DOCSLIB.ORG

OSCE Annual Report 2009 — 3 Message from the Secretary General

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
OSCE Annual Report 2009 — 3 Message from the Secretary General Annual Report 2009 Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Published by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Press and Public Information Section Office of the Secretary General OSCE Secretariat Wallnerstrasse 6 A-1010 Vienna, Austria www.osce.org © OSCE 2010 All rights reserved. The contents of this publication may be freely used and copied for educational and other non-commercial purposes, provided that any such reproduction is accompanied by an acknowledgement of the OSCE as the source. The names and boundaries on all the maps in this publication do not imply official endorsement or acceptance by the OSCE. ISBN 978-92-9235-010-9 Edited by Sharman Esarey Co-edited by Curtis Budden Designed by Nona Reuter Maps by Nona Reuter Front cover photo credits: Matthew Bach, Kati Heiska, Milan Obradovic, Dragan Mijatovic, Martina Gadotti Rodrigues, Hasan Sopa, Gayane Ter-Stepanyan, Saba Nordstrom, Mirvete Mustafa, Anton Martynyuk, Kostas Kousounis, Yhlas Babajanov, Burul Usmanalieva, Andrew Offenbacher, Dina Iglikova, Oliver Janser (all OSCE staff members) and Naryn KG/Jarkyn Ibraeva Printed in Austria by Ueberreuter Print GmbH Contents Message from the Secretary General 4 Institutions 75 Executive Summary 6 Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights 76 High Commissioner on National Minorities 79 Report of the Chairmanship-in-Office 8 Representative on Freedom of the Media 83 Corfu process 10 Protracted conflicts 14 Chairmanship work across the dimensions 18 Secretariat 87 Work with Partners for Co-operation 20 Office of the Secretary General 88 Executive Management 89 Permanent Council 21 Press and Public Information Section 89 Section for External Co-operation 90 Legal Services 91 Forum for Security Co-operation 23 Gender Section 91 Security Management 92 OSCE Parliamentary Assembly 25 Strategic Police Matters Unit 93 Office of the Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Field Operations 29 Trafficking in Human Beings 94 Action against Terrorism Unit 94 South-Eastern Europe Office of Internal Oversight 95 Presence in Albania 30 Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina 33 Conflict Prevention Centre 96 Mission in Kosovo 36 Office of the Co-ordinator of OSCE Mission to Montenegro 39 Economic and Environmental Activities 99 Mission to Serbia 41 Department of Human Resources 101 Spillover Monitor Mission to Skopje 43 Department of Management and Finance 102 Office in Zagreb 46 Eastern Europe Partnerships for Security Office in Minsk 48 Mission to Moldova 50 and Co-operation 103 Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine 53 Interaction with organizations and institutions in the OSCE area 104 South Caucasus Interaction with the Asian and Office in Baku 55 Mediterranean Partners for Co-operation Mission to Georgia 58 and with organizations and institutions Office in Yerevan 59 outside the OSCE area 110 Central Asia Centre in Ashgabat 61 Centre in Astana 63 Annexes 115 Centre in Bishkek 65 The OSCE at a glance 116 Office in Tajikistan 68 OSCE organigram 117 Project Co-ordinator in Uzbekistan 71 OSCE budget 2009 by fund 118 Staff statistics 119 Assistance with Bilateral Agreements Contact information 120 Representative to the Latvian-Russian Joint Commission on Military Pensioners 73 OSCE ANNUAL REPorT 2009 — 3 Message from the Secretary General he evolution of the OSCE in 2009 tells a surprising story. T The year began inauspiciously. The participating States did not reach consensus on extending the mandate of the OSCE Mission to Georgia which expired on 31 December 2008. An en- ergy crisis struck some participating States in the coldest winter months. The impact of the global financial crisis translated into an economic downturn affecting all parts of the OSCE region. The unified budget was adopted only in April. Yet despite this tumultuous start, the OSCE soon began to make progress on its core job of establishing and embedding se- curity in Europe. While agreement remained out of reach on a renewed OSCE presence in Georgia, the Greek Chairmanship actively co-chaired the Geneva Discussions and secured progress on issues relat- ing to water and gas distribution that mattered to people on the ground. The OSCE continued to lead in seeking the settlement of R long-running conflicts in our region, such as in Transdniestria, ESSE through active engagement and steps towards confidence- NB E RG O building and reduction of tensions. The OSCE Minsk Group worked hard to create the conditions for progress towards the HANN M O settlement of the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh. Throughout 2009, OSCE action continued to derive strength OSCE/FRANZ J and continuity from a process of constant interaction with the participating States — especially in countries where field op- erations are deployed. Tajikistan saw the inauguration of the OSCE Border Management Staff College. In Ukraine, the OSCE launched its largest-ever project to clean up the country’s stock of a toxic rocket fuel component. OSCE action was not limited to countries east of Vienna. Hu- man trafficking and terrorism, for example, are challenges facing all of the participating States. OSCE activities to promote media freedom, tolerance and non-discrimination have a similar scope. In key areas, the OSCE continued to play a leading interna- tional role — notably, in support of electoral processes, where co-operation between the Parliamentary Assembly and the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) has been vital. In this respect, an election-support team was deployed in the run-up to the elections in Afghanistan. But as important as these successes were, the Corfu process took much of the spotlight — as the symbol of the participating States’ renewed pursuit of common goals underpinned by a fresh unity of purpose. At the informal Ministerial Meeting organized there in June by the Greek Chairmanship, OSCE ministers gave impetus to a renewed European security dialogue, initiating the Corfu process that continued in Vienna in the run-up to the Ath- ens Ministerial Council meeting. All participating States embraced the Corfu process, demon- strating the political will to reaffirm the principles that underpin 4 — OSCE ANNUAL REPorT 2009 Message from the Secretary General The Secretary General answers a ques- tion during an interview with a journalist in Belgrade on 16 December. (OSCE/ Milan Obradovic) our Organization and to strive together Ministerial Council that will take the towards comprehensive, co-operative and OSCE agenda forward across the three indivisible security across the OSCE area. dimensions of security. As a demonstra- The ideas put forward by Russian Presi- tion of the participating States’ seriousness dent Dmitry Medvedev, French President in making this happen, the unified budget Nicolas Sarkozy and others provided the was agreed on time, breaking with the catalyst for this dialogue, which has re- negative trend of the last several years. mained informal and open-ended. Throughout the year, the staff of the The aim of the Corfu process is to take Secretariat, ODIHR, the Representative stock of the state of European security on Freedom of the Media, the High Com- today and to strengthen our ability to missioner on National Minorities, the Par- deal effectively with traditional and new liamentary Assembly and the OSCE field challenges, while preserving the common operations worked devotedly to fulfil their achievements of the 56 participating States respective mandates. — including the commitments undertaken The diversity of tasks and activities and the roles of the Secretariat, field opera- undertaken under the OSCE’s mandate tions and institutions. to build comprehensive, co-operative During the discussions at the heart of and indivisible security is striking. This this process, it became ever clearer that Annual Report opens a window into the the OSCE is the only venue of its kind that ambitions that lie at heart of this unique joins the Euro-Atlantic and Eurasian spac- Organization. es. On many issues, the OSCE is the forum for engaging on issues of democracy, pros- Marc Perrin de Brichambaut perity and security, and for grappling with Secretary General the complexity of a diverse community of States. This is a real resource for European security. The adoption by the OSCE Ministerial Council in Athens of a Decision and a Declaration furthering the Corfu process showed that the Organization is on the right track. Under the leadership of Ka- zakhstan, the dialogue is set to become more targeted in 2010. The year culminated in a raft of strong Decisions and Declarations at the Athens OSCE ANNUAL REPorT 2009 — 5 Executive Summary New European security dialogue. a common policy in dealing with cases of promoted the Bolzano/Bozen Recom- Building on a successful and well-regarded the accidental crossing of the administra- mendations on National Minorities in high-level multilateral discussion on the tive boundary line; promoting the free Inter-State Relations as a tool to facilitate future of European security at the Helsinki and safe access of farmers to their fields such dialogue through a series of regional Ministerial Council meeting in December close to the administrative boundary line; roundtables (see High Commissioner on 2008, the OSCE participating States con- and studying proposals for granting the National Minorities, p.79). tinued discussions at a joint Permanent populations free and safe access to cem- Council — Forum for Security Co-oper- eteries and religious places. At year-end, Combating violence against women. A ation meeting on 18 February and at the the Chairmanship was actively promoting symposium in Vienna on 8 June brought Parliamentary Assembly’s Winter Meeting the resumption of the activities of this together experts working to combat vio- on 19 and 20 February. These discussions joint mechanism which were suspended lence against women. On this occasion, the would be carried forward at the informal on 22 October. Gender Section launched the publication Ministerial Meeting in Corfu in June. (see Bringing Security Home: Combating Vio- Message from the Secretary General, p.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Olena Fedyuk Marta Kindler Editors Lessons from Migration Studies
    IMISCOE Research Series Olena Fedyuk Marta Kindler Editors Ukrainian Migration to the European Union Lessons from Migration Studies IMISCOE Research Series This series is the official book series of IMISCOE, the largest network of excellence on migration and diversity in the world. It comprises publications which present empirical and theoretical research on different aspects of international migration. The authors are all specialists, and the publications a rich source of information for researchers and others involved in international migration studies. The series is published under the editorial supervision of the IMISCOE Editorial Committee which includes leading scholars from all over Europe. The series, which contains more than eighty titles already, is internationally peer reviewed which ensures that the book published in this series continue to present excellent academic standards and scholarly quality. Most of the books are available open access. For information on how to submit a book proposal, please visit: http://www. imiscoe.org/publications/how-to-submit-a-book-proposal. More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/13502 Olena Fedyuk • Marta Kindler Editors Ukrainian Migration to the European Union Lessons from Migration Studies Editors Olena Fedyuk Marta Kindler Marie Curie Changing Employment ITN Centre of Migration Research University of Strathclyde University of Warsaw Glasgow, UK Warsaw, Poland ISSN 2364-4087 ISSN 2364-4095 (electronic) IMISCOE Research Series ISBN 978-3-319-41774-5 ISBN 978-3-319-41776-9 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-41776-9 Library of Congress Control Number: 2016953852 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2016. This book is published open access.
    [Show full text]
  • The Ukrainian Weekly 1997, No.46
    www.ukrweekly.com INSIDE: • Ukrainian community life in Russia — page 3. • Veterans’ Day/Remembrance Day features, reports on Ukrainian-American • Military Association, Ukrainian American Veterans — pages 8-11. HE KRAINI A N EEKLY T PublishedU by the Ukrainian National Association Inc., a fraternal non-profitW association Vol. LXV No. 46 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 1997 $1.25/$2 in Ukraine UNA General Assembly holds October Revolution Day marked by clashes by Roman Woronowycz With more than 80,000 people taking pre-convention annual meeting Kyiv Press Bureau part in various demonstrations and com- memorations throughout Ukraine, some to by Roma Hadzewycz gates (who must ratify any changes by a KYIV — Nationalists and Communists commemorate the Bolshevik October two-thirds majority); clashed in Lviv on November 7 during KERHONKSON, N.Y. — The Revolution and others the slaughter of thou- • adopted a budget for 1998 of demonstrations and rallies on the 80th sands of Ukrainians during the 1930s in Ukrainian National Association’s General $10,774,000 in income and $11,024,000 anniversary of the October Revolution. Assembly met here at the UNA estate, what is called the Fusilladed Renaissance in expenses; Five people were injured and five others Soyuzivka, on November 6-8 for its annual (Rozstriliane Vidrodzhennia), the violence • confirmed the Executive Committee’s have been arrested. meeting — its last before the regular con- in Lviv was relatively minor. However, it acceptance of a request made by Treasurer The violence began when some 300 vention of the largest Ukrainian fraternal caused an outcry from Communists in the Alexander Blahitka for a leave of absence Communists and Socialists veered away Verkhovna Rada, who refused to register benefit society, which is scheduled to take for medical reasons, effective immediately place in May of next year in Toronto.
    [Show full text]
  • Folklore and the Construction of National Identity in Nineteenth Century Russian Literature
    Folklore and the Construction of National Identity in Nineteenth Century Russian Literature Jessika Aguilar Submitted in partial fulfillment of the Requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy In the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Columbia University 2016 © 2016 Jessika Aguilar All rights reserved Table of Contents 1. Introduction……………………………………………………………………………..…..1 2. Alexander Pushkin: Folklore without the Folk……………………………….20 3. Nikolai Gogol: Folklore and the Fragmentation of Authorship……….54 4. Vladimir Dahl: The Folk Speak………………………………………………..........84 5. Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………........116 6. Bibliography………………………………………………………………………………122 i Introduction In his “Literary Reveries” of 1834 Vissarion Belinsky proclaimed, “we have no literature” (Belinskii PSS I:22). Belinsky was in good company with his assessment. Such sentiments are rife in the critical essays and articles of the first third of the nineteenth century. A decade earlier, Aleksandr Bestuzhev had declared that, “we have a criticism but no literature” (Leighton, Romantic Criticism 67). Several years before that, Pyotr Vyazemsky voiced a similar opinion in his article on Pushkin’s Captive of the Caucasus : “A Russian language exists, but a literature, the worthy expression of a mighty and virile people, does not yet exist!” (Leighton, Romantic Criticism 48). These histrionic claims are evidence of Russian intellectuals’ growing apprehension that there was nothing Russian about the literature produced in Russia. There was a prevailing belief that
    [Show full text]
  • Ukrainians in Russia: a Bibliographic and Statistical Guide
    Research Report No. 55 Ukrainians in Russia: A Bibliographic and Statistical Guide Compiled by Serge Cipko Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies Press University of Alberta Edmonton 1994 Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies Press Occasional Research Reports The Institute publishes research reports periodically. Copies may be ordered from the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies Press, 352 Athabasca Hall, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2E8. The name of the publication series and the substantive material in each issue (unless otherwise noted) are copyrighted by the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies Press. PRINTED IN CANADA Occasional Research Reports Ukrainians in Russia: A Bibliographic and Statistical Guide Compiled by Serge Cipko Research Report No. 55 Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies Press University of Alberta Edmonton 1994 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016 https://archive.org/details/ukrainiansinruss55cipk Table of Contents Introduction 1 A Select Bibliography 3 Newspaper Articles 9 Ukrainian Periodicals and Journals Published in Russia 15 Periodicals Published Abroad by Ukrainians from Russia 18 Biographies of Ukrainians in Russia 21 Biographies of Ukrainians from Russia Resettled Abroad 31 Statistical Compendium of Ukrainians in Russia 33 Addresses of Ukrainian Organizations in Russia 39 Periodicals and Journals Consulted 42 INTRODUCTION Ukrainians who live in countries bordering on Ukraine constitute perhaps the second largest ethnic minority in Europe after the Russians. Despite their significant numbers, however, these Ukrainians remain largely unknown to the international community, receiving none of the attention that has been accorded, for example, to Russian minorities in the successor states to the former Soviet Union. According to the last Soviet census of 1989, approximately 4.3 million Ukrainians live in the Russian Federation; unofficial estimates of the size of this group run considerably higher.
    [Show full text]
  • University of Florida Thesis Or Dissertation Formatting
    ETHNIC WAR AND PEACE IN POST-SOVIET EURASIA By SCOTT GRANT FEINSTEIN A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2016 © 2016 Scott Grant Feinstein To my Mom and Dad ACKNOWLEDGMENTS In the course of completing this monograph I benefited enormously from the generosity of others. To my committee chair, Benjamin B. Smith, I express my sincere appreciation for his encouragement and guidance. Ben not only taught me to systematically research political phenomena, but also the importance of pursuing a complete and parsimonious explanation. Throughout my doctoral studies Ben remained dedicated to me and my research, and with his incredible patience he tolerated and motivated my winding intellectual path. I thank my committee co-chair, Michael Bernhard, for his hours spent reading early manuscript drafts, support in pursuing a multi-country project, and detailed attention to clear writing. Michael’s appreciation of my dissertation vision and capacity gave this research project its legs. Ben and Michael provided me exceptionally valuable advice. I am also indebted to the help provided by my other committee members – Conor O’Dwyer, Ingrid Kleespies and Beth Rosenson – who inspired creativity and scientific rigor, always provided thoughtful and useful comments, and kept me searching for the big picture. Among institutions, I wish to gratefully acknowledge the support of the Center of European Studies at the University of Florida, IIE Fulbright Foundation, the American Council of Learned Societies, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, IREX, the American Councils, and the Department of Political Science at the University of Florida.
    [Show full text]
  • Ukrainians in Russia Fee...\222S Annexation of Crimea
    Ukrainians in Russia feel chill after Russia’s annexation of Crimea April 8, 2014, 5:42 p.m. | Ukraine — by Nataliya Trach Russia is home to more than 3 million Ukrainians, some of w hom are now feeling ostracized because of the crisis in relations betw een Ukraine and Russia after the Kremlin annexation of Ukraine's Crimean peninsula. The threat of a Russian military invasion of Ukraine and dismemberment of the former Soviet republic remains. In the photo, a view of the Kremlin along the Moscow River in Moscow . © Ukrainian New s The lives of two million Ukrainians in Russia have become more difficult after Russia’s seizure of Crimea and a new government in Kyiv that the Kremlin does not recognize as legitimate, after the EuroMaidan Revolution toppled pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych on Feb. 22. But some Ukrainians in Russia say that life was never easy for them. Ukrainians constitute some 3 million – or roughly 2 percent – of the Russian Federation’s 143 million people. While everyday life and communication with friends and relatives has not changed much, some Ukrainians say they face negative attitudes toward Ukraine as a sovereign nation. The animosity is fueled by unrelenting Kremlin propaganda that is anti-Western and anti-Ukrainian and reflected in Russia’s state- controlled or state-censored news media. Nowadays in Russia, Ukrainians have neither national schools nor any Ukrainian press. “While we are the largest diaspora in Russia, the attitude towards us has always been the worst,” says Victor Hirzhov, an executive secretary of the Ukrainian Congress in Russia, co-chairman of the regional public organization Ukrainians of Moscow.
    [Show full text]
  • Dissertation Final Aug 31 Formatted
    Identity Gerrymandering: How the Armenian State Constructs and Controls “Its” Diaspora by Kristin Talinn Rebecca Cavoukian A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Political Science University of Toronto © Copyright by Kristin Cavoukian 2016 Identity Gerrymandering: How the Armenian State Constructs and Controls “Its” Diaspora Kristin Talinn Rebecca Cavoukian Doctor of Philosophy Department of Political Science University of Toronto 2016 Abstract This dissertation examines the Republic of Armenia (RA) and its elites’ attempts to reframe state-diaspora relations in ways that served state interests. After 17 years of relatively rocky relations, in 2008, a new Ministry of Diaspora was created that offered little in the way of policy output. Instead, it engaged in “identity gerrymandering,” broadening the category of diaspora from its accepted reference to post-1915 genocide refugees and their descendants, to include Armenians living throughout the post-Soviet region who had never identified as such. This diluted the pool of critical, oppositional diasporans with culturally closer and more compliant emigrants. The new ministry also favoured geographically based, hierarchical diaspora organizations, and “quiet” strategies of dissent. Since these were ultimately attempts to define membership in the nation, and informal, affective ties to the state, the Ministry of Diaspora acted as a “discursive power ministry,” with boundary-defining and maintenance functions reminiscent of the physical border policing functions of traditional power ministries. These efforts were directed at three different “diasporas:” the Armenians of Russia, whom RA elites wished to mold into the new “model” diaspora, the Armenians of Georgia, whose indigeneity claims they sought to discourage, and the “established” western diaspora, whose contentious public ii critique they sought to disarm.
    [Show full text]
  • Nationalities and Conflicting Ethnicity in Post-Communist Russia
    UNITED NATIONS RESEARCH INSTITUTE FOR SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT DP 50 NATIONALITIES AND CONFLICTING ETHNICITY IN POST-COMMUNIST RUSSIA by Valery Tishkov UNRISD Discussion Papers are preliminary documents circulated in a limited number of copies to stimulate discussion and critical comment. March 1994 1 The United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) is an autonomous agency that engages in multi-disciplinary research on the social dimensions of contemporary problems affecting development. Its work is guided by the conviction that, for effective development policies to be formulated, an understanding of the social and political context is crucial. The Institute attempts to provide governments, development agencies, grassroots organizations and scholars with a better understanding of how development policies and processes of economic, social and environmental change affect different social groups. Working through an extensive network of national research centres, UNRISD aims to promote original research and strengthen research capacity in developing countries. Current research themes include: Crisis, Adjustment and Social Change; Socio-Economic and Political Consequences of the International Trade in Illicit Drugs; Environment, Sustainable Development and Social Change; Integrating Gender into Development Policy; Participation and Changes in Property Relations in Communist and Post-Communist Societies; and Political Violence and Social Movements. UNRISD research projects focused on the 1995 World Summit for Social Development
    [Show full text]
  • Russia and Ukraine Literature and the Discourse of Empire from Napoleonic to Postcolonial Times
    Russia and Ukraine Literature and the Discourse of Empire from Napoleonic to Postcolonial Times Drawing on colonial discourse and postcolonial theory to reinterpret key writers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Myroslav Shkandrij shows how the need to legitimize expansion gave rise to ideas of Russian political and cultural hegemony and influenced Russian attitudes towards Ukraine. These notions were then challenged and subverted in a counterdiscourse that shaped Ukrainian literature. Concepts of civilizational superiority and redemptive assimilation, widely held among nineteenth-century Russian intellectuals, helped to form stereotypes of Ukraine and Ukrainians in travel writings, text- books, and historical fiction – stereotypes that have been reactivated in ensuing decades. Both Russian and Ukrainian writers have explored the politics of identity in the post-Soviet period, but while the canon of Russian imperial thought is well known, the tradition of resistance – which in the Ukrainian case can be traced as far back as the meeting of the Russian and Ukrainian polities and cultures in the seventeenth century – is much less familiar. Shkandrij demonstrates that Ukrainian literature has been marginalized in the interests of converting readers to imperial and assimilatory designs by emphasizing narratives of reunion and brotherhood and denying alterity. myroslav shkandrij is a professor in the Department of German and Slavic Studies at the University of Manitoba. This content downloaded from 128.184.220.23 on Mon, 19 Oct 2015 22:33:12
    [Show full text]
  • Security & Defence
    NATIONAL SECURITY & DEFENCE π 5 (77) CONTENTS PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS OF UKRAINE-RUSSIAN COOPERATION (Analytical report) 2006 1. POLITICAL ASPECTS OF UKRAINE-RUSSIA RELATIONS .............................................................................3 2. BILATERAL COOPERATION BETWEEN UKRAINE AND RUSSIA Founded and published by: IN THE ECONOMIC DOMAIN ..................................................................................................................... 13 3. HUMANITARIAN ASPECT OF BILATERAL RELATIONS ..............................................................................20 4. UKRAINE-RUSSIA MILITARY COOPERATION ........................................................................................... 25 5. CONCLUSIONS AND PROPOSALS ........................................................................................................... 29 CONSULTATIVE MEETING “UKRAINE-RUSSIA: THE WAY TO A NEW QUALITY OF PARTNERSHIP” .................................................................................................34 EVERY CITIZEN OF OUR COUNTRIES SHOULD HAVE A KEY UKRAINIAN CENTRE FOR ECONOMIC & POLITICAL STUDIES TO THE IMPROVEMENT OF BILATERAL RELATIONS NAMED AFTER OLEXANDER RAZUMKOV Sergey TRUBE .......................................................................................................................................... 35 TO DO AWAY WITH STEREOTYPES IN BILATERAL RELATIONS Valeriy CHALY ..........................................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Sergei Filatov & Roman Lunkin
    Religion, State & Society, Vol. 34, No. 1, March 2006 Statistics on Religion in Russia: The Reality behind the Figures* SERGEI FILATOV & ROMAN LUNKIN Introduction Since perestroika religious organisations have been playing a substantial political and social role, and the size of the various religious communities has become an important political factor. Accuracy in assessing the size of religious communities is essential for proper relations between religion and society and between religion and the secular powers. There is a general 'figures fetish' about religions. Statistics are regularly produced showing how many Orthodox, or Catholics, or Muslims there are in Russia, but people do not have a clear idea of what the figures mean or what they really represent. Meanwhile religious leaders and politicians aim to give the impression that figures of so many million, faithfully reproduced from one publication to another, represent the number of people who adhere to particular doctrines and moral codes and who support their religious leaders. Assessing the number of adherents of a particular religion or confession is however a more ambiguous exercise than assessing the number of members of a political party, a social movement or a trade union. A positive answer to the question 'Do you support Putin?' will usually imply something qualitatively different from a positive answer to the question 'Do you support Orthodoxy?, A supporter of Putin is presumably going to vote for Putin, but without supplementary questions it is not at all clear what a supporter of Orthodoxy is going to do. There are all kinds of theoretical criteria for belonging to a particular religion, reflecting conscious or unconscious assumptions about the particular features of various religions which are made by religious activists, scholars, politicians and journalists.
    [Show full text]
  • The Image of Ukraine and the Ukrainians in Russian Political Thought (1860-1945)
    Title The Image of Ukraine and the Ukrainians in Russian Political Thought (1860-1945) Author(s) Potulnytskyi, Volodymyr A. Citation Acta Slavica Iaponica, 16, 1-29 Issue Date 1998 Doc URL http://hdl.handle.net/2115/40154 Type bulletin (article) File Information 16_1-29.pdf Instructions for use Hokkaido University Collection of Scholarly and Academic Papers : HUSCAP twtcge$ The gmage of Vllffraine and khe IUkraimians gR R"ssian PoRigicall TRxo"ghg (a860-ti945) Velodymyr A. Potulnytskyi TheperceptionofUkrainebytheRussiaRsisimportantnotonlyasafactorofthe tsarist policy, but also as an element of Russian national ideRtity. New works by Pau} Bushkovitch and David Saunders specify that Russian political opinion in all political camps in the first half of the nineteenth century, for the most part, regarded Ukraine and the Ukrainians positively.} Interest in the Ukrainian language, literature and his- tory was considerable,and Ul<raine's contribution to common Russian or Slavic culture was generally recognized. Many Russians could even be described as Ukrainophiles, although their attitudes were predicated on the view of Ukraine as different from Russia but at the same time a cemplement, not a rival, to Great Russian culture and the as- sumption, that "Little Russian" local patriotism was perfectly compatible with Ioyalty to the 'fsar.2 Studies on the first ha}f ofthe last century3 arrive at a common conclusion that about 1850 an overturn from romantic Russian "Ul<rainophilisrri" to a complete deniai of any manifestations of Ukrainian selthood had taken place (the first features of Cyril and Methodius Brotherhood's Ukrainian national programme of1846-I847; an argument between Pogodin and Maksymovych concerning the heritage of Kievan Rus' in l856).
    [Show full text]