Articles

Modern global development trends and the tasks set in the annual presidential address to the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation make clear the necessity for signifi cant socio-political transformations. These changes require the development of modern criteria for new politicians and socio-political leaders and managers as well as the defi nition of approaches to their identifi cation and preparation. The results of a single voting day — September 9, 2018 — have rendered this task immediate. The political system has begun a transformation and is putting forward new demands for political governance. This article presents an analysis of the following: the socio-political prerequisites for the formation of new requirements for political leadership; the theoretical and methodological approaches to the study of political leadership during sociopolitical transformations and to forecasting in the fi eld of political leadership; and the method of determining the requirements for political leadership (characteristics of politicians) based on the principle of mutual infl uence of political leaders and the political environment. The author concludes by presenting the results of expert studies conducted in September, 2018 of the requirements made of politicians and the political environment.

The purpose of this article is to clarify the term “historical myth” and to defi ne its relation to the notion of “political myth.” The goals of the research are to determine the content of the concept “historical myth,” to understand the essence of the concept “political myth” and to compare the meanings of the two terms. The author uses traditional and typological analysis, and also applies the method of expert interview. The article argues the position that the historical myth is a particular form of the myth of the political. Accordingly, the historical myth initially represents an artifi cially constructed form of perception of the world, based on an appeal to the sphere of emotions and aimed at manipulating the public consciousness. At the same time, it has the property of acquiring autonomy over time, infl uencing its own creators. The specifi c factor diff erentiating the historical myth is that it is constructed with the help of historical facts and changes the perception of reality by changing the model of perception of events of the past.

This article off ers a review of the reports presented at the round table “Political Globalistics: Research Directions in a Context of Global Uncertainty” convened by Lomonosov Moscow State University’s Political Science Department as part of the III Congress of the Russian Society of Political Scientists (Moscow, September 10–12, 2018). Among a number of key issues considered by the participants, special attention was paid to current problems of the development of globalistics as an interdisciplinary fi eld of scholarship; the transformation of the subject area of globalistics; and new challenges facing the academic community and the role of interdisciplinary knowledge in their resolution.

This article is devoted to the substantiation of the concept of the political and philosophical phenomenon of scientifi c-technical romanticism. This phenomenon arose during the Enlightenment at the junction of political philosophy and culture, was developed in the worldview of 19th century thinkers and reached its apogee in the 20th century, primarily in the Soviet Union during the era of breakthroughs in space science and atomic energy. Scientifi c-technical romanticism is considered in the article as a formed unity of three component elements: a) anthropological optimism; b) socio-political scientism; and c) humanistic technocratism. The authors lay out the essence of this phenomenon, in its development aspiring to become the highest demiurge capable of radically changing the world. The immanence of the expression of political-philosophical refl ection in both rational and artistic-fi gurative forms allows us to attribute the phenomenon of scientifi c-technical romanticism, the article maintains, to the sphere of political and philosophical research and consider it in this context outside the subject fi elds of literary criticism, cultural studies and philosophy of culture.

The historical events of May 1968 have a rich intellectual history. A reexamination of the theoretical discussions that preceded the famous slogans allows us not only to explore the socio-cultural context of the student protests but also to critically revisit the foundations of their means and ends. In this article the author reconstructs key premises of the theory of Henri Lefebvre, who actively participated in the intellectual and political life of the Gaullist France. Representing heterodox Marxist philosophy, Lefebvre was also a close ally — as well as a critic — of the Situationist movement. While today Lefebvre is mainly associated with urban studies, the main subject of his interest was always the socio-critical theory that exists without separation from political practice. So the critique of everyday life, the theory of its temporal organization and the reinterpretation of romanticism allowed Lefevre to formulate a critical and positive program in line with “phenomenological Marxism” — a program for changing those historical circumstances, the answer to which was the student revolution.

This article examines the process of political transformation of social movements, the vectors and means of their evolution and the factors that determine the procedures of their changes. In historical perspective, it was the process of development of social movements that ensured the progressive development of society, its transition to a higher level of social development. The study of the problem of transformation of social movements allows us to address the questions of ensuring sustainable social development, of the role of the masses and the leadership in politics, and to determine the vector of further development of the system of social relations. The author examines the issues of internal and external determinants of the development of social movements, as well as potential forms of their further transformation. The article also examines global trends in social development and answers the question of what impact they have on the process of transformation of social movements.

The article examines the philosophical bases and utopian features of transhumanism. Transhumanism is considered by the author as an ideology. The author sees the transhumanism as a kind of late humanism including the characteristics of the secular worldview of Modern times: materialism (immanentism), progressivism, technologism. The article also shows how the birth of transhumanism was promoted by the aesthetic principle that has dominated the culture of the Western world since the Renaissance. The author characterizes the transhumanist utopia, that is used as a motivating force to transforms philosophical ideas of transhumanism into transhumanist ideology. It is noted that the discussions about the realization of the transhumanist utopia is not so important for modern society, because transhumanism at present does not create a world of transhumanoids (beings physically and biologically diff erent from modern people), but a world of transhumanists, i.e. individuals committed to the transhumanist worldview. Like any ideology, transhumanism forms its supporters. Therefore, the study of the infl uence of the ideology of transhumanism on the human worldview should precede the criticism of specifi c “transhuman” technologies and the discussion of bioethics.

This article off ers a comprehensive analysis of the phenomenon of modern populism. The author considers diff erent approaches to the defi nition of populism, analyzes the reasons for its revival in the 21st century and the main forms and typology of populism. The reasons for the emergence of populist movements at the present stage, according to the author, are a number of trends in the sociopolitical development of Western societies: the erosion and decline of traditional party organizations; the deterioration of the middle class; the mediatization of policy; new practices of political participation associated with the development of Internet media; the rise to power of technocrats in a number of states; the growth of protest moods; and so on. The development of populist movements today is moving towards what Colin Crouch has termed post-democracy. This actualizes a discussion of the transformation of forms of democratic representation and participation: populists of various persuasions put forward as an acceptable form of interaction between citizens and the political class such models as “participatory,” “direct” and “transparent” democracy. The author sees a threat to democracy in populism. Yet while the article notes that modern populist movements are a reaction to crisis phenomena in the democratic system itself, the author nevertheless believes that the danger of rising populist sentiments may also serve as an incentive for reforming democracy and further strengthening it.

This article examines the modern crisis of liberal democracy and the phenomenon of new authoritarianism arising fr om it. The current crisis manifests itself in mass support for populist politicians and right-wing political organizations in the Western democratic countries. The author makes a comparative analysis of historical forms of authoritarian systems and their analogues in the 21st century, noting that modern authoritarian systems have democratic legitimization and rarely use violent methods; however, they always seek to lim it the functions of traditional democratic institutions. The article proposes to consider the “new authoritarianism” as a system of concentration of state power that does not respect the principle of separation of powers, the rule of law or constitutional provisions while limiting the rights and freedoms of citizens. The author notes that the frustration of citizens with their socio-economic situation and the growth of nationalism are the main causes of the crisis of democracy. The existing crisis can be overcome, he continues, by reforming traditional democratic institutions, carrying out educational activities and increasing the role of citizens in the political process. The end result of the crisis, the author concludes, may be the strengthening of democratic institutions if the proposed reforms are implemented.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the potential of the video game “People Power” as a means of training civil society activists for the deployment of political campaigns involving the use of the technology of nonviolent struggle. The article’s methodological research is based on the use of descriptive political analysis. The theoretical basis of the work is a synthesis of elements of the concepts of relative deprivation (T. R. Gurr), social identity (Henri Tajfel and John Turner) and the model of mass consciousness (D. V. Olshansky). The authors conclude from analysis of the use of the game that “People Power” has great potential as a means of training civil society activists for the deployment of nonviolent struggle campaigns. It serves simultaneously as an interactive textbook, an instrument for reformatting consciousness, a means of recruiting civil activists potentially capable of forming the core of protest, and the basis for the formation of a constantly functioning “brainstorming” center aimed at improving the technology of nonviolent struggle.