Model Types of Crowdfunding: a Comparative Analysis of the Russian and European Experience

The article is devoted to the analysis of modern European model types of crowdfunding and the Russian practice of crowdfunding. The methodological component of the work was made up of general scientific and special methods, which include statistical and comparative analysis. The purpose of this study is to compare the modern European crowdfunding market with the Russian alternative finance market. At the first stage, the process of transformation of model types of crowdfunding in the European region and the UK from 2015 to the present has been studied. At the second stage, the situation on the Russian crowdfunding market is considered. As a result of the comparison of the European and Russian alternative finance markets, the latter has revealed a huge lag in terms of the variety of model types of crowdfunding offered, available and used on the market, as well as the volume of resources attracted through crowdfunding platforms.

SCENOGRAPHY AND COSTUME IN JAPANESE KABUKI THEATER: TRADITIONS AND MODERNITY

The article explores the history of traditional Japanese Kabuki theater, the stages of its formation and the basic principles of dramaturgy in retrospective and in modern times, the role and symbolic value of costumes, as well as the general features of theater performances. The modern trends of the theater were analyzed and issues of the space of its scene were investigated. Obvious conservatism of kabuki and its fundamental dissimilarity to the theater of the European model were noted. The process of evolution of the Kabuki theater was studied, which responding to the challenges of modernity, acquires new elements and features, together give rise to the fundamentally new phenomenon in the theatrical art. It has been determined that the logic of construction and development of the theater and stage space in Japanese traditional Kabuki theater derived from the need for specific interaction between the performer and the audience. With the formation of the theater, its audience expanded at the same time, in particular due to the privileged strata. The premises of theater and its stage also evolved. Eventually, the design features of Kabuki theater space became not only a prominent element in the interaction between the performers and spectators, but also an important factor that predominantly determined the characteristics of dramaturgy. In Japanese Kabuki theater, such methods as makeup, hair pieces and costumes are simultaneously those means of expression that are necessarily included in the process of staging a performance, and determine its content and storyline, as well as determine the nature of the performer’s acting. These means are kind of sign and symbolic system, which has to be read by the spectator in order to fully understand the nature of performance. The peculiarities of the costume allow us to read in advance nature of the character in performance, to guess his or her actions, etc. The peculiarity of Kabuki is that the play script is dictated by the performers themselves, but not by the scriptwriter. The director as an independent figure in Kabuki theater comes to the first plan only in the modern era, and it is mostly characteristic of innovative and experimental theaters. It is worth noting that given the challenges of modernity, Kabuki still acquires new elements and features, together generating a fundamentally new phenomenon in the art of theater, and in general, Kabuki remains a traditional theater.

Religion-State Relations in Europe

Europe is often taken to represent a global exception in matters of religion and secularity and some argue that much of the reason for this lies in the way religion-state relations are arranged. This chapter assesses these and related claims while summarily tracing the character, development, and impact of different relationship patterns in Europe as both ‘religion’ and ‘state’ have undergone massive change over the last 500 years. None of the fifty-odd current states of Europe meet any strict standard of religion–state separation; it can be argued nonetheless that the emergent and identifiable common European model is largely consistent with liberal egalitarian values. Key concepts are introduced: secular state, confessional state, religious state, religious establishment, and separationism.

Socialist idea and methods of constitutional implementation in 1918

This article demonstrates that socialism was the key political concept for the nascent Soviet constitutionalism. The matter is that the political-legal ideas of V. I. Lenin underlied the ideology of Bolshevism, which became the basis of the entire legal system of the Soviet state. The author traces the evolution of socialist ideas and their reception by the Russian social democracy. In the Bolshevik party, the idea of a socialist society has acquired rather utopian and radical forms than the initial European model. This was associated with the fact that socioeconomic, political and cultural conditions dictated certain framework for the implementation of socialism. The Communist Party had to establish the socialist principles and fundamentals of the Soviet society on the constitutional level. This led to robust debates on the issue in the constitutional commission. The discourse that emerged due to the adoption of the Constitution of the RSFSR of 1918 is poorly reflected in the scientific publications; therefore, the author provides brief biographical data of the key members of the constitutional commission. This allows correlating the political-legal ideas with the historical and personal contexts. It is worth noting that such concepts as “socialist society”, “association” and “union” underlie the comprehension of the essence of state and law. This served as the basis for further discussion of the goals and objectives of the councils, first steps, as well as rights and responsibilities of citizens.

Social housing policy in the metropolitan area of Athens during the period 1922–2012

The aim of this survey is to present the Greek social housing model as a part of the southern European model through an Athenian case-study. Several characteristics of the Greek housing model are unique, and the analysis of the Athenian case provides an example that emphasizes those characteristics. Moreover, this survey intends to contribute to filling the gap in the relevant urban history and geography bibliography and, more specifically, to describe the Greek social housing model and the role of the city of Athens in the planning and distribution of social housing. This survey is based mainly on secondary data (literature review) but also on primary sources.

Models of the Welfare State

IN 1990, Gøsta Esping-Andersen published The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism, a work which has turned out to be the single most important and decisive contribution to welfare state research in the past thirty to forty years. In essence, Esping-Andersen argued that we can observe systematic variation in the character of the developed welfare states of the West, which he grouped into three distinct welfare state models: a Scandinavian social democratic model, a conservative continental European model, and a liberal Anglo-Saxon model. This chapter provides a short description of Esping-Andersen’s three regimes; introduces a fourth, Southern European model, which will then be described in somewhat more detail; and outlines a historical and genealogical account of the development of all four models. Finally, the chapter briefly expands on the comparative perspective with a short discussion on whether the regime concept or the understanding of distinct welfare models can also be applied to other regions, such as Latin America and Asia.

Neoliberal Approaches in the Model of European Economic Integration

A feature of the first decade of the XXI century was the shift of the EU from the second to the third position in the competition of global geographical centers of power; the beginning of the third decade was marked by the withdrawal of the UK from the EU. Despite many external and internal challenges, the EU remains committed to its chosen economic model and its unique asset, the Single internal market. The article focuses on the following questions. Why did the neoliberal ideas embodied in the creation of a model for the integration of national markets receive support in Europe in the middle of the XX century? How has neoliberalism strengthened over time? Does the process of developing a common economic policy and expanding the EU's powers run counter to the development of a neoliberal idea? What alternative models compete with the European neoliberal model? How stable is the neoliberal idea in the EU? The subject of the study is the growth of supranational economic regulation in the EU. Using general scientific methods, historical, comparative analysis and abstraction, a schematic representation of the classical market model and the EU model (European model) is given, with the designation of common and special reference elements that ensure economic efficiency. The author describes the three stages of the formation of the European model. It is concluded that the EU's regulatory activities are neoliberal in nature. It is aimed at using market leverage, and the model itself retains a margin of stability. The author argues that the current stage started in 2000 is a stage of a smart neoliberal model formation.

Factors Influencing The Formation Of International Budget Accounting Systems

This article discusses the budget system, the areas it covers, the national accounting systems of countries in international practice and their specific features. Also discussed are the Continental European model (development of the accounting system through legislative initiative), the British model (development of accounting through the initiative of consultant accountants) and the United States model (development of accounting through the influence of general accountants and engineers).

Structural and regional characteristics of the world retail trade leaders

The state of development of world retail trade through the prism of the TOP 250 retailers functioning is considered in the article. As part of the study the main performance indicators of Top 250 retailers for 2013-2020 have been analyzed. The world's leading retail trade networks have been performing positive dynamics of their development and a slight increase in the values of indicators. This might take place due to the stabilization of the level of globalization of retail trade as the result of active development of e-commerce and m-commerce. Retailers were also affected by such negative macroeconomic factors as slow economic growth in major developed economies, high levels of debt in emerging countries, deflation or low inflation in rich countries, a protectionist backlash against globalization, troubled credit markets in some countries, and worsening demographics in many countries. The size of retail revenue in 2020 helped us define five groups of trade networks. In addition, we determined the share of Top 250 companies by region/country in 2013-2019 and their revenue. The companies from Europe and North America have shown leading positions in the structure of Top-250 retailers in terms of retail revenue share in 2013-2019. The analysis of the features of expansion policy manifestation by trade structures, depending on the region of their origin, have been conducted. The European trade networks, which in 2019 were present on average in 18.3 countries has demonstrated the largest internationalization. The structure of Top 250 companies by product sector is considered as well. FMCG companies were dominated in the structure of the Top 250 retailers. Special attention has also paid to determining the place of European retailers in the Top 250 in the framework of the European model of retail development. This model assumes an active presence of trade networks in the markets of foreign countries.