The Toponymy of Ukraine

A Canadian geographer analyzes the character of current place names in Ukraine, highlighting their evolution and spatial distribution. Included as background material is a succinct historical account of settlements, tracing the origin of significant place names. Spatial analysis is limited to cities and towns of over 10,000 population. Place names are classified as Soviet (using three different indicators), partially Russified (two indicators), or completely Russified or Russian. The spatial distribution and intensity of Sovietization and Russification are described, and patterns suggesting relationships between place-name distribution and socio-demographic characteristics of Ukrainian regions are identified and explained. Prospects for future place-name changes are discussed in some detail. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: H00, O50. 3 maps, 17 references.     

精神备忘录--颜一烟长篇自传体小说《盐丁儿》

颜一烟是中国现代坛上知名的作家,1928年开始创作学作品,早年在日本留学,抗日战争爆发后,在上海从事抗日救亡运动,后赴延安参加革命。《盐丁儿》是作家一部自传体长篇小说。本不仅对小说全进行了独有见解的评析,而且介绍了作的生平经历与小说主人公－－盐丁儿的关系。同时通过小说展示的革命与反革命背景环境的分析,以及学性、思想性的分析,阐述了小说所具有的社会深度和学深度,因本非常重视作家以数十年前的经历作为创作素材,故取名为“精神备忘录”。     

论近代俄罗斯国家政治制度的演变

俄国近代国家政治制度在 2 0世纪初发生了重大变化。在 1 90 5年革命的高潮中 ,沙皇被迫颁布立宪宣言 ,随后在立法、行政领域进行改革 ,最终以 1 90 6年《根本法》将国家制度的变革确定下来。本文拟在几个重要问题上提出与苏联时期史学家不同的观点 ,得出俄国通过上层建筑的变革 ,与近代德、日一样同属二元制君主立宪典型的结论     

匈牙利 恋上布达佩斯之右岸佩斯

正布达佩斯是一个能让人轻易爱上的城市,蓝色的多瑙河以优美的S形从城市中心穿过,左岸是布达,右岸是佩斯。城市中到处都是遗留下来的19世纪建筑,诉说着这座城市曾经的辉煌历史。当站在制高点俯瞰这座城市的时候,当我痴迷地守候着它的晨昏的时候,我知道,我已恋上布达佩斯。     

Putin and Russia's Economic Transformation

A British specialist on the Russian economy comments on economic policy under Putin in reference to a paper on the subject by Anders Åslund. The relation between economic reform and growth is examined in light of international comparative data. The implications of the Yukos affair for Russian policy and performance are reviewed by the author with particular regard to property rights and business expectations. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: E63, K0, P26, P27. 2 tables, 20 references.     

Promoting Investment in Russia's Regions

The paper, based on extensive field interviews in 2009, examines regional investment policies in Russia, focusing on the Novgorod and Kaluga regions. The author, a Finland-based geographer specializing in Russia's economy, argues that some Russian regions (including the ones not well endowed with natural resources) can succeed in promoting investments despite the generally unfavorable economic environment. He also questions the ability of so-called regional "growth machines" to be sustained over the long term, by contrasting the cases of Novgorod and Kaluga, whereby Novgorod represents a region transformed from a leader in promoting investment into a corrupted autarchic regime. Kaluga, on the other hand, is presented as a successful region on the basis of an innovative but somewhat risky investment promotion strategy.     

Russian ‘deniable’ intervention in Ukraine: how and why Russia broke the rules

The Russian military interventions in Ukraine, which have led to the annexation of the Crimean peninsula and to the entrenchment of separatist enclaves in Donetsk and Luhansk provinces, directly challenge the post‐Cold War European state system. Russia has consistently denied any wrongdoing or illegal military involvement and has presented its policies as a reaction to the repression of ethnic Russians and Russian speakers. This article argues that it is important to examine and contest unfounded Russian legal and political claims used by Moscow to justify its interventions. The article proceeds to assess in detail three different explanations of the Russian operations in Ukraine: geopolitical competition and structural power (including the strategic benefits of seizing Crimea); identity and ideational factors; and the search for domestic political consolidation in Russia. These have all played a role, although the role of identity appears the least convincing in explaining the timing and scope of Russian encroachments on Ukrainian territorial integrity and the disruption of Ukrainian statehood.     

The Geographic Component of Mass Attitudes in Ukraine

An American political scientist analyzes the results of a recent survey of the population in Ukraine to explore whether social cleavages (based on ethnicity, language, religion, and region of residence) translate into basic divisions with respect to support for an independent Ukrainian state. Data are examined at both the aggregate (group) and individual levels, in an effort both to identify components of a unified set of attitudes toward independence among population groups and to provide an explanation for individual differences in loyalty to the concept of an independent Ukraine. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: H10, J10, 05. 2 tables, 33 references.     

恋上布达佩斯之左岸布达

在匈牙利,相比多瑙河右岸的佩斯来说,左岸布达的中心区域相对集中,也特别适合步行。这里有着俯瞰整个布达佩斯的绝妙角度,让我们从白天一直守到日暮,不愿离开。布达佩斯最主要的历史遗迹都集中于布达城堡山上,布达城堡山的历史几乎就是布达佩斯的历史。布达依山而建,这座狭长的古城长约1500米,宽约500米,只有3个城门可以通行,易守难攻。从佩斯一侧可以坐公共汽车直达城堡山山顶,我们在最远处的城门下车,然后以漫步的方式认识布达老城。老城共有4条平行的主要街道,大大小小的广场分布其中,     

俄国婚姻和人口再生产模式的转型

俄国的婚姻和人口再生产模式与西欧相差甚远,东正教居民的人口观,尤其是农民的人口行为直接影响了俄国人口再生产并在一定程度上制约了人口模式的转型,19世纪60年代以前,俄国人口再生产是“粗放型”的,高结婚率、高出生率和高死亡率,人口寿命短,自然增长缓慢,1861年后,俄国人口再生产模式略有进步,但相当缓慢。俄国人口再生产模式转型的快慢对其人口进程和城市化进程产生了重要影响。     

Food Security and Russia's 2010 Drought

An American specialist on Russia's agricultural sector examines the progression and impact of that country's 2010 drought (the worst in a half-century), leading to a grain harvest one-third smaller than originally forecast. A particular focus is on the country's grain reserves and the government's response to drought in such areas as grain export policy and maintaining the size of the domestic livestock herd, responses which the author argues are conditioned by the drive for food security, a concept that has dominated the political discourse in tandem with resurgent economic nationalism during the post-Soviet period.     

Nation versus class in Ukraine

This article evaluates the long‐standing but rarely‐tested proposition that nationalism and nationhood mask the extent of class divisions in a society. Specifically, it examines three possible routes by which state‐nationhood might subjectively mitigate the importance of class. Nationhood may shape people's perception of the magnitude of economic inequalities, their perception of the magnitude of class conflict or their assessment of their own class position. An analysis of a mass public opinion survey from Ukraine in 2011 demonstrates that contrary to theoretical arguments advanced by a wide variety of scholars, national identity and national sentiments have very little or no impact on the perceived salience of class divisions in Ukraine. Contradictory forces within the national idea itself are identified to explain this outcome.     

Strategic Reassertion in Russia's Central Asia Policy

President Putin has presided over a proactive, hard-headed and relatively effective Russian policy in Central Asia and the Caspian region since at least the summer of 2002, which aims both to support Russia's revival as an economic and military power and to help tackle at source new security challenges from the volatile south. In line with rising domestic nationalist thinking and the growing influence of officials with a security service or military background, Moscow has been searching for a rationale to support a more assertive policy in the region. Meanwhile, Russian and American views on the scope and conduct of the war on terrorism have diverged in important respects. Russia lacks an overall regional strategy for Central Asia, but is seeking to mesh together geopolitical, security and energy policy goals. It is seeking to reinvigorate its military–security influence in Central Asia under the banner of counterterrorism and at the same time has achieved long-term agreements for energy transit and purchases that make Central Asian states increasingly dependent on Russia in energy policy. Overall, a dynamic of competition is displacing the potential for cooperation between Russia and western states, especially the United States, in Central Asia. The prospects for a fully-fledged strategic partnership in the region are fading but the reality of security threats from Afghanistan and within Central Asia might eventually reconcile Moscow to a lower profile but long-term western strategic presence in the region.     

The Geopolitics of Terrorism: Russia's Conflict with Islamic Extremism

A British specialist on the Russo-Chechen wars and international terrorism examines Russia's role in the Global War on Terror and, in particular, its long-term campaign against both separatists and Islamic extremists in Chechnya and elsewhere in the North Caucasus. The author advances the argument that Russia's Eurasian (as opposed to European) mode of governance, equating self-determination with separatism and cultural/religious differences with extremism, has generated societal pressures conducive to heightened political violence and terrorism. The implications of such pressures for the future incidence of terrorism in Russia are explored. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: H770, O180, P300. 2 figures, 52 references.     

Income Inequality,Welfare and Poverty in Ukraine

Ukraine is now faced with economic crisis on an unprecedented scale. The country is on the brink of hyperinflation. The government has to follow rigorous demand management policies which entail lowering the standard of living of the population. To design policies which protect the poorest and most vulnerable groups in the society, it is important to understand the nature of poverty and income inequality. This study attempts to do exactly this for Ukraine for the first time. The paper demonstrates that the standard of living in Ukraine has been falling at an alarming rate. The government welfare programmes are ineffective in protecting the poorest and most vulnerable groups in the society. This article provides an empirical basis to design appropriate policies, but a lot more work needs to be done.     

The Development of Geography in the Ukraine during the Soviet Period

A survey of geographic research in the Ukraine over the last 50 years reviews work in the various disciplines. In physical geography, research has focused on the problems of the steppe, including irrigation, droughts and erosion control. In economic geography, work has concentrated on resource development, agricultural regionalization and industrial geography. Research in geography is done mainly by universities, institutes of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, and a number of government agencies.