de ce texte, qui refuse de puiser dans les solutions d'avant-guerre et met constamment en avant sa dimension " révolutionnaire ".

Radical transformations in the global geopolitical reality led to the immediate development of the latest form of geopolitical conflict – hybrid war. The urgency of understanding is indicated the concept of "hybrid war", of systematization geopolitical concepts, development and implementation of reaching a consensus technology in global and regional hybrid wars. The main characteristic features of the Russian-Ukrainian hybrid war are considered from the point of view of classical and modern geopolitical concepts are considered. Emphasis is placed on the fact that the Russian-Ukrainian hybrid war is taking place in a fundamentally new world geopolitical environment. Denouement of hostilities from the aggressor countryindicates the inability to achieve the goal by non-forceful methods. It is proved that the main geostrategic goals of Russia are associated with an attempt to turn its own Eurasian resources into the only ones in the world. Thus, firstly, it will create competition for the Atlantic geopolitical system, and secondly, it could lead most states, including Ukraine, to energy depletion, which would contribute to institutional destruction and a crisis of the legitimacy of power. It is being proved that the main reason for the Russian-Ukrainian hybrid war is Russia's desire to restore regional and world leadership. This geostrategy is based on a well-founded geopolitical Eurasian concept of Russia, which gives Russian expansion a civilizational meaning and justifies the need to unite the Eurasian continent as a counterweight to the expansion of Atlanticism. From the standpoint of the civilization approach, the geopolitical vulnerability of Ukraine is emphasized due to the fact that it is on the verge of a collision of two powerful civilizations - Eurasian and European. It is noted that during the escalation of the confrontation, the geopolitical border became a real front line, and the territory of Ukraine is used as a springboard for military action. Geostrategic factors are highlighted that explain the conditions for the existence of modern relations between the aggressor state and the object state. ; Радикальні трансформації у світовій геополітичній реальності призвели до появи новітньої форми геополітичного конфлікту – гібридної війни. Зазначено актуальність розуміння поняття «гібридна війна», систематизації геополітичних концепцій, розробки і впровадження технології досягнення консенсусу у світових та регіональних гібридних війнах. Розглядаються основні характерні риси російсько-української гібридної війни з точки зору класичних та сучасних геополітичних концепцій. Акцентовано увагу на тому, що російсько-українська гібридна війна відбувається у принципово новому світовому геополітичному середовищі. Розв'язання воєнних дій з боку країни-агресора вказує на неспроможність досягти мети несиловими методами. Доводиться, що основні геостратегічні цілі Росії пов'язані з намаганням перетворити власні євразійські ресурси на єдині у світі. Таким чином, по-перше, створюється конкуренція атлантичній геополітичній системі, а по-друге, це може призвести більшість держав, в тому числі й Україну до енергетичного виснаження, що сприятиме інституційному руйнуванню та кризі легітимності влади. Доводиться, що головна причина розв'язування російсько-української гібридної війни пов'язана з бажанням РФ відновити регіональне та світове лідерство. Така геостратегія базується на всебічно обґрунтованій геополітичній євразійській концепції Росії, яка надає російській експансії цивілізаційний зміст і виправдовує необхідність об'єднання євразійського материка як противагу експансії атлантизму. З позиції цивілізаційного підходу, підкреслюється геополітична вразливість України через те, що вона знаходиться на межі зіткнення двох потужних цивілізацій – євразійської та європейської. Зазначено, що під час загострення протистояння геополітична межа перетворилася на реальну лінію фронту, а територія України використовується як плацдарм для воєнних дій. Виокремлюються геостратегічні чинники, що пояснюють умови існування сучасних взаємовідносин між державою-агресором та державою-об'єктом.

Метою роботи є аналіз природи гетерогенності ісламу в полі мусульманської культури і детермінація модераторів варіативності його форм. Методологія. Концептуальним методологічним ядром дослідження є культурологічний аналіз ісламу в міждисциплінарному просторі соціально-гуманітарних наук. Для комплексного дослідження феномену був використаний цивілізаційний підхід, що дозволило усвідомити унікальність мусульманського світу як локальної цивілізації та функціональну роль в ньому ісламської релігії. Стратегія дослідження ґрунтується на системному аналізі в авторській інтерпретації – феномен ісламу осмислюється як цілісна система в сукупності відносин і зв'язків між інваріантним і варіативним компонентами. Наукова новизна. Для вивчення проблеми різноманіття форм ісламу введена у науковий обіг авторська модель системного методу, яка ґрунтується на дихотомії інваріантної та варіативної складових феномену. Верифікована ідея варіативності ісламу в просторі мусульманської цивілізації. Визначена інваріантна та варіативна складові ісламу та модератори їх формування. Висновки. На основі парадигми про інваріантність догматики ісламу і різноманіття її інтерпретації в хронотопі встановлені стрижневі модератори варіативності форм ісламу: 1) відсутність в Корані й Сунні прямих заборон щодо певних аспектів мирського життя; брак єдиного релігійного центру, який стежить за одноманітністю тлумачення канонічних текстів; 2) ослаблення зв'язку між сакральним і профанним, що детермінувало політизацію ісламу (у формі ісламізму всіх відтінків)"; 3) симбіоз релігії та етнічної культури, котрий обумовив дихотомію "класичний–народний" іслам; 4) кореляція конфігурації ісламу з соціально-політичною структурою суспільства, що зумовило бінарну опозицію двох доктрин побудови мусульманської громади – на основі ідеї відродження халіфату, з одного боку, і введення шаріатського правління в національних кордонах – з іншого ; The purpose of the article is to analyze the nature of the heterogeneity of Islam in the field of Muslim culture and to determine the moderators of the variability of its forms. Methodology. The culturology analysis of Islam in the interdisciplinary space of the social sciences and humanities is the conceptual methodological core of the research. For a comprehensive study of the phenomenon, a civilizational approach was used, which made it possible to realize the uniqueness of the Muslim world as a local civilization and the functional role of the Islamic religion in it. The research strategy is based on system analysis in the author's interpretation. The phenomenon of Islam is interpreted as an integral system in the totality of relations and connections between the invariant and variable components. Scientific novelty. To study the problem of the diversity of forms of Islam, the author's model of the system method, based on the dichotomy of the invariant and variable components of the phenomenon, was introduced into scientific circulation. The idea of the variability of Islam in the space of Muslim civilization has been verified. The invariant and variable components of Islam and the moderators of their formation are determined. Conclusions. Based on the paradigm of the invariance of the dogma of Islam and the diversity of its interpretation in the chronotope, the core moderators of the variability of the forms of Islam are established: 1) the absence in the Quran and Sunnah of direct prohibitions in relation to certain aspects of worldly life; the absence of a unified religious center that monitors the monotony of interpretation of canonical texts;2) the weakening of the connection between the sacred and the profane, which determined the politicization of Islam (in the form of Islamism of all shades); 3) symbiosis of religion and ethnic culture, which led to the dichotomy "classical-folk" Islam; 4) the correlation of the configuration of Islam with the socio-political structure of society, which, in particular, determined the binary opposition of two doctrines of building a Muslim community: the firs doctrine is based on the idea of the revival of the Caliphate, the second doctrine is based on Sharia rule within national borders

Метою роботи є аналіз природи гетерогенності ісламу в полі мусульманської культури і детермінація модераторів варіативності його форм. Методологія. Концептуальним методологічним ядром дослідження є культурологічний аналіз ісламу в міждисциплінарному просторі соціально-гуманітарних наук. Для комплексного дослідження феномену був використаний цивілізаційний підхід, що дозволило усвідомити унікальність мусульманського світу як локальної цивілізації та функціональну роль в ньому ісламської релігії. Стратегія дослідження ґрунтується на системному аналізі в авторській інтерпретації – феномен ісламу осмислюється як цілісна система в сукупності відносин і зв'язків між інваріантним і варіативним компонентами. Наукова новизна. Для вивчення проблеми різноманіття форм ісламу введена у науковий обіг авторська модель системного методу, яка ґрунтується на дихотомії інваріантної та варіативної складових феномену. Верифікована ідея варіативності ісламу в просторі мусульманської цивілізації. Визначена інваріантна та варіативна складові ісламу та модератори їх формування. Висновки. На основі парадигми про інваріантність догматики ісламу і різноманіття її інтерпретації в хронотопі встановлені стрижневі модератори варіативності форм ісламу: 1) відсутність в Корані й Сунні прямих заборон щодо певних аспектів мирського життя; брак єдиного релігійного центру, який стежить за одноманітністю тлумачення канонічних текстів; 2) ослаблення зв'язку між сакральним і профанним, що детермінувало політизацію ісламу (у формі ісламізму всіх відтінків)"; 3) симбіоз релігії та етнічної культури, котрий обумовив дихотомію "класичний–народний" іслам; 4) кореляція конфігурації ісламу з соціально-політичною структурою суспільства, що зумовило бінарну опозицію двох доктрин побудови мусульманської громади – на основі ідеї відродження халіфату, з одного боку, і введення шаріатського правління в національних кордонах – з іншого ; The purpose of the article is to analyze the nature of the heterogeneity of Islam in the field of Muslim culture and to determine the moderators of the variability of its forms. Methodology. The culturology analysis of Islam in the interdisciplinary space of the social sciences and humanities is the conceptual methodological core of the research. For a comprehensive study of the phenomenon, a civilizational approach was used, which made it possible to realize the uniqueness of the Muslim world as a local civilization and the functional role of the Islamic religion in it. The research strategy is based on system analysis in the author's interpretation. The phenomenon of Islam is interpreted as an integral system in the totality of relations and connections between the invariant and variable components. Scientific novelty. To study the problem of the diversity of forms of Islam, the author's model of the system method, based on the dichotomy of the invariant and variable components of the phenomenon, was introduced into scientific circulation. The idea of the variability of Islam in the space of Muslim civilization has been verified. The invariant and variable components of Islam and the moderators of their formation are determined. Conclusions. Based on the paradigm of the invariance of the dogma of Islam and the diversity of its interpretation in the chronotope, the core moderators of the variability of the forms of Islam are established: 1) the absence in the Quran and Sunnah of direct prohibitions in relation to certain aspects of worldly life; the absence of a unified religious center that monitors the monotony of interpretation of canonical texts;2) the weakening of the connection between the sacred and the profane, which determined the politicization of Islam (in the form of Islamism of all shades); 3) symbiosis of religion and ethnic culture, which led to the dichotomy "classical-folk" Islam; 4) the correlation of the configuration of Islam with the socio-political structure of society, which, in particular, determined the binary opposition of two doctrines of building a Muslim community: the firs doctrine is based on the idea of the revival of the Caliphate, the second doctrine is based on Sharia rule within national borders

The article deals with the problems of typology States peculiarities of a government social function depending on countries.The features of formational and civilizational approaches to the typology of states are characterized. The main criterion in the formational approach is the mode of industry production (the level of development of productive resources and production relations), which is determined by the dominant form of ownership of the means of production, as well as the class structure of society. The civilizational approach explains the multi-vector historical development, in particular the fact that states develop differently and reach different economic or social levels of development. This is due to the accumulated historical and cultural development, national characteristics, mentality, social norms of behavior, etc. That is, the type and development of the state largely depends on the national culture and worldview of society, and the state is the most important factor in the spiritual and cultural development of society.Found out that today a fundamentally new type of capitalist state is being formed – it is becoming more socially oriented, losing its class character, human ideology and the state of the common good are becoming a new ideology. Globalization and the formation of a post-industrial society have a significant impact on the modern development of states, which radically changes the classical form of capitalism. It is determined that the main problem of modernity is the formation of a new type of state that should combine the economic ideology of capitalism and the ideology of social welfare.It is established that the main criteria used for typology can not perfectly and comprehensively explain the peculiarities of the formation and development of states, as well as unambiguously formulate the place and role of the state in its social function. The necessity of further research of characteristic features of different types of states is substantiated for the purpose of revealing of ...

The Economy of the Greek Cities offers readers a clear and concise overview of ancient Greek economies from the archaic to the Roman period. Léopold Migeotte approaches Greek economic activities from the perspective of the ancient sources, situating them within the context of the city-state (polis). He illuminates the ways citizens intervened in the economy and considers such important sectors as agriculture, craft industries, public works, and trade. Focusing on how the private and public spheres impinged on each other, this book provides a broad understanding of the political and economic changes affecting life in the Greek city-states over a thousand-year period

"Don't worry, I've got the key" / Guy Halsall -- Laughter and humour in the early Medieval Latin West / Danuta Shanzer -- Humour and the everyday in Byzantium / John Haldon -- The lexicon of abuse, drunkenness and political illegitimacy in the late Roman world / Mark Humphries -- Funny foreigners, laughing with the barbarians in Late Antiquity / Guy Halsall -- Liutprand of Cremona's sense of humour / Ross Balzaretti -- "He never even allowed his white teeth to be bared in laughter" : the politics of humour in the Carolingian Renaissance / Matthew Innes -- Alcuin's Disputatio Pippini and the early Medieval riddle tradition / Martha Bayless -- Laughter after Babel's fall : misunderstandling and miscommunication in the ninth-century West / Paul Kershaw

Contents; Acknowledgments; 1 Introduction: is nationalism recent and superficial?; Ethnicity has always been political; How deep did premodern ethnonational identity reach?; The underlying dispute; Concepts and definitions; Ethnos and ethnicity; Peoples; Nation and national state; Nationalism and patriotism; 2 The evolution of kin-culture communities; Kinship and culture in the past 150,000 years; Evolutionary inheritance and historical transformation; 3 From tribes to statehood; Tribal growth and ethnic expansion; From tribes to states; State formation, tribal erosion, and ethnicity; 4 Premodern ethne, peoples, states, and nations around the worldA Ethnos and city-state; The cradle of civilization; Phoenicians, Greeks, and Rome; Premodern America, Africa, Asia, and Europe; B The premodern national state; Ancient Egypt: the first state - and first national state; Nascent national states in the ancient Near East; China: the largest and most enduring ancient people and state; In the giant´s shadow: national states around China; C Were empires ethnically blind?; From Assyria to Persia; The Hellenistic and Roman empires; The Arab, Ottoman, and Mughal empires; Conclusion; 5 Premodern Europe and the national stateGeopolitics: statehood in the Classical Mediterranean and in emergent Europe; A The mushrooming of national states in emergent Europe; The British Isles: a history of four nations; Scandinavian identity and national identities; The medieval German national empire; The Czech lands; The Polish national state and empire; The Russian nation and the Russian Empire; Conclusion; B Southern versus northern Europe; Medieval national states and the clutches of empires in southeast Europe States, geography, and national consolidation in Romance southwest Europe The French paradigmatic case; C Was the premodern European nation impossible due to religion, empire, dynastic rule, inequality, and dialect fragmentation?; Religion and the nation; Empire; The dynastic national kingdom; Sociopolitical inequality; How deep was dialect fragmentation?; Conclusion; 6 Modernity: nationalism released, transformed, and enhanced; A The will of the people and the nation: what enabled what? B Civic nations or ethnic nations? Europe, the English-speaking immigrant countries, Latin America, Africa, and AsiaThe European national templates; The European Union; The English-speaking immigrant states: purely civic nations?; Ethnicity and nation-building in Latin America; Ethnicity and nation-building in sub-Saharan Africa; Ethnicity and nation-building in the southeast Asian archipelago; Ethnicity and nation-building in India and Pakistan; Conclusion: civic versus ethnic nations?; C National conflict and solidarity in a globalizing world; The audit of war: willingly killing and dying for one's nation; A groundbreaking study of the foundations of nationalism, exposing its antiquity, strong links with ethnicity and roots in human nature

On the basis of early Chinese philosophical texts, the legitimacy of introducing the concept of stratagem truth is demonstrated; it explicates the archaic non-verbal fundamental principle of the correspondence theory of truth that dominates modern Western culture. Such an understanding of truth is the initial intuition for a number of great civilizations of antiquity (for example, ancient Greek and ancient Chinese). The fact is that truth, taken in its original preverbal context, is far from being exhausted exclusively by the semantic relation of a linguistic expression to the extralinguistic reality corresponding to it. Truth has here not an epistemological, but an ontological sense of "authenticity" (in particular, the "authenticity" of some being). Thus, the category of Tao, which occupies a central place in Chinese philosophical thought, indicates, first of all, the true way of being of a particular entity, aimed at revealing the "truth" of this entity. Since such a truth unfolds in time, it comes out only historically, in the course of the interaction of forces that oppose or cooperate with each other. In traditional Chinese society, this rivalry/cooperation is by all means regulated by the corresponding rituals. In the system of such ritualized practices of discovering the truth, truthful speech is not just a simple statement of some fact - after all, it does not so much reveal what has already happened, but it starts the process of putting into practice what was said - the realization of the previously declared truth. As the allegorical story of "Mr. He's Jade", which is a classic example of such a dynamic understanding of the statement of truth, shows, such an institution of truth can be a severe test for its founder. It may require the utmost effort from him, and sometimes expose him to serious risks. In addition, success in realizing the declared truth requires considerable ingenuity: due to the lack of a uniform method of "reinforcing words with deeds", one has to take the risk of experimenting with different behavioral strategies each time. Thus, essentialism, which distinguishes the "classical" for modern Western European thought concept of timeless truth independent of man, is opposed by the ancient procedural-event understanding of truth as a kind of "side effect" of following one or another specific Tao, where the emergence of truth has the ontological status of an occurring event, but not eternally abiding being. In the case of the human Tao, the effect of truth reveals itself in the climactic 'moment of truth' - the final point of success or failure of the chosen strategy/stratagem.