Suchergebnisse

This article is devoted to a new consideration of the issue of the number and dating of the embassies of king Bagrat IV of Georgia (1027–1072) to Constantinople during the reign of the Byzantine emperor Constantine IX Monomachos (1042–1055). Contrary to I. A. Javakhishvili's point of view, generally accepted in historiography about the existence of the only embassy of Bagrat IV to Byzantium in 1054–1057, the author promotes the hypothesis about the existence of two embassies, in 1047 and 1050–1052/1053 respectively. This hypothesis is proved, in addition to the source analysis of the Georgian text of the Chronicle of Kartli, by referring to Byzantine and Armenian narrative sources, as well as by using information from the recently explored manuscript Q-1376 from the Georgian National Centre of Manuscripts. A comparison of data from sources allows the author to link the reason for the two embassies of the Georgian king to Byzantium with the escalation of the internal Georgian conflict between Bagrat IV and Liparit IV Baghuashi, Duke of Kldekari after the Battle of Sasireti in 1046. Also, the article highlights several new features in it, in particular, the conditions of truces between the two sides, the date of Liparit's liberation from the Seljuk captivity, as well as the possible participation in the conflict of Leonti Mroveli, a famous Georgian historian of the eleventh century. Also, the article examines the consequences of the two trips of Bagrat IV to Constantinople for the Byzantine foreign policy on its eastern borders and, more particularly, clarifies the dating and circumstances of the military campaign of raiktor Nikephoros against the Shaddadid emir of Dvin Abu'l-Aswar in 1049, as well as the role of Georgian noblemen in this campaign.

The confrontation between Paris and Moscow, which commenced at the end of last decade in the Sahara-Sahel region, is largely a consequence of the weaknesses of the French foreign policy in the region, which Russia strives to exploit to its political and economic benefit. The hotspots of this confrontation are Libya and Mali, where the Franco-Russian rivalry has led to the global securitization of the conflict (in both countries), transformation of the regional balance of power (in Libya), and the aggravation of existing security problems (in Mali). Overall, the Franco-Russian rivalry in the Sahara-Sahel region is a phenomenon of the upcoming age of multipolarity and a new Scramble for Africa.

The concept of multi-vector policy underlies Kazakhstan's foreign policy strategy. However the implementation of this strategy in the UN General Assembly has not yet been studied. In this work, the author analyzes voting cohesion of Kazakhstan and Russia, China, the U.S., and Germany in 2007-2022, and also studies Kazakhstan's behavior when the above countries voted oppositely. Based on a quantitative and qualitative analysis of voting on more than a thousand resolutions concerning international relations or foreign policy, the author concludes that the main vector of this policy is not Russia, which is formally a key ally of Kazakhstan, but China. Most often Kazakhstan's foreign policy position is identical to that of China (and least of all to that of the United States). In addition, Kazakhstan avoids offering explicit support to Russia on initiatives related to armed conflicts, including the one in Ukraine.

The article analyzes "traditional values" in the context of the main social and political processes within Western modernity. Following the end of the Cold War, radical left-liberal elites gained the upper hand in the West while Russia sought to take its traditional place as a liberal-conservative center in the system of international relations. The notion of 'traditional values' has become one of the components of a holistic worldview. The article offers methodological tools for studying the current crisis in terms of the unfolding new ideological confrontation.

This article scrutinizes the historical impact of the Mongolian Horde on Russia's foreign policy behavior. The author comes up with a hypothesis that relations with the Horde were not only important for Russia during the critical historical period of its formation, but also largely determined its unique foreign-policy culture and practical implementation of Russian foreign policy in subsequent periods. The author maintains that the key element of this impact was peaceful integration of the powerful neighbor which posed the biggest threat to the Great Russians for more than two hundred years.

The world is not just diversified. In fact, it is atomized according to interests, ideas, or agendas; it needs maximum flexibility in responding to increasingly broad-ranging challenges. This makes it very difficult to maintain cohesion. It can only be done with the help of heavy artillery, figuratively and, unfortunately, literally.

This essay contains reflections on a new book by renowned historian Denis Crouzet on children's violence, and, more broadly, on the image of children during the French Wars of Religion. In the book under review, the novelty lies in the fact that the images of 'innocent infants' make part of a separate plot. Just as novel are Denis Crouzet's reflections on the 'sources of inspiration' of the young French persecutors of heretics. The author indicates the anthropological correspondences inherent in the culture of both Italian and French cities, such as the carnivalesque inversion of the 'world inside out' and the social function of youth associations taking part in the 'charivari' rites. Denis Crouzet pays attention to sources that are novel to him, like children's Christmas chants, mystery plays, and 'miracles'. While impersonating the Innocents persecuted by Herod but also angels carrying retaliation to this villain, urban children learnt what and how to do in the face of a carnival challenge. The ways to leave the eschatological activism are of particular interest. After 1572, the gangs of executioners-children left the scene. Only the murder of the Guises on Christmas Day, 1588, threw crowds of children into the streets of Paris. Now they were described differently, however, — as a disciplined mass, occupied not with outrages but with prayers. The author speaks of 'Catholic consciousness', but that was already a different reformed Catholicism, departing further and further from the old 'corporate Catholicism'. The religious political activity of children would become a thing of the past, however. The image of an innocent child would once more be in demand only after the Revolution, when, this time in a desacralised context, children became the embodiment of the French nation.

Starting with an overview of the 'tyranny of values' notion introduced by Carl Schmitt, this article discusses how values are converted into political goals and managed by societies. While both Schmitt and Robert Spaemann emphasized the danger of 'automatic enactment' of values, today in a mobilized society the situation aggravates as the differentiation between a policy system based on violence and orders, and a culture system offering common patterns for comprehending social life diminishes or disappears completely. But this danger is often overlooked by the states, particularly if the communities of states discover the community of values, and their citizens willingly offer them their support in critical situations.

24–30 апреля 2022 г. в Суздале прошла юбилейная 20-я выездная Школа молодого автора. В ней приняли участие аспиранты и молодые ученые ИВ РАН. Под руководством заведующего Центром исследования общих проблем современного Востока ИВ РАН С. А. Панарина и приглашенных специалистов они в течение недели обучались навыкам академического письма, научного цитирования и речевого и стилистического оформления научного текста. Полученный опыт уже был применен участниками на практике и положительно сказался на их академической деятельности.

The period of deep détente, at the turn of the millennium, has even reduced our ability to manage crises. The skills of prudent confrontation, developed during the Cold War, have been lost. So we must again tread the path to stabilization and peaceful coexistence. But we will first need to set foot on that path.

The authors present a coordinate system to map the international reaction to the Ukraine crisis, with special attention to African states. Methods of cluster, correlation, and regression analyses are used to obtain an overall picture of the international reaction to the crisis over time and highlight factors that can influence the positions of states. The positions of African states cannot be easily explained by material factors but are rather the consequence of political choice. African states gravitate towards a neutral position to stay equidistant from both sides in the confrontation. Assertive attempts by the great powers to persuade African states to solidarize with their positions may prove abortive.

The ideological factor is regaining significance in today's multipolar world and promotes the importance of an ideological and value dialogue between right-wing conservative forces in Russia and right-wing forces in Europe. The values shared by the representatives of European right-wing movements are close to Russia's value agenda, which proves the feasibility of establishing diverse strategic interaction with the proponents of such ideological views in Europe.