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This paper explores the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war on Russia's academic sector, relying on the limited evidence available. The invasion has triggered an academic exodus from Russia, with both immediate and far-reaching consequences. These consequences range from the interruption of ongoing research projects and the termination of international collaborations to the emergence of an intellectual void, raising concerns about the future of academic pursuits in Russia. Conventional models for understanding academic mobility, which primarily focus on professional and economic incentives, prove inadequate in accounting for the complexities introduced by geopolitical strife, international sanctions, and curtailed academic freedoms. This paper calls for an interdisciplinary approach incorporating perspectives from political science, sociology, and international relations for a richer understanding of academic migration in conflict-affected settings. The Russia-Ukraine war serves as an important case study, shedding light on the vulnerabilities of academic sectors, even in the aggressor country where the physical conflict is not occurring, and offering broader insights for the field of academic mobility.

Events of recent years both in the United States and around the globe have highlighted the fragility of democracy. The invasion of Ukraine by Russia has prompted educators to seek evidence-based civic engagement methods for helping students understand the invasion and its implications. This paper offers a set of recommendations on how to teach the war in Ukraine through the lens of civic engagement education. Over the years, a sizeable body of scholarship has developed addressing the critical role civic education plays in safeguarding democracy and producing effective pedagogical approaches for instilling democratic knowledge, skills, and dispositions. Using this scholarship as a starting point, this paper offers recommendations on how educators in a variety of settings and across disciplines might modify these civic learning models to address the war in Ukraine. Based on my experience as a scholar-practitioner-educator at an institute of politics focused primarily on American democracy, I also offer suggestions on how to integrate teaching the war in Ukraine using these practices to enhance appreciation of civic engagement and the role of the citizen.

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Russias invasion of Ukraine in 2022 triggered a conflict that has transformed international relations through drastic impacts on policymaking, energy politics, and alliances. Such impacts have produced severe multi-dimensional consequences for African countries that have yet to be sufficiently interrogated in the literature. In response to this gap, this paper examined the security implications of the conflict for African countries to offer a comprehensive analysis that considers the intersection of the conflict with contemporary economic, human, social, and political issues confronting Africa. In discourse using a qualitative approach and rooted in a theoretical perspective drawn from the Copenhagen School, the paper underlined the security implications as evident in the areas of food security and governance, buttressing that the proxy conflicts and power struggles associated with this war have exacerbated existing challenges related to food availability and interfered with the consolidation of democracy in Africa. The paper concluded that the war's multi-dimensional impact potentially compounds political instability vectors. It generates dynamics capable of eroding social cohesion and fomenting social unrest in Africa, meriting its designation as an issue of great concern to African policymakers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to analyse how the theory of economic and institutional liberalism applies to the Three Seas Initiative (3SI) and its Investment Fund (3SIIF), particularly in the context of Ukraine, which was attacked by Russia in February 2022. The study integrates theoretical perspectives from security studies, political science, and international relations with the practical implementation of the 3SI and 3SIIF. It uses scholarly literature on liberalism along with official 3SI and 3SIIF documentation. By comparing the theoretical principles of liberalism with the operational practices of the 3SI, the article draws conclusions about the alignment of these practices with liberal theory. The findings indicate that the theory of liberalism can be used to explain and describe forms of regional cooperation such as the 3SI, which reflects its relevance across various operational and conceptual dimensions. The acceptance of Ukraine as a participating 3SI partner was one of the signals to Russia that Ukraine is a part of the Western world, where goals are achieved through voluntary integration, trade and investment cooperation, free market, and democratic principles, and not through dependency, violence, and military action. Finally, the paper illustrates the application of liberalism theory to the geopolitical realities of the 3SI and draws attention to its effectiveness in achieving economic and regional security goals. The research may influence future regional policies and strategies, especially in the context of Ukraine’s integration into Western structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fossil fuels helped Russian president Putin build military power of Russia and attack Ukraine. Coal, gas and oil are being used by Putin's regime as weapons against the countries that are contractors and consumers of Russian fuels. The aim of this paper is to present a methodology based on refining information and Big Data analysis and to demonstrate the results, as well as to show trends and developments in relation to the response to the crisis on the fossil fuel market. Predictive methods and the techniques of sentiment analysis including the cluster analysis and the analysis of the variability of trends indicates that the European Union has taken over the burden of energy policy-making. This also indicates a downgrading of national policies and their weakness in resisting Russia's aggressive actions. The analysis of frequency confirms the markedly different Russian attitudes to Europe as a whole and to its individual members. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Russia's Neo-Eurasianism challenges the existing hierarchy in the international order with wider implications for the United States as the leading Atlanticist opposition. Ranging from its Cultural Exceptionalism and messianic identity to the comprehensive geopolitical discourse, Neo-Eurasianism encourages Putin's Russia towards a renewed mission of the Eurasian Integration. This is evident by Russia's emerging alliances, its adventures against Georgia and Ukraine, and the restructuring of regional institutions. The Fourth Political Theory as an alternative to the discarded Liberalism as the dead-end of modernity, its geopolitical model peddles Russia towards geopolitical settlement across Eurasia to emerge as the dominant Eurasian pole. Such settlements in Eastern Europe, the Persian Gulf and East Asia is complemented by the weakening American commitment to the three geopolitical hotspots which results not only in America's global retreat but also in a world with no global centre of gravity. The research paper examines the relevance of Dugin's geopolitical model in the contemporary geopolitical environment across Eurasia. It addresses the geopolitical discourse and limitations of Eurasianism, Russia's New Nationalism its changing geopolitical behaviour across the Eurasian supercontinent. It also highlights the consequences of Neo-Eurasianism for the Atlanticist pre-eminence across Eurasia, and its impact over the nature of the emerging word order. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Politica y Sociedad is the property of Universidad Complutense de Madrid and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The history of Communism is effectively taught by the extensive use of new audiovisual and interdisciplinary tools. Inclusion of material from many disciplines besides history is necessary if the complicated and highly emotional political issues are to be handled in a thoughtful, objective presentation. (MLW)

Copyright of Medunarodni Problemi is the property of Institute of International Politics & Economics and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper examines a relatively unexplored aspect of the Russo-Japanese territorial dispute: the involvement of subnational actors. It focuses in particular on the sustained campaign of domestic lobbying and paradiplomacy by elites from the Far East region of Sakhalin aimed at preventing the Russian central government from transferring the South Kuril Islands/Northern Territories to Japan during the 1990s. It explores the various responses to the ‘Sakhalin factor’ from federal authorities in Russia, as well as private and public bodies in Japan, highlighting the subsequent localization and pluralization of diplomatic channels. The paper also considers why the ‘Sakhalin factor’ became so prominent, pointing to a synergy of factors that include the high-profile anti-concessionary campaigns of the Sakhalin political elite, the fallout from Russia's troubled attempts at state building and a possible convergence of interests between Boris Yeltsin and regional authorities. The paper concludes with an analysis of how Vladimir Putin's federal reforms, launched in 2000, have diminished Sakhalin's authority over the South Kuril Islands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we build on the work of Graham Smith, who was developing a critical geopolitics of Russia in his posthumous paper of 1999, published in this journal. Like Smith, we link the evolving geopolitical orientations of Russia to the search for a post-Soviet identity amongst its citizens and its political leadership. While Smith saw a core concept in Russian geopolitics having Protean masks, it is the leadership of the Russian state, specifically President Putin, who has successfully adopted a Protean strategy to appeal to the disparate elements of the Russian geopolitical spectrum. Based on a nationwide survey in spring 2002, we identify six clusters in Russian public opinion by socio-demographic characteristics and we connect each cluster to the main geopolitical orientations competing in contemporary Russia, including democratic statism and the increasingly marginalized Eurasianism that formed the core subject of Smith's paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This special commentary summarizes the major findings and lessons taken from the Russia-Ukraine War integrated research project conducted by members of the US Army War College class of 2024— all subject matter experts on their topics. It outlines seven lessons covering doctrinal, operational, technological, strategic, and political issues related to the second year of the war, including Russia’s use of mercenaries; the need to create a culture of mission command; ways to deal with a transparent battlefield because of persistent, ubiquitous surveillance; air superiority as a prerequisite for successful combined arms ground offensives; and changes to the intelligence and information domains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses a survey among students at European universities to explore whether Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has affected attitudes toward European integration. Some respondents completed the survey just before Russia’s assault on February 24, 2022, and some did so just afterwards, thus delivering a quasi-experimental design situation, which we exploit. Our results suggest that the ominous news about the Russian attack increased the participants’ interest in EU politics, consolidated their attachment to the EU, and made them more mindful and appreciative of the benefits of deeper European integration. In effect, the war so close to the EU Eastern border provoked a rally around the supranational EU flag, with convergence of public opinion toward shared European values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper tests the theory of opportunistic cycles in a decade-old democracy— Russia—finds strong evidence of cycles, and provides an explanation for why previous literature often found weaker evidence. Using regional monthly panel data, we find that (1) the budget cycle is sizable and short-lived; public spending shifts toward direct monetary transfers to voters; (2) the magnitude of the cycle decreases with democracy, government transparency, media freedom, voter awareness, and over time; and (3) preelectoral manipulation increases incumbents' chances for reelection. The short length of the cycle explains underestimation of its size by previous literature because of low frequency data used in previous studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the complex ethnic situation in the late Russian Empire and the early Soviet Union as seen by Russian émigrés. Observers from many political perspectives identified that, whereas ethnic minorities often had a relatively well-developed sense of national identity within the empire/union, "Russia" was relatively undeveloped in terms of self-identification. This paradox affected both Soviet policy and émigré observers. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The events in Maidan -- the Independence Square in downtown Kiev -- marked the beginning of the Ukrainian crisis, which we can place either on November 21st, 2013 -- the start of the pro-European popular reaction (known as the Euromaidan) to the President Yanukovych' s gesture of suddenly suspending the preparations for the signing of the political and economic Association Agreement between Kiev and the EU, either on February 22nd, 2014 -- Yanukovych' s light from Kiev and the seizing of power by the pro-Western political forces supported by the Maidan. This paper proposes a close analysis of the events that triggered the most important international crisis in the post-Cold War era, the implications of the key international players and the reaction of the Russian Federation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a detailed technique for identifying links between the electoral cleavages and political divides, on the one hand, and between the electoral cleavages and factors of social stratification, on the other. The described methodology is subsequently used for studying the political and social content of the electoral cleavages in post-Soviet Russia (1993–2011). Two ‘full’ long-term electoral cleavages are detected that can be interpreted both politically and socially: (1) ‘pro-market modernists versus anti-market traditionalists’; (2) ‘authorities versus community’. The first cleavage defined the political development of the country in the 1990s, the second determined it for the period after 2000. The first cleavage has strong correlation with left-right (socioeconomic) and ‘modernist–traditionalist’ political dimensions, the second with the ‘authoritarian-democratic’ division. Both cleavages are conditioned socially first of all by urban–rural differences or, what is the same, the economic successfulness of different territories. The ‘pro-market modernists versus anti-market traditionalists’ cleavage also has a strong connection to the level of sociocultural development of the territories, the ‘authorities versus community’ cleavage to their demographic characteristics (particularly, ethnic composition). [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The paper presents results of a survey of residents' attitudes of Donetsk city and Donetsk region, which was conducted by the Social Research and Political Analysis Institute on 26-28 March 2014. The author interprets research results in the context of P. Sztompka's model of socio-cultural trauma, offering therefore potential behavioral scenarios of city dwellers in the aggravated political confrontation situation and developing recommendations for the Ukrainian central authorities as to prevention of an open civil confrontation in the Donbas. The research results will unveil common myths of the total pro-Russian orientation of Donetsk (vice versa, 66% of the dwellers link their future with the reformed Ukraine); federalization as an idee fixe of Donetsk residents (the explicit minority is in its favor); willingness of the majority to become a part of Russia (the separatists account for about one third); lack of any significant number of Ukrainian patriots in Donetsk region. The author also draws a conclusion that mass consciousness of Donetsk residents is greatly traumatized by both political changes in the country and their interpretation by pro-Russian mass media dominating in the region; feeling threatened, called up fears, insecurity are breeding grounds for confrontation as well as kindling of radicalism and extremism. The author states that there is a relative balance between Ukrainian patriots and the pro-Russian fifth column, the majority of the dwellers taking a passive stand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper concerns the issue of the dialog between the Russian Orthodoxy and the state based on the document The Basis of the Social Concept. The main idea is to present a vision of the relationship and cooperation between the Moscow Patriarchate and the state, which was contained in the social concept of the Russian Orthodox Church, as also the impact of this concept on the development of church‑state relations at the present stage. This issue became the subject of the interest both, researchers, representatives of the Moscow Patriarchate and public opinion as well. Thus, the analysis of this phenomenon is the matter of a great importance to the understanding the nature of the relations between the Orthodox Church and the state in Russia after 1991. The subject of considerations will be such issues like: attitudes to the state and government, the problem of the state system, Christian’s loyalty to the secular national power, concept of the secular state based on the social concept of the Orthodox Church. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently two new departments, the School of Broadcast Journalism and the Department of Political Science, were created at Moscow State University while leaving the two traditional departments that engendered them intact. The result has been a contestation over academic freedom, standards, and the very definition of both disciplines at Russia's premier university. The new departments are both closely associated with United Russia, the dominant political party in Russian politics and the political movement designed to promote the priorities and policies of Prime Minister and former President Vladimir Putin. This paper examines the self-definition of each of the four departments by means of open- ended, semi-structured interviews with faculty and content-analytic examination of curricular materials, including syllabi and assigned readings. We conclude that the newer departments are somewhat more attuned to certain aspects of the international standards of both disciplines, but demonstrate little adherence to key ethical and pedagogical norms, leaving them more susceptible to political influence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

“Benford's Law and the Detection of Election Fraud” raises doubts about whether a test based on the mean of the second significant digit of vote counts equals 4.187 is useful as a test for the occurrence of election fraud. The paper mistakenly associates such a test with Benford's Law, considers a simulation exercise that has no apparent relevance for any actual election, applies the test to inappropriate levels of aggregation, and ignores existing analysis of recent elections in Russia. If tests based on the second significant digit of precinct-level vote counts are diagnostic of election fraud, the tests need to use expectations that take into account the features of ordinary elections, such as strategic actions. Whether the tests are useful for detecting fraud remains an open question, but approaching this question requires an approach more nuanced and tied to careful analysis of real election data than one sees in the discussed paper. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper first analyzes the question why did Czarist Russia and Ottoman Turkey fall behind the West? It is argued that interstate rivalry forced West European rulers to respect the private property rights of producers and subjects earlier and to a greater degree than czars or sultans ruling over huge contiguous territories ever had to. Incentives to work were better in Europe than elsewhere. The mobilization of available knowledge for productive purposes was easier than elsewhere. Limited government implied less political obstacles to innovation. Comparatively secure private property ownership in the means of production made the establishment of scarcity prices and the rational allocation of resources easier than elsewhere. Whereas the Western past was feudal, the Russian or Turkish past was patrimonial or even sultanistic. Feudalism is a much better starting point for establishing the rule of law and safe property rights than patrimonialism. The second issue has been the question why Czarist Russia could outperform Ottoman Turkey. Here the political consequences of the Muslim tolerance of slavery and polygyny matter. Being slaves, many members of Ottoman ruling elites were at the mercy of their owner, the sultan. Therefore, they became tools of arbitrary rule. Moreover, the practice of polygyny generated downward social mobility and political instability and thereby added another obstacle to the establishment of safe property rights for producers or merchants. The final issue is the economic prospects of Russia or Turkey. Economic freedom is better in Turkey than in Russia. Moreover, Russia is graying, whereas Turkey may look forward to a growing labor force. Although a rich endowment in natural resources seems to favor Russia, the resource curse has prevented other resource rich countries from developing. Therefore, the Turkish prospect looks much brighter than the Russian one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article outlines campaigns to promote democracy in Belarus. It discusses the limited impact of the domestic opposition and the West in attaining major changes within the Lukashenka regime. It also offers an analysis of Belarus' relations with Russia, noting how in recent years, Minsk has adopted a more independent path, raising hopes for more cooperation with Europe, most recently through the Eastern Partnership Programme. The international recession has halted the most redeeming aspect of an authoritarian government: impressive economic growth and relatively high living standards. With these new circumstances in place, the paper examines three key questions. What level of democratization will satisfy the European Union (EU)? Was the policy of the United States (and formerly the EU) to isolate Belarus misguided? Has the Lukashenka administration undergone fundamental changes in recent years or are the changes introduced to date mainly cosmetic? Finally, it suggests that the question of democratization is no longer the key item on the agenda concerning the EU's attitude toward Belarus because it has been superseded by strategic partnerships with states in the non-Russian neighbourhood of the former Soviet Union. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The fledgling democracy of Russia is facing many challenges. Perhaps the most dangerous of all is the rise of an aggressive chauvinistic nationalism. Initially, political analysts regarded it as a “recent” phenomenon which was filling in the ideological vacuum left by communism. As time went on, however, scholars began to grasp its deep historical roots and investigate its ideological evolution during the Soviet period. In this process, they tended to focus on the “legitimate” domains of the Soviet system – such as the official press, the literary field of socialist realism, and so on – in order to investigate how “the Russian idea” overtly coexisted or even covertly prospered within the boundaries of officially sanctioned ideology. The main goal of this paper is to bring a new dimension to our understanding of contemporary Russian nationalism, by approaching the whole phenomenon from below. While focusing on the Soviet period, this paper traces the ideological evolution of Slavophiles and their selective degeneration into chauvinism at the social level. In particular, it analyzes the underground ideological field of samizdat – uncensored illicit publications – where Slavophiles played a significant role. In this way, we can hear the “unfiltered” voices of rising Russian nationalists during the Soviet era. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The last few decades have witnessed substantial efforts to reinvent the state worldwide. The Russian state is no exception to this global trend. At the outset of a new millennium, the need for renewal of the post-Soviet model of the state has been acknowledged, and an up-to-date reform package has been promoted by the central government. This has encompassed the reconstruction of public sector accounting. Given the paucity of consistent research efforts on the topic, this article seeks to describe and analyze, and by so doing, contribute to knowledge about Russian public sector accounting in times of change. To tackle the general purpose, two levels are incorporated in this study to link reform initiatives for the government as a whole with those endeavours to implement them in one state-sponsored university of Russian tertiary education. The major questions to be addressed are of whether, why, and how changes at the central government level have penetrated down to the university and extended to its accounting system. The evidence gathered in this paper reveals that a new Russian public sector ideology has markedly been affected by overseas developments in the shape of large international organizations. However, no compelling evidence has been documented in this research as unveiling that changes at the macro-level have penetrated down to the university to any significant extent. This study concludes that launching a new version of accounting by the Russian state can be regarded as more of a symbol of legitimacy for the university rather than of an actual financial management tool. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper attempts to understand the relations between three important actors in Northeast Asia — China, Russia, and Japan — since the end of the Cold War. Whereas the political changes attending the collapse of the communist bloc have opened new foreign policy opportunities to all three actors, only China and Russia have been quick to move on them. Japan's relative inflexibility, attributable to its alliance with the US on the one hand and its territorial dispute with Russia on the other, has had the effect of impeding the application of triangular diplomacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relevance of bordering practices and dynamics for the European Union has significantly increased in recent years, ranging from Brexit to the open-border policies towards Ukrainians fleeing Russia's military aggression, through the crises in the Schengen area due to migration and COVID–19. In its attempts to respond to these challenges, the EU has been widely criticized in particular for its approach to migration; it has been alluded to as being cynical, negligent and even 'illiberal'. The aim of this article is to analyse whether and in which sense this allegation is correct, providing clear normative criteria. Drawing from political theory, we identify three different understandings of 'just' migration governance, all compatible with a liberal approach, and use them as benchmarks to evaluate the EU's stance. Focusing on selected EU bordering practices—physical, administrative and external bordering—we detect a general trend towards re-bordering, meaning processes through which the control of borders is enhanced and their exclusionary meaning is increased. Most of all, the article shows that EU policies have been leaning towards one specific understanding of liberalism to the detriment of the others, which poses significant challenges to the EU's credentials as a pillar of the liberal international order (LIO). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) presents itself as a defender of traditional Christian values. Among these values, representatives of the ROC mention concern for marriage and family. To what extent is the position of the ROC an expression of commitment to the traditional Christian concept of marriage and family? In this article, we analyse the contemporary Orthodox discourse in Russia since Kirill Gundyayev became the Patriarch of Moscow in 2009. From a political science and security studies perspective, we highlight the main ideological elements of this discourse. We contrast these elements with similar content in Russian official documents and Vladimir Putin's statements. An analysis of what the ROC says about the problems and protection of marriage and family in Russia, against the background of Putin's statements and the actions of the state authorities, shows that the ROC's discourse on marriage and family echoes the main themes of the political discourse controlled by the state authorities. In its understanding of marriage and in its efforts on behalf of the family, the ROC represents a conservative doctrinal position. Although, in doctrinal terms, it essentially expresses the traditional Christian teaching on marriage, the strong ideologisation and securitisation of demographic issues in Russia are also reflected in church discourse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]