"Asia and Africa today"
- is a scientificl monthly journal (in Russian)
of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Included in Russian Science Citation Index on
WoS platform, and EBSCO Publishing.
ISSN 0321-5075. Published since July 1957.

 

 "Asia and Africa today" № 8 2015

 

 

Azia&Afrika 08-2015

 

 Top Problem

CHINA JOIN «DECISIVE» STAGE OF MODERNIZATION by E.P.Pivovarova, Dr.Sc. (Economics), Institute of Far Eastern Studies, Russian Academy of Science (RAS)
Keywords: China, the modernization of the economy, the intensive development
Resolution of the CPC Central Committee on some important issues of deepening comprehensive reforms, adopted in
2013, directs the country to taking decisive «practical actions» in the sphere of economy. It provides for implementation of problems which has been put forward long ago, but as yet poorly solved in China: the transition from extensive to intensive method of development and improvement of quality indicators of production. By 2020, an average level of prosperity should be achieved and by 2050.

 

 Policy, Economy

THE STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP OF RUSSIA, CHINA AND MONGOLIA by V.V.Graivoronsky, Dr.Sc. (History), Institute of Oriental Studies, RAS
Keywords: Russia, China, Mongolia, the strategic partnership
Many monographs, collective works and articles have been written on the topic of the strategic partnership and comprehensive cooperation between Russia and China in the early 21st century. However out of sight of Russian writers usually falls such an aspect of regional and international relations, as the place and the growing role of Mongolia in Russian-Chinese relations and Northeast Asia in general.
Meanwhile, in recent years, relations with Mongolia, Russia and China actually reached the level of strategic partnership and gradually begin to play an increasingly prominent role.

NIGERIA 2015: LEADERSHIP CHANGE by T.S.Denisova, PhD (History), Institute for African Studies, RAS
Keywords: Nigeria, presidential election, inter-faith conflicts, Islamism, Boko Haram
The 2015 presidential election in Nigeria took place on March 28 and resulted in the victory of Muhammadu Buhari, a retired military officer and a Muslim, who succeeded Goodluck Jonathan, a Christian, as Head of State. The election campaign had been conducted amid poor security conditions due to increased activities of the Islamist terrorist sect Boko Haram in north-eastern Nigeria and on the border with Cameroon.

SITUATION IN LIBYA. IS A RETURN TO FEDERALISM POSSIBLE? by Kh.M.Turinskaya, PhD (History), Institute for African Studies
Keywords: Libya, oil, federalism, constitution, political crisis
The article deals with the political crisis in Libya. The profound changes to the constitutional design as a possible way out of the political deadlock are very likely; while the country appears as an example of a reversion to federalist idea. Modern Cyrenaica - one of the “historical regions” and a former province of the Kingdom of Libya, which was a federal state according to the 1951 Constitution, - claims autonomous status and a revival of federalism in a post-Gaddafi unitary Libya. The adoption of an updated and “true” federalist model that oil-rich Cyrenaica promotes for today’s Libya signifies a new redistribution of resources.

 

REVOLT IN THE ARABIAN WORLD: CROPS AND SHOOTS

TURKEY AND STRUGGLE AGAINST ISLAMIC STATE (IS) by I.A.Svistunova, PhD (History), Russian Institute for Strategic Studies, Moscow
Keywords: Turkey, Islamic State, Turkish foreign policy, USA - Turkey relations
The article contains an analysis of Turkey’s approach to the problem of struggle against IS following the creation of international anti-IS coalition, where the USA plays the leading role, and also gives the reasons of the refusal of Ankara from the full-scale collaboration. Turkey and the USA have diverging opinions on the issues of cooperation in the frame of coalition and on the situation in Syria. After long negotiations Ankara and Washington managed to come to the agreement, but it does not mean the all the problems have been solved.

 

PROBLEMS OF WATER RESOURCES

HYDROPOLICY IN NILE BASIN by Ye.A.Yelkina, Institute for African Studies
Keywords: Great Ethiopia Renaissance Dam, ecologically clean energy, Ethiopia, Egypt, Sudan
The construction of the Great Ethiopia Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile is considered a controversial problem for other Nile Basin countries namely Egypt, Sudan. It will produce ecologically clean energy for Ethiopia and will help its industrialization. The Dam has been a source of bitter contradictions between Ethiopia and Egypt and also Ethiopia and Sudan. But three leaders showed enough political maturity adopt the joint political declarations in March 2015, obliging them to resolve their conflict only by political means.

JAPANESE RAILWAYS AND NATURAL DISASTERS by I.Yu.Avdakov, PhD (Economics), Institute of Oriental Studies
Кеywords: Japanese high-speed railways, earthquake and tsunami, shinkansen
The article contains a brief history of the development of Japanese railways, technology progress and appearance of high- speed railways. Japan undoubtedly proved to be the best by opening the world first high-speed railway (shinkansen). The article deals with problems of recovery and resuming railway operations after the Great East Japan Earthquake in the quake- hit area.

EBOLA: CONSEQUENCES FOR THE ECONOMIES OF THE AFFECTED COUNTRIES by N.V.Grishina, PhD (History), Institute for African Studies
Keywords: Ebola, Africa, economics, damage, affected countries
Ebola’s most recent epidemic is causing tremendous damage to the countries where the infection by the Ebola virus is spreading most rapidly: Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone. In addition, another serious crisis looms on the horizon: the countries’ economic development. Тhe Ebola epidemic threatens the «very survival» of societies and could lead to failed states.

 

 Political Portrait

PORTRAIT OF WOMEN OF BANGLADESHI OPPOSITION by A.A.Suvorova, Dr.Sc. (Philosophy), Institute of Oriental Studies
Keywords: Bangladesh, opposition, political rivalry, women leaders, patriarchal society
Begum Khaleda Zia (born 15.08.1945) is a Bangladeshi politician who was the Prime Minister of Bangladesh from 1991 to 1996 and again from 2001 to 2006. When she took office in
1991, she was the first woman in the country’s history and second in the Muslim world (after Benazir Bhutto, Paristan) to head a democratic government as prime minister. In the list of 100 Most Powerful Women in the World, Forbes magazine ranked Khaleda Zia at number 14 in 2004. For the better part of the last two decades, Khaleda’s chief rival has been Sheikh Hasina, the leader of the Awami League.

 

 History Pages

INDIA: NEHRU - GANDHI POLITICAL DYNASTY by F.N.Yurlov, Dr.Sc. (History), Institute of Oriental Studies
Keywords: India, Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi
The first Prime Minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru played a very important role in promoting democracy in the country. After his death in 1964 his daughter Indira Gandhi came to power in 1966. Indira Gandhi was assassinated in 1984 and her heir as Prime Minister, Rajiv was blown by terrorists in 1991. In a few years Rajiv’s wife Sonia Gandhi took over as president of the Congress party. On her turn she tried to prepare her son Rahul for the highest post in India. But in 2014 parliamentary elections the Congress suffered humiliating defeat at the hands of the conservative Bharatiya Janata Party. Thus, the political power of Nehru-Gandhi dynasty came to a halt.

 

 Post-Graduate Column

POLITICAL CRISIS IN BURKINA FASO by A.M.Zhambikov, Institute for African Studies
Keywords: political crisis, Burkina Faso, ECOWAS, African Union
The article contains a brief history of the events of the late 2014 - early 2015 in Burkina Faso. There is a detailed description of the process of forming an internationally recognized transitional government and preparing for forthcoming
presidential and parliamentary elections in Burkina Faso. The mediatory role of subregional, regional and global international organizations in settling the crisis and restoring the rule of law is further analyzed. There is an assessment of problems and prospects of the Burkinabe political process in 2015.

 

 Scientific Life

AFRICAN STUDIES PUBLISHED RECENTLY IN RUSSIA by I.O.Ivanov

Keywords: Russia, Africa, African studies, research publications, Africanists
Lately dozens of books and monographs on the problems of Africa were published in Russia. To introduce new books to colleagues, to share plans for the future, the Institute of Asian and African Studies of the Moscow State University has arranged a meeting with experts from various institutions which are engaged in scientific research of African problems. The authors have presented more than 15 books devoted to historical and current problems of Africa.

 

 Russia and The East

RUSSIAN NAME OF CONTEMPORARY HARBIN. COMMERCE AND LITERATURE by E.A.Ikonnikova, Sakhalin State University, Russia; Harbin Pedagogical University, China
Keywords: The Far East, Harbin, “Churin”, literature, Arseny Nesmelov
Russian surname “Churin” is well known in modern Harbin. Since the end of XIX century this was the name of the famous trade Houses “Churin Food”, descriptions of which are found in the literature and, in particular, in the poetry of Arseny Nesmelov.

 

 Culture, Literature, Art

«THE THINKER» - A LEADING INTELLECTUAL JOURNAL OF SOUTH AFRICA by A.B.Mezyaev, Dr.Sc. (Law), University of Management (Kazan)
Keywords: political journalism, South Africa, struggle against the apartheid regime
On the background of rather rich assortment of periodicals in South African “The Thinker” magazine is a special phenomenon. This magazine is really an analytical one and it offers the readers not so much information as reflections.
This journal was founded by Dr. Essop Pahad, a well-known South African intellectual, a historian, a fighter against apartheid, a member of the African National Congress and a member of the South African Communist Party.

CARNIVAL WORLD IN THE STORIES OF KHALDUN TANER by A.G.Shcherbakova, the Institute of Asian and African Studies of the Moscow State University
Keywords: Haldun Taner, novelistic, carnivalization, satiric imagery
In the article the author has analysed poetical peculiarities of short stories of Turkish writer Haldun Taner (1916-1983), who revealed imageries of satiric carnivalization for the national novelistic.
Analyzing his early novels (“Good place”,1945; “The journey of Sebati-bey in Istanbul”, 1948; “Reforms at one organization»,
1947) the author shows how the code of the carnivalization in the complicated poetic of the writer which has been imprinted in subject-object organization, structure of plot, imageries was realized.

NEW VOICES IN LITERATURE OF TUNISIA by S.V.Prozhogina, Dr.Sc. (Philology), Institute of Oriental Studies
Keywords: modern French-speaking Tunisian prose, short stories, born of the «Arab spring»
Arisen in the wake of the «Arab Spring» new voices in contemporary fiction Tunisia indicate the appearance of a new perspective in the prose associated with the strengthening of a romanticism, as well as confirmation of the traditions of psychological realism inherent in the literature of Tunisia from the era of national liberation movements. Samples of short stories by Dina Bassalah and by Iman Bin Mhenni confirm this.

 

 Book Review

CONTEMPORARY MOSQUES: LOOKING FOR IDENTITY by E.I.Kononenko, PhD (History of Arts), State Institute of Art, Moscow
Mosque building is a visual marker, showing presence of Muslim communities. Reference to “international architecture” gave birth to the new type of building - non classical mosque, which not always looks like traditional monuments. Such religious constructions and ideas, unusual for the East, are discussed in the book “Architecture of contemporary Mosque: sources” by Sh.M.Shukurov. Author deals not with adherence to ready-made receipts, but with new conceptions of architectural space understanding.

LABORATORY TESTING OF HUMAN REALITY by N.G.Med, Dr.Sc. (Philology), St.Petersbourg University
Monograph by N.S.Naydenova «Linguistic analysis of a literary text: a comparative study» (M., 2014, 344 p.), is dedicated to comparative study of the language of works of art created by the French and Spanish outside historical and geographical boundaries of their initial distribution, namely in sub-Saharan Africa.

AFRICAN HISTORY IN THE «PORTRAIT FORMAT»
The topic raised in the monograph of T.M.Gavristova «Unknown Africa: history in biographies» (Yaroslavl, 2014, 192 p.), has not yet taken a firm place in modern Russian African studies, although it is no doubt the fact that the movement for study of history through biographical methods has been already recognized in the world of the humanities.

 

* Summary