Moscow University Bulletin. Series 12. Political Science. 2020. 2.

In this article the author examines the process of formation of a regional political order during the 17th–20th centuries in the territories whose population adhered (and adheres) to the traditions of Mahayana Buddhism. Analyzing the process of statehood formation in Bhutan, Tibet and Khalkha-Mongolia, the article traces the infl uence of Buddhism on the formation of state institutions and the determination of the head of state — the monarch. A provisional conclusion is advanced to the eff ect that, unlike the Theravada tradition, the monarch could fulfi ll both the role of head of state and the functions of a spiritual leader. This appeared particularly rational in Tibet, which since the middle of the 17th century was ruled by the Dalai Lamas. The institution pf the Dalai Lamas, which arose in the Gelug School of Buddhism, envisioned in the Lamas the embodiment of the Bodhisattva of compassion, Avalokiteshvara, which organically fi t into the concept of theocratic power. At the same time, a civil administration was created in both Bhutan and Tibet, with powers corresponding to its status. The transfer of supreme power was associated with reincarnation, which subsequently caused serious problems and created political crises. The stabilization and achievement of the peak of power of Tibetan statehood is associated with the name of the Dalai Lama XIII, who, fl eeing the invasion by British troops, hid for two years in Khalkha-Mongolia and thereby ensured the legitimacy of the supreme power of Bogd Gegeen VIII, who became the last Great Khan of Mongolia after the fall of the Qing Empire. In 1912 an agreement was concluded between the two monarchs, and the tendency toward the rule of Buddhism in the region, not only in the spiritual but also in the secular sphere, was dubbed pan-Buddhism. The author also cites data on polities that did not receive full development: the Kudun state within one of the Buryat aimaks in 1919 and the theocratic movement in the Khorchin lands of Inner Mongolia in the 1930s. The article concludes that despite its significant encompassment of the population, Buddhism did not become a driving force that would compete with the two leading powers of the region — Soviet Russia and the Japanese Empire — which maintained more radical views on the political order in the region and more eff ective tools for its construction.

Paradoxically both leading parties of Canada — Liberal and Conservative — can consider themselves “winners” in the 43rd Canadian general election: the Liberals remained the ruling party, while the Conservatives signifi cantly increased their representation in the House of Commons. At the same time, almost all parties in Canada feel like losers, as no one has fully achieved their goals. The 2019 election showed a continuing (if not intensifying) rift and confrontation between the eastern provinces that vote mostly for Liberals (along with British Columbia), and predominantly Conservative-supporting western Canada. The 2019 election again brought to the forefront of public debate the question of the principles of Canada’s electoral system — single-member plurality voting (“first-past-the-post”), now almost 150 years in use — and the prospects for reforming it to refl ect greater proportionality. It can be assumed that the elections of 2019 in Canada will be followed by a rather long “respite,” during which the Liberal minority government will be forced to cooperate with the offi cial opposition and with other political parties to pass the necessary bills. It will take a long time for the Сonservative Party to mobilize its forces in order to more successfully challenge the ruling Liberals in the next election.

This article provides an overview of various aspects of the relationships between political parties and social movements that form incentives, strategies and results of alliances between them. The electoral aspect describes how movements mobilize the electorate for parties. The state and political-parliamentary aspect is the provision by parties of opportunities for movements to infl uence adopted laws. The agenda and lobbying aspect is the ability of movements to pursue their interests through parties and for parties and movements to use each other to draw public attention to specifi c issues. The identity aspect is the cultivation and dissemination of social identities as a result of the union of parties and movements. The aspect of adversarial politics is the assistance of parties to movements when the latter act in the interests of the parties, but using non-parliamentary methods. The aspect of protests and “street politics” is the representation of movements by parties in parliament in exchange for representation by movements of parties on the street. The aspect of external context and crises is the assistance of movements to parties to consolidate society or completely transfer this prerogative to the movements. The aspect of the autocratic context and democratic transformations is the transformation of relations between movements and parties in autocracies, transitional regimes, and new and established democracies. These interactions are characterized by a regular exchange and “barter” of memberships, support, resources, ideas, and, of course, power between actors of varying degrees of institutionalization. The author demonstrates that such unions are sooner or later characterized by attempts of the allies to subordinate, co-opt and instrumentalize each other, to impose their own ideological and programmatic basis and structural model on one another.

This article analyzes certain aspects of the historical consciousness of Russian youth related to the perception and use of historical analogies. The empirical basis of the study was the results of a survey conducted in September — November 2019 among students of higher educational institutions in Moscow, Kazan, Saratov and Penza (sample size — 576 people) as well as the results of a focus group adjacent to the Digoria All-Russian Forum of Young Political Scientists (Republic of North Ossetia — Alania, September 15–21, 2019). The authors demonstrate that the prevailing type of historical consciousness of students at present is “rationalempirical,” which assumes a non-critical perception of historical analogies. The features of this type were demonstrated via the example of the parallel between modern Russia and the Brezhnev-era USSR. The authors note that when faced with the need to justify this analogy, young people sense a lack of factual knowledge. This leads to a spontaneous “construction” of the past in accordance with current political attitudes of the respondents, and the communicative memory — reference to the opinions of older family members or other familiar representatives of the older generation — goes practically unused.

The contemporary world celebrates the 75th anniversary of the victory over fascism and the defeat of Nazi Germany as a result of World War II. The anniversary of the victory is rendered important by the need to resist active attempts to distort history, to negate the decisive role of the Soviet people and their army in defeating fascism. The Great Patriotic War has no equal in history in terms of the grandeur and intensity of the armed struggle and the eff orts expended on the home front. The decisive role of the Soviet Union in the defeat of fascist Germany was noted by many contemporaries, not only allies (such as Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt, for example) but also opponents. The allies of the anti-Hitler coalition launched widespread off ensives only in the last stage of the war, when the victory was a foregone conclusion and paid for at a high price. The USSR lost 26.6 million citizens, including 8.7 million military personnel and 17.9 million ivilians. Thus it was that the Soviet people saved themselves and European civilization from destruction.

This article provides a comparative analysis of the strategic attitudes of modern radical left parties towards participation in government. Using the example of two radical left parties — the Progressive Party of Working People (AKEL) and the Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA), which were major parties in the coalition governments in Cyprus (2008–2013) and Greece (2015–2019), respectively — the author examines the factors that led them to government participation and analyzes their experience and subsequent political fates after the end of their term in offi ce. The study shows that the experience of government participation by radical left parties in terms of their electoral results and political achievements can be ranked from negative to catastrophic. The real infl uence of the radical left parties on the government policy was minimal; at best they managed to achieve only moderate social democratic reforms, while any truly radical transformation of society was negated. The radical left parties have not yet resolved the issue of how to implement their declared anti-neoliberal program, taking into account not only the balance of forces within a country, but also the need to overcome the restrictions imposed by the complex institutional frameworks of the European Union, the Eurozone and the WTO.