«Восточное партнерство»: актуальное состояние и ближайшие перспективы

Author(s): Andrey Devyatkov / Language(s): Russian Issue: 2/2015

This article aims at analyzing the key results and future prospects of the Eastern Partnership program of the European Union. Usually the criticism toward this initiative is based on two arguments: allegedly, it was the assertiveness of the EU which contributed to the Ukrainian crisis and increased a conflict potential with Russia. Besides, in the end Brussels was not able to deliver more in terms of Ukrainian, Moldovan and Georgian integration into the EU and to counterbalance the Russian foreign policy in the region. The author argues that the Eastern Partnership, driven by the “constitutive power of outsiders”, was an adequate answer to the socio-political changes which have occurred in East European countries. It gave them an opportunity, based on the principle of “more for more”, to include themselves in internal EU regimes without formal accession. On the other hand, the Eastern Partnership is currently facing two main challenges: Russian reaction to EU association agreements with Eastern neighbors as well as disintegration and corruption of the elites. Despite some disappointment of the Euro-enthusiasts and the devastating economic crisis in the region, it is still preserving the pro-European orientation and working on the association agenda. But, in the context of substantial problems with corruption, Brussels has now to apply the policy of “sticks” in order to discipline (and not only support or encourage) the neighborhood countries

Dorin Cimpoeșu, Republica Moldova – criza regimului parlamentar democratic, București. Pro Universitaria, 2015

Author(s): Sergiu Musteaţă,Oleg Serebrian / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 2/2015

The NEC “Black Sea Link” Yearbook 2013-14: a multidimensional insight into the history of the Black Sea Region

Author(s): Petru Negură / Language(s): English,Romanian Issue: 2/2015

Ethnic Political Mobilization: an Integrative or Disintegrative Force in the Modern Polity? Case-Studies of Political Mobilization by Non-Titular Nations in Moldova, Estonia and Lithuania

Author(s): Keiji Sato / Language(s): English Issue: 1-2/2014

The ethnic political mobilizations, which were originally led by the non-titularnations of the Soviet republics, traced different paths at their latter phase, afterthe collapse of the USSR in particular; the emerging of de facto independentstates inside de jure newly-established states (Moldova and Georgia), thepolitical reconciliation by forming autonomy (Moldova and Ukraine), theuprising of the inter-state war (Azerbaijan and Armenia), and the ethnic tensiontoward improvement of minority rights (Lithuania and Estonia). The four casestudiespresented in this paper demonstrate that rich material and immaterialresources increased the sustainability of ethnic political mobilization. Thesustainability was an important factor in achieving de facto independentstates after the collapse of the Soviet Union. This paper emphasizes that thesematerial and immaterial resources were not valid for the mobilization untilthe appearance of political opportunity and political will for collective actionby social political organizations. The political mobilization in Transnistrianot had only rich resources, but strong political will among associates towardregional independence. The political actors discovered the resources, suppliedthe resources to the participants of collective action, motivated them towardpolitical activity and increased the potentiality of immaterial resources.

The Utopia of ‘Holy Russia’ in Today’s Geopolitical Imagination of the Russian Orthodox Church: a Case Study of Patriarch Kirill

Author(s): Mikhail Suslov / Language(s): English Issue: 1-2/2014

The paper focuses on the myth of ‘Holy Russia,’ as restored and promoted by the Russian Orthodox Church under Patriarch Kirill (Gundiaev), and explores the new imagining identities and spatial configurations generated by this myth. While before ‘Holy Russia’ was a metaphor, associated with relics, deposited in Russian monasteries and churches, Kirill ‘geo-politicized’ it, informing it with practical political meaning, and as such it is viewed as including Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and on many occasions Moldova, and less often – Kazakhstan. The paper discusses the metaphor of ‘Holy Russia’ as a geopolitical utopia, as a postcolonial invention, and as a method of mental mapping. It uncovers Kirill’s modernist philosophy of history, based on Messianic meta-narrations of enslavement and subsequent liberation. As such, ‘Holy Russia’ does not stop colonial practices, but perpetuates them in many aspects. It continues the ‘internal re-colonization’ of the Russian population by ‘re-churchizing’ it, and by claiming to be the cultural center of the Western civilization.

Luc Duhamel, The KGB Campaign Against Corruption in Moscow, 1982-1987, Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2010

Author(s): Liliana Bargan / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 1-2/2014

Peasants’ Perceptions of Jewish Life in Interwar Bessarabia and how this became Interwoven into the Holocaust

Author(s): Diana Dumitru / Language(s): English Issue: 1-2/2013

This article analyzes the imagery shared by interwar Bessarabian peasants about their Jewish neighbors and traces the role that this imagery played in determining gentiles’ attitudes or behavior during the summer of 1941. It is built on a vast array of sources, including, over three hundred testimonies of Jewish survivors, and archival materials studied at the National Archives of the Republic of Moldova and the US Holocaust Memorial Museum. During the start of the war, civilians had brief interregnum allowing them to act on their own, unrestrained by local authorities. At this time, robberies in Jewish towns and villages occurred on an unprecedented scale across the region, with open involvement of numerous groups of civilians; sometimes these robberies were accompanied by assaults and murders. This paper argues that the plunder of Bessarabian Jewry was something more complex than war banditry. For these peasants, the robbery of Jewish goods represented a ‘natural’ way to balance what they perceived to be an unjust economic and social situation that had lasted too long and which could finally be resolved. During the summer of 1941 the peasants of Bessarabia undertook, on their own initiative and for their own benefit, a mass plunder which had the effect of expropriating property from their Jewish neighbors. Men, women, and even children took part in this “mass operation.” The plunder recast the economic topography of Bessarabian society, anticipating the actions of the Romanian state, which joined this process by legally nationalizing all property and assets owned by Jews in Bessarabia on September 4, 1941.

Mobilitate socială și limite de aparat: observații pe marginea poveștii vieții unui intelectual moldovean din epoca sovietică târzie

Author(s): Petru Negură / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 1-2/2013

The biography of Ion, who came from a poor peasant family, then became professor (he obtained his PhD at the most prestigious university in the former Soviet empire) and member of the first freely elected Moldovan parliament, offers a case study in which we can observe, at the micro scale, the upward social mobility process that took place in the Soviet Union through secondary and higher education institutions. However, this “life story” illustrates a certain cap which was sometimes imposed to new “national cadres” (employees) in their career development, who were suspected of disloyalty towards the Soviet regime. This new elite formed and capped by the same system (a process which was subject to a double logic: training of professionals and political control) became in the years of perestroika and the “velvet revolutions”, the new vanguard which took over after the departure of the Soviet government, by embracing the values of the “national revival” and liberal democracy.

Memory politics in a Multiethnic City: the Case of Vilnius

Author(s): Rasa Čepaitienė / Language(s): English Issue: 1-2/2013

In the article, the concepts that have influenced (and are still influencing) the appreciation, assimilation and usage of the collective memory, evidenced in historic Lithuanian towns, especially Vilnius, are analysed, and some possible solutions to the questions arising are proposed. It is emphasized that the recognition, usage and interpretation of cultural values, accumulated in the public spaces of historic towns, which are, as a rule, multiethnic, multiconfessional and multicultural, is a complex undertaking requiring competence, creativity and responsibility. The relationship between this multipartite problem and the cultural politics of modern Lithuania is examined. Two attitudes, monoperspective (imperial, Soviet, nationalistic) and multi-perspective (postmodern), towards the relationship between ethnic communities and the prevailing culture are distinguished. The clearest cases of public space appropriation/interpretation which provoked inter-ethnic or intersectional conflicts in recent times are analysed. These are related to the sensitivity of the collective memory, which is linked to the traumas and wrongs of the recent past. The strategic possibilities of the usage of cultural riches accumulated in the public spaces of Vilnius’ old town are discussed, by referring to the ideas of conservation theorists and taking into account the Lithuanian context. The actuality of the multicultural traditions and experiences of the unique concord in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania are emphasised, considering the present circumstances of the globalised world.

Partition and Post-War Violence: Case Study of Moldova and Pridnestrovie

Author(s): Carter Johnson / Language(s): English Issue: 1-2/2013

Partition advocates argue that ethnic groups must be separated completely in order to prevent renewed violence but Moldova is an exception with its large “stay-behind” minority and a lack of renewed violence. This chapter uses Moldova to develop partition theory, presenting an institutionalist explanation that focuses on the interaction between state-building and minority collaboration in a post-war context. The chapter argues that strong state institutions create an incentive for ethnic minorities to collaborate with the state, regardless of minority preferences, and this helps maintain peace. The case of Moldova reinforces the importance of state-strength in avoiding interethnic conflict renewal. Both Pridnestrovie/Transnistria and Moldova were a relatively strong state, which is unusual in a post-war, post-partition situation,and these relative strengths reduced the likelihood of conflict recurrence.

The “Foundations of Orthodox Culture” - A New Subject in Russian State Schools

Author(s): Jutta Scherrer / Language(s): English Issue: 1-2/2013

Since September 2012 “Foundations of Orthodox culture” is taught in all Russian state schools for children in 4th and partially 5th grade. The new subject is one of the six modules being offered under the general title “Foundations of religious cultures and secular ethics” among which pupils and/or parents have to choose. The article shows the main tendencies of the public debates connected with the Russian Orthodox Church’s attempt of “culture building” through its influence on the state school system. The first part of the article presents the main phases of the controversial debates on religious education; the second part analyses some textbooks of the new subject “Foundations of Orthodox culture”; and the third part discusses the relation of the Church’s understanding of Orthodox culture and culturology.

Becoming a Tree Hugger: Youth Environmentalism in Chişinău, Moldova

Author(s): Amy Samuelson / Language(s): English Issue: 1-2/2013

This paper focuses on Ecoweek, an environmental project for young people in Moldova, in order to explore the themes of post-Soviet cultural identity construction and the adaptation of Western ideas to local contexts. It considers how Ecoweek participants’ establishment of international connections allowed them to create an environmentalism that was cosmopolitan, yet distinctly Moldovan. Their approach reflects the strong global awareness of many urban young people in Moldova, who often look outside of the country for opportunities. The paper argues that students’ participation in the project was related not just to a determination to solve environmental problems, but also to a desire to be part of a global trend, to gain experience, and to make useful contacts. Moreover, it suggests that the same factors leading the students to produce a globally informed environmentalism also made it difficult to build a lasting movement.

Olga Velikanova, Popular Perceptions of Soviet Politics in the 1920s: Disenchantment of the Dreamers, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013

Author(s): Alexandr Voronovici / Language(s): English Issue: 1-2/2013

Pedagogika potoczności jako podstawa alternatywnej teorii nauczania o Holokauście

Author(s): Marta Kaźmierczak,Oleksandr Boroń / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1/2013

The pedagogy of commonness might be the art of distinguishing between complementary knowledge and its appearances and communicative masks. Ignorance can create some myths of daily life that sanction mistakes, abuses and misunderstandings as the equivalents or even substitutes of knowledge based on true research, dialogue and exchange of thoughts and ideas. The main thesis of this article is: commonness will not cease – that is why the future reception of the Holocaust depends on the critical thinking skills of people who as users of new media should know why the Holocaust is not only a word. The pedagogy of commonness should prepare every user (who is or will be interested in) of the new media to think critically about the diversity of representations of the Holocaust.

Международна научна конференция „Свети Климент Охридски и неговото време" в Университета „Фан Ноли" — Корча, Р Албания, 9 декември 2016 г.

Author(s): Dimo Cheshmedzhiev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 4/2016

Leo Freundlich. Die Albanische Korrespondenz. Agenturmeldungen aus Krisenzeiten Juni 1913 bis August 1914. Herausgegeben von Robert Elsie, mit einer Einleitung von Roswitha Strommer. Miinchen: Oldenbourg Verlag, 2012, LXVII+614 S. Лео Фройндлих:

Author(s): Atanas Kremenliev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 2/2013

Нови издания по македонския въпрос

Author(s): Kiril Alexiev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 2/2013

«Quaestio Rossica» — журнал нового поколения и новых перспектив

Author(s): S. A. Krasilnikov,I. S. Kuznetsov / Language(s): Russian Issue: 17/2016

In the modern, dynamic world of Russian academic journals, new publications face tough intellectual competition practically from the very start of their existence. The present survey looks at the Ural Federal University’s journal Quaestio Rossica (QR), examining its multidisciplinary approach, the international composition of its editorial board and author roster, and its openness to a variety of genres. While this journal has only been in print for three years, it has already gained a place among the most authoritative journals in Russian studies. The creators of the journal have sought to organically combine the best traditions of Russian academia with the conceptual, methodological, and technological innovations recently achieved in both domestic and foreign Russian studies. The platform and structure of the journal allow it to present new intellectual investigations and host a forum for dialogue between Russianists of different traditions and generations and between scholars working in different fields of the humanities. The reputation of the journal is such that publishing in QR represents not only an achievement for the author but also for the institution in which he or she is employed, especially since the journal started being indexed on Web of Science in 2015. The sustained development of an international roster of authors, which is facilitated by the fact that QR accepts submissions in Russian, English, German and French, is an indicator of a growing community of Russianists from across the world.

Александр Завелевич Ваксер: педагог, ученый, публицист

Author(s): Aleksandr Ivanovich Rupasov,A. N. Chistikov / Language(s): Russian Issue: 17/2016

Biographical data to the anniversary of the outstanding historian A. Z. Wakser.

Националното обединение на България 1940-1944 г. Сборник доклади от национапната научна конференция, Благоевград, 14-15 април 2011 г. Македонски научен институт- София, 2012, 528 с.

Author(s): Stavri Georgiev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/2013