scholarly journals State Toleration of a New Faith in Post-Soviet Society: A Case Study of Latter-day Saints in Independent Ukraine

2018 ◽  
pp. 63-85
Author(s):  
Howard L. Biddulph
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Religious Liberty ◽  
Soviet Society ◽  
World Population ◽  
Latter Day Saints ◽  
Quarter Century ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The World ◽  
Specific Outcome

This study combines author's experiences as an analyst of post-Soviet politics and religious liberty with personal participation in the founding and public acceptance of a new faith in independent Ukraine during a quarter- century (1). Theattempt here is not only to describe a specific outcome, but to propose factors that offer explanation for why Ukraine is among the few Communist successor states in which new minority faiths have been relatively successful in achieving full toleration [Biddulph: 2016]. Religious liberty has been described as the “first freedom of all freedoms” [Hertzke: 2013, 4], yet it has been noticeably unachieved globally. A 2007 Pew  “Global Attitudes Survey” showed that 90% of respondents world-wide said that it was  important to live in a country that enabled them to practice religion freely.  Yet a more recent Pew “Forum on Global Restrictions on Religion” found that 70% of the world population reside in countries which have high or very high restrictions on religion either from government actions or from major social hostilities [Grim: 2013 , 86]. Religious liberty, therefore, is an almost universal human aspiration, but is one of the more unachieved rights in the world. The Soviet Union successor states have a similar record of lower achievement [Lunkin: 2013; Grim:  2013]. 

Flowers Through Concrete

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juliane Fürst
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Psychiatric Hospitals ◽  
Stable Relationship ◽  
Youth Cultures ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The World ◽  
The Face ◽  
History Of ◽  
Late Socialism

Flowers through Concrete: Explorations in Soviet Hippieland does what the title promises. It takes readers on a journey into a world few knew existed: the lives and thoughts of Soviet hippies, who in the face of disapproval and repression created a version of Western counterculture, skilfully adapting, manipulating, and shaping it to their late socialist environment. This book is a quasi-guide into the underground hippieland, situating the world of hippies firmly in late Soviet reality and offering an unusual history of the last Soviet decades as well as a case study in the power of transnational youth cultures. It tells the almost forgotten story of how in the late sixties hippie communities sprang up across the Soviet Union, often under the tutelage of a few rebellious youngsters coming from privileged households at the heart of the Soviet establishment. Flowers through Concrete recounts not only a compelling story of survival against the odds—hippies were harassed by police, shorn of their hair by civilian guards, and confined in psychiatric hospitals by doctors who believed nonconformism was a symptom of schizophrenia. It also advances a surprising argument: despite obvious antagonism the land of Soviet hippies and the world of late socialism were not incompatible. Indeed, Soviet hippies and late socialist reality meshed so well that the hostile, yet stable, relationship that emerged was in many ways symbiotic. Ultimately, it was not the KGB but the arrival of capitalism in the 1990s that ended the Soviet hippie sistema.

scholarly journals Intrastate Dynamics in the Context of Hegemonic Decline: A Case Study of China’s Arms Transfer Regime

2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhifan Luo
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Global Strategy ◽  
Arms Transfers ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Peace Research ◽  
The World ◽  
Arms Exports ◽  
Military Expenditures ◽  
Using Data

The decline of a hegemon can create openings for lesser powers to expand their influence in the world-system. Is this what China is currently attempting to do? This paper contributes to this on-going debate by examining China’s arms transfer activities from a historical perspective. Using data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute arms transfer database and the World Military Expenditures and Arms Transfers database, I argue that the Chinese arms transfer regime has evolved through three phases. In Phase One, China used gifts of arms to compete with the Soviet Union and to expand influence among Third World countries. In Phase Two, China used arms exports mainly to assist national developmental projects. Only evidence in Phase Three supports the emergence of a global strategy that attempts to extend China’s economic, political, and possibly military outreach. This paper suggests that though China has not yet become a contender for world hegemony as Arrighi argues (2007), China has formulated a globally-focused agenda which, in the medium-term, could extend its influence in regions where U.S. domination is relatively weak.

scholarly journals Why Do States Seek to Acquire Nuclear Weapons?

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 33
Author(s):  
Hamdan Hamedan
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Nuclear Weapons ◽  
North Korea ◽  
Conventional Wisdom ◽  
Primary Motivation ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The World ◽  
Security Concerns ◽  
The U.S

Conventional wisdom maintains that security concerns are the primary motivation for states to seek nuclear weapons. Indeed, history has shown that the predominant decisions to go nuclear (starting from the U.S., the Soviet Union, China, Israel, Pakistan, and to North Korea) appear to be motivated by security concerns. Yet, the fact there have been nuclear-capable states with precarious security concerns that have decided not to seek nuclear weapons serve to challenge the aforementioned conventional wisdom. Moreover, further research and case-by-case study coupled with understanding of the fact that each state in the world has different security condition and challenges show that security concerns are, in reality, not always the primary motivation.

scholarly journals Red Dawn – the final episode of the Cold war

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 901
Author(s):  
Ivan Kovačević ◽  
Vladimir Ribić
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Soviet Society ◽  
Adequate Response ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The Us ◽  
The World ◽  
Strategic Defense ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Political Scene

In the period of renewal of the Cold war, after 1980, movies which abandon the idea of the dentate appear, and they represent the response to Soviet expansion taking place under the auspices of diminished military confrontation. Of course, the Hollywood reaction to the real expansion of communism was not at adequate response, but it is a part of the wider restructuring of American politics regarding the Soviet Union, which was evidenced by strengthening defenses through the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), forcible intervention in Grenada, helping anti-communist movements around the world etc. In opposition to part of the US political scene which shut down attempts to stop the spread of communism across the world, action through popular culture, especially film, created a new climate in which multifaceted pressures on the socialist block were prepared. The movie Red Dawn can be considered part of the reaction of US politics on the particularistic view of the dentate as a shield for military and political spread of the USSR in Africa and other parts of the world. This pressure played on the inherent weaknesses of Soviet society in the 1980’s, a society which, after a brief period of failed transformation fell apart at the start of the final decade of the 20th century.

scholarly journals The Komsomol of Mordovia held festivals of youth and students in the second half of the 1950s.

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 162-173
Author(s):  
Ekaterina A. Averyanova
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Scientific Literature ◽  
Soviet Society ◽  
World Federation ◽  
Mutual Understanding ◽  
Cultural Events ◽  
Cultural Behavior ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The World ◽  
The 1950S

Introduction. Festival forms of socio-cultural behavior, as an algorithm for displaying agitation, educational, and entertainment functions during mass events, have recently become the object of study. The need for scientific generalization creates an environment of mutual understanding to strengthen intercultural dialogue, have highlighted the attention to historical experience of such cross-cultural events, for analysis of strategies and mechanisms of translation of information and forms of behavior to create understanding in society and among the participants, promoting a positive image of the country. The subject of the study was the methods of youth mobilization used by the Komsomol in the Mordovian ASSR, during the VI (Moscow, July 28 – August 11, 1957; 3,400 participants; 131 countries; the motto “For peace and friendship”) and VII (Austria, Vienna; 18,000 participants; 112 countries; motto “For peace, friendship and peaceful coexistence”) of the World youth and student festivals (WFMS). Materials and Methods. Materials from the archives of the Republic of Mordovia, statistical data, as well as scientific literature were used to solve the research tasks. The research was conducted on the principle of historicism, objectivity and consistency. The statistical method was used for data processing. Results. Based on the study of archival sources and available scientific literature were the main problems of the festival movement, as well as the participation of Mordovia Komsomol festivals of youth and students in the second half of 1950-ies. Against the background of increasing participation of the Komsomol in the festival movement, the processes of self-organization and innovative activity of Komsomol organizations in conducting youth policy are shown. Discussion and Conclusion. As you know, such festivals have been held since 1947. They are organized by the world Federation of democratic youth (WFDY) and the International Union of students (IUS). The decision to create the WFDY and hold festivals was made at the world conference of youth and students in London in 1945. The tradition of holding irregular festivals of left-wing youth organizations is still attractive in modern youth politics. The XIX festival was held in Russia (Moscow/Sochi; October 14–22, 2017, 185 countries, the motto “For peace, solidarity and social justice, we fight against imperialism-respecting the past, we build the future”. VI world festival of youth and students 1957 (Moscow), still perceived as a unique event for the Soviet Union in the framework of international cultural policy during the cold war. In the article, through the activities of the Komsomol of Mordovia, an attempt is made to consider the goals and objectives of the VI and VII world festival of youth and students, in the context of the youth festival policy in the Soviet Union. As it is known, in the 1950s, the festival movement was organized in the format of traditional political, social and cultural events for the Soviet society. However, it should be taken into account that during their implementation, new forms of communication, methods of mobilization, and broadcasting of information were also born to create mutual understanding among young people.

New Materials for Studying Preparation and Staging of the 6th World Festival of Youth and Students in 1957

2018 ◽  
pp. 550-563
Author(s):  
Daniel Sawert ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Central Asia ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Soviet Society ◽  
Unique Event ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Archival Documents ◽  
Cultural Standards ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Local Traditions

The article assesses archival materials on the festival movement in the Soviet Union in 1950s, including its peak, the 6th World Festival of Youth and Students held in 1957 in Moscow. Even now the Moscow festival is seen in the context of international cultural politics of the Cold War and as a unique event for the Soviet Union. The article is to put the 6th World Festival of Youth and Students in the context of other youth festivals held in the Soviet Union. The festivals of 1950s provided a field for political, social, and cultural experiments. They also have been the crucible of a new way of communication and a new language of design. Furthermore, festivals reflected the new (althogh relative) liberalism in the Soviet Union. This liberalism, first of all, was expressed in the fact that festivals were organized by the Komsomol and other Soviet public and cultural organisations. Taking the role of these organisations into consideration, the research draws on the documents of the Ministry of culture, the All-Russian Stage Society, as well as personal documents of the artists. Furthermore, the author has gained access to new archive materials, which have until now been part of no research, such as documents of the N. Krupskaya Central Culture and Art Center and of the central committees of various artistic trade unions. These documents confirm the hypothesis that the festivals provided the Komsomol and the Communist party with a means to solve various social, educational, and cultural problems. For instance, in Central Asia with its partiarchal society, the festivals focuced on female emancipation. In rural Central Asia, as well as in other non-russian parts of the Soviet Union, there co-existed different ways of celebrating. Local traditions intermingled with cultural standards prescribed by Moscow. At the first glance, the modernisation of the Soviet society was succesful. The youth acquired political and cultural level that allowed the Soviet state to compete with the West during the 6th World Festival of Youth and Students. During the festival, however, it became apparent, that the Soviet cultural scheme no longer met the dictates of times. Archival documents show that after the Festival cultural and party officials agreed to ease off dogmatism and to tolerate some of the foreign cultural phenomena.

To the discussion about the modern world order

2020 ◽  
pp. 35-41
Author(s):  
A. Mustafabeyli
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Intergovernmental Relations ◽  
World System ◽  
Main Tool ◽  
World Order ◽  
Modern World ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The World ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Second World

In many political researches there if a conclusion that the world system which was founded after the Second world war is destroyed of chaos. But the world system couldn`t work while the two opposite systems — socialist and capitalist were in hard confrontation. After collapse of the Soviet Union and the European socialist community the nature of intergovernmental relations and behavior of the international community did not change. The power always was and still is the main tool of international communication.

scholarly journals Spaces of Dependence and Emancipation in Architectural and Urban Narration, a Case Study: Plac Żołnierza Polskiego and Plac Solidarności in Szczecin

Arts ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 19
Author(s):  
Izabela Kozłowska ◽  
Eryk Krasucki
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Political Environment ◽  
Economic Factors ◽  
Urban Structure ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
Authoritarian State ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Urban Narratives ◽  
Eastern European Countries

Central and Eastern European countries were subjugated to the Soviet Union in the second half of the 20th century. In this new political environment, defined as the period of dependency, the concept of space gained a new denotation as a space of dependence, in both social and physical terms. The political changes that took place after 1989 enabled these spaces to be emancipated. In this work, we aim to delineate the complex relationship between architecture and politics from the perspective of spaces of dependence and their emancipation. Through a case study of two squares, plac Żołnierza Polskiego (the Square of the Polish Soldier) and plac Solidarności (Solidarity Square) in Szczecin, we gained insights into the processes and strategies that promoted their evolution into spaces of emancipation within architectural and urban narratives. Szczecin’s space of dependence was created by an authoritarian state that had a monopoly on defining architecture and urban planning in the country and the state as a whole. In a process orchestrated by economic factors, as well as the scale of architectural and urban degradation, the squares under discussion have transitioned from spaces of dependency to spaces of emancipation. As a result, an architectural-urban structure characterized by new cultural and identity values has been created.

scholarly journals The Carter Administration and the Evolution of American Nuclear Nonproliferation Policy, 1977–1981

2002 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 261-292 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Michael Martinez
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Nuclear Weapons ◽  
Nuclear Nonproliferation ◽  
Nuclear Testing ◽  
Energy Agency ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Subsequent Response ◽  
The World ◽  
Uncertain Time ◽  
First Time

In the wake of India's May 1998 decision to resume nuclear testing for the first time since 1974, as well as arch-rival Pakistan's subsequent response, the attention of the world again has focused on nuclear nonproliferation policy as a means of maintaining stability in politically troubled regions of the world. The 1990s proved to be an uncertain time for nonproliferation policy. Pakistan acquired nuclear capabilities. Iraq displayed its well-known intransigence by refusing to allow International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) arms inspectors access to facilities suspected of manufacturing nuclear weapons. North Korea maintained a nuclear weapons program despite opposition from many Western nations. Troubling questions about nuclear holdings persisted in Argentina, Brazil, and South Africa. New nuclear powers were created in Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Ukraine after the disintegration of the Soviet Union. Even the renewal of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons in 1995 failed to assuage the concerns of Western powers fearful of aggressive measures undertaken by rogue nuclear proliferants.

Security Council

1963 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 226-230
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
International Law ◽  
Security Council ◽  
The United States ◽  
United States Government ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The World ◽  
Peace And Security ◽  
States Government

The Security Council discussed this question at its 1022nd–1025th meetings, on October 23–25, 1962. It had before it a letter dated October 22, 1962, from the permanent representative of the United States, in which it was stated that the establishment of missile bases in Cuba constituted a grave threat to the peace and security of the world; a letter of the same date from the permanent representative of Cuba, claiming that the United States naval blockade of Cuba constituted an act of war; and a letter also dated October 22 from the deputy permanent representative of the Soviet Union, emphasizing that Soviet assistance to Cuba was exclusively designed to improve Cuba's defensive capacity and that the United States government had committed a provocative act and an unprecedented violation of international law in its blockade.

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