Review of the monograph by V.Kh. Akaev "Sufism in the Context of Arab-Muslim Culture. Monograph. Grozny: State Unitary Enterprise "Book Publishing House", 2020. 523 pp."

Монографическое исследование В.Х. Акаева представляет собой самостоятельное авторское исследование, посвященное проблемам генезиса и эволюции суфизма в глобальном и региональном измерении. Отмечается, что суфизм, сформировавшись в лоне арабо-мусульманской культуры, как религиозно-мистический феномен проник в духовное пространство народов Северного Кавказа. Его отличительной чертой в рассматриваемом регионе стало то, что суфистские братства сумели встроиться в структуру традиционных этносоциальных институций ряда северокавказских народов. Однако деформация общественно-политической жизни Северного Кавказа в начале 1990-х гг. привела к активизации деятельности радикалистов и экстремистов в Чечне и Дагестане. В рецензируемой монографии осмыслен деструктивный потенциал религиозного радикализма, который активно продвигался идеологами ваххабизма, оперировавшими концептами шахидизма. Определены принципиальные расхождения ваххабизма и суфизма в интерпретации теологической доктрины ислама. Отдельного внимания заслуживает и авторское описание социально-политического портрета асоциальных акторов радикализма. Делается вывод о том, что наиболее эффективным инструментом профилактики религиозного радикализма является диалог культур, нацеленный на смягчение культурных конфликтов и обеспечивающий их активный обмен при сохранении культурно-исторической самобытности. The monographic study of V.Kh. Akaev is an independent author's research on the problems of genesis and the evolution of Sufism in the global and regional dimension. Having formed in the bosom of Arab-Muslim culture, Sufism as a religious-mystical phenomenon penetrated the spiritual space of the peoples of the North Caucasus. Its distinctive feature in the region under consideration was that Sufi fraternities managed to integrate into the structure of traditional ethnosocial institutions of a number of North Caucasian peoples. However, the deformation of the socio-political life of the North Caucasus in the early 1990s led to the activation of the activities of radicalists and extremists in Chechnya and Dagestan. The peer-reviewed monograph makes sense of the destructive potential of religious radicalism, which was actively promoted by Wahhabism ideologists who operated on the concepts of Shahidism. Fundamental differences between Wahhabism and Sufism in the interpretation of the theological doctrine of Islam were determined. The author's description of the socio-political portrait of asocial actors of radicalism deserves special attention. The research shows that the most effective tool for preventing religious radicalism is the dialogue of cultures aimed at mitigating cultural conflicts and ensuring their active exchange while preserving cultural and historical identity.

The Philosophical and Political Views of M. Ya. Ostrogorsky (1854–1921) and their Modern Significance

Theoretical studies of practical political life conducted by M. Ya. Ostrogorsky allow us to call him one of the founders of Russian political science and party science. His doctrine was the first systematized theory of the emergence, functioning and development of political parties, the laws of their evolution and the technology of activity. He described the tendency to establish an oligarchic leadership of political parties and the failure of moral regulators of political processes taking place in society.

Social Media and Youth Political Participation at the Time of Political Polarization: A Study on University Students in Indonesia during the 2017 Jakarta Gubernatorial Election

<p>Some studies theorized social media as fostering youth political participation by facilitating the development of online participatory cultures (Jenkins, 2009). Online participatory cultures provide young citizens with opportunities to discuss and gain information about political topics, create capacity for action by promoting digital skills and norms for group interaction, and facilitate recruitment into civic and political life (Kahne et al., 2013). Against the backdrop of this discourse, this research aims to investigate social media and youth political participation in Indonesia’s context. This project’s research questions ask: How politics is experienced by Indonesian youth and how social media is used by them to engage with political activities? To answer those questions, this research conducted a survey (n=265) and interviews (n=29) with students from three universities in Jakarta. This research adopted grounded theory approach in analysing the data. This research revealed that social media in general provides affordances for youth to engage with activities related to political conversation and social-political campaign (as indicated by the findings that social media attracts more numbers of youth participating in these two categories of activity). Thus, this research in part support propositions advocated by the thesis of online participatory cultures that social media facilitates youth political participation. However, under the specific context of ethnic and religious-based political polarization which happened during this research, this research also revealed that the salient form of social media use by youth is in fact monitoring political conversation. This activity is driven by the sense of “kepo” (the drive to asses how others are thinking, feeling, and responding to certain political issues) and has the effect on youth’s fear of social isolation (in the form of fear of breaking relationship with others). Eventually, this activity leads youth to the act of silence (in the form of refraining political expression on social media). In this case, this research (unintentionally) confirm the theory of spiral of silence proposed by Elizabeth Noelle-Neumann (1984). Finally, this research contributes to the academic discourse by providing a critical insight into the way social media could lead its users to the process of spiral of silence i.e. by exacerbating the fear of social isolation obtained from the activity of social surveillance (in the form of monitoring political conversation).</p>

Social Media and Youth Political Participation at the Time of Political Polarization: A Study on University Students in Indonesia during the 2017 Jakarta Gubernatorial Election

<p>Some studies theorized social media as fostering youth political participation by facilitating the development of online participatory cultures (Jenkins, 2009). Online participatory cultures provide young citizens with opportunities to discuss and gain information about political topics, create capacity for action by promoting digital skills and norms for group interaction, and facilitate recruitment into civic and political life (Kahne et al., 2013). Against the backdrop of this discourse, this research aims to investigate social media and youth political participation in Indonesia’s context. This project’s research questions ask: How politics is experienced by Indonesian youth and how social media is used by them to engage with political activities? To answer those questions, this research conducted a survey (n=265) and interviews (n=29) with students from three universities in Jakarta. This research adopted grounded theory approach in analysing the data. This research revealed that social media in general provides affordances for youth to engage with activities related to political conversation and social-political campaign (as indicated by the findings that social media attracts more numbers of youth participating in these two categories of activity). Thus, this research in part support propositions advocated by the thesis of online participatory cultures that social media facilitates youth political participation. However, under the specific context of ethnic and religious-based political polarization which happened during this research, this research also revealed that the salient form of social media use by youth is in fact monitoring political conversation. This activity is driven by the sense of “kepo” (the drive to asses how others are thinking, feeling, and responding to certain political issues) and has the effect on youth’s fear of social isolation (in the form of fear of breaking relationship with others). Eventually, this activity leads youth to the act of silence (in the form of refraining political expression on social media). In this case, this research (unintentionally) confirm the theory of spiral of silence proposed by Elizabeth Noelle-Neumann (1984). Finally, this research contributes to the academic discourse by providing a critical insight into the way social media could lead its users to the process of spiral of silence i.e. by exacerbating the fear of social isolation obtained from the activity of social surveillance (in the form of monitoring political conversation).</p>

The Social, Civic, and Political Uses of Instagram in Four Countries

Instagram has more than 1 billion monthly users. Yet, little is known about how citizens engage with this platform. In this paper, we use representative survey data to examine social, civic, and political uses of Instagram by citizens in four countries: the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and France (n=6,291). The survey was administered to an online panel matched to the age and gender profile of each country (September to November 2019). About 40% of respondents used Instagram. This platform is especially popular among young adults (73%). Users’ network sizes are typically small, as a third of users have less than 15 followers and follow less than 15 other accounts. About 15% of users followed news organizations, a nonprofit organization or charity, or a political candidate or party. While users rarely cultivate networks with ties to these formal organizations and groups, civic and political information flows on this platform. Approximately 57% of users report seeing political information on Instagram during the previous 12 months. These findings suggest political information on Instagram flows through informal rather than formal networks. This paper establishes the importance of social, civic, and political uses of Instagram among citizens in four Western countries. Furthermore, we offer insights into the segments of the population that are intense users of Instagram, which helps to understand the role of this platform in civic and political life.

The Political Impact of Chewing Khat (Chat) on Chewers: In the Case of Woldia City Administration of North Wollo, Amhara National Regional State

The main aim of this study was to investigate the political impact of chewing khat on the chewers in Woldia City Administration of North Wollo, Amhara National Regional State. As far as the researcher's reading, no research was conducted in Ethiopia dealing with the political impact of chewing khat on chewers. Accordingly, this study was conducted using qualitative methods of data collection. Semi-structured in-depth interview, focus group discussion (FGD), and complete observation were employed during data collection. The study used phenomenology design and the findings were analyzed thematically. The study found that khat chewers’ political unconsciousness, utopian involvement in politics, and fail in conspired politics were associated with khat chewing practices. Based on this findings, the researchers recommend that awarness creation about the anxiety of khat in political life is in need.

Gender, Sexuality, and Religion: A Critical Integrative Review and Agenda for Future Research

This article sets forth a critical integrative review of the study of gender, sexuality, and religion. Treating religion as a cause, an effect, and an intermediary factor in relation to gender and sexuality, it draws on and synthesizes multiple theoretical approaches including gender and queer lenses on religion, cultural analysis, and intersectionality. The article is structured around ten big-picture questions about gender, sexuality, and religion and argues that gender and sexuality are a key symbolic boundary and cultural divide in religious and political life in the United States and around the world. It concludes with an agenda for future research.

The Beautiful in Aristotle’s Ethics

This article argues for an aesthetic reading of to kalon, primarily as it appears in Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics. Aristotle uses to kalon to indicate that, to the morally serious, virtue is attractive and productive of a kind of pleasure. Read aesthetically, to kalon mitigates the tension between one’s own good and the common good. Aristotle shows how his students’ understanding of to kalon can be refined and thus preserved as an important and salutary feature of moral and political life.

Production and Transfer of Knowledge Between Citizens and Local Governments in Democratic Participatory Processes

Participatory budgeting has been progressively implemented by several Portuguese municipalities, encouraging a broad discussion about the importance of the participation of citizens in political life. This approach implies new forms of relationship between electors and elected little explored in the Portuguese democratic system. New learnings related to the dialogue among stakeholders and the possibility of coexistence of representative and participatory models have emerged. There is a transfer and production of knowledge between local governments and citizens that increases the field of opportunities for working together. After a theoretical reflection that refers to the key concepts coupled with this new form of exercising governance, the authors present data on the participatory budget of Cascais (region of Lisbon, Portugal) and the participatory deliberative experience consolidated in Portugal.