Geopolitical cultures,pragmatic patriotism,and Russia’s disputed islands

This paper draws on the notion of “geopolitical culture” as a conceptual tool for understanding debates over the formulation of foreign policy in contemporary Russia. To draw out the value of this concept, the paper explores the symbolism of territory as a means for restoring Russia’s status, respect, and power. However, in contrast to previous studies, it traces the ways in which a concession of territory has been promoted as a device for achieving Russia’s great power ambitions. More broadly, the paper seeks to stimulate a wider debate on reconceptualizing the relationship between territory and identity in Russia, at the same time as it places Russia’s Far Eastern borderlands at the heart of debates on the spatial imaginaries of the Russian homeland. By drawing on and advancing recent theoretical innovations in critical geopolitics, and recognizing the significance of the discourse of nationalism within these framings, the paper explores the nuanced and multiple story lines that constitute Russia’s geopolitical culture. Through this approach, intriguing and complex plot lines and unexpected twists are revealed, which have at times been obscured by nationalist-territorial-revanchist narratives on Putin’s Russia. It is suggested that such approaches can also provide insights for interpreting cases and contexts beyond Russia and Eurasia.     

中共中央与共产国际在开除陈独秀问题上的分歧

中共中央和共产国际在开除陈独秀的原因和如何开除陈独秀的问题上发生分歧和冲突,主要表现在共产国际远东局想给予尽量多的机会和时间,要求陈独秀承认错误,希望他继续保留在党内;共产国际远东局最后同意开除陈独秀,主要是因为陈独秀在中东路事件上否定了"保卫苏联"的立场,不能容忍.而中共中央政治局则更看重于陈独秀转向托派对本国革命和共产党的影响以及他反对中共六大路线.     

A resampling approach to gender relations: the Rebešovice cemetery

Early Bronze Age society in Central Europe is often depicted as a society dominated by males. It is suggested that archaeological evidence is not always in agreement with this view. This study reports the analysis of mortuary variability at the Early Bronze cemetery Rebešovice in Moravia (Czech Republic) that uses computer-intensive resampling techniques. The results indicate that there are only minor differences in the mortuary treatment of females and males. There is neither a qualitative restriction of body treatment and objects buried with males, nor a quantitative emphasis on burials of males. In fact, burials of females are equipped with a higher number of bronze artifacts. Funerals of females were at least as significant social events as the funerals of males. We argue that the model of a male dominated community that used this cemetery is unwarranted. These findings do not refute the existence of gender-specific activities and roles that may be valued differently, but instead suggest that both females and males had access to resources from which they could draw power.     

Reexamining transport poverty,job access,and gender issues in Central and Eastern Europe

Tirana, the Balkan capital examined in this study, displays patterns of gendered job search behavior and access, which are unique within contemporary Europe and even within post-socialist Central and Eastern Europe. Here, it is a rather spatially constricted job search range rather than transport poverty that prevents women living in first-ring suburbs from attaining satisfactory employment. Female commutes are extraordinarily short and most often on foot. While the city now has nearly one million inhabitants and a high car ownership rate, and is located in Europe, the employment and mobility choices and behaviors of its female residents resemble those in developing rather than developed countries, and in small rather than large cities. The reasons underpinning this situation have more to do with socio-cultural gender barriers and less with transport poverty or labor market weaknesses. This finding might apply to other Balkan capitals or cities outside Europe, which have recently experienced large waves of internal migration and where both existing residents and newcomers have not yet adjusted to ‘big city’ life.     

中共十一届三中全会研究述评

1978年召开的中共十一届三中全会,结束了粉碎四人帮后的两年徘徊中前进的局面,重新确立了马克思主义的思想路线、政治路线和组织路线,做出了把工作重点转移到社会主义现代化建设上来的战略决策,揭开了改革开放的序幕,以此为起点,中国走上了建设有中国特色社会主义新道路。近30年来,对这一实现伟大历史转折的重要会议的研究成果非常丰富。     

中原北方宋辽金时期涅槃图像考察

中原北方宋辽金时期涅槃图像,具有时代共通性的一面,同时呈现东部地区与西部地区的地域差异。在图像表现方面,两地区涅槃图像不同程度地继承了唐代因素,相对来说,东部地区沿用的唐代因素较多;西部地区在唐代基础上又部分地吸收了东部地区宋代因素,并获得新发展。在图像内涵方面,东部地区表现为涅槃与弥勒佛组合,延续了传统图像的做法,着意表述佛法传承的意图。涅檗与三身佛组合是这一时期的新现象,反映了大乘佛教权道、化现思想。西部地区表现为涅槃、罗汉、横三世佛(释迦·弥勒·阿弥陀)组合,一方面强调了罗汉守护和传承佛法的作用,另一方面凸显信徒向往并期望将来往生净土世界的心态。东西两地区有关摩耶夫人画面的流行,与当时社会大力倡导孝行的情况密切关联。涅槃升仙图像则是佛教进一步世俗化的表现。     

The Middle-Upper Paleolithic transition in Southeastern Central Europe (Czechoslovakia and Hungary)

Southeastern Central Europe is quite rich in finds of progressive Neandertals from Middle Paleolithic contexts and early modern humans associated with evolved Upper Paleolithic (Aurignacian and Pavlovian). There are no human fossils that can be related to the transitional Middle-Upper Paleolithic units (the Bohunician and the Szeletian); thus, from anthropology we know only that the transitional period began with Neandertals and ended with modern humans. The archaeological record is more complex. The Jankovichian industries of Hungary differ from the mostly non-Levallois Middle Paleolithic of Central Europe in the presence of some Levallois; they seem to be technologically related to the Levallois-Leptolithic Bohunician industries of Moravia, dated to 43,000–38,000 B.P., which are the first transitional Upper Paleolithic unit. The appearance of the Szeletian before 42,000 B.P. in Hungary and at about 39,000 in Moravia represents a technological variation of the transition, although retaining marked local Middle Paleolithic elements. The date of the appearance of the typical Aurignacian, the first culture clearly related to modern humans, is unclear, but it certainly developed after 36,000 B.P. and has several dates between 35,000 and 30,000 B.P.