Blogging for the Sake of the President

Many western researchers have hailed blogs of politicians as new, interactive, and ‘inherently democratic’ tools of political communication. Yet, as this chapter illustrates, blogs can be of comparatively even greater appeal to politicians in semi-authoritarian political contexts: In Russia, 29 out of 83 regional leaders (roughly 35 %) were keeping a weblog in May 2010. This chapter accomplishes a comprehensive content analysis of all governors’ blogs and, subsequently, fleshes out a typology of three characteristic types. In conclusion, it is argued that politicians’ blogs are playing a far greater role in generating legitimacy for the Russian political system than they do in democracies, because the semi-authoritarian Russian system lacks other mechanisms which generate (input) legitimacy in developed democracies, such as highly competitive elections

Peasant resistance to the state reforms – 1905–1964

Opór chłopski wobec reform państwowych z lat 1905–1964 W artykule omówiono aktywne i pasywne formy chłopskiego oporu skierowanego przeciwko państwowej polityce przekształceń w rolnictwie rosyjskim w XX wieku. Aktywne formy oporu zostały potraktowane jako działania zbiorowe niższych warstw i grup społecznych, w których odzwierciedlały się ich interesy społeczno- -gospodarcze i polityczne. Opór przejawiał się w kilku formach: pokojowych wystąpieniach, lokalnych powstaniach, buntach, manifestacjach i wiecach. Na podstawie analizy zawartości Statutów kołchozowych kolektywów i ich zgodności z protokołami Walnego Zgromadzenia i posiedzeń Rady Pracowników, autorzy opisują różne naruszenia dyscypliny pracy oraz zbiorowe dozwolone wystąpienia, omawiają reakcję Zarządów kołchozów na te naruszenia, ich przyczyny i skutki. Występujące wśród kołchozowego aktywu zjawiska naruszenia dyscypliny pracy i złe obchodzenie się z kołchozowym majątkiem zostały zakwalifikowane przez autorów jako formy biernego oporu wobec reform agrarnych prowadzonych przez władze państwa. Summary Peasant resistance to the state reforms – 1905–1964 Active and passive forms of peasant resistance to the state agrarian reforms in the period of XX century are considered in this article. Active forms of resistance are considered as collective activities of the lowest section and groups of population, expressing their social- economic and political interests publicly: in village-community verdicts, revolts, performances, meetings. Analysis of the collective-farm Rules and its observance according to the records of common meetings of collective farmers and management board of collective-farms (1953–1964) allowed authors to characterize different breaches of labour discipline and damage of kolkhoz property, consequences and the reasons of breaches. The breaches of labour discipline and the damage of kolkhoz property are considered as the forms of passive resistance to the state agrarian reforms

Life Histories of Etnos Theory in Russia and Beyond

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Life Histories of Etnos Theory in Russia and Beyond

The idea of etnos came into being over a hundred years ago as a way of understanding the collective identities of people with a common language and shared traditions. In the twentieth century, the concept came to be associated with Soviet state-building, and it fell sharply out of favour. Yet outside the academy, etnos-style arguments not only persist, but are a vibrant part of regional anthropological traditions. Life Histories of Etnos Theory in Russia and Beyond makes a powerful argument for reconsidering the importance of etnos in our understanding of ethnicity and national identity across Eurasia. The collection brings to life a rich archive of previously unpublished letters, fieldnotes, and photographic collections of the theory’s early proponents. Using contemporary fieldwork and case studies, the volume shows how the ideas of these ethnographers continue to impact and shape identities in various regional theatres from Ukraine to the Russian North to the Manchurian steppes of what is now China. Through writing a life history of these collectivist concepts, the contributors to this volume unveil a world where the assumptions of liberal individualism do not hold. In doing so, they demonstrate how notions of belonging are not fleeting but persistent, multi-generational, and bio-social

Ethnical and cultural particularity of gluttonic discourse

The article is devoted to ethnic perculiarity and originality of the Russian and British lingvocultures in line with gustative preference

Life Histories of Etnos Theory in Russia and Beyond

The idea of etnos came into being over a hundred years ago as a way of understanding the collective identities of people with a common language and shared traditions. In the twentieth century, the concept came to be associated with Soviet state-building, and it fell sharply out of favour. Yet outside the academy, etnos-style arguments not only persist, but are a vibrant part of regional anthropological traditions. Life Histories of Etnos Theory in Russia and Beyond makes a powerful argument for reconsidering the importance of etnos in our understanding of ethnicity and national identity across Eurasia. The collection brings to life a rich archive of previously unpublished letters, fieldnotes, and photographic collections of the theory’s early proponents. Using contemporary fieldwork and case studies, the volume shows how the ideas of these ethnographers continue to impact and shape identities in various regional theatres from Ukraine to the Russian North to the Manchurian steppes of what is now China. Through writing a life history of these collectivist concepts, the contributors to this volume unveil a world where the assumptions of liberal individualism do not hold. In doing so, they demonstrate how notions of belonging are not fleeting but persistent, multi-generational, and bio-social

Duration of senescent cell survival in vitro as a characteristic of organism longevity, an additional to the proliferative potential of fibroblasts

AbstractMore than 40 years have passed since the original publication by Hayflick and Moorhead led to the concept of the ‘Hayflick limit’ of the maximum number of divisions which somatic cells undergo in vitro. This concept is still regarded as a fundamental characteristic of species longevity. Here we want to emphasize another characteristic of somatic cells, namely, the duration of their survival in vitro in the non-dividing state after cessation of proliferation. This is suggested on the basis of results of recent experiments with so-called Japanese accelerated senescent mice. Results of these experiments reveal a good correlation between the longevity of the mice, the number of duplications of their fibroblasts in vitro, and the survival time of these cells in the non-dividing state. In routine culture conditions, cell survival time may be very long, as much as a few years. However, when the cells are grown under conditions of oxidative stress, cellular longevity is markedly shortened. This new test may serve as an additional marker of organismic longevity. The comparative value of both tests, the classical ‘Hayflick limit’ and the new test, is discussed