2017.1

This paper, which is based on a series of author’s calculations and models, analyzes current situation, trends, factors and major determinants of Least Developed Countries’ (LDCs’) economic development during the last three to four decades. It is argued that despite many acute problems that they do not cease to face, several dozens of LDCs have recently started to progress on the path of rather fast and more or less sustained economic growth. Although LDCs are still grappling with severe forms of multidimensional poverty, substantial dearth of human capital and modern infrastructure, adequate economic, social, political and legal institutions, and encounter considerable foreign economic and climatic shocks, they on average during the last decade and a half managed to have markedly increased their rates of growth of per capita GDP and human development index. It should be underscored that LDCs having benefitted from significant improvement of barter terms of foreign trade, some upgrade in government effectiveness and implementation of a series of pragmatic economic reforms, have succeeded in expanding rates of growth of agricultural and manufacturing production and exports. The level of their gross capital formation has by and large considerably risen due to significant enlargement of the share of domestic savings related to GDP, FDI inflows and workers’ remittances. It would be incorrect to overemphasize the progress achieved by approximately three dozen LDCs (as the basis of their growth remains shaky), but, nevertheless, they have demonstrated noticeable improvement in dynamics of their investment efficiency and productivity growth.

Chinese politics in the Hu Jintao era (2003–2013) is marked by a certain degree of ideological pluralism. This period is a peak of creative work of Yu Keping and Wang Shaoguang — the two Chinese public intellectuals whose works are examined in this article. Their positions differ in many aspects, yet one remarkable idea unites them: China can and should be democratic, and this does not mean building a Western-style democracy. In this research we conclude that democratic ideas proposed by modern Chinese pro-party intellectuals are, in essence, a reconsideration of Chinese political thought of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

This paper offers a detailed description of the “Evaluations of the Song Dynasty Painters of Renown,” one of the earliest accounts of Chinese artists who were active between the late 10th and the first half of the 11th centuries. The paper first describes the structure of the text and the content of the artists’ biographies. It then addresses issues of authorship and date, challenging the traditional attribution to Liu Daochun in favor of Fu Jiaying, a lesser-known Song Dynasty personage. The paper finally highlights the text’s approach to the classification of artists, and places the text in the broader context of the connoisseur tradition in China.

The article is devoted to the analysis of the political life in Delhi in the 1940s–1960s with special attention to the development of the Hindu nationalist movement — the emergence and the early phase of BJS (Bharatiya Jana Sangh — Indian Popular Union). The author emphasizes the crucial role of RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh — National Volunteer Organisation) in the consolidation of the anti-Congress opposition movement in the early 1950s. The analysis of the changing political situation in the Indian capital is based on the results of the national and regional elections in Delhi. The consequences of the Partition of British India also had a significant impact on the political preferences of the population of Delhi. The study of the political life in Delhi reveals the fact that powerful opposition parties, which could challenge INC at the regional level, were active in India since independence.

Tarikhs from several Ottoman fortresses of the Caucasus Black Sea coast (Taman, Temryuk, Sudjuk-kale, Anapa and Suhum-kale), despite their lapidary form, provide information about the history and details of the Ottoman penetration and military presence in the region. According to the account of the Temryuk fortress, construction began in 921 AH (1515–1516) during the reign of Sultan Selim I and was completed in 925 AH during the reign of Sultan Suleiman. This fort was further developed in 983 AH, during the reign of Sultan Murad (1575–1576). Under Sultan Ahmed III (1703–1730) a number of new forts were built in the region with the activation of Ottoman policy, such as Sudjuk-kale, Fash and Suhum-kale. The tarikh of Suhum-kale was discovered and translated by A. von Nordmann. Finally, at the end of the eighteenth century, the Ottomans started a new phase of fortress construction by building fortifications of the Anapa fortress.

This article focuses on China’s policy, cooperation and disagreements with Washington and Moscow on the DPRK’s nuclear issue. Sections 1 and 2 give an analysis of the background of developments surrounding the DPRK’s nuclear issue and the Chinese position in detail. Section 3 covers China’s cooperation and disagreements with the US on this issue. From China’s perspective, “no problems in the region will eliminate US interference in regional affairs.” Section 4 covers China-Russia cooperation regarding the DPRK’s nuclear issue. The arguments are the following: Moscow and Beijing maintain pressure on the DPRK but only to the extent that its political system does not collapse. One reason for the joint Russian-Chinese resistance to the DPRK’s nuclear tests is that, after its tests and missile launches, the US increased its military involvement in the Far East. In conclusion, the author gives a recommendation on a possible way to solve the DPRK’s nuclear issue, which poses a threat to international security.

The article is devoted to little-known aspects of the Christian-Muslim relations in the Mamluk state dealing with suppression of the Christian wine-production and wine-trade. In the 13th and 14th centuries the Muslim world affected by serious historical challenges (the Crusades and the Mongol invasion) went through a certain moral revolution. It stimulated the spirit of religious fundamentalism, implementation of the norms of the Islamic piety and the oppression of the religious minorities. During the “century of persecutions” (1260s–1360s) campaigns of religious repressions against Dhimmis repeated several times being motivated by a certain irrational rhythm of social aggression of the lower classes of the Muslim society. However in the late 14th and 15th centuries another factor of the persecutions became obvious. The “Black Death” pandemic and following waves of the epidemics of plague, natural disasters and famine caused an atmosphere of apocalyptic expectations and penitence. These sentiments led to campaigns against social vices as wine-drinking, drugs consumption and prostitution, which were supposed to be the reasons of the Divine punishment. The article analyses coincidences between the years of plague and famine and the religious persecutions of the Dhimmis, first of all suppression of the wine-trade which was strongly associated with the Christians.