No abstract
The perception of neighboring states is one of the main focus areas in sociology and political science. However, the issue of regional differentiation of public opinion often remains outside of sociological and political research. This article aims to determine regional differences in the perception of Russia by Belarusians. The study uses the results of a survey conducted by the authors in Belarus following the November 2019 parliamentary election, and the data received from a spatial analysis of the last four electoral cycles in Belarus. The authors presumed that there were no consistent lines of regional differentiation in the public opinion in Belarus, with the exception of differences in residents’ perception of the center (the capital) and peripheral regions. This main assumption was divided into ten working hypotheses, and the attitude of Belarusians towards Russia as its closest neighbor was chosen as a variable in order to determine the degree of Russia’s influence on the Belarusian political agenda as perceived by Belarusians, their attitude towards different types of institutional relations between the two states, and to assess how strong social ties between people living in Belarus and Russia are. A comprehensive analysis of the obtained data has proven that there is no regional cleavage in Belarusian society concerning Russia, except for expected differences in the attitude of Minsk residents and those living in other regions. Belarusians’ electoral behavior is influenced not by the region they live in but by their stable social practices such as trips to Russia, use of Russian media as a source of information, and of the “Russia” theme in the election campaign debates.
The quantitative analysis of an opinion poll conducted in October 2013 in three Russian cities located near Finnish border (St-Petersburg, Kronstadt and Vyborg) explores European identity of their citizens. This area was chosen to illustrate the crucial importance of space interpretation in spatial identity formation by using critical geopolitical approach. The study shows how different images of space on the same territory act as intermediate variables between objective territorial characteristics and citizens' identities. As the geographical position at the border of Russia provides the citizens with geopolitical alternatives to identify their location as a fortress defending the nation (as in the case of Kronstadt) or a bridge between cultures, the given study allows us to compare reasons for these geopolitical choices of inhabitants. Furthermore, the research aims at bridging the gap in the studies of European and multiple identity in Russian regions and provides Northwest Russian perspective on the perpetual discussion about subjective Eastern border of Europe.
The present study attempts to answer the question, which is not considered in the United Nations’ annual Human Development Reports, namely, how spatial patterns of the world countries differ in terms of human development indices. The quantitative research includes three phases. First, functional relations between indices were analysed based on Moran’s I and data fitted by linear regression. Second, clustering of the world countries by human development indices revealed seven spatial clusters. Third, the countries were classified by the types of significant human development problems. The classification distinguished various types of countries: prosperous, problematic and problematic in certain areas. Correlation and spatial dependence analysis demonstrated an important relationship between education and child indicators, in particular, years of education and life expectancy. As a result, the territorial concentration of countries with similar human development was noticed. According to all four groups of indices, 51 prosperous countries (the majority of which are members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)) are characterised by the lack of serious problems. The group of problematic countries includes 51 territories mostly located in sub-Saharan Africa, as well as in Asia, Latin America and Oceania. The findings on relative similarity observed in the identified clusters and groups can be used for developing standard solutions to improve human development. Further research in this direction seems promising.
РезюмеВ данной статье процессы возникновения, размежевания и интерпретации геополитических кодов постсоветских этнонациональных сообществ на постсоветском пространстве рассматрива-ются на примере конструирования идентичностей малых народов Молдавии (гагаузов и болгар) с помощью методов группы теорий «критической геополитики». Интерес к данному кейсу обуслов-лен тем, что территориально и культурно Молдавия находится в зоне противоборства между российским и европейским дискурсами, что ставит ее население перед серьезным, пусть и искус-ственным геополитическим выбором. На примере пространственных образов гагаузов и болгар авторы показывают дискурсивную сложность и специфику их национальных идентичностей, их сходства и различия. Несмотря на то что оба народа мигрировали на территорию современной Молдавии практически одновременно и долгое время проживали совместно, под влиянием раз-личных внешних обстоятельств и с учетом предшествовавших различий у них сформировались различные, хотя и сходные геополитические коды. В период распада Советского Союза их раз-личия получили дополнительное статусное разграничение: гагаузам, в отличие от болгар, удалось добиться собственной административной и политической автономии в рамках Молдавии. В свою очередь болгары смогли приобрести полезного внешнего патрона в лице Болгарии. При этом обе этнические группы испытывают схожие проблемы, связанные с депопуляцией и давлением со стороны господствующих в Молдавии элит, противодействующих построению более инклюзив-ной модели государственности. В этих условиях обе этнические группы ищут внешней поддержки для сохранения и укрепления собственной идентичности. Неотъемлемой частью последней оста-ется русская культура и языка, которые используются повсеместно в районах компактного про-живания. В результате геополитические предпочтения гагаузов и болгар, при наличии множества расхождений, склоняются в сторону пророссийской внешнеполитической ориентации, и это позволяет авторам говорить о многомерности картины геополитических дискурсов многонацио-нальной Молдавии.
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