Yaroslavl Forum Newsletter - #14, 2011

The topic of the issue is “Complex Democracies in an Unstable World.”

The world has no doubt entered a period of instability: a wave of revolutions has swept through the Middle East and North Africa, and crowds of nomads continue to assault more successful countries. How will this instability affect modern democratic institutions in polyethnic and multicultural societies? When European leaders talk about the failure of multicultural policy, are their statements made from a position of strength, a position of a subject capable of reconsidering chosen policies, or are they the words of frustrated statesmen facing a situation of almost irreversible migration processes? What policy can prove to be more successful than a policy of multiculturalism, if the latter has indeed really failed? Is it still feasible to find a set of common, universal values that can apply equally to groups of different people around the world ?

These and other questions will be considered by:

Thilo Sarrazin, a German politician and public figure, and the author of the much talked-of book, ‘Germany Does Away with Itself’; Ian Buruma, a journalist, writer, and the author of ‘Murder in Amsterdam: The Death of Theo van Gogh and the Limits of Tolerance’; Mark Urnov, an academic supervisor in the Faculty of Applied Political Studies at the National Research University – Higher School of Economics; Bakhyt Kenjeev, a poet, novelist, and award winner of numerous literary prizes; Arend Lijphart, an American and Dutch political scientist, and a prominent figure in political science; Maxim Shevchenko, a journalist working on national TV Channel One; Tariq Modood, a political scientist, and Director of the Center for Study of Ethnicity and Citizenship at the University of Bristol; Alexei Avtonomov, a member of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (UN); Craig Calhoun, President of the Social Science Research Council; and Valery Fadeev, Director of the Institute for Social Planning.

Эпистемология и философия науки № 4, 2010.

Yaroslavl Forum Newsletter - #13, 2011

The topic of the issue is “Reactionaries and Modernisers In the Age of Upheavals”

Who is obstructing the path towards progressive changes in Russia? Are there any groups within the political elite that we could call reactionary? What exactly constitutes a progressive agenda in the 21st century? Is it possible to consider the establishment of global governance institutions as part of a progressive agenda in the 21st century? The widespread practices of international intervention, as we are observing in Libya for instance, are purportedly aimed at ensuring the protection of human rights, so can they be regarded as progressive developments? What can be deemed as reactionary forces in the modern world? Who stands behind them and what is their position? Who has the upper hand today: the progressive forces or the reactionary forces, which are opposing these tendencies for any number of reasons?

These and other questions are answered by Corey Robin, an American liberal political theorist; Dmitry Muratov, a Russian journalist and Editor-in-chief of ‘Novaya Gazeta’; Mikhail Leontiev, a Russian pundit known for his TV program ‘Odnako’; Dmitry Furman, a political scientist and historian, who is Chief Research Associate at the Institute of Europe, Russian Academy of Sciences; Modest Kolerov, a Russian historian and Editor-in-chief of the REGNUM information agency; Pepe Escobar, a Brazilian left-leaning journalist, political scientist, analytical writer and observer at the independent American information agency ‘The Real News’; Gary Hart, an American politician and Co-chairman of the US-Russia Bilateral Presidential Commission; Dmitry Olshansky, a journalist and political commentator; Jacques Sapir, one of the leading European experts on Eastern European economies and Director of L'École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris; and Maxim Kononenko, a Russian journalist and political commentator.