Научная статья на тему 'Transformation and Development. Studies in the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Member States, edited by Anja Mihr. Springer Cham, 2020. VI, 154 pp.'

Transformation and Development. Studies in the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Member States, edited by Anja Mihr. Springer Cham, 2020. VI, 154 pp. Текст научной статьи по специальности «Политологические науки»

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Ключевые слова
Transformation / Development / OSCE Member States / Central Asia / Post-Soviet Political Life / OSCE Region / Social Contract Transformation / Transitional Justice / Post-Totalitarian Societies

Аннотация научной статьи по политологическим наукам, автор научной работы — Ashot Yengoyan, Lusine Harutyunyan

The relevance of the main directions of research in this book is determined both by the general significance of the problem of transforming the political process of society for political science, and by the peculiarity of its state in the context of sociocultural dynamics in the member states of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). The importance of a comparative analysis of social and cultural value bases in the political process and the dynamics of this phenomenon is due to increased attention to the consideration of the nature, essence and characteristics of value orientations in the era of globalization, changes and complication of the evolution of the political system, on the basis of which the development of society in the political environment is carried out. The immediate stability and effectiveness of the political process directly depends on the value components in the public mind. This aspect is of particular importance in the face of the challenges of the surrounding world, when a transformational society is faced with a choice of political alternatives. In this regard, it becomes important to study the problem of the regulatory role of social, cultural and value factors in the transformation of the political process in the OSCE member states.

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Предварительный просмотрDOI: 10.46991/JOPS/2022.1.1.156
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Текст научной работы на тему «Transformation and Development. Studies in the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Member States, edited by Anja Mihr. Springer Cham, 2020. VI, 154 pp.»

DOI: 10.46991/JOPS/2022.1.1.156

TRANSFORMATION AND DEVELOPMENT. STUDIES IN THE ORGANIZATION FOR SECURITY AND COOPERATION IN EUROPE (OSCE) MEMBER STATES, EDITED BY ANJA MIHR. SPRINGER CHAM, 2020. VI, 154 pp. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-42775-7.

Review by: Ashot Yengoyan and Lusine Harutyunyan *

The relevance of the main directions of research in this book is determined both by the general significance of the problem of transforming the political process of society for political science, and by the peculiarity of its state in the context of sociocultural dynamics in the member states of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). The importance of a comparative analysis of social and cultural value bases in the political process and the dynamics of this phenomenon is due to increased attention to the consideration of the nature, essence and characteristics of value orientations in the era of globalization, changes and complication of the evolution of the political system, on the basis of which the development of society in the political environment is carried out. The immediate stability and effectiveness of the political process directly depends on the value components in the public mind. This aspect is of particular importance in the face of the challenges of the surrounding world, when a transformational society is faced with a choice of political alternatives. In this regard, it becomes important to study the problem of the regulatory role of social, cultural and value factors in the transformation of the political process in the OSCE member states.

In theoretical terms, the problem of transformation and development, the regulatory role of value categories in the public consciousness is the object of research in interdisciplinary sciences. Being one of the central issues in the study of political systems, this issue also finds its place in political science. This is significant both from a theoretical and methodological aspect, and from the point of view of the formation of effective approaches to further consideration of the practical implementation of political strategies at the present stage. The presence of the latter will make it possible to assess the merits and demerits of the ongoing transformations in the political process and the prospects for creating variable solutions to existing problems.

*Ashot Yengoyan is a Doctor of Political Sciences, Professor of the Chair of Political Science of the Faculty of International Relations at the Yerevan State University. Email: ashotyengoyan@ysu.am

Lusine Harutyunyan is a PhD candidate ot the Chair of Political Science of the Faculty of International Relations at the Yerevan State University. Email: harutyunyanlusine96@gmail .com

Journalof Political Science: Bulletin of Yerevan University, Vol. 1, No. 1, May 2022, Pp. 156-159 Received: 20.11.2021

Revised: 01.12.2021 Accepted: 15.12.2021 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0

International License. © The Auth°r(s) 2°22

The world experience in the implementation of studies of social and cultural influences on the transformation of public consciousness in general and value components in particular are controversial, which gives rise to many disputes and discourses. This is characteristic of recent political science, when new patterns and phenomena are discovered. With regard to the post-Soviet OSCE member states, the problem of transforming the political process through value regulators is actualized and takes on a special meaning during periods of depreciation of traditions, the destruction of the ideological foundations of society, and the usual way of life. The question is raised not only about the situation of the crisis, but also about the exhaustion of options in its management and overcoming. At the same time, the specificity of this crisis lies in its large-scale nature and allows us to speak about the illegality of limiting it exclusively to the framework of the political process. It is necessary to evaluate this state as a multidimensional factor of political security, social and cultural dynamics, influencing the transformation of the latter.

This book covers the following areas:

• Values and Transformation in Central Asia;

• Civil Society as a Phenomenon of Post-Soviet Political Life: A Threat or a Guarantor of National Security;

• Security Risk Analysis Perspectives on Central Asia Dynamics;

• China's Development Objectives and Its Belt and Road Initiative in the OSCE Region;

• OSCE and Civil Society in the Western Balkans: The Road to Reconciliation;

• Central Asia in Transition: Social Contract Transformation in Nazarbayev and Post-Nazarbayev Kazakhstan;

• The Interplay Between Formal and Informal in Conflict Prevention, Mediation and Community Security Provision in Kyrgyzstan;

• What Happened to the Foundations of Eurasian Health Governance? Research Initiatives for Health Security Capacity Building;

• Transitional Justice Research in Post-Totalitarian Societies in the OSCE Region.

The historical period from the beginning of the formation of the post-Soviet OSCE member states to the present is characterized by a huge number of events of a different nature. The political transformations inherent in large-scale transitional states are rightfully considered the most difficult. Obviously, the models of political management in the modern social process should be improved and adjusted, taking into account new empirical facts and modern trends in social transformation. The former system has lost its power and is unable to meet the realities of the present. This position is quite natural and indicates not only the evolution of social consciousness as a factor of continuous development, but also represents a social and cultural value transformation as a natural phenomenon in the dynamics of culture.

At the same time, the emphasis in political research should be shifted to the search for features of economic, social, cultural and other factors of the political process that affect the success of the development and implementation of strategies in the field of its transformation, as well as public consciousness in the processes of both domestic and foreign policy perspectives. In this regard, it seems relevant to design promising

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Journal of Political Science: Bulletin of Yerevan University

strategies and options for the modernization development of the post-Soviet OSCE member states as recommendations for politicians in strategic planning. The issue of social and cultural value principles in society requires close attention, their consideration in the course of developing a political strategy in the post-Soviet OSCE member states, and they deserve this due to their importance as a regulatory component of the political process. In a comparative study of the degree of scientific development of the problem, the authors of this study identified key dimensions of political security, values and political culture.

In these studies, the authors examine the relationship between political values and political institutions, the influence of political values on behavior, the transformation of political values, the change in political consciousness, in the context of changes taking place in the country and the world. Almost half of this book is devoted to the issues of value and transformation in Central Asia, civil society as a phenomenon of post-Soviet political life, political consciousness and political values of young people, that is, a direct product of the reproduction of political culture as a system for performing the function of producing latent samples in the political system.

In general, the results of many studies confirm the recognition by modern researchers of the active role of political values as a factor in changing political consciousness in the post-Soviet OSCE member states. Articles devoted to their active role consider either their influence on certain aspects, such as electoral behavior, political orientations, or their role in social transformation rather than in the political process. At the same time, in one of the works, the active influence of political values on the nature of the ongoing transformations, as well as their influence on political consciousness, their impact on the course of the political process as such, became the direct subject of the study. Analysis of the article indicates that valuable material has been accumulated, scientific approaches and methods have been identified. These works contain many aspects of social and cultural issues. However, the question of the regulatory function of social and cultural foundations has not been adequately reflected. The problem of the influence of social and cultural grounds on the political process as a regulatory component also requires further research. Referring to the role of social and cultural value bases in the post-Soviet OSCE member states as a regulatory component of the transformation of the political process, the authors of various articles sought to touch upon all the problems identified above and not fully considered, through an analysis of the regulatory role of value bases in their impact on political consciousness, the nature of the ongoing political transformations and developments in the OSCE countries.

In this sense, the state political strategy requires, on the one hand, solving the problems of adaptation in the post-Soviet OSCE member states, on the other hand, the preservation of value bases that are significant for it. This means that the strategic goals of the OSCE countries cannot include the destruction of sustainable value bases.

The result of the analysis of scenarios for future development, based on the dynamics of the influence of social and cultural value orientations on public consciousness, was the presence of a radical transformation, manifested in the formation of new forms of civic participation in political life, in the context of the complication of the process of interaction between the political system and civil society, which together causes the need to revise and rethink issues related to the nature and content of the system of socio-

cultural value orientations, classification and creation of a new hierarchy of political values, as well as the direction of periodically recurring assessments of values. The purposeful influence of the OSCE state on the nature of the transformation of these regulators is possible only in the case of a differentiated policy that can simultaneously meet the requirements of basic, stable regulators and flexibly reformat the peripheral regulatory zone, increasing its adaptability to existing challenges. This means that the main parameters that determine the format of a nationwide strategy should be: the preservation of the 'core' of the value bases of Russian society; careful modification of the 'periphery' of these value bases, without creating the danger of its break with the 'core'; ensuring targeted impact on political reality and the surrounding world, ensuring its adaptation to the value core of the post-Soviet OSCE member states.

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