Oriental Institute Journal, 2019, №44 (4)
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HISTORY
UDC 94(100)"1914/19" doi: dx.doi.org/10.24866/2542-1611/2019-4/6-37
The article deals with the development of ideas about the military operations of the World War I in the Russian provincial society of that time. The newspapers «Dal'niy Vostok», «Dalekaya okraina», «Russkiy Vostok», «Priamur'ye», «Ekho», «Ussuriyskiy kray», «Amurskiy liman» and others are used as a source. It shows that official information about the war published in the newspapers contained little truth, and editorials based on it were amateurish and monotonous. It is concluded that people in the Russian Far East knew little about the war from the newspapers. On the one hand, this for some time kept the population in hope that the Russian army could defeat the enemy. On the other hand, this hope was based on ignorance of the actual state of affairs. Protracted hostilities over the years led to the situation that the war soon bored everyone. Journalists and their readers came to realize that all bloody battles remained fruitless, and that the outcome of the war could not be solved on the battlefield. Because of this, the war lost popularity.
Key words: World War I, Russian Empire, Far East, military operations, media, society
UDC 330.88 doi: dx.doi.org/10.24866/2542-1611/2019-4/38-52
The article explores the impact of neoliberal ideology and expertise on the establishment of the first special economic zones in the USSR. Based on the analysis of reports of international organizations, archival materials and interviews with those who participated in founding the SEZs, it reveals that when the Soviet Union turned to the idea of zones the world leaders began to view them less positive as a developmental tool. The article concludes that the experts of international organizations did not play an important role in shaping the concept of Soviet free economic zones, and a local bureaucracy abandoned the neoliberal principles inherent in the idea of a SEZ because they could not be applied to Soviet social life. The reference to international experience was helpful to address some aspects of zone’s functioning, but decision-makers at the local level did not aim to copy Chinese or any other foreign experience, while the international expertise was mainly used to legitimize local requests to receive the preferential treatment from the central government.
Key words: FEZ, special economic zone, neoliberalism, expertise, ideology, Far East, China
POLICY
UDC 327 doi: dx.doi.org/ 10.24866/2542-1611/2019-4/53-66
The Central Asia States are of great geostrategic importance for such powers as Russia, the United States, and China. These countries have integration initiatives fixed in international treaties and reflected in national foreign policy doctrines. These cooperation projects are accompanied by acute mutual competition, thus updating the request for expert assessments of the current situation. Twenty-eight years after independence, the Central Asian republics continue to work on the creation of national identity. Despite the common features of the political regimes, the problems existing in Central Asia have a definite regional, and, in many cases, ethnic and national specificity, and in fact have no analogues in history. As a result, it is impossible to apply measures previously tested in seemingly identical situations to solve them. They require the development of unconventional approaches to their resolution, which in turn should be based on qualitative analysis and expert assessments. These factors underlie the continuing research interest and contribute to the emergence of large-scale research on the problems of the region.
Key words: Central Asia, Russia, China, USA, SCO, EAEU, “Belt and road”
UDC 327(470:5-014) doi: dx.doi.org/10.24866/2542-1611/2019-4/67-79
Amanda HUAN, Pushpa THAMBIPILLAI The ”Other” Major Power in the Region: Russia and Southeast Asia
In recent years Southeast Asia has seen the intense competition for influence and involvement between two big powers – the United States and China. Another major power, standing on the sides and taking in the rivalry, is Russia, which, in the heady days of the Soviet Union, was also an interested player in the Southeast Asian theatre. Since the 1990s Russia has largely avoided inter-power contestation and has sought to rebuild its multifaceted relationships with member states and regional organizations. While its political-economic ties are relatively small compared to other powers, and its foreign policy does not prioritize the region, it has nevertheless been a consistent partner within the geo-political canvas of the area and a key ally for some SEA states. The paper examines the various linkages between Russia and Southeast Asia and offers an assessment of current and future alignments considering its close ties with the leading Asian power, China.
Key words: Russian foreign policy, Russia in Asia, Regional dynamics, Southeast Asia, ASEAN-Russia
UDC 327 doi: dx.doi.org/ 10.24866/2542-1611/2019-4/80-90
The article explores strategic prerequisites and preconditions for the development of DPRK’s nuclear weapons program. The author provides a brief historical overview of North Korean nuclear program and formulates a number of factors that have influenced the North Korean elite’s decision to pursue nuclear weapons development. Although DPRK’s leader Kim Jong-un has stated that Pyongyang is ready to give up its nuclear weapons and ICBMs, the author argues that the retention of minimal nuclear capabilities is undoubtedly a national priority for the DPRK. Such political commitment is largely motivated by global and regional political context, however, the DPRK is ready to make compromises and partially limit its nuclear arsenal.
Key words: DPRK, nuclear weapons, security, nuclear program, strategy, NPT, denuclearization
UDC 327 doi: dx.doi.org/ 10.24866/2542-1611/2019-4/91-101
The subject of this article is the UN Command, established on July 7, 1950 by a resolution of the UN Security Council. The study employs a set of methods such as analysis of speeches made by the state representatives to the UN, analysis of historical sources, interviewing, and summarizing the results in order to obtain a conclusion. The authors come to the conclusion that if the key actors (the US, Russia, China, the ROK and the DPRK) reach a certain stage in the process of peaceful settlement of the Korean problem and deem it necessary to preserve the formal UN presence in it, the Command may be reformed as a negotiating platform between the parties, that can reflect the intensity of the negotiation process and provide more control over execution of reached agreements.
Key words: UN, UN Command, Korean peninsula, DPRK, UN Security Council, Korean war
SOCIETY
UDC 339.9(571+517.3) doi: dx.doi.org/10.24866/2542-1611/2019-4/102-113
The article discusses the current condition of interstate cooperation between China, Mongolia and Russia in the promotion and implementation of economic corridor projects. The main problem points that impede the progress of the program are noted. The article shows an increase in indicators over recent years, based on the analysis of data on the dynamics of changes in transit traffic and passenger flows between countries. The frontier territories for promoting the economic corridor program are presented as lagging behind in socio-economic terms, though having the potential of natural, sociocultural, transport and logistics resources. Restructuring the composition of the federal districts implies a change in the investment climate, as well as an improvement of the standard of living of the population in the border regions. The importance of considering regional aspects in the contact zones of interaction between the three countries is noted, also studying public opinion and forming the interest of the population of border regions in trilateral cooperation with the aim of creating an effective social platform for the integrated promotion of economic corridor projects.
Key words: economic corridor, China, Mongolia, Russia, Baikal region, contact zone, regional platform, monitoring centers.
UDC 338.1(597) doi: dx.doi.org/10.24866/2542-1611/2019-4/114-127
This article examines and analyzes three main risk factors for the Vietnamese economy amidst Vietnam`s diversification of external relations and trade-offs in building relationships with China and the United States. In addition, this paper highlights the key objective of the US foreign policy strategy in the Asia-Pacific region and considers the correlation between Vietnamese policy and its economy while maintaining a leading position in ASEAN. We can conclude that in the future, Vietnam will continue to be interested not only in the American markets for its products, but also in maintaining the current volume of trade with China. The confrontation of the two great powers will allow Hanoi to continue to derive some benefit in the implementation of its political and economic interests. However, do not forget that the current confrontation between China and the United States gives third parties not only new opportunities, but also poses them with new challenges.
Key words: diversification, foreign economic relations, export-oriented economy, commodity circulation, importer of products, trade deficit, sales markets
CULTURE
UDC 392.5(571.62) doi: dx.doi.org/10.24866/2542-1611/2019-4/128-139
The article analyzes the ambiguity of the female characters in traditional wedding rituals of indigenous peoples of the Lower Amur. In this one of the most important family rituals, women played an important role in wedding events and in the process of transmitting folk traditions and customs to younger generations. Women's images in the wedding ceremony, though included in the overall system of actors, at the same time formed a special system or subsystem having a certain hierarchy. Its core (not the organizer of the wedding) was the bride, who during the rite gradually and consistently changed her status as a girl from a bride to a married woman. This was reflected in a number of special rituals that cemented her separation from her paternal family, and the transition to the power of her husband and his relatives. It is important to note that the wedding rituals of the peoples of the Lower Amur, in general, had much in common with the wedding rites of the Tungus-speaking and Turkic-speaking peoples of Eastern Siberia.
Key words: indigenous ethnic groups, wedding ritual, paternal family, social status, the female characters
ARCHIVE
UDC 947:321(571.54/55+571.6) doi: dx.doi.org/10.24866/2542-1611/2019-4/140-150
The first published documents draw attention to a little-explored and severe page in the history of the Vladivostok Oriental Institute – its evacuation in Transbaikalia in 1905 and student unrest caused by this circumstance. The documents allow one to see the positions held and the confrontation that occurred between the two university corporations: students and professors.
Key words: History of Russian oriental studies, Oriental Studies Institute in Vladivostok, evacuation to Verkhneudinsk, student unrest, professorial Corporation