2026-02-22
Sergey T. Gaidin, Galina A. Burmakina
The article considers the role of Krasnoyarsk in the industrial development of the Krasnoyarsk district of the Siberian region, which was created in May 1925. The presence of various natural resources and the possibility of exporting the produced goods via the Yenisei River and the Northern Sea Route led to the location of enterprises that defined the special place of the district in the all‑Union division of labour. After the liquidation of the districts in 1930, Krasnoyarsk, thanks to the work of central and local planning bodies, was turned into an industrial and transport centre of the Yenisei region, which allowed the USSR State Planning Committee to consider it as a basis for the creation of the Krasnoyarsk industrial district and Krasnoyarsk Krai as an independent subject of the RFSSR. The purpose of the study is to determine the role of Krasnoyarsk in the industrial development of the polar zone of the Krasnoyarsk District, turning the city into a centre of development of the Yenisei region and Eastern Siberia. In the study, the authors of the article were guided by the theory of modernization, which, in specific historical conditions, was carried out by the state in a catch-up mode in the northern and Arctic frontier territories. The study is based on the works of specialists of the USSR Gosplan and, for the first time introduced into scientific circulation, the materials of the archival fund of the Krasnoyarsk District Planning Commission, which contain extensive information on a wide range of aspects of the topic under study.
2026-02-22
Ilia V. Mametev
The article deals with the integration processes of steppe regions of Astrakhan province in the context of the military policy of the Russian Empire and the RFSSR. The study covers the period of the first quarter of the 20th century, which was marked by sharp political, social and economic shifts. The methodological basis of the study is the theory of frontier modernization, which allows for assessing the formation of the military administration of the steppe regions of Astrakhan province as an integral part of the national military policy, as well as tracing the administrative, social and cultural transformations in the region. The aim of the article is to determine the content, main directions and results of the state policy on the integration of nomadic peoples of the Astrakhan province into the system of military administration in the first quarter of the XX century, as well as its impact on the modernization processes on the Lower Volga frontier. The author concluded that the development of the steppe regions of the Lower Volga area was a significant focus of domestic policy — first under the Russian Empire and later in the early years of the RFSSR. The region’s specific geographic and economic characteristics slowed its integration: modernization in the Astrakhan Governorate lagged behind other Russian regions. During the Russian Civil War, the state intensified its administrative and military presence due to the need for human resources, which accelerated the development of the steppes.
2026-02-22
Dmitry V. Mikheev
The article examines the reflection of the image of China and the Chinese on the pages of the magazine “Mir Bozhiy” at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. It was during this period that the policy of the great powers in China was undergoing serious changes, and the Qing Empire itself was entering a period of serious crisis associated with coups d’etat and rebellions, which contributed to the growing interest of the reading public in the events in the Far East. As a result of the analysis of the contents of the magazine issues, containing both original articles and brief reviews of articles from other domestic and foreign publications devoted to Chinese topics, it became possible to identify the main problems that worried Russian public opinion during that period. Above all, those were issues of economic cooperation with China and the problem of Chinese migration in the Far East. Introduction to the internal life of the Qing Empire, its political system and social structure occupy the largest volume of publications up to 1900. With the aggravation of the situation within the Boxer Rebellion and the beginning of foreign intervention, the main interest in the publications was focused on those events and the reaction of the population of the border regions of the Russian Empire to the occurrence. The defeat of the rebels returns to the pages of the publication the polemics about the role of foreign powers in Chinese events and criticism of the barbaric behavior of the “civilized Europeans.” By 1902, interest in Chinese topics in the publication weakens and gradually moves to a new threat posed by the Japanese Empire.
2026-02-22
Natalia A. Zherlitsina
The article is devoted to the study of the influence of colonialism on the system of Islamic education in Muslim countries of Africa, namely, historical background and modern consequences of the external interference. The author analyzes the reasons for the special status of religious education in the Muslim world as the basis of spiritual and intellectual life. The article provides a comparative study of the attitude of the French and British colonialists to Islamic education in the colonies, identifies the ideological reasons for the differences, and examines the transformation of the policy of the metropolises in this area. The author has established that, during the period of colonization, Islamic education was marginalized and emasculated in African countries. Even after gaining independence, the former colonies remained for decades in the system of neocolonial mental influence of the West: forced to conform to “modern international standards”, they maintained the principles of secularism in education to the detriment of authentic national models. The author concludes that colonial rule in Muslim countries had a significant long-term adverse impact on the Muslim education system. The situation with its status in many Muslim countries remains uncertain and fraught with social and cultural division.
2026-02-22
Maksym W. Kyrchanoff
The author of the presented article analyzes the peculiarities of histories of frontier peripheral European nationalism in the second half of the 20th century. The purpose of the research is a comparative study of histories of Asturian and Moldavian nationalism as factors of creating nations as imaginate communities, and also of social and political modernizations as invention of traditions. The main provisions of the article are as follows: 1) Asturian and Moldavian nationalism arose historically on the territories of frontier regions, causing their subsequent marginality; 2) social and political practices of Asturian and Moldavian nationalism are based on strategies of social constructivism, which turned Asturians and Moldavians into imagined communities, and their identities – into invented traditions; 3) construction of language and invention of history became universal intellectual forms of political and social modernizations, which Asturian and Moldavian nationalists used in their attempts to invent nations. The article concludes with the following theses: 1) negative social dynamics led to the absence of complete social structures in the Moldovan and Asturian societies; 2) the political and social rates of development of Moldovan and Asturian nationalism lagged significantly in comparison with the rates of political modernization processes in the neighbouring communities; 3) the main participants of the frontier nation building were nationalists represented in Asturia by intellectuals, and in Moldova by intellectuals and also by political elites; 4) Asturian and Moldovan nationalism did not lead to the complete institutionalization of the new imaginate communities, which actualizes estimation of nationalism limitations as a political resource formally recognized for universal.
2026-02-22
Elnara M. Dumnova
The article deals with the problem of comprehending the image of Motherland and its place in the world picture of a transmigrant in terms of expanding his/her living space. The translocal living space is characterized by the layering of several social fields and a combination of different axes of social interaction, which determines the change in the world perception and worldview of a transmigrant. The theoretical framework of the study is represented by the concepts of transnationalism and translocality. The relative constancy of the image of Motherland in the world-picture is determined. At the same time, this does not exclude a change in its content, which is the idea of the Motherland. Based on the analysis of various approaches to defining the image of homeland, it is concluded that there are two groups of markers of the homeland: i.e., local and social. In the translocal living space, their two-way determination takes place: namely, by the original living space and by the acquired one. The results of an empirical study conducted within the framework of a qualitative approach are presented. It is determined that, in formation of the image of Motherland, local markers prevail while social markers are secondary. The conclusion is made, about the preservation of the image of the Motherland in the new world picture of transmigrants having common territorial frame of living space; special importance of the original living space of transmigrants is noted.