Vol 21, No 4 (2019)

The article analyzes the state of mass political consciousness of Russian youth based on the results of the study conducted in the spring of 2019 in four regions of the Russian Federation: Altai Kray, Leningrad and Novosibirsk Regions, and St. Petersburg. As a result of the analysis, the authors were able to identify several groups of young people that significantly differ in their attitudes regarding their potential political activity and the methods they actually use to realize the interests of their socio-demographic group, as well as trust in political and social institutions. Young people are differentiated into 8 groups according to the dominant type of political behavior and into 4 groups according to their level of institutional trust.

In 2019, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiyah Ahmed won the Nobel peace prize. His government is praised for releasing political prisoners, partially opening Ethiopia's political space to the opposition, and making peace with neighboring Eritrea. At the same time, in recent years nearly 3 million people have fled their homes in Ethiopia, mainly because of ethnic violence. Human rights organizations accuse the country's authorities of forcing people to return to their homes, where many still do not feel safe. In 2018 and 2019 alone, more than a million Ethiopians were forced from their homes by ethnic violence. Ethiopia currently ranks first in the world in the number of internally displaced persons. The authors analyze the controversial socio-political situation in Ethiopia in the context of the upcoming parliamentary elections in 2020.

In 1991, when Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) became a leading party within the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), Ethiopia introduced a system of ethnic-based federalism, which had never been practiced in the political history of the state before. The recognition of Ethiopian ethnic diversity became one of the country’s fundamental principles, with the federal system largely consisting of ethnic-based territorial units. Since its inception, Ethiopia's ethnic federalism has been the subject of heated debate among various political organizations in the country, as well as among observers and scholars both in and outside the country. The key objective of this paper is to appraise the pitfalls of ethnic-based federalism in Ethiopia, which has been functioning in the country for more than two and half decades. The authors believe ethnic-based federalism to be a political arrangement that succeeds to maintain balance of centrifugal and centripetal forces. They see it as an appropriate and viable strategy for a sustainable nation-building effort in the context of Ethiopia’s ethnic diversity. At the same time, the authors observe that in the case with ethnicity-based political arrangements, unless they are implemented with maximum care, the risk outweighs the benefit. When a state like Ethiopia, which had been highly centralized for many years, is trying to experiment with a seemingly federal arrangement, the equilibrium of diversity and unity should be maintained. If the political environment focuses primarily on diversity and ignores shared values and common identity, it leaves room for the elites to manipulate the differences and pursue their own parochial political interests, which would eventually serve against the public benefit. The pioneers of Ethiopia’s ethnic federalism believe that the contemporary ethnolinguistic-based federal arrangement is a panacea for problems related to identity politics. However, the authors argue that, from a practical perspective, for the past two and half decades (probably in the future too, unless re-designed) ethnic federalism in Ethiopia has been highly politicized (manipulated by political dealers promoting their own selfish interests).

The article analyzes the institutional foundations of the emergence and functioning of the major party factions in Uruguay and their influence on maintaining the stability of the presidential regime. The Uruguayan parties are historically characterized by fragmentation and consist of many ideologically diverse movements, which allows us to view them as coalitions. The factions competing among themselves for the influence on the political agenda ultimately form the party’s common strategy. Coalition tendency within parties is largely determined by the peculiarities of the electoral system established in Uruguay. The elected president with a broad mandate, being a representative of his faction, must build coalition relations with other factions of his party, giving them various concessions in the executive branch. Based on the factors considered, the author concludes that the electoral characteristics of the Uruguayan political system create the necessity for coalitions among party factions, thus affecting the stability of presidential rule.

The procurement of goods and services by the regional government is part of the principle of regional autonomy implementation. However, one should be aware that the practice of regional autonomy is vulnerable to abuse of authority. Thus, it is necessary to implement the principle of Good Governance in order to establish the limits of authority. The article aims at describing the mechanism of procurement of goods and services by local governments in accordance with the standards of good governance. A qualitative approach is used in the research. Data collection is conducted in three steps, namely: observation, interview, and documentation. The Miles and Huberman model of data analysis is used in order to achieve accuracy of information in the presentation of narrative texts. The author carries out the data validity test by means of careful and continuous observation, as well as triangulation. The research shows that the regional government in the face of the Banjarbaru City Procurement Services Unit (ULP) has generally been abiding by the principle of Good Governance in terms of transparency, accountability, efficiency and effectiveness (stipulated in Presidential Regulation No. 54 of 2010 and its amendments). However, several obstacles still exist, the main ones being: 1) human resources, which greatly affect the work of the state system, representing the largest risk; 2) the dependence on information technology in the implementation of goods and services procurement, which is carried out using online features ( e-procurement ); 3) the deficiency of budget, needed to guarantee network quality and internet security in Banjarbaru City ULP, 4) incomplete procurement proposal documents.

The article discusses the problem of Leo Strauss’ influence on the political culture of the United States and analyzes the current historiographic situation pertaining to the problem. The authors demonstrate that both in the USA and in modern Russia the question of the degree and nature of L. Strauss’s influence on the neocons remains open. Meanwhile, it is obvious that Strauss had a significant impact on the formation of neoconservative ideology, which is manifested in the similarity of the basic ideas of the philosopher and his disciples. The formation of the philosopher’s views took place during the crisis of the Weimar Republic and the Nazis’ rise to power in Germany, which postulated Strauss’ idea about the need for strong democracy and its ability to defend itself against tyranny. The concept of strong democracy that can withstand totalitarianism and authoritarianism is one of the key ideas of neo-conservatism. The similarity of Strauss’ philosophical views to those of the neoconservatives is seen in criticism of the liberal world order and moral foundations of the West, which gave rise to relativism and nihilism. The conformity of neoconservative worldview, including and its variants, such as straussianism, to the ideas of Strauss is manifested in advocating the interests of Israel, which the founders of neo-conservatism view as an outpost of the Western world.

The article examines and compares main approaches to defining populism in modern Anglo-Saxon and German political science. The author points out some similarities between two schools: increasing interest of research communities in the USA, United Kingdom and Germany in examining right-wing populism due to the electoral success of right-wing populist parties. Furthermore, among the key features of populism, both schools see the allusion to “the will of the people”, as well as juxtaposition of “the people” against “the elite”. The article emphasizes the existing reciprocal influence of the two research traditions. On the other hand, the author outlines certain differences in the two schools’ approach to populism, such as historical dissimilarities in its interpretation (in the USA the concept used to bear a more “neutral” character, while in German political science, due to the Nazi regime carryover, it was regarded mostly negatively for a long time). Also, German academic works on populism have applied rather than theoretical nature and aim at stopping the expansion of the phenomenon.