Exhibiting Russia: The Two London Russian Exhibitions of 1917 and 1935

Abstract

In 1915, during the First World War, and in 1935, in the second decade of Soviet rule, two remarkable exhibitions were opened in London. They were devoted to wide-ranging displays of Russian culture and gathered for reasons not least of the historical moment exhibits almost exclusively from British and foreign owners and collectors. The content and significance of these virtually forgotten exhibitions are examined from two angles. Firstly, the exhibitions are sited in the context of Russian and Anglo-Russian exhibitions that occurred both during the period from the Great Exhibition of 1851 and subsequent to them, principally the Great Britain-USSR exhibition of 1967. Secondly, the exhibitions, their settings and the events and personalities connected with them are examined on the basis of their catalogues and press reports.     

奥巴马时代俄美在中东地区的博弈

奥巴马政府为了弥补小布什政府中东政策的失误,在中东事务上一改强硬不合作态度,与冲突各方进行对话与合作,这一政策与俄罗斯平衡务实的中东外交政策基本一致.奥巴马时代,美国希望利用俄罗斯来实现其中东外交战略和政策目标,俄罗斯则希望借助美国进一步扩大国际地位和国际影响力.但总体上,俄美在世界各地明争暗斗,竞争多于合作.双方在中东地区的互相借重将因局势的变化和各自利益的不同而充满变数.     

当前阿拉伯革命态势分析

阿拉伯世界自2011年以来发生持续动荡,埃及、突尼斯、利比亚、叙利亚先后出现政局动荡甚至政局颠覆。当前阿拉伯世界的各种力量之间相互博弈,这将长期左右阿拉伯世界的政局。伊斯兰政治势力不断壮大,其极端思想及行为是阿拉伯世界政局动荡的重要影响力量,阿拉伯世界的青年人对政局不满,不断爆发大规模示威游行,处于边缘地位的工人阶级、世俗主义者与非政治民众对当前局势的态度也影响着阿拉伯地区的稳定。     

The Contentious Roots of the Egyptian Revolution

Although real socio-economic injustices may have been the justification for the Egyptian revolution of 2011, it was not the cause of Egypt's politicization. Demonstrators peacefully toppled a strong Western ally on the premise of high unemployment, lack of opportunity, lack of free elections, food inflation, corruption, and lack of democracy, among other factors. Why did social mobilization lead to a social movement against a state that is highly dependent on coercion? Considering that access to social networks, high unemployment, systematic corruption, and economic stagnation are all commonplace throughout the world, the Egyptian revolution is an anomaly. This article argues that an analysis of the possible roots of the modern era of contentious politics in Egypt and its subsequent politicization will help demystify and decipher how this anomaly occurred. Focusing on the transnationally inspired dynamics of historically unprecedented protest events in relation to Egypt's political and social context will shed light upon the central question that this article aims analyze: how and when did politics make the shift from internal social relations to contentious street politics?     

The Re-Emerging Role of the State in Contemporary Russia

I examine ownership structure of Russian firms during the 1998?C2006 period, where a greater emphasis is placed on motivations behind increased government ownership in the latter years, when oligarchs?? opportunistic influence on the firm diminished as state ownership correspondingly increased. As this phenomenon is also correlated with improved corporate growth during the period, I argue that state participation in corporate governance acted as an effective substitute mechanism to constrain wealth-tunnelling behaviour of corporate insiders and local bureaucrats in a country defined by a weak property rights system.     

Revolution and the Whip of Reaction: Technicians of Power and the Dialectic of Radicalisation

This article argues that sociologically informed studies of revolution tend to underestimate the importance of counter‐revolution and ‘reaction’ in generating radicalisation. Revolutions are inherently political. Most accounts recognise this, but emphasise the executive organs of state – such as monarch, cabinet or ministers – at the expense of the intermediary ‘technicians of power’. Revolutions, however, typically seek to refashion an entire technocracy of power, and in so doing struggle against embedded and powerful sites of reaction. Central to the dynamic of revolution is the ‘purge’ of the technocracy of power. As governing structures are not easily transformed at a stroke, revolutions may be seen as punctuating long processes of struggle. Historically, the governing apparatus has been most effectively revolutionised under conditions of military occupation. The thesis is illustrated here by a narrative of revolution in Europe from the English Civil War to the Liberation of the 1940s, with a coda on ’68.     

The Creation of Criminal Russia

A sentence of exile was a regular feature of the Russian revolutionary’s underground career. In order to survive this punishment and continue their struggle against Tsarism, revolutionaries relied on help from their fellow exiles, their party, the Political Red Cross and, often, their families. Historians have rarely acknowledged the role of kin in supporting the revolutionary movement and very few studies have noted the attempts by families to mitigate the worst aspects of a sentence of exile. This article explores the ways in which spouses and siblings, parents and children obtained concessions from the Tsarist authorities regarding their loved ones’ sentences of exile, helped off-set the poverty to which many exiles were reduced, and, above all, combated the sense of loneliness and depression to which those in exile were exposed. This article argues that such familial support had a collective and positive impact on revolutionaries’ experience of exile. More broadly it provides an illuminating case study of the blurred space between public and private which the revolutionary occupied and highlights the way in which the movement depended on help from sympathizers and family members in order to function effectively on a daily basis.     

集群式革命之“阿拉伯之春”

从社会学与社会心理学来看,"阿拉伯之春"是一个由突发事件引发,通过互联网的社群串联,民众的个体感受逐渐被整合为共同意识的过程;也是经由互联网的群体散播,民众的纷纷仿效,致使"街头政治"逐步演变为集群行动,最终蔓延为大规模、大面积"倒阁"运动的过程。这场"快餐化"传播的西方民主思潮过早地催生了刚刚萌芽、还来不及成长的中东民主幼苗,使得这场追求民主的社会运动先天不足又后天失调,其结果只能是:社会运动的发起者、参与者和煽动者,不但没有能力驾驭运动的走向与结果,而且也无法真正掌控当下处于混乱之中的中东国家。     

Fedorovism in Early Post-Soviet Russia: The Collapse of the Meta-imperial Project

Nikolai Fedorov, the obscure librarian in late tsarist Russia, had created a grand theory. According to it, the humanities should be united under the aegis of the Tsar to engage in the complete mastery over nature, spreading all over the universe and the resurrection of the dead. This totalitarian and messianic aspect of fedorovism could be well incorporated into totalitarian messianism, the belief in the omnipotence of science and exploration of space – all the key elements of Soviet ideology. Consequently, the regime became ‘Fedorovian’ without cognizing it. While Gorbachev’s reforms made it possible for many Soviet intellectuals to be acquainted with Fedorov, the collapse of the regime and the country had led to profound implications for these Soviet intellectuals’ perception of Fedorov’s teachings and related theories. For some, it led to embracing the peculiar cocktail of mysticism and the occult. For others, the end of the USSR implied that Fedorov’s dream – humanity’s mastery over nature – would never be accomplished. It also implied that humanity is not very different from the other species and would disappear in the future.