The highlights of the April edition of Politichesky Klass

Like the month before, the main issue in late March and early April was the new lineup of forces after the March 2 presidential elections and Vladimir Putin»s agreement to become prime minister to president-elect Dmitry Medvedev, when he assumes office on May 7. Although many doubted Putin»s readiness to diminish his stature and influence by accepting the post of prime minister, the majority of experts think he will do it. But this will not clarify the distribution of powers and functions between Putin and Medvedev, especially since the president-elect has said, ЗRussia is a presidential republic with a strong executive power.ИVitaly Tretyakov, editor-in-chief of Politichesky Klass, writes about the main elements of Russia»s policy under the new president. In his opinion, Dmitry Medvedev»s policy will not differ radically from that of Vladimir Putin. Medvedev will act on the necessity to secure the interests of Russia as a great power. Tretyakov spotlights Russia»s new development paradigm, which can be activated under the new president. This paradigm stipulates natural development instead of progress that doomed Russia to Зcatching upИ with industrialised countries for the past centuries.Political analyst Iosif Diskin considers the mechanisms and ways of implementing the Putin Plan. He writes that innovations-driven growth, which calls for grassroots modernisation, is the imperative element in Russia»s development, whereas the pace of its technological progress is by far not enough for transition to an innovations-driven economy. This means that Russia will have to rely on the import of innovation impetuses for a substantial time, whereas the demand for technological progress will be hindered by imports and will therefore restrain the development of Russia»s substantial potential.Political analyst Andrei Okara analyses the pattern of alternating systems of power in Russia. In his opinion, the rule of Vladimir Putin coincided in time with fundamental changes in the social and cultural realities related to the digitalisation of all spheres of life and professional practice. The new cultural, information and political technologies offer more effective ways of governing the masses and modelling social and political life. So, the main task of president-elect Dmitry Medvedev is to formulate a new ideological mainstream, a new meaning and development strategy, and a new image for Russia.Historian and philosopher Sergei Sergeyev believes that a deep cultural crisis in Russia can be stopped by encouraging a specifically Russian mass culture with values rooted in classical literature using a language appealing to the common people. He is referring to popular fiction, variety arts, filmmaking, comics and computer games propounding national solidarity, cooperation of different sections of society, man as soldier and worker, and woman as mother and home keeper, as well as the values of mutual assistance, honour and uprightness.Philosopher Alexander Tsipko offers his own interpretation of the essence of the anti-Communist transformation of the Soviet Union nearly 20 years ago. His idea is that this transformation was a kind of self-destruction of an obsolete system. The so-called democratic revolution of the early 1990s was not borne of the people»s desire for liberation predicted by prominent Russian emigre philosophers.Historian Anatoly Koshkin analyses Russian-Japanese relations of the past years and concludes that unsettled disputed between the two countries do not hinder their constructive cooperation in a wide range of economic sectors. He also writes about the attempts of some groups in Japan to undermine cooperation that gathered momentum during the rule of President Vladimir Putin.Political analyst Alexander Sevastyanov thinks that Russia can develop into a ЗRussian National StateИ and offers numerous arguments, which, he believes, explode the reasoning of the critics of Russian ethnic nationalism.Political analyst Viktor Kovalev contributed the second part of his article on the political interpretations of modern Russian science fiction and imperial discourses in it. In his opinion, science fiction can provide political forecasts or warn about undesirable development scenarios. This issue ends with the traditional ratings of Russia»s top politicians today and ten years ago.

(Автор: без автора)