Suchergebnisse

The authors look at the concept of social facilitation as a possible component of Russian social consolidation in the course of social reforms. The article focuses on the results of an empirical study of the levels and characteristics of competence in social facilitation, which is here understood as the ability to apply certain knowledge and systems of skills and as a success rate of actions based on experience in improving the conditions of social development. The study was conducted in the Kaliningrad region in 2012—2013. The data was obtained through a survey of 400 respondents using the authors' methodology encompassing eight basic elements of competence and a structured interview aimed at a better understanding of the subject of the study and attitudes towards it. The data is compared against the results of a similar study in two regions of central Russia with similar conditions. The results suggest a disharmonic and inconsistent structure of competence in social facilitation, low motivation for social
activity in youth, and a narrow range of ideas about possible areas of personal activities in the current conditions. Gender differences are identified in the level and structure of competence. The authors believe that certain differences in competence components identified through mathematical methods are determined by the geographical characteristics of the Kaliningrad region — its exclave nature, a relatively small territory, and proximity to the EU countries. It is stressed that the regional conditions affecting motivation, forms and areas of activities, and structure of experience should be taken into account in selecting means and methods of organising youth activities. They can also serve as a basis for the regional youth policy.

The 'region' has been a prominent focus of economic development studies for many years, fuelling conceptual and political debates about the relevance of this particular scale of activity as a unit of analysis and a site of social activity. Although these questions are still far from resolved, the nature of the debate has shifted decisively towards a larger, more compelling question – namely the scope for sustainable development in capitalist societies.

In the context of post-Cold War European integration, 'making' regions has become commonplace. Far from reducing the significance of regional initiatives, inflationary regional labelling draws attention to the significant role played by 'regions' as legitimating political vectors. Why are political projects formulated in regional terms? Critically examining the Black Sea region project, this article suggests that region-making transcends the boundary between theoretical and political praxis. Regional entrepreneurs frequently use different conceptual categories in the formulation and justification of their initiatives. In order to understand why regional forms are preferred politically, it is necessary to scrutinise closely this contextual interaction between political praxis and conceptual logic. The article maps the various concepts of region which coexist in the Black Sea region project, and discusses their relationship with four political and hermeneutical strategies that link the regional project with its context, profoundly marked by the logic of European security integration. The 'double hermeneutics' of the Black Sea region highlights the contradictory security logics that structure European security in general and this regional project in particular. In the conclusion, the article draws attention to the significant epistemological and normative consequences of the double hermeneutics of the Black Sea region. Adapted from the source document.

How the committee established to officially recognize sub-national units of government is beginning to influence federal policy and politics; European Union.

The longstanding efforts of federal au-thorities aimed at the development of the Kalin-ingrad region did not meet the expectations. The region can be considered as depressed; it is characterised by the instability of the socioeconomic situation. The main reason for the reduced efficiency of state activity is the attempt to apply standard mechanisms of gov-ernmental regional development regulation that neglect the unique nature of this Russian territory: its enclave/exclave status, the settling history of the region, the dependence on external markets, etc. To solve the problems of the Kalin¬ingrad region, the state should partially revise its ideology, including the views on external connections of Russia's con-stituents. Moreover, Russia should coordinate its activity in the Baltic Sea States taking into account the increased sensitiv¬ity of the Kaliningrad Region. [author's abstract]

This article serves as an introduction to the first section of this volume, a section that focuses on the drivers of instability and radicalization in the Middle East and ways to counter them. This introduction provides a brief sketch of some of the key issues that are dealt with in more detail in this section and a brief précis of what each author addresses in his or her individual article.