In the review of the book by Valery Achkasov, devoted to the study of ethno-political processes in Russia from the moment of its transformation into an empire to the present day, an attempt is made to comprehend the views of both the author and other scholars on significant ethno-political problems in regard to the correlation of an empire and a nation state, the formation of the Russian nation and Russian imperial nationalism, the influence of the Russian revolution on national politics, as well as on the Soviet experience of nation building. According to the reviewer, the author convincingly revealed the causes of the crisis of national identity in modern Russia and the peculiarities of regional identities, due to the characteristics of the status of the region as an integral part of the nation state. The author’s position, which casts doubt on the orientation of the Russian post-communist state towards the production of democratic and civic identities is of scientific interest as well as arguing for the promotion and actualization of identities, both ethnic and those oriented on the principle of loyalty to the state. Valery Achkasov’s conclusions are significant concerning the need to replace the model of interethnic interaction with the civil-political model of national integration and that Russia is in the process of forming a nation-state, which acts as the final result of the development of social integration.
The countries of Central and Eastern Europe were singled out from the European context because of their cultural and historical background. These states, historically parts of empires, after the World Wars were located between the great powers and served as the watershed between the West and Eastern Europe, with which Soviet Russia was associated. After the collapse of the socialist system, and then the Soviet Union, the countries of Central and Eastern Europe were oriented toward European integration structures. Despite the queue for entry into the European Union, the dividing lines in Europe have not disappeared, which indicates the political nature of the processes on the continent, even though the need for cooperation to solve urgent European problems is high.
There are numerous issues surrounding digital technologies in elections: from ensuring the secrecy of voting to controlling the process of vote counting. The technology of the electoral blockchain, according to experts, does not solve the problem of achieving transparency and anonymity of online voting, therefore, existing technologies do not yet allow us to guarantee the indisputability of elections and avoid manipulation. At the same time, the advantages and opportunities brought by digital technologies are so obvious that, despite the existing problems, they are increasingly being used in elections. The author uses the comparative, normative and functional methods to analyze the usage of digital technologies in the electoral process, emphasizing the practice of electronic voting and remote electronic voting in the Russian Federation. The use of digital technologies, according to the author, entails legal, psychological and technical problems. However, the author concludes that it is possible to legitimize the use of digital technologies in elections if voters recognize the advantages of remote electronic voting and other digital innovations in the electoral process, and provided technological problems are solved.
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