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This paper presents a reconstruction of the Russian Orthodox Church's narrative on mission, including the evolution and most characteristic features of its content and context. The notion of mission employed in this article combines components of both messianism and missionism. In short, mission is understood as the conviction that a certain community (state/nation) is exceptional and that this exceptionality manifests itself in its special destiny (Russian: osoboe prednaznachenie). As such, it represents a specific component of the identity of a state. In contemporary Russia, mission is seen as a crucial attribute of civilizational distinctiveness and of a major power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author examines the evolution of relations among Church, state, and society in Russia over recent years in the light of comparisons with other predominantly Orthodox Christian countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A public policy scholar sets out to investigate the reasons behind the exceptionally high interest rates for mortgage loans in Russia. The article argues that this situation can be explained by examining Russian government policy making in the area of housing finance during the post-Soviet period. Following comparative literature, the process of policy development over time is argued to be determined by the interaction of such factors as policy legacies, policy ideas, institutional environment and actors' interests. The article demonstrates how the agency model of housing finance was institutionalised in policy during the 1990s. The initial appeal of this model to the interest of diverse actors at different levels of government is explained. The subsequent evolution of this model towards the formation of a ‘state-led model of housing finance’ over the recent decade is traced and its limitations in producing sufficient volumes of mortgage funding are highlighted. The analysis, in addition, demonstrates that alternative policy ideas with the potential to generate extra volumes of mortgage finance are also available in Russia within the relevant policy community. Their adoption in policy is, however, presently blocked by the interests of the top policy officials seeking to increase and maintain the central role of the Russian state in directing the country's economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We can see three phases in the evolution of the post-Soviet Russian state: a phase of extreme state weakness with the enforcement function performed by organized criminal gangs, the era of "regional barons" presiding over regional administrative markets, and the most recent phase of a unified national administrative market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author traces the historical evolution of the relationship between the army and society. He argues that the underlying cause of the poor performance of the Russian army is its failure to adapt to changes in the society around it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]