¹ 1, 2019
Twenty Seven Years Later: Are There Post-Communist States?
The article analyzes the outcomes of the political development of the post-communist states. First, on the basis of the various quantitative measures of modernization, democratization and state capacity, such as the Bertelsmann Transformation Index, the Economist Democracy Index etc., the author documents the close relationship between a country's successes in political democratization and market economy, on the one hand, and strengthening statehood, on the other hand. After that the author presents the analytical review of the evolution of the political regime and electoral formulae (taking into account the effect of the changes that were introduced to the electoral formulae), as well as the development of political parties and party systems. The author compares trajectories of the development for the countries located in the Western and Eastern parts of the post-communist space. The article explores the role of the external factors, such as states’ desire to fit into the institutions of the European integration, and the internal factors that influence transformation strategies at different stages of post-communist development. The author evaluates the phenomenon of retraditionalization, which takes place both in the West and in the East of the post-communist world. The final section of the article demonstrates the correlation between the level of competitiveness and the institutional maturity of party systems and the degree of democracy/authoritarianism of the political regime. The author concludes that the concept of the “post-communist space” has not lost its relevance for Political Science, because the transformation processes in most countries of this region have not been completed yet.
DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2019-92-1-97-113
Pages: 97-113
¹ 2, 2011
February, 18th, 2011 the founder of our journal Aleksei Mikhailovich Salmin would have turned 60. The seminar Politeia named after him held a special meeting Salmin: In Memoriam arranged to coincide with his Anniversary (supported by the Institute of Scientific Information for Social Sciences, Russian Academy of Science, the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation and the Public Political Studies Center). It was conducted in the traditional within the world science genre of homage: participants of the seminar delivered their reports that were related in this way or the other to Salmin’s scientific interests, elaborated on his ideas and hypotheses bringing them back into the active scientific vocabulary. In this issue we are publishing reports by Alexander Galkin, Yury Pivovarov, Boris Makarenko, Yury Senokosov, Tatyana Alekseeva, Svyatoslav Kaspe, and hegumen Philipp (Ryabykh).
¹ 3, 2008
POST-COMMUNIST STATES: SOME RESULTS OF TRANSFORMATION
The article undertakes a comparative analysis of the successes that post-communist states achieved in the field of state construction, societies’ modernization and democratization. The comparison is based on two groups of criteria: (1) political and institutional parameters (presence or absence of violations or threats to nation’s integrity, precedents of power change through democratic elections and the nature of institutional order established in the process of post-communist development, including the configuration of checks and balances system, as well as party and electoral systems); (2) competent international ratings (Freedom House’s annual ratings “Freedom in the World”; democracy index of the “Economist” journal; index of democracy’s institutional grounds developed by a group of researchers from the MGIMO University; Transformation index of the Bertelsmann Foundation, etc.).
¹ 3, 2007
B.Makarenko reviews the monograph of the famous expert in international relations V.Petrovsky. In his opinion the work`s main merit is that it gives the "thick description" of the theories of international relations that teach to understand this sphere as science and provide for the analytical tools of its rethinking, planning and forecasting.
¹ 2, 2006
Political subcultures – distant and close.
The article is based on the results of the political survey conducted by the Center of Political Technologies commissioned by the Government of Moscow. The authors compare the views of the representatives of 4 political subcultures (“liberal”, “patriotic”, “pro-power” and “soviet traditionalistic”). The attitude to such values as “social justice”, “morale and family”, “patriotism”, “freedom”, “tolerance”, “market” and “West” were used as indicators. On the basis of the empiric data analysis, the author designs the hierarchy of values typical for different political subcultures revealing both the crossing points of different subcultures and the distance between them. The author tries to assess the process of centrifuging of these subcultures from the Soviet center in the period since the disintegration of the Soviet power.
DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2006-41-2-50-73
Pages: 50-73
¹ 3, 2005
¹ 1, 2004
Will the proportion be correct?
The author draws the results of the 10-year functioning of today’s electoral system, evaluates its pluses and minuses that were brought to light during the four electoral campaigns. The work pays considerable attention to the analysis of consequences of a possible transit from the mixed electoral system (both majoritarian and proportional) to a clearly proportional one. According to B.Makarenko, should this transit be executed mechanically, without amending the legal system, it would lead to a catastrophic fall in quality of citizens’ interests representation in the State Duma. During the 2003 elections, for instance, almost half of the deputees were ‘invisible’ for the voter (a bulletin usually includes just several leading names from the party lists), and one third of them received their mandates through a mechanical distribution of votes.
DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2004-32-16-11
Pages: 6-11
¹ 4, 2002
Consolidation of Democracy: «Children's Illnesses» of Post-Soviet Space
The article is based on the comparative analysis of all the fifteen former Soviet republics from the point of view of their successes or failures to the criteria of an American political scientist S. Huntington, worked out specially for the new emerged democraties. Examining one country after another, B. Makarenko places them on the scale of «decreasing democracy» from Baltic states on the top to Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan on the bottom.
According to the author, in the course of development of relatively successful «protodemocraties» there have appeared an embranchment which leaves out a possibility of both slipping down to authoritatrianism and further evolution towards full-fledged democracy.
DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2002-27-4-5-18
Pages: 5-18
¹ 5, 2001
IDEOLOGICAL ATTITUDES OF THE STATE DUMA DEPUTIES
The empiric basis of the article is the data of the sociological survey conducted by the Center of Political Technologies among the State Duma members. The author focuses his attention on the expression of the factor of ideology in the parliamentary policy and the ideological attitudes of different factions and individual deputies. This factor is analyzed through its relations with different problems including the private property on land, privatization, the state support to unprofitable enterprises, the advisability of Western investments etc.
OLD PARADIGM AND THE NEW WORLD POLICY
The article states that the events of the September 11, 2001 put in motion the world order, which was shaped in the previous decade. In then- forecast, the authors make an attempt to outline both the new transitional world order and the new geopolitical paradigm, in the framework of which, the new role of American allies, the changing rules of the game, the relations with the Muslim world and Russia are reviewed.
POLITICAL FORECAST AS THE ART OF THE POSSIBLE
The authors characterize the genre of political forecast and analyze the experience gained in this area by the Center of Political Technologies. The logic of the Center of Political Technologies forecasts is not, as a rule, limited by the prophecy. It is the definition of the combinations and consequences of each of the variants possible at the start. According to the authors, such models create a full picture and may act as the starting point for political planning.
¹ 3, 2000
Kremlin and Governors: First Results of Federal Reform
The authors focus their attention on the results and prospects of the Russian federal reform. The authors review the first actions of Mr. Putin’s Administration and Kremlin’s further possible steps in this direction, and give would-be scenarios of federal structures’ development. They believe that the most probable way of the federal districts development is their strengthening as the basis of the new national administrative-territorial division, as well as empowering of the Presidential Plenipotentiary Representatives with the real mechanisms of control over their territories under a decisive suppression of any disintegration processes. As far as the Federation Council, according to the authors, it will most likely turn into an analogue of the German Bundesrat, and will be influenced by both federal and regional executive authorities. Besides, analyzing regional leaders’ reaction to the current reforms, and the levers which the Kremlin has to influence the results of regional elections the authors come to the conclusion that the success of the federal reform will largely depend on the fact of how much thoroughly the federal authorities think out their actions pointed to regional elite. The authors believe that this very factor will ensure national stability, and will allow to take into consideration the interests of all the main actors of the political process, thus avoiding the stuck of the reform.
DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2000-17-3-55-66
Pages: 55-66
¹ 3, 1998
The leading experts of the Center of Political Technologies consider the political situation in Russia on the threshold of a two-year long electoral marathon – the Parliamentary electoral campaign for the State Duma of the RF in December 1999 and the Presidential elections in summer 2000. The authors analyze the legal and political framework of the electoral campaigns, describe the balance of political forces and their respective leaders, give forecasts concerning their electoral strategy and assess the potential results of the parties.
DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-1998-9-3-5-20
Pages: 5-20
¹ 1, 1998
Governors’ «parties of the power» as a new public phenomenon
The article considers a principally new phenomenon in the system of regional management organisation - the governors’ «parties of the power». These are the political coalitions headed by the governors that provide control over the regions, give the resources for the relations with the centre and guarantee favourable conditions for the re-election. The author analyses the internal regional and national conditions of the formation of such parties and their activity, classifies the «parties of the power» and defines the factors that influence their vitality.
DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-1998-7-1-50-58
Pages: 50-58
¹ 3, 1997
Degrees and Laws: the Process of Legislative Decision-Making
This article analyses the general pattern of making legislative decisions in post-1993 Russia. The article outlines the general political complications of law-making in a transitional society. Further, it analyses presidental decrees as a specific form of legislation which became customary in Russia in the early 1990s. Arguing that the political expediency of «legislation executive» declines as the country develops a professional, albeit politically controversial legislative authority, the author proceeds to analyse various aspects of the legislative process in the State Duma, the Lower House of Russian Parliament. The overall conclusion of the author is that though many criticisms of State Duma’s behaviour are true, the Lower House has developed considerable experience in law-making therefore, as the author argues, the general trend in the Russian politics is towards conciliation and dialogue between the executive and the legislative branches of power.
DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-1997-5-3-5-19
Pages: 5-19
Boris Nemtsov: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow
This paper draws a politica; portrait of Boris Nemtsov, First Deputy Prime Minister of Russia and the alleged «heir apparent» to the incumbent President. It includes Nemtsov’s political biography as a member of the first post-Communist Russian parliament and governor of Nizhny Novgorod, the motives for his transfer to the federal government, Nemtsov’s performance in the cabinet position and his relations with other key figures of the Russian political scene (President Yeltsin, Prime Minister Chernomyrdin and another first deputy premier Chubais, leader of «Yabloko» political bloc Yavlinsky). The concluding chapter discusses Nemtsov’s political strengths and weaknesses and looks at various scenarios of his future political career.
DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-1997-5-3-35-48
Pages: 35-48
¹ 2, 1996
The abstract is not found
DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-1996-2-1-16-23
Pages: 16-23
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Makarenko Boris
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