Ideology Restart: Liberal Project and Pandemic. Lessons of 2020

The present article is an abridged version of the paper of the “Russian Idea” site editors staff devoted to the ideological transformation in the Western countries and Russia in 2020, – the year of COVID pandemic and dramatic elections in the USA. The paper was drawn before the results of the elections were made public, but still it contains the correct forecast of the electoral victory of the liberal establishment representative. The authors also made the hypothesis confirmed by further course of events, that the winner of the ideological contest of 2020 would be the ideology described by the authors as the “new Atlantism”, – the doctrine about the Atlantic coalition interests priority over the national interests of the countries composing the coalition. The paper also forecasts the defeat of populism and Trumpism: in fact, having initiated the new cold war against China the supporters of those trends in the USA will surrender the initiative to their ideological opponents who are much more experienced in leading cold wars. On the basis of these conclusions the authors make the assumption of which new ideologies opposing the liberal establishment would be adopted by the conservative-minded intellectuals, and which conservative strategies could be of current importance for Russia as well.

Représentations du corps ivre dans la littérature et la peinture hispaniques

Wine has been linked to Spanish culture since the time of the Romans and early Christianity. In Spain, a land of vines since antiquity, the representation of the drunken body in literature and painting is an omnipresent topos since the Middle Ages. The pros and cons of this are found in medical, philosophical, moral and religious texts, but especially in novels, which warn against excess. This article studies how Spanish painters and writers developed the imaginary of wine in all its forms, be they masculine or feminine, solar or twilight, enthusiastic or drowsy, in their reflections, in their drawings and paintings, in poems or novels, in order to transmit the ideological transformation that was going to occur in Spain around this drink. For only the artist seems to preserve the tradition of the divine origin of wine, reclaiming its thaumaturgical role thanks to the Bacchic nectar. Spanish men and women suffer or benefit from the virtues of wine, the main alcoholic beverage in Spain until the 21st century.

Democratizing the Dramatic Text: Wannous’s Late Aesthetics and Individual Freedom

Sadallah Wannous (1941-1997), the Arab World’s most celebrated dramatist, gave up on the didactic art of the ‘theater of politicization’, in the middle of his career, in favor of a freer introspection of human psyche and passions. He spent his most prolific late years searching for new aesthetics and promoting a culture of free thinking. Abandoning his prior commitment to achieving the modern state, Arabic unity, the liberation of Palestine and the triumph of communism, he started creating individuals who are caught up in conflicting passions, loyalties and choices. However, his new themes will still betray a will to reform the many ailments in Arabic culture and politics, such as politico-religious coalitions and colonialism. This article will study the artistic and ideological transformation in Wannous’s later drama. It will also explore the later pro-democracy trends through analyzing the emerging individualism in characterization and the plurality of discourses in the plays of the later period 1989-1997, namely The Rape (1989), Historical Miniatures (1993), Miserable Dreams (1994), Rituals of Signs and Transformations (1994), and Drunken Days (1997).

Democratizing the Dramatic Text: Wannous’s Late Aesthetics and Individual Freedom

Sadallah Wannous (1941-1997), the Arab World’s most celebrated dramatist, gave up on the didactic art of the ‘theater of politicization’, in the middle of his career, in favor of a freer introspection of human psyche and passions. He spent his most prolific late years searching for new aesthetics and promoting a culture of free thinking. Abandoning his prior commitment to achieving the modern state, Arabic unity, the liberation of Palestine and the triumph of communism, he started creating individuals who are caught up in conflicting passions, loyalties and choices. However, his new themes will still betray a will to reform the many ailments in Arabic culture and politics, such as politico-religious coalitions and colonialism. This article will study the artistic and ideological transformation in Wannous’s later drama. It will also explore the later pro-democracy trends through analyzing the emerging individualism in characterization and the plurality of discourses in the plays of the later period 1989-1997, namely The Rape (1989), Historical Miniatures (1993), Miserable Dreams (1994), Rituals of Signs and Transformations (1994), and Drunken Days (1997).

EXPLOITATION OF NEO-FASCIST IDEAS IN THE RADICAL WING OF THE NATIONAL ORGANIZATION OF RUSSIAN MUSLIMS

The current article represents an example of neo-fascist ideas exploitation within the endeavor of the National Organization of Russian Muslims (NORM). The main members of the NORM asset and projects that this organization tried to implement within the framework of activities are presented. The ideological transformation of the NORM is presented in accordance with the author's periodization, which includes four periods: the Jemalist-Salafi period, the Opposition (Murabitunov) period, the Slavic-Islamic period and the Islam-European period. Each of these periods implies ideological and structural changes in the NORM. The periodization reflects the stages of politicization and radicalization of the NORM and its representatives. At each stage of the work of the NORM there were stable ideas that this organization tried to put into practice: the formation of a separate ethnic community (consortium) united on religious grounds within the framework of Islam and the exploitation of neo-fascist and Islamist ideas combined with political activism...

KURDISH FEMALE FIGHTERS IN SYRIA DURING AND AFTER THE FIGHT AGAINST ISIS

Kurdish female fighters in Syria did not receive attention until after the Battle of Koban. This study analyzes activities during and after the struggle against ISIS, focusing on the ideological motivators that influenced their involvement in the armed insurgent movement. Through a discursive analysis of non-traditional, local sources, it concludes that the specificity of the ideological transformation of the movement, where women's emancipation came to the center of the local discourse, persisted even after the primary goal of the resistance has changed.

The Muslim Brotherhood in Europe: organisational and ideological transformation

Political Islam has become an important factor of the international politics nowadays. By the beginning of the 21st century Islamist political groups have turned to be a matter of concern not only of the Middle East main stakeholders, but also the European and American ones. This circumstance has been aggravated even more, considering the fact, that, being a former metropolis, Europe had come to be a kind of cradle for the spread of Islam. The proportion of the Islamic population has been growing here year by year. Moreover, the migration waves following the 2011 Arab spring provoked even more tough migration crisis and posed a complicated challenge to the European society expressed in conciliation of freedom of religion within its Muslim community along with the preserving European values of secular democracy. The Society of the Muslim Brotherhood has always been considered to be a leading Islamist force not only in Arabic world but in the West as well. Indeed, if in the Middle East they position themselves rather as a political force, even though with wide representation, in Europe the Society of the Muslim Brotherhood claims to be a representative of the Muslim population of the region as a whole. Taking into account the growing Islamic presence in the continent, a certain anxiety in the European society cannot but exist, concerning the risk of conscious Islamic expansion. In this circumstances the question, whether this process is really taking place as well as which role the Society of the Muslim Brotherhood plays in it, came to the fore. This article tries to answer this question, analysing the different stages of the group’s ideological transformation and its influence on the group’s activity in Europe. The author comes to the conclusion, that being a movement, that has undergone substantial ideological transformation, the Society of the Muslim Brotherhood has followed a similar scenario in Europe. Since the organisation itself has made a long way from a militant organisation with anti-Western discourse to a moderate movement, claiming to be democratically oriented and tolerant to the West, their European branch has transformed from a small Islamist group in temporary exile in the enemy camp, to the organisation, considering itself a representative of the European Muslim community, as well as accepting Europe as a motherland.

Introduction

This chapter provides a cultural and intellectual history of the era in which the shaping of the Soviet nation was completed. It talks about the era when mental and cultural dominants that determined the character of Russia were definitively affirmed. It also looks into cultural texts of literature, theater, cinema, art, music, scientific and historical texts, and popular literature through which history reveals its internal logic. The chapter analyzes Stalinism that communicated the new agenda, gave the new political course form through media, and inculcated the new ideological modulations. It explores the prism of Soviet art in order to trace the political and ideological transformation of the Stalinist regime from revolutionary international utopianism to conservatively patriarchal national Bolshevism.