"History of Kazan" (1/2022). The allusion used in the topic refers to the events of 1552, the conquest of Kazan by the troops of Tsar Ivan the Terrible and its reflection in historical memory. After the fall of the Kazan Khanate, we can talk about the beginning of a new stage in the history of the qualitative expansion of Russia and its relationship with the Turkic khanates - the heirs of the Golden Horde. However, the issue is not only about this. After the collapse of the Golden Horde, its historical fate did not stop. On its former territory, “hereditary” khanates and Hordes arose, which continued the Golden Horde ethnopolitical, cultural and civilizational traditions. In these states, many of the canons of governance and traditions established in previous two centuries were preserved, and new ethnic communities were formed – the ancestors of many modern nations.
The Crimean Khanate and the Moscow State were the most powerful and competitive in the struggle for the geopolitical inheritance of the Golden Horde. The Turkic domains in Eastern Europe in the XV–XVII centuries (Kazan, Astrakhan, the Greater and Lesser Nogai Hordes) gravitated towards either of these two poles, changing their adherence from time to time. The Qasim Khanate that was completely dependent on the Russian monarchs as well as the Siberian and Kazakh khanates located far on the east occupied a special place in this system.
The planned issue is supposed to highlight various aspects of the relationship between all these entities. We want to study the most relevant aspects of such a large topic as “Russia and the Turkic world” and present the modern views of historians regarding the situation in the post-Horde space. We also plan to attract information from newly discovered sources, show controversial and unresolved research problems, trace the evolution of military-political and cultural relations between Russia and various khanates, including the history of their cultural transfers and ideas about each other. General chronology of accepted articles for the issue is XV–XVIII centuries.
"Idealists and Realists" (2/2022). The theme of the issue refers to the title of the once popular novel about the era of Peter the Great, written by Daniil Lukich Mordovtsev. The author of the novel, nicknamed the “Russian Walter Scott”, saw in the conflict between supporters and opponents of the Petrovsky reforms a continuation of the old Russian dispute about power. Is it an end or a means? Should power serve people – for their salvation, happiness, or simply well-being, or, on the contrary, a person is obliged uncomplainingly sacrifice oneself to the Moloch of sovereign power? Is it appropriate for the ruler to restrain himself by subordinating himself to the moral and religious imperatives (“ideals”), or is the pragmatics of power (“realism”) the universal justification for his actions? We consider that this polemic, which began long before Peter the Great and has not been over yet, is the leitmotif of the intellectual and political history of the Russian state. We propose to analyze not only the positions of the parties in this dispute, but also the influence of the authorities on it. To actualize this aspect of the problem, we consider it necessary to draw the attention to a symbolic date. Exactly five centuries ago, in 1522, as a result of direct intervention of the authorities, the first Russian ideological and political discussion of a nationwide scale was terminated. Years of dispute between the Josephites and the Non-possessors ended only when one of the parties convinced the authorities of their readiness to be its “indulgers”. This is what Andrei Kurbsky called Josephites. He saw in the defeat of the Non-possessors a harbinger of the oprichnina. We suggest reflecting on the twists and turns of the centuries-old Russian dispute about power between zealots and indulgers, idealists and realists – no matter how these factions are called at different stages of Russian history.
"The White Man’s Burden" (3/2022). “The White Man’s Burden” of Rudyard Kipling has been chosen as the literary allusion for the journal issue. However, we propose to reject the established notion that “The White Man’s Burden” is simply a slogan of the “white man’s” civilising mission in the colonial era or a symbol of paternalism in British foreign policy. The starting point for rethinking the allusion seems to be the epochal event of the decolonisation – the break-up of British India and the emergence of two independent states, India and Pakistan, which are celebrating their 75th anniversary in 2022. This issue will examine the impact and reflection of decolonisation processes on the present situation in former metropolises and colonies in terms of the complex and multidimensional social, political, economic life. We examine decolonisation and the “white burden” through the prism of a shared traumatised past, multiple contemporary representations of the decolonisation consequences, policies and practices of inequality. It is no secret that we now live in a world where previously oppressed populations (ethnic or racial groups) seek revenge on formerly ‘white’ majority society. In this issue we hope to open up a discussion of the impact of decolonisation on the development of contemporary societies both in the West and the East, to outline the specifics of the inverted guilt and responsibility of both “white man” and “oppressed” populations.
"A Warsaw Melody" (4/2022). In “A Warsaw melody” by Leonid Zorin the private life of a couple of lovers – Soviet winemaker and Polish singer – breaks under the pressure of official barriers: the Government decree of February 15, 1947, prohibited Soviet citizens from marrying foreigners. The Warsaw melody eventually turns out to be a lyrical reminder of the unheard, an invisible but perceptible presence of external barriers, and a distinctive symbol of personal drama in the context of ideological domination. Taking this play as a starting point, we want to focus on similar social conflicts in which supranational institutions, norms, and communities are the main actors. We invite authors interested in the analysis of institutional, normative, and disciplinary practices of patriotism and cosmopolitanism, their conditional combination, and confrontation within supranational communities.
The one-hundredth anniversary of the founding of the USSR is a good occasion to consider the activities of supranational state entities in a wider historical and comparative perspective – for example, in comparison with such institutions, as the Russian and British Empire, the Non-Aligned Movement, Pan-Africanism, the European Union, etc. We would like to understand the processes of “birth” and “dying” of social groups created by (or against) supranational institutions and communities. We are also interested in studies of the potential risks and threats of the existence of such groups in the context of the integration and disintegration of supranational units. We invite the authors to focus also on the development of the methodology for analysis of “deviant social groups” in the context of relations between the “center” and various “peripheries”. We are also interested in discussing the question of the initial and constitutive duality of supranational entities, combining the universality orientation with the accentuation of local coarseness (“Union of Nations and Nationalities”, Commonwealth of Independent States, North Atlantic Bloc, Visegrad Group, etc.)
Continuing the analogy with the drama by L. Zorin, we invite contributors who would analyze internal and external institutional and individual tensions that not only tragically change the fate of a particular person but also predetermine the collapse of supranational geopolitical formations themselves.