Russian journal - Standpoint of the week
issue #9[51], May, 2010
Intellectual Stratum And The Policy of Metropolis
Discussion unfolded during the hearings at the Public Chamber concerning the General Plan for Moscow Reconstruction again raised the question before capital community: can inhabitants of big cities – or metropolises – really participate in city management, or is big business and the municipal bureaucracy capable to stopping all attempts of opposition? These and other questions of the Newsletter were answered by Saskia Sassen, a world-famous American sociologist and urbanist, a founder of the term 'global city'; Vyacheslav Glazychev, a Russian art historian and urbanist, a member of the Russian Public Chamber; Sergey Mitrokhin, Chairman of the Russian Yabloko party, and Chairman of the Committee for Muscovites’ Defense; Victor Sergeyev, Director of the Center for International Research at Moscow State Institute for Foreign Relations; Thomas R. Dye, Professor of Political Science at Florida State University, and a proponent of the scientific school of the functional theory of elites; Natalya Samover, a member of the Coordination Council of the social movement ArchNadzor (Architectural Control). Further commentary in the Newsletter provided by Slavoj Žižek, a famous Slovenian philosopher and sociologist, offering his opinions on policy during the period of the so-called ‘Anthropocene’ era, when humanity itself has become a geological agent.
СОДЕРЖАНИЕ:
Saskia Sassen
WHO WILL DEFEND THE INTERESTS OF CITIZENS?
Vyacheslav Glazychev
THE ‘MEGALOPOLIS’ CORPORATION
John Mollenkopf
NEIGHBORHOOD RESISTANCE RISES UP THROUGH THE GALVANIZATION OF LOCAL SOCIAL NETWORKS
Sergey Mitrokhin
DEMOCRACY IN THE PUBLIC CHAMBER
Vladimir Pastukhov
THE FINAL REHEARSAL FOR THE CHANGE OF MOSCOW MAYOR
Natalia Serova
‘THE MILITARY SECRET’ OF THE MAYOR OF MOSCOW
Sergey Minaev
SPONTANEOUS ACTION WILL SAVE MOSCOW
Dmitry Bykov
THE COUNTRY’S POPULATION HAS COMPLETELY FORGOTTEN ABOUT LAW AND MORALS
Galina Malanicheva
PUBLIC CHAMBERS ARE THE BEST WAY FOR SOCIETY TO ORGANIZING ITSELF
Barry Wiseberg
METROPOLIS MAYORS DO NOT KNOW THEIR OWN CITIES
Victor Sergeev
THERE SHOULD BE MORE THAN ONE MOSCOW IN RUSSIA
Natalia Samover
MOSCOW IS NOT A BANANA REPUBLIC
Fred Siegel
CHRONICLES OF CATASTROPHIC DEVELOPMENT
Slavoj Zizek
LESSONS FROM THE DUST
Georgi Derluguian
WILL THE WORLD GET BACK ON THE ‘THIRD TRACK’?
Boris Mezhuev
BEYOND IMITATION
Sergey Kanaev
MOSCOW INHABITANTS SHOULD PARTICIPATE IN CITY MANAGEMENT
Thomas R. Dye
ELITES OF LARGE CITIES RECKON ONLY WITH PROFESSIONAL UNIONS
