Shifting Electoral Geography in Russia's 1991 and 1996 Presidential Elections

This research note reexamines Russia's 1991 and 1996 presidential elections, focusing—unlike studies emphasizing stability of Russia's electorate—on differences in electoral geography in the two elections, with oblast-level vote totals for Boris Yel'tsin in 1991 and 1996 being only poorly correlated. Although Yel'tsin's performance in both elections was better in urban than in rural regions, the urbanrural divide in 1996 is shown to differ from that in 1991. Nonetheless, the Russian electorate is stable after 1993, regional voting patterns between 1993 and 1996 being both similar to each other and different from that in the 1991 election. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: H10, O50, Z10. 6 tables, 14 references.     

Electoral Behavior in the Russian Far East, 1995-2000: Contextual and Compositional Effects

A group of political scientists specializing in Russia's post-Soviet electoral behavior explores the question of whether genuinely regional effects of voting behavior can be discerned (and at what scale) by controlling for variations in compositional characteristics measured by aggregate social and economic data. The paper seeks to identify situations in which contextual effects may be operating, using a scale of analysis that is intermediate between regional (oblast)-level case studies and nationwide surveys—that of the Russian Far East macroregion. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: H10, O50, Z10. 4 tables, 40 references, 1 appendix.     

‘It is because of our Islam that we are there’: The Call of Islam in the United Democratic Front Era

Abstract

This article examines the South African Islamic anti-apartheid organisation, the Call of Islam, in order to understand how progressive South African ‘ulama navigated the contested territory of Islam through an interpretation of the Qur'an that demanded a Muslim alliance with the oppressed in the anti-apartheid struggle and a South African Islam. The emergence of the United Democratic Front (UDF) in 1983 in reaction to the apartheid government's Tricameral Parliament created a space in which South African Muslims could enter the national anti-apartheid struggle according to their religious rather than ethnic identity. To illustrate the historical development of the Call of Islam and its affiliation with the UDF, the article will first outline the formation of the UDF in the Western Cape, the geographical area with the largest concentration of Muslims in South Africa. The focus will then turn to the impact of the UDF on the Cape's Muslim community, particularly the divide that developed amongst its ‘ulama over the stance of Muslim participation in the anti-apartheid struggle. The following section will analyse the emergence of the Call and how the questions of its founders concerning the religious Other led to an examination of Islam in its South African context. The final section will then look at the sources that the Call used to show it was indeed because of their South African Islam that they affiliated with the UDF and the oppressed.     

Expressing Islamic feminism in Mariama Bâ's So Long a Letter

This article examines the presence of a strictly Qur'anic base shaping the Islamic feminism of Ramatoulaye, the narrator and main protagonist of Mariama Bâ's francophone classic So Long a Letter (1979). I argue that the widely circulated insistence by critics and readers of Bâ's epistolary style novel on the practice of Islam in West Africa, particularly in Senegal, as a syncretic presence eagerly adapting to indigenous non-Islamic beliefs and practice, has led to an overly generalized and somewhat inaccurate perception of Islam in Africa. Through my reading of some key Islamic concepts described in Bâ's novel, such as the mirath, polygamy, prayer and sunna, I situate my reading of Ramatoulaye's expression of Islamic feminism within an African and Islamic feminist reading and further position these within the cultural context of the practice of Islam in Senegal. By her ‘strategic self-positioning’, as defined by Islamic feminist Miriam Cooke, among others, within a small group of Senegalese Muslims – locally known as ibadu Muslims – Ramatoulaye succeeds in enacting Islamic feminism in her spiritual persistence for a strict adherence to the Qur'an and in her resistance to the temptation to expand the Islamic precepts of her faith.     

Observations on Changes in Russia's Comparative Advantage, 1994-2005

A senior Japanese specialist on Russia's economy and its oil- and gas-producing sectors calculates that country's Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA), Revealed Comparative Disadvantage (RCD), and Trade Specialization Index (TSI) on the basis of foreign trade data compiled by Russia's Federal Customs Service. The focus is on changes in comparative advantage of Russia's major export and import commodities over the 1994-2005 period. The results of the analyses make it possible to test the assertion that the increasing competitiveness of oil and gas exports (and secondarily those of armaments, selected base metals, roundwood, and fertilizers) must compensate for declining competitiveness in (and increasing imports of) meat, plastics, and automobile production and stagnation in the machinery sectors. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: F02, F14, 011. 4 figures, 8 tables, 11 references.     

Muhammad Abd al‐Rahman (Phillip) Barker: Bridging Cultural Divides through Fantasy/Science‐Fiction Role‐Playing Games and Fictional Religion

“Muslims” and “Dungeons & Dragons” are rarely discussed in the same sentence. However, one of the earliest fantasy role‐playing games, which left a lasting impact on the industry, was the brainchild of Muhammad Abd al‐Rahman (Phillip) Barker (1929‐2012), a professor of South Asian Studies, an expert in Native American languages, and an American convert to Islam. Like Tolkien, Barker created an enormous fantasy world; however, unlike Tolkien, his world was redolent with Native American and South Asian cultural and religious influences. Through this world, he shared with his fans a nuanced understanding of non‐Western societies, cultures, and beliefs – the facets of the human experience that truly constitute multiculturalism. While fictional religion in role‐playing games has been feared and condemned, fictional religion (and occultism) plays a pivotal role in Barker's work; an exploration of his approach towards fictional religion also sheds more light on the question of why fantasy role‐playing games came across as competitors towards religion. Barker's fantasy world brought people of diverse backgrounds together in a beautiful demonstration of how fantasy and science fiction can bring about intercultural and interreligious tolerance in an otherwise intolerant world. Given the centrality of games such as Dungeons & Dragons to American popular culture, an exploration of Barker's legacy can also be seen in the light of the study of the history and contributions of Muslims in America.     

The Struggle to Establish Islam in Papua New Guinea (1976–83)

A vast literature about the religions and histories of Papua New Guinea (PNG) exists, but less than a handful of items mention the history of Islam or Muslims in PNG. This paper contributes to an initial attempt to establish a comprehensive historical account of Islam in PNG's broader history by detailing the formal establishment of Islam there from 1976 to 1983. Beginning with Islam's expatriate Muslim founders, it examines the challenges and events that led to the religion's institutionalisation and consolidation. This period of early effort provided the basis for a self-sustaining and, of late, growing religion. The ideational, material and migratory effects of globalisation and decolonisation appear as factors in the growth of Islam in PNG, despite persistent Christian resistance to its presence. The paper draws upon numerous unpublished archival records and interview data collected during fieldwork to PNG in 2007.     

Crescent concerns

France is home to approximately five million people of Muslim origin, giving it western Europe's largest Muslim population. Three‐quarters of French Muslims trace their origins to just three countries—Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia—but half of today's French Muslim population was born in France. Muslims face considerable difficulties, including poor housing, unemployment and discrimination. Some of these issues are the problems of immigrants in general, not Muslims in particular. But Islam does challenge traditional French notions of citizenship and secularism. However, for all the controversy over headscarves and riots in poor suburbs, there are encouraging signs of a better future for Muslims in France.     

‘That still goes on,doesn't it,in their religion?’ British values,Islam and vernacular discourse

This article explores ‘everyday’ or ‘vernacular’ conceptions of Muslims, Islam and their relationship to ‘British values’. Drawing on original data from focus groups in the East of England, it argues that the relationship is typically constructed around a series of binary pairings. Where Islam is held to be traditional, conservative, pious and outmoded, British values are seen as progressive, liberal, secular and modern. This opposition matters for three reasons. First, it is a contingent construction rather than reflection of realities; one that draws upon Orientalist tropes and militates against alternative ways of imagining this relationship. Second, it does important work at the vernacular level in explaining political dynamics, especially successful integration (because of British liberalism) and the failure thereof (because of Islam's traditionalism). Third, its predication on an essentialised claim of difference inflects even competing efforts to story the British values/Islam relationship which tend, we suggest, to reinforce the positioning of Muslims and their values as somehow beyond or external to Britishness.     

Yusuf Islam (aka Cat Stevens) and his anti-war and pro-peace protest songs: from hippy peace to Islamic peace

ABSTRACT

In the 1970s Yusuf Islam (aka Cat Stevens) inspired a generation with his songs on anti-materialism, finding self and peace in such classic albums as Tea for the Tillerman (1970, US 3x platinum) and Teaser and the Firecat (1971, US 3x platinum). In December 1977 he converted to Islam, gave up popular music and focussed on humanitarian and educational work, until he returned to popular music in 2006. Meanwhile, Muslims became associated in the West as intolerant and violent. Yusuf has emerged in the last decade as a voice for progressive Muslims. This article explores the continuities in his music from his Cat Stevens days to his comeback and how he has reconciled popular music and his Cat Stevens past with his understanding of Islam. The focus is on his anti-war and pro-peace songs. It argues that his earlier songs are similar in their messages of world peace through love and unity, though less dark than his post-2006 songs. Additionally, his recent songs have a new message that the world must be more inclusive to achieve world peace. This is connected to him being a Muslim in the West and his feeling of exclusion, in an age when many in the West portray all Muslims as extremists. Consequently, in his recent music he reflects his experience as a Muslim, in the same way as his earlier music reflected the counter-culture of that period. Thus he has gone back to his earlier self after adopting a progressive understanding of Islam. Not Started Completed Rejected.     

Islam intensified: snapshot historiography and the making of Muslim identities

The celebrated, and oft-criticised, 1001 Inventions exhibition offered a particular vision of Islam and Muslims in the West that is imbedded in the postcolonial reality of the post-9/11 world. Built around the coupling of Islam and science, the exhibition and its critics negotiate the place of Muslims in the contemporary world as mapped through the simultaneous intensification of Islam and science as epistemological categories. Such intensification is built on a symmetrical epistemology that deploys science as a universal value perceivable in snapshot historiographies. The article here argues that the exhibition and connected narratives, seen as examples of producing Muslim identities in the West, use the juncture of Islam and science, written in conforming agency, to re-inscribe and affirm the definition of Islam as a core and unchanging identity for Muslims.     

U.S. Latina/o Muslims Since 1920: From “Moors” to “Latino Muslims”

This article provides a historical overview of the development of the U.S. Latina/o Muslim community. U.S. Latina/os have been converting to Islam since the 1920s. Early converts were primarily found in African‐American‐majority Islamic communities, though there were some others who entered Islam through ties to Muslim immigrants. In both cases, the U.S.'s racist social system had brought the two communities together. In New York City during the 1970s, however, a group of around a dozen Latina/o Muslims felt that neither the African‐American‐majority nor the immigrant‐majority communities sufficiently addressed Latina/os' particular culture, languages, social situations, and contributions to Islamic history. To correct this, they created the first known U.S. Latina/o Muslim organisation, the Alianza Islamica, a group which fostered a “Latino Muslim” identity. Since that time, due to the growing numbers of U.S. Latina/o Muslims, as well as a tendency to foster ties with Latina/o Muslims in countries outside of the U.S., U.S. Latina/o Muslims are more and more adopting the “Latino Muslim” identity, which is now being promoted by several organisations and prominent leaders.     

The Russian Steel Industry, 1990-2009

A noted specialist on Russia's industries surveys the restructuring of Russia's steel industry in response to the challenging conditions of the 1990s (collapsing domestic markets, the nonpayments crisis, and insider privatization) and its subsequent stabilization during the early years of the 21^st century due to effective implementation of a "survival model" at many plants. The author examines the major elements of that model, namely an export orientation made possible by relatively low labor and energy costs, reliable access to basic raw materials, a focus on crude (rather than specialty) steel, not inconsequential investment in process modernization, and effective control exercised by new private ownership. The paper's concluding section explores the new challenges faced by the industry due to the global financial crisis of late 2008-2009, and particularly the decline in world steel and company share prices, the extreme tightening of credit, the difficulties of servicing existing levels of debt, and provisions of a government assistance program that appear to preclude major capacity closures as a means of reducing costs. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: D290, L610, O140, P230. 3 figures, 1 table, 97 references.     

Geographic Aspects of Population Aging in the Russian Federation

An American demographer specializing in the former USSR and Russia examines the demographic aspects of aging and the age structure of Russia's population across its regions, covering urban versus rural areas, and ethnic homelands versus non-ethnic (Russian) regions. The paper also assesses the implications of aging for Russia's pension and electoral systems, by examining regional differences in the real value of pensions and the emergence of a rather durable, conservative "red belt" strongly correlated with older, more agrarian, and rural populations. A final section examines the future of aging in Russia using recent population projections by Goskomstat Rossii demographers. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: J10, J11, J14. 10 figures, 2 tables, 39 references.     

Observations on the Geographical Dimensions of Russia's Resource Abundance

A UK-based authority on Russia's economic geography examines the geographical dimensions of Russia's resource abundance, devoting particular attention to the spatial redistribution of resource rents generated by extraction, primary processing, and fabrication. After establishing Russia's credentials as a "resource-abundant economy," the author identifies the country's resource regions and considers their relative importance in terms of population, territory, and national economic contribution. He then considers the various dimensions (and different geographies) of resource rent, focusing on the oil and gas sector. The paper extends Gaddy and Ickes' (2005) macro-economic assessment and discusses the consequences of rent redistribution for interregional income flows as well as Russia's territorial cohesion. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: O11, O13, O18, Q30. 5 figures, 1 table, 55 references.     

The Role of Russian Big Business in Local Development

The paper, based in part on field surveys in 2006, examines the role played by large Russian companies in local development, focusing on the operations of SUAL and Severstal' in Northwest Russia. The two companies provide examples of different models of corporate behavior (transnational and paternalist) in the current Russian business environment, reflecting a choice more broadly between neoliberal and corporate-nationalistic versions of Russia's participation in globalization. The author investigates the implications of the different models for the local jurisdictions in which these companies operate. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: D21, L20, O18, P20. 2 figures, 1 table, 48 references.     

Tidings from a Faraway East: The Russian Empire and Morocco

In 1898 the Russian Empire opened a consulate in Tangier, its first formal diplomatic mission in Morocco. This article examines the reasons behind Russia's approaches to the Sultanate in the wider context of Russian relations with the Arab Middle East. Russia's policy toward Morocco reflected a desire to build influence in the Arab world through ‘soft’ power - peaceful diplomacy laden with benevolent cultural and economic values. Strikingly, much Russian diplomatic rhetoric emphasized or pretended to cultural commonalities between Russia and the Middle East, focused on shared experiences of Islam, to position Russia as an influential ‘honest broker’ between Morocco and encroaching Western imperialist powers. This did not prevent France's establishment of a protectorate in 1912, but Russian goals in Morocco remained consistent through the First World War and up to the time of the Revolution of 1917, and mirrored efforts elsewhere in the Arab world.     

Russia's European policy under Medvedev: how sustainable is a new compromise?

This article argues that Dmitry Medvedev's term in office, despite the continuity in Russia's foreign policy objectives, brought about a certain change in Russia's relations with the European Union and the countries of the Common Neighbourhood. The western perceptions of Russia as a resurgent power able to use energy as leverage vis‐à‐vis the EU were challenged by the global economic crisis, the emergence of a buyer's market in Europe's gas trade, Russia's inability to start internal reforms, and the growing gap in the development of Russia on the one hand and China on the other. As a result, the balance of self‐confidence shifted in the still essentially stagnant EU–Russian relationship. As before, Moscow is ready to use all available opportunities to tighten its grip on the post‐Soviet space, but it is less keen to go into an open conflict when important interests of EU member states may be affected. The realization is slowly emerging also inside Russia that it is less able either to intimidate or attract European actors, even though it can still appeal to their so‐called ‘pragmatic interests’, both transparent and non‐transparent. At the same time, whereas the new modus operandi may be suboptimal from the point of view of those in the country who would want Russia's policy to be aimed at the restoration of global power status, it is the one that the Kremlin can live with—also after the expected return of Vladimir Putin as Russia's president. Under the current scheme, the West—and the EU in particular—does little to challenge Russia's internal order and leaves it enough space to conduct its chosen course in the former Soviet Union.     

A New Energy Age in Pacific Russia: Lessons from the Sakhalin Oil and Gas Projects

A noted British specialist in Russia's economic geography and the Far East region presents a comprehensive account of the development of the onshore and offshore oil and gas deposits of Sakhalin. Following a review of early multinational activity in geological surveying and exploration during the 1970s, he charts subsequent changes in the entities formed to develop and exploit the deposits (Sakhalin-I and -II) later in the Soviet period and during the first two decades of Russian independence. These changes have responded to improved knowledge of the geology of the deposits and changing relations between the Russian central government and Sakhalin regional authorities. Also analyzed are efforts by the Russian side to overturn or otherwise modify terms of previous agreements deemed unfavorable, and maneuvering by China and Japan to secure increasing sources of supply for their markets. With Sakhalin's two core projects now entering the active production phase, the author distills a number of key issues that have shaped the development of the island's offshore hydrocarbon resources and will have a bearing on prospects for a future generation of less spectacular new projects (incremental development); he also outlines wider lessons that have been learned over the life of Sakhalin's projects. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: F210, L710, L950, P330, Q400. 4 figures, 2 tables, 45 references.     

Islam in China: From Silk Road to Separatism

Islam came to China via the Silk Road, the great trading route beginning in the ancient Chinese capital of Xian. Islam flourished during the brutal but religiously tolerant Mongol Yuan dynasty. Harsh repressive measures were employed against the rebellious Muslims of the Qing dynasty. Islam has survived the tumultuous 20^th century and has experienced a revival in the new millennium. Following a brief historical overview, including some of China's relevant history of insurrection, rebellion and reforms, the nature of the Muslim community in China, along with pressing contemporary issues, will be outlined and discussed.