scholarly journals Mortality in Russia in light of the reduction in alcohol consumption

Author(s):  
Alexander Nemtsov

In the contemporary history of Russia, there have been three significant reductions in alcohol consumption associated with a decrease in mortality. The first, resulting from the anti-alcohol campaign of 1985, lasted 3 years, and the second, resulting from the impoverishment of the population and death of a large part of heavy drinkers, 4 years (1995-1998). In 2004 began the third decrease in consumption, often inexplicably linked with the anti-alcohol laws of 2005. However, the history of this decline goes back to the year 2000. It started with the creation of Rosspirtprom (RSP) and the anti-beer campaign, with Rosalkogolregulirovanie (RAR) taking over in 2009. The main activities of RSP and RAR involved the bankruptcy of several hundred enterprises of the alcohol industry. This and many other actions of the RSP and the RAR resulted in the instability, sometimes disruption, of the alcohol market. This could be a significant cause of the decrease in consumption and mortality in 2004. In fact, in 2000 the second anti-alcohol campaign started. The object of the first one had been the consumer, of the second - the alcohol market. The aim of the first campaign was to decrease consumption and improve the economy. The aim of the second was to fill the budget by suppressing the illegal market and moving consumers into the legal market. The methods of the first campaign consisted of a reduction of production and trade restrictions; the methods of the second one changed in the course of the campaign. The main goal was to squeeze small and medium-sized players out of the market, on the assumption that they were the principal suppliers of illegal products. The methods of the second campaign included the introduction of a Unified State Automated System, the growth of excise taxes and a minimum price for alcohol, as well as tough, sometimes criminal competition. The tool of the first campaign was administrative pressure. The main instruments of the second one were RSP and then RAR. As a result, there was neither an economic recovery in the first campaign, nor a filling of the budget thanks to alcohol in the second. The decrease in consumption and mortality in the first campaign was short-lived. The second campaign was in this regard more effective, due to the economic crisis and the growing budget deficit. Both campaigns led to increased consumption of illegal alcohol.

1961 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 73-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
John R. W. Small

It is generally accepted that history is an element of culture and the historian a member of society, thus, in Croce's aphorism, that the only true history is contemporary history. It follows from this that when there occur great changes in the contemporary scene, there must also be great changes in historiography, that the vision not merely of the present but also of the past must change.


2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 31
Author(s):  
David Caballero Mariscal

Guatemala experienced a cruel genocide in the early eighties, in the context of a repressive Conflict. Due to the different governments´ repressive policies, this terrible social situation was little known abroad, and even in the own country. Just after the Peace Accords, several organisms worked to uncover the historical truth. In any case, we cannot forget that testimonial literature is a privileged mean to know this dark period of the contemporary history of Guatemala. This genre is particularly relevant, because the main writers are originally Mayans, and have directly suffered both repression and social exclusion due to ethnic reasons. Rigoberta Menchú, Unmberto Ak´abal and Víctor Montejo represent a new and original point of view in the measure in which they describe feelings and situations from the perspective of those who experience them personally. Testimonial literature or the Testimonio becomes an ethnographic document that allows us to know not just a period but a people who have suffered from repression and exclusion for centuries.


2018 ◽  
pp. 1128-1136
Author(s):  
Olga V. Bershadskaya ◽  

The article studies features of socio-economic and socio-political development of the Black Sea village in 1920s. Documents from the fond of the Black Sea District Committee (Obkom) of the RCP (b) -VKP (b) stored in the Center for Documentation of the Modern History of the Krasnodar Krai allow not only to reconstruct the developments in the Black Sea village in the NEP days, but also to understand the nature of its evolution. Uniqueness of the Black Sea village was greatly determined by its geographical environment. There had formed a sectoral makeup of agricultural production: fruit-farming, viticulture, tobacco growing. Rugged relief forced peasants to form holdings or farms; therefore rural communities were rare. Its another distinctive feature was its motley national composition. Over 50 ethnic groups inhabited the district, among most numerous were the Russians, the Ukrainians, the Armenians, and the Greeks. In the first years of the NEP, the main tasks facing district authorities were to develop ‘high-intensity’ industries and to shape local peasant farms into food base for cities and resorts. While tackling these tasks, they had to deal with shortages of land and poor communications and to bring lease relations and work-hands employment up to scratch. The situation was complicated by socio-political inertia of rural population of the district that came from the absence of community tradition. Study of the documents from the fond of the Black Sea party obkom shows that local authorities were well aware of the peculiarity of their region, but in most cases had to follow guidelines set ‘from above’ to introduce all-Russian standards.


Author(s):  
Courtney Freer

This book, using contemporary history and original empirical research, updates traditional rentier state theory, which largely fails to account for the existence of Islamist movements, by demonstrating the political capital held by Muslim Brotherhood affiliates in Kuwait, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). While rentier state theory predicts that citizens of such states will form opposition blocs only when their stake in rent income is threatened, this book demonstrates that ideology, rather than rent, has motivated the formation of independent Islamist movements in the wealthiest states of the region. It argues for this thesis by chronicling the history of the Brotherhood in Kuwait, Qatar, and the UAE, and showing how the organization adapted to the changing (and often adverse) political environs of those respective countries to remain a popular and influential force for social, educational, and political change in the region. The presence of oil rents, then, far from rendering Islamist complaint politically irrelevant, shapes the ways in which Islamist movements seek to influence government policies.


Atmosphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 73
Author(s):  
Mae Sexauer Gustin ◽  
Sarrah M. Dunham-Cheatham ◽  
Jiaoyan Huang ◽  
Steve Lindberg ◽  
Seth N. Lyman

This review focuses on providing the history of measurement efforts to quantify and characterize the compounds of reactive mercury (RM), and the current status of measurement methods and knowledge. RM collectively represents gaseous oxidized mercury (GOM) and that bound to particles. The presence of RM was first recognized through measurement of coal-fired power plant emissions. Once discovered, researchers focused on developing methods for measuring RM in ambient air. First, tubular KCl-coated denuders were used for stack gas measurements, followed by mist chambers and annular denuders for ambient air measurements. For ~15 years, thermal desorption of an annular KCl denuder in the Tekran® speciation system was thought to be the gold standard for ambient GOM measurements. Research over the past ~10 years has shown that the KCl denuder does not collect GOM compounds with equal efficiency, and there are interferences with collection. Using a membrane-based system and an automated system—the Detector for Oxidized mercury System (DOHGS)—concentrations measured with the KCl denuder in the Tekran speciation system underestimate GOM concentrations by 1.3 to 13 times. Using nylon membranes it has been demonstrated that GOM/RM chemistry varies across space and time, and that this depends on the oxidant chemistry of the air. Future work should focus on development of better surfaces for collecting GOM/RM compounds, analytical methods to characterize GOM/RM chemistry, and high-resolution, calibrated measurement systems.


1996 ◽  
Vol 89 (7) ◽  
pp. 389-392 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerond Lake-Bakaar ◽  
Roger Grimson

Our objective was to identify factors that might correlate with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) disease stage in intravenous drug abusers (IVDA). Particular attention was given to alcohol abuse. We accordingly explored in a cross-sectional study the relation between stage of HIV disease and age, sex, needle sharing, ethnicity, self-reported history of alcohol consumption and CAGE scores. IVDA from a single municipal hospital were subdivided into three groups according to HIV disease status. Group 1 comprised 42 individuals with AIDS; group 2 comprised 114 who were HIV positive but without AIDS; and group 3 comprised 52 who were HIV negative. Information on alcohol consumption and CAGE responses were obtained by questionnaire and interview. Discriminant analysis indicated that alcohol abuse, assessed either by self-reported consumption or by CAGE scores, was significantly more common in the AIDS group than in either the HIV positive or the HIV negative groups, when controlled for age, sex, and needle sharing status. The relative risk of AIDS was 3.8 times higher in the heavy drinkers than in moderate drinkers. Needle sharing was also more common in the AIDS group than in the HIV positive or HIV negative groups when the other factors were controlled for. AIDS was more common in black than white IVDA, and this increased frequency did not appear related to alcohol consumption since the distribution of heavy drinkers within each category of HIV disease did not differ within the ethnic groups. These data indicate that a history of heavy alcohol consumption is more common in IVDA with AIDS than in IVDA at earlier stages of HIV disease.


2004 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 301-320
Author(s):  
Wolfgang Hetzer

AbstractThe imminent entry of ten countries into the European Union is one of the greatest success stories in the contemporary history of the continent. Following the devastation of the Second World War and the political and economic paralysis during the ‘Cold War’ period the future holds promise of development opportunities of historical significance for twenty-five Member States. It must not be overlooked, however, that, due to the still prevalent differences in living standards, in income ratios and in administrative structures, the process of economic approximation is also not without risks. Among these is the tendency towards corruption. The expansion of the European Union can only succeed economically and politically if the dangers associated with corruption are minimized by far-sighted legislation and consistent implementation measures throughout Europe. This is true not only with respect to the new Member States.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 123-154
Author(s):  
Danielle Porter Sanchez

Abstract This article focuses on the militarization of social life and leisure in Brazzaville during the Second World War and argues that efforts to instill a sense of control over the city could only suppress life so much, as many Congolese people were unwilling to completely succumb to the will of the administration in a war that seemed to offer very little to their communities or their city as a whole. Furthermore, drinking and dancing served as opportunities to engage with issues of class and race in the wartime capital of Afrique Française Libre. The history of alcohol consumption in Brazzaville is not simply the story of choosing whether or not to drink (or allow others to drink); rather, it is one of many stories of colonial control, exploitation, and racism that plagued Europe’s colonies in Africa during the Second World War.


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