Osteuropa
Osteuropa
2012-07-09
Abstracts Osteuropa 5/2012
Alan Renwick
In the interest of power
Hungary's new electoral system
Hungary has a new electoral law. This quickly became the subject of criticism, which claimed the law, like many other reforms of the political system over the past two years, serves only to secure the power of the ruling Fidesz party for the long run. But do the reduction in the size of parliament, the shift in favour of majority rule, and the new one-man constituencies perhaps serve the public interest as well? Detailed analysis shows that, given the lack of transparency in implementation, the key elements of the disputed reforms are suited to cementing Fidesz's position of power.
Kornelia Konczal, Joanna Wawrzyniak
Traditions, concepts, (dis-)continuities
Memory research in Poland
In international memory research, works from the United States, France and Germany dominate the field. By contrast, most of the works on memory and remembrance by Central and East-Central European authors go unknown. This has to do with the shadow of the "iron curtain", which still falls across parts of academia. The language barrier also plays a role. But the rich history of Polish memory research shows that even thinkers such as Stefan Czarnowski, who made fundamental contributions to the study of collective memory and memory research, before the terms were coined, have yet to be discovered.
Alexandra Engelfried
Tsar and star
Vladimir Putin's media image
In early May 2012, Vladimir Putin was once again inaugurated as Russia's president. The grandiose ceremony was only marginally different than his first move into the Kremlin in 2000. It is believed that we know him now. But Putin is a quick-change artist. The media's presentation of him as omnipotent ruler, commander, good tsar, and saviour of his people uses national traditions from the pre-revolutionary era. Efforts to draw on the aesthetics of international mass media and popular stereotypes cast Putin in the role of modern hero, sex symbol, as well as media and pop star. The symbolic politics of the Putin era has arrived in the age of politainment.
Zaur Gasimov
Idea and institution
Russkii Mir between cultural mission and geopolitics
Founded in 2007, the foundation Russkii mir is officially in charge of promoting Russian culture abroad. As the name "Russian world" suggests, it is only partly comparable with the cultural institutes of other countries: the concept russkii mir goes back to the Slavophiles of the 19th century and the Eurasians. After the demise of the Soviet Union, their ideas combined with other anti-Western currents to form an ideological conglomerate that now apparently represents the basis of Russia's international cultural policy. It is basically conservative and neo-imperial. In the post-Soviet realm, the foundation openly pursues political aims.
Anna Kreikemeyer
Rule, not security
The collective security treaty organization
According to its seven member states, the Collective Security Treaty Organization, founded in 2002, is to provide for security in the post-Soviet realm. But it does not. There are structural reasons for this dysfunction: the primary objective of the authoritarian regimes from Minsk to Moscow and Dushanbe is the preservation and expansion of their power. Regional cooperation that goes beyond lip service contradicts the regimes' comprehensive claim to internal and external sovereignty.
Ulrike Huhn
Sodom and Gomorrah in Kuibyshev
Metamorphoses of an orthodox legend
After Stalin's death, church policy in the Soviet leadership was contentious. The Central Committee made conflicting decisions; reprisals against the church took place. For believers, this period of uncertainty in particular was fertile ground for the emergence of legends concerning miracles. One of the most famous of these emerged in Kuibyshev in 1956. The history of "Zoia's standing" in which a young girl was punished by petrifaction for the desecration of an icon remains familiar to this day and continues to develop. Over the years, it has had several functions: it drew attention away from an abuse scandal in the Kuibyshev diocese and gave strength to the faithful. It also served as an identifying element for people who turned to the church after the collapse of the Soviet Union.