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2018.01.002. REGINA MUKHAMETZYANOVA-DUGGAL. RELIGION AND POWER IN RUSSIA IN THE 20th - 21* CENTURIES: THREE MODELS OF STATE - CONFESSIONAL RELATIONS// "Vlast," Moscow, 2017, № 6, P. 100-104.
Keywords: model of state-confessional relations, secular state, Russia.
Regina Mukhametzyanova-Duggal,
Dr.Sc. (Politics),
Chief Researcher of the Department of Religious Studies Institute of Ethnological Research named after R.G. Kuzeeva Ufa Science Center of RAS
R. Mukhametzyanova-Duggal considers in the article a consistent replacement of three models of state confessional politics in Russia in the 20th-21st centuries. R. Mukhametzyanova-Duggal notes that the clerical (confessional) state was characteristic of monarchical Russia, the implementation of reforms that ensured religious freedom was typical of the bourgeois period of Russian history, the construction of an atheistic state was characteristic of the Soviet era.
In the article the author pays special attention to the modern period - the process of formation of a new (separation and then cooperation) model of state-confessional relations.
R. Mukhametzyanova-Duggal points out that today we are witnesses to the exceptional role of the religious factor in the world. One of the reasons, according to the author, is the objective processes of the emergence of a new world order, and its consequences compel scientists to investigate questions of the politicization of religion, the use of its values, attributes and symbols for purely political purposes. The tragic events of recent years, taking place in various parts of the world, but connected by the use of religion as a kind of banner of protest and political ambitions, increasingly show the undivided nature of political and religious concepts in the modern world.
R. Mukhametzyanova-Duggal believes that the priority task of the policy of the Russian state in the field of freedom of conscience is the development of an optimal model based on a reasonable balance of current changes in the role of the religious factor in politics and the constructive Russian experience of peaceful coexistence of faiths.
In the 20th century, three models of state confessional policy were successively replaced in Russia. Monarchist Russia was characterized by a clerical (confessional) Orthodox Christian state, where there was a four-level legal gradation of faiths, each of which occupied a certain place and was appropriated or deprived of the corresponding volume of rights. This policy was determined by ideological considerations and national and political factors. The Orthodox Church was located on the top of the confessional hierarchical structure, "confessing tolerant" confessions and their adherents - Catholics, Protestants (Lutherans and Reformed), Jews, Muslims, Buddhists were a step below.
The author of the article emphasizes the interference in the internal life of other faiths, the desire to limit "foreign" and "other" religions strictly national frameworks, the non-recognition of the individual's right to religious self-determination among other specific features of the religious policy of the state in pre-revolutionary Russia.
The author writes, referring to the work of Yu. Cinelina, that the process of changing the religious outlook in Russia was closely linked with the process of Europeanization and had a cyclical character. The process of secularization began in a high society (the time of Peter the Great's reforms), embraced the entire educated society (since 1861) and gradually new layers of society entered this process (approximately since 1905).
The February Revolution marked the beginning of the construction of a secular state in Russia, the main principle of which was the separation of the church from the state. Not only the right to transition from one religion to another, but also the unconverted state was recognized; the enjoyment of civil and
political rights was no longer dependent on belonging to a religion, no one could now be persecuted and confined to any kind of rights for beliefs in the affairs of faith.
But the Provisional Government left the tsarist laws intact, defining relations between the state and confessional institutions, while demands were made for separation of the church from the state by the politically active part of society, by many representatives of heterodox and heterodox religious organizations. Most of the proclaimed principles have not received legislative consolidation, the bourgeois model of state-confessional relations has not managed to develop.
After the October Revolution of 1917, the peoples of Russia were put before the fact of a radical change in the place of religion in life.
The Soviet era (1917-1991) formed a "Soviet" model of state-confessional relations, characterized by a legal ban on religious beliefs, on the activities of religious associations and all-round support by the state of one worldview choice - atheistic. The Constitution declared secularism, assuming a neutral attitude towards religion, fixing the right of citizens to freedom of conscience, but in fact the state policy was aimed at eradicating primordial beliefs and preventing the emergence of new religious groups and movements. At the same time, the state religious policy of the USSR underwent serious modifications, and the persecutions against believers grew and died down periodically during the years of Soviet power.
Since the mid-1980s, the process of forming a new model of state-confessional relations within the secular state type is underway.
The overwhelming majority of secular states choose one of the two main models of state-confessional relations: separation or cooperation. The guiding principle of the separation model or non-confessional (confessional) state is the principle of equidistance of all (traditional and new) religious associations from the state, the principle of non-interference in the internal
affairs of both the religious organization and the state is implemented. The cooperation model or a form of "cultural cooperation" suggests the priority state relations of partnership, cooperation on a number of important issues in the life of society with traditional, most common confessions.
Our country adopted different models at different stages of its development. Until the mid-1990s there was a folding of the separation model. The RSFSR Law "On Freedom of Conscience" (1990) served as the basis. This law created all conditions for the activities of various types of religious organizations. At the same time, destructive tendencies began to manifest in state-religious relations. They manifested themselves in the spread of new religions and foreign religious missions, weakening of the friendly ties of various faiths, emergence of conflict situations within the confessions themselves. There was a politicization of religion, discrediting scientific knowledge about religion, etc.
However, the trend toward the separation model persisted for a short time - from 1990 to 1993. The author believes that we can talk about the weakening of the movement towards the separation model of the state and the state-confessional relations inherent in this form since 1994. In 1994-1997, neither the state nor society was satisfied with the previous form and model of politics with regard to religious associations.
It has come to understand that any freedom - freedom of conscience, freedom of belief - is a specific intimate state of any person, related to the internal freedom of his will. And it is outside the sphere of legal regulation. And any public activities, including those carried out for religious reasons, must be subject to this or that legal regulation, including if necessary, it can be limited and even banned.
Since the mid-1990s, the state has embarked on a path of toughening religious legislation, and a new law on freedom of conscience was adopted in 1997, which marked the beginning of a new stage in the formation of Russian policy in the sphere of freedom of conscience. The law shifted toward the cooperation
model. The state began to implement priority cooperation with the traditional for Russia religious associations - Orthodox, Muslim, Judaic and Buddhist and began to pursue a protectionist policy towards them. But there was a tendency towards the revival of the elements of the religious policy peculiar to the "confessional state" of the period of pre-revolutionary Russia.
Since the late 1990s, both central and regional authorities have been increasingly involved in the regulation of religious life. The fact of separating the spiritual institutions of believers from the state is often a declaration. The role of state bodies in the life of religious communities is very significant. The methods of regulating the activities of religious organizations have not been eliminated through the use of administrative resources.
The author points out that there is a contradiction in state-confessional relations between the separation model of state religious policy fixed in legislation and actually implemented by the cooperation model. This contradiction leaves an imprint on all areas of the relationship between the state and religious organizations, especially those in which there is close cooperation -social, cultural, educational, etc.
Current problems are still the issues of developing and adopting the concept of state-confessional relations, creating a single body in the field of state-confessional relations in order to streamline and coordinate the cooperation of all government agencies related to religious organizations. Politics at the federal, regional and municipal levels as well as in various subjects of our country is carried out in accordance with the prevailing ethno-confessional situation. At the same time, it is often carried out to the extent of the competence of civil servants in matters of religion and state-confessional relations.
The author writes that the cooperation model of state-confessional relations is closer to modern Russia, which presupposes relations of priority state partnership with traditional religions while fully implementing the constitutional principles of freedom of conscience and religion for all religious
associations that do not threaten state sovereignty, territorial integrity, public order and security.
The author concludes that the historical experience of the functioning of various models of state-confessional relations in the 20th - 21st centuries shows that the state and religious institutions are inherently heterogeneous, called to operate in different ways and in different spheres.
Religions of the Russian people and the state Orthodox Church were an integral part of Russian history, culture, mentality in pre-revolutionary Russia. On the other hand, as the author writes, society should not be aimed at universal clericalization and to replace secular standards of behavior with religious ones.
Author of the abstract - Natalia Ginesina
2018.01.003. SERGEI RASTORGUEV. FOREIGN-POLICY HYBRID POSSIBILITIES OF MODERN RUSSIA AND THREATS TO IT: CHALLENGE TO SOCIETY, THE STATE AND ELITE //
"Vlast," Moscow, 2016, № 9, P. 15-24.
Keywords: hybrid war, hybrid threats, hybrid possibilities, "soft power."
Sergei Rastorguev,
Dr.Sc. (Politics),
Associate Professor, Financial University at the Government of the Russian Federation
The author analyzes hybrid possibilities of modern Russia and threats to it. In the political discourse of the past years the concept of "hybrid war" is interpreted as a conflict of actors using non-military and military methods. A hybrid war includes military hostilities waged by regular troops; military actions undertaken by "independent actors" (rebels, terrorists), economic pressure (sanctions, embargo, undermining of the financial
