RUSSIAN EMIGRATION ABOUT THE CLASSICAL HERITAGE: PECULIARITY OF A LOOK

В статье рассматривается проблема различного отношения к классическому наследию в метрополии и эмиграции. В советской России пренебрежение к русской классике сменилось ее приспособлением к задачам советской власти, фрагментированием, что приводило к деформациям ее интерпретации. Послереволюционная эмиграция противостояла советскому пониманию литературы и творчества, сохраняла классическое наследие, берегла христианскую традицию русской литературы, находила опору в ценностном мире русской классики. Важнейшей задачей становилось обоснование нового взгляда на русскую культуру – взгляда из эмиграции. The article deals with the problem of a different attitude to the classical heritage between Soviet Russia and emigration. In Soviet Russia, the neglect of Russian classical literature was replaced by its adaptation to the tasks of the Soviet government, fragmentation, which led to deformations of its interpretation. Post-revolutionary emigration opposed the Soviet understanding of literature and creativity, preserved its classical heritage, protected the Christian tradition of Russian literature, and found support in the axiological landmarks of the Russian classical literature. The most important task was to justify a new view of Russian culture – a view from emigration.

Personal, Public and Political Impacts of a New District: Survey Data from Before and After the Creation of Ghana’s Nabdam District

In June 2012 the government of Ghana added 42 new districts to the country’s system of local governance. This paper measures the impact of one new district in terms of private wealth accumulation, access to public services and political engagement. Data analysed comes from a panel survey of residents of the new district capital and two similarly sized villages, one in the new district and one just outside. Proponents of government fragmentation promise personal, public and political gains when government is brought closer to the people. Evidence weighed here suggests that these gains are largely realized by residents.

Who gets what – and how efficiently? Assessing the spatial allocation of public goods

Governments frequently face distributive pressures that can lead them to allocate resources along partisan or ethnic lines. Such patterns of distribution can run counter to welfare maximization. It is therefore important to incorporate distributional concerns into the measurement of government performance. This paper outlines a method for doing so, adapting standard techniques for measuring government efficiency. The proposed method’s utility is demonstrated with data from Tanzanian local governments. The application illustrates how failing to take distributional concerns into account can bias the measurement of performance. Assessing how well governments translate resources into outputs that equitably serve their citizens is important for a number of topics in political science, including decentralization, distributive politics, and government fragmentation. It can also inform efforts to promote aid effectiveness. The proposed approach is applicable to a wide range of contexts given the increasing availability of geo-coded data on public goods. Replication files are provided for those wishing to conduct their own analyses.

Local Government Fragmentation: What Do We Know?

The United States is a nation of local governments. The growth in the number of local governments over the last sixty years has led many to ask whether the current fragmented arrangement is ideal or whether fewer local governments are preferred. This article explains the theoretical arguments on both sides, paying close attention to horizontal and vertical fragmentation. The empirical evidence on the effects of local government fragmentation is examined in three policy areas: public expenditures/revenues, public employment, and economic growth.

The politics of municipal fragmentation in Ghana

The scholarly debate over the rival merits of local government consolidation and fragmentation is an old but enduring one. However, in this debate very little attention has been focused on the political dimension of council amalgamation and fragmentation – yet political considerations play a central role in both the formulation and outcomes of de-concentration policy. The purpose of this article is to fill a gap in the literature by examining local government fragmentation in Ghana from 1988 to 2014. The article does this by identifying the key players and analysing their interests and gains, as well as the tensions arising from the fragmentation exercise. The implications from the Ghanaian case for more general theories of fragmentation are drawn out.