A global conformal extension theorem for perfect fluid Bianchi space-times

A global extension theorem is established for isotropic singularities in polytropic perfect fluid Bianchi space-times. When an extension is possible, the limiting behaviour of the physical space-time near the singularity is analysed.Comment: 13 pages, no figures, revised and shortened, improved proof of main theorem, some correction

Russia’s Ministry of Ambivalence:The Failure of Civic Nation-Building in Post-Soviet Russia

This article argues that the sources of official and societal ambivalence towards civic nationhood in today’s Russia are found in the institutional instability and personalist dynamics of hybrid regime politics in the 1990s. Successful civic nation-building should institutionalize inclusive criteria for citizenship as a basis for policymaking, which in turn should create incentives for dominant ethnicities to embrace civic nationhood. While the shifting views of Boris Yel’tsin on nationalities policy and the constant turmoil in the government’s nationalities ministry have received little scholarly attention, they illuminate the endogenous sources of regime instability in relation to civic nation-building. Russia’s experience thus challenges the traditional view of ethnic nationalism as fostering authoritarianism and civic nationalism as fostering democracy: rather, competitive authoritarianism in the 1990s confounded the regime’s own efforts toward civic nation-building and laid the groundwork for the “ethnic turn” in Russian politics under Vladimir Putin.</p

Patriotism without Patriots?:Perm-36 and Patriotic Legitimation in Russia

This article examines the takeover of the Perm-36 GULAG museum as emblematic of the dynamics of patriotic legitimation in Russia. The museum was dedicated to preserving the memory of the victims of Soviet political repression and it grew in popularity into the 2000s, emerging as an opposition platform and target for self-styled patriots who accused it of distorting Soviet history. The regional government soon joined the battle, finally forcing the museum’s takeover and transforming it into a site honoring the GULAG rather than its victims. Drawing on interviews conducted with the museum’s former director and scientific directors in 2015 and extensive local press materials, this analysis of the struggle over Perm-36 demonstrates the significance of patriotism in sustaining the regional government’s attacks even in the absence of federal patronage. The findings thus challenge prevailing understandings of authoritarian regime politics as driven primarily by patronage and power-maximizing elites

Russia’s Ministry of Ambivalence:The Failure of Civic Nation-Building in Post-Soviet Russia

This article argues that the sources of official and societal ambivalence towards civic nationhood in today’s Russia are found in the institutional instability and personalist dynamics of hybrid regime politics in the 1990s. Successful civic nation-building should institutionalize inclusive criteria for citizenship as a basis for policymaking, which in turn should create incentives for dominant ethnicities to embrace civic nationhood. While the shifting views of Boris Yel’tsin on nationalities policy and the constant turmoil in the government’s nationalities ministry have received little scholarly attention, they illuminate the endogenous sources of regime instability in relation to civic nation-building. Russia’s experience thus challenges the traditional view of ethnic nationalism as fostering authoritarianism and civic nationalism as fostering democracy: rather, competitive authoritarianism in the 1990s confounded the regime’s own efforts toward civic nation-building and laid the groundwork for the “ethnic turn” in Russian politics under Vladimir Putin.</p

Becoming Banal: Incentivizing and Monopolizing the Nation in Post-Soviet Russia

While new regimes often seek legitimation by forging banal ties between state and nation (or “banalization”), there have been few attempts to explain how nationalism becomes banal, to account for variations in the process across different types of regimes, or to establish clear criteria for identifying successes or failures in banalization. This article presents an original theoretical framework for understanding banalization as a social and political process involving attempts to either incentivize or monopolize national expression, depending on the type of political regime. Drawing on interviews and focus groups conducted during 2014–2016, a case study of post-Soviet Russia fleshes out the process and outcomes of banalization across different kinds of regimes from the 1990s to the present. It further suggests the value of examining banalization as a regime process in accounting for the ways that the successes or failures of banalization influence their successors’ pursuit of legitimation.</p

Making Effective Audits Truly Effective

The Queensland Coal Mining Safety and Health Act 1999 and the Mining and Quarrying Safety and Health Act 1999 require a mine to have a Safety and Health Management System (SHMS) in place to manage the risk to safety and health of persons at the mine. The legislation assigns the obligation to the site senior executive to develop and implement the mine’s SHMS. It assigns a further obligation to the mine operator to audit the effectiveness of the system put in place by the site senior executive. What is exactly meant in the legislation by the term effectiveness, and how to go about assessing effectiveness has been the topic of much debate since the legislation was enacted. In 2008, the Queensland Mines Inspectorate provided some clarification on the issue, when it published Queensland Guidance Note QGN09 Reviewing the Effectiveness of Safety and Health Management Systems. However, QGN09 is not an exhaustive treatment of reviewing the effectiveness of an SHMS. In this paper, former Queensland Commissioner for Mine Safety and Health, Paul Harrison, and former Queensland Chief Inspector of Mines, Phil Goode, discuss effectiveness audits from the perspective of the authors’ experience and propose a tool for quantitative measurement of SHMS effectiveness

Russia’s Failed Federalization Marches and the Simulation of Regional Politics

Inspired by Russia’s insistence on federalization for Ukraine, activists in Novosibirsk attempted to organize a protest march in August 2014 to call for greater regional autonomy in Siberia. Authorities squelched the march almost as soon as the protest threatened to spread. Yet even as organizers were arrested and press reports censored, opposition leaders in Moscow and activists in Ukraine seized upon the news of the planned federalization marches and even invented new ones. The resulting spectacle revealed the Kremlin’s ongoing fear of decentralizing power, the weak ties between central and regional opposition, and the boomerang effect of Russia’s intervention in Eastern Ukraine.N

The Revival of Russia’s Gubernatorial Elections: Liberalization or Potemkin Reform?

After an eight year pause, gubernatorial elections returned to Russia in 2012. Formerly appointed governors are now being put to the electoral test, and the Kremlin is discovering the extent to which it sacrificed effective regional leadership for loyalty to the federal center. It now finds itself on the horns of a dilemma: if it continues to heap blame on regional leaders for economic failures and declining trust in the country’s political institutions, then the ranks of volunteers willing to serve as governor will dwindle. Yet if it seeks to attract capable candidates to stand for governor, it may be forced to decentralize power and to allow an opening of regional elections to more opposition candidates.N

The Regional Dimension of Russia’s 2007–2008 Elections

The key to Russia’s presidential and parliamentary elections lies in the regions. The March 2007 regional elections show that United Russia will continue to dominate, but that it will face new challenges from the rapidly rising Just Russia. The new party could help stimulate the fracturing of the regional elite. If the gov- ernors are willing to take risks, they may have increased influence over the course of the 2007 parliamentary elections. Moreover, the rise of Just Russia could make it difficult for the center to maintain control over the regions.N