Youth as an Object of Online Extremist Propaganda: The Case of the IS

A youth audience is the most vulnerable part of society as an object of influence of radical ideas. The authors argue that the most efficient tool of involving young people of different origin and confessional affiliation into the extremist activity on the present stage is social networks. Despite the fact that the practice of using communication networks in the Internet space by terrorist organizations have existed before, it was the information policy of the ISIS (and later IS) that was characterized by the greatest effectiveness, due to the creation of an integrated media structure, which consisted of numerous foundations and agencies (Al Furqan, Aynad, Itisaam, Al-Hayat, etc.), allowing them to spread their extremist religious and ideological doctrine on a global scale. The use of the widest range of high-quality media products in Internet media and social networks has expanded the organizations area of influence by attracting supporters not only from the Middle East region, but also from European countries and the Russian Federation. The case-study of the mechanisms for attracting European youth through social networks, such as Twitter, Facebook, etc., to extremist activities under the auspices of the IS is held. In conclusion, the prospects for the influence of IS propaganda in social networks after the defeat of a terrorist organization in 2018 are assessed. As a methodological basis of the research, aspect and activity approaches, as well as analytical, statistical methods and the method of content analysis are used.

Philosophical aspects of the historical development of Islamic civilization and the interest in the teachings of Ibn Taymiyyah (1263-1328)

The purpose of the paper is to analyse the philosophical aspects of the historical development of Islamic civilisation. Special attention is paid to the socio-cultural and socio-political crises that accompany the development of the Muslim world and the regularity of turning to the radical ideas of the Syrian religious figure Ibn Taymiyyah during the period of instability at the turn of the 13th-14th centuries. Theoretical basis: In the course of the study the author did not find any works, devoted to the influence of Ibn Taymiyyah on the establishment of the ideology of modern radical groups and the interest in the Islamic world to his ideas. Therefore, the scientific novelty of the study lies in the possibility to investigate the features of the historical development of the Islamic world and the appeal in times of crisis to the teachings of this medieval religious leader. In the course of the study the author came to the conclusion, the development of Islam was greatly influenced by the peculiarities of tribal relations in the Arab society in particular, and in the Islamic society as a whole.

Influence of destructive internet content on forming columbine ideas among minors

Modern online culture is causing transformations in the most important spheres of human life, which have both positive and negative impacts. Currently, globalization and rapid growth in the number of Internet users play a significant role in shaping the worldview and socialization of the younger generation. This article reveals the problem of the spread of radical ideas of such a subcultural movement as «Columbine» (school shooting), which is one of the extreme forms of manifestation of destructive behavior. Cases of attacks on educational institutions both in Russia and abroad are considered, an assessment of the events that have taken place is given, the activities of school shooters are analyzed. The authors reveal a number of reasons and factors contributing to the involvement of minors in destructive groups, which subsequently train adherents of «Columbine» from their members. Five stages are analyzed that a potential school shooter goes through, accumulating «deformations»: chronic deformation, uncontrolled deformation, acute stress, planning stage and implementation stage. The psychological aspects of each of them are revealed in details. In the frame of the content analysis of the Internet information space the certain conclusions on the spread of the radical ideological movement «Columbine» are made. Preventive measures are considered, and some recommendations are given to improve their effectiveness.

MODERN ARTISTIC APPROACHES OF ARCHITECTURAL ORGANIZATION OF PUBLIC AND RESIDENTIAL ENVIRONMENT

The existing problems of emotional-figurative perception of the architectural environment of public and residential buildings and structures, on the one hand, and modern examples of practical activities with very radical ideas about the organization of the architectural environment force us to rethink the theoretical achievements of artistic design. The aim of the study is to systematize existing information about the artistic design of the architectural environment in the context of the development of the artistic image of the architectural environment, formulating the features of modern artistic approaches to organizing the public and residential architectural environment. Materials and methods. Literary and informational sources, comparative analysis, structural and logical modeling, systematization of research results, literary and informational sources, methods of experimental design. Within the framework of the study, the architectural environment a three-tier hierarchical system is considered. Four modern approaches to the artistic design of the architectural environment are proposed: critical, individual, interactive and creative. It is established that the architectural environment is perceived as a multilevel, open developing and interacting with visitors in time and space system. The artistic image of the architectural environment covers all levels of formation and connects them into a single whole. The application of the proposed modern artistic approaches is possible both separately and together. Their harmonious integration in the context of artistic design helps to create an architectural environment that evolves and changes according to the needs of visitors and their own interactive rules of perception. The argumentation of these artistic approaches provides a basis for further study of dynamic processes and prospects for the development of artistic design with the possibility of using the results of research work in the artistic design of public and residential architectural environment. Examples are given.

Decolonizing, conviviality and convivial conservation: towards a convivial SDG 15, life on land?

In their article 'Towards convivial conservation' (2019), Büscher and Fletcher propose a vision for conservation which partly builds on Ivan Illich's 1973 book Tools for conviviality. Given a growing chorus of voices calling for decolonizing conservation to address the ramifications of racialized mindsets and biases,this article asks: what role could conviviality play in envisioning alternative, decolonizing conservation ideas, particularly for Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 15? The article first reflects on the case for decolonizing conservation. It then conducts an in-depth analysis of Illich's radical ideas as well as subsequent understandings of conviviality, before juxtaposing Illich's ideas with Büscher and Fletcher's suggestions through a decolonizing lens. Finally,the article reviews SDG 15, 'Life on Land', against the backdrop of the prior decolonizing and convivial perspectives. The article argues that Illich's conviviality and related ideas have much to offer in envisioning alternative, decolonizing conservation ideas by promoting grassroots, democratic decision-making, living within bounds by the rich, emphasizing interdependencies between and within people and the environment, yet need to avoid imposition and incorporate intergenerational and marginalized viewpoints adequately.

Margaret A. Simons, Rebel at Heart

In this interview, Margaret A. Simons describes her path to philosophy and existentialism, her struggles in the male-dominated field in the 1960s and 1970s, and her political activism in the civil rights and women’s liberation movements. She also discusses her encounters with Simone de Beauvoir and Beauvoir’s refusal to own her philosophical originality, suggesting that Beauvoir may have adopted a more conventional narrative of a female intellectual to circumvent the public’s resistance to her radical ideas in the 1950s.

Rock-discourse as the reflection of Perestroika

Цель статьи – выявление реформаторского потенциала рок-музыки, который проявился в ходе Перестройки. Гипотезой исследования стала мысль о том, что молодежная музыка была не столько двигателем процессов изменения советского общества, сколько отражала намерения власти и ход реальных реформ, служила для апробации реформаторского дискурса. Исследование проведено на основе анализа нарративных интервью с очевидцами событий, музыкантами и людьми, близкими к рок-культуре в конце 1980-х гг., публикаций в прессе описываемого периода, неопубликованных документов. Появление и развитие описанного в статье дискурса указывает на использование рок-музыки в качестве индикатора изменений и инструмента для забрасывания камней, то есть апробации радикальных идей и решений. The aim of this article is detection of reform potential of rock-music during Soviet Perestroika. Hypothesis of research is idea that youth music was not so much a support for changing of the Soviet society, but it was a mirror, which reflected intentions of power and process of real reforms. Rock-music was used for the testing of reform discourse. The forming and development of this discourse indicates the use of rock-music as an indicator of changings and instrument for check of discourse field or for testing radical ideas and decisions.

Religion, Insurgency, and Counterinsurgency

The academic study of religion and irregular warfare has expanded considerably since the turn of the 21st century—driven by both global events such as 9/11 and empirical studies that find armed rebellions with religious dimensions to be longer, bloodier, and more difficult to resolve than nonreligious conflicts. Most of this research focuses on the religious, usually radical, ideas and practices of insurgent groups. Of particular interest has been the way religion shapes the motivations and means of guerrilla fighters. Less attention has been paid to the role of counterinsurgent armies in irregular, religious wars. Following the U.S.-led invasions in Iraq and Afghanistan, a few initial studies explored how state forces misunderstand or ignore the religious dynamics of armed conflict. A growing body of research since the mid-2010s has pushed further, cataloguing a more varied set of ways counterinsurgent forces account for religion in combat and information operations. Moving forward, studies that look at both sides of the battlefield need to expand their empirical emphases, as well as more directly address a common set of challenges to the broader study of religious violence—how best to conceptualize, measure, and analyze the religious dynamics of war. Future scholarship should also consider research designs that test the causal processes purported to link religion with conflict outcomes and pay increased attention to the interaction between insurgent and counterinsurgent forces.

Spectres of Euripides: Time, Translation and Modernism in H.D.’s Euripides

The modernist period was one of intense engagement with antiquity. It was also a period concerned with radical ideas about time put forward by Henri Bergson and Albert Einstein that questioned traditional understandings of the relationship between past and present. This article considers these two aspects of the modernist period through H.D.’s translations of Euripides: it argues that H.D.’s equivocal position in literary modernism and the imagist movement (as demonstrated by her translations from Hippolytus), her prosodic experimentation with Greek verse forms in her translations from Hecuba and Iphigenia at Aulis and finally her emphasis on temporal themes in her Freud-inspired translation of Ion can be all read in such a way to cast new light on the complex temporalities of the translation of classical texts and the modernist reception of the classics.