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2016 Asia and Africa today

ATOM AND ENERGY MARKET OF AFRICA ROLE AND PLACE OF RUSSIA by E.N.Korendyasov, PhD (History), Institute for African Studies, Russian Academy of Science (RAS). Part 1
Keywords Africa, atom market, Rosatom
This article discusses the availability of objective and subjective conditions for the establishment of nuclear power on the African continent. Particular attention is paid to the identification of opportunities which make it possible for Rosatom and its structures to participate actively in creation of appropriate structures of atomic energy potential of Africa under present conditions of highly competitive struggle for the atomic energy market of the continent.

ISLAM, ISLAMISM AND ESTREMISM

SYRIAN CRISIS AND RADICAL ISLAMISM by B.V.Dolgov, PhD (History), Institute of Oriental Studies, RAS
Keywords Syrian crisis, patriotic opposition, armed Islamist opposition, goal of the West, information warfare, political decision
Syrian crisis, which began in March 2011, has acquired a global character. Now days it’s a global conflict, in which both the interests of the regional states and of the great powers clash.
The assistance which the external forces rendered to the armed Syrian opposition, represented mainly by Islamist groups, and the presence in their ranks of thousands of jihadists from all over the world stimulated the emergence in Syria of a center of radical Islamism. This, in turn, contributed to the formation of so-called here «Islamic state» (IG) and its expansion in the region.
Syrian crisis can be viewed as a specific, a special part of the «Arab Spring» Social protest, which characterized the initial phase of the «Arab Spring» in such countries as Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, and Bahrain, was caused by internal factors. Namely, it was provoked by the socio-economic crisis, corruption, police arbitrariness, nepotism of the ruling elite, the absence of real democratic freedoms in the flashy «facade democracy».

INDIA. GOVERNMENT POLICY REGARDING RELIGIOUS MINORITIES, DALITS AND TRIBES by E.S.Yurlova, PhD (History), Institute of Oriental Studies, RAS
Keywords Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Dalits caste, tribes, Ambedkar
India’s population (1250 million) is inhomogeneous along religious and ethnic composition. The vast majority of Indians profess Hinduism (more than four- fifths of the population). This includes high, medium and low castes and Dalits - former untouchables, numbering around 200 million people. In accordance with the Constitution of India Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs are also considered Hindus. A significant part of the population is religious minorities. It’s Muslims - 170 million people (3rd in the world after Indonesia and Pakistan), and Christians - about 30 million people. A separate group is represented by numerous tribes - about 100 million people. Many of them are Christians. According to the basic law the untouchables and many tribes as the most backward, are attributed to separate castes and tribes.
All political parties have always taken into account multireligious and multi-ethnic composition of the population of India. Any change in favor of certain religious and ethnic groups caused watchful reaction of others. After right conservative nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (Indian People’s Party, BJP) came into power in May 2014 in the Indian press articles other materials began to appear which maintained the opinion that the new regime is attempting to change the existing religious and ethnic composition of the country in its favor, that it wants to make India a state in which the values of Hinduism will hold a dominant position.
The author underlines that BJP relations with religious minorities, Dalits and tribes undoubtedly play an important role in the life of the country. It’s on them largely depends the outcome of the political struggle in the states, and in the center. But it’s even more important the solution of social and economic problems of the weaker sections of the population, the implementation of the promises made by the BJP during the election campaign in 2014.

LABORATORIES AND TEST OF «CHINESE MIRACLE» by Yu.M.Shiganova, Postgraduate, The Institute for Far Eastern Studies RAS
Keywords China, Guangdong Province, the economic reforms, factors of economic growth, regional development
Guangdong Province, occupying 1.9% of the territory of China with 7.8% of its population, produces 10.9% of the national GRP. The share of the province in China’s exports is 28.8%, imports - 23.4%. The average annual growth rate of the economy between 1979 and
2014 is 12.7% - significantly higher than the average in the country - 9.8%. For example, this can be illustrated by the province and to understand the origins of the spectacular successes of China.

HOW MONEY “WORK” IN EAST ASIA regional financial-economic arrangement amid lowering inflation and “deflation pressure” by E.Ya.Arapova, PhD (Economics), Moscow State Institute of International Relations (University)
Keywords East Asia, monetary policy, fiscal policy, inflation, domestic demand, economic growth
One of the key peculiarities of contemporary economic development of the East Asian region is a harsh drop of inflation in most of the East Asian countries caused by internal structural imbalances. The export-oriented model has exhausted itself due to lowering of global trade and the countries need to search for new sources of economic growth.
The paper gives a review of inflation trends in East Asian countries. The author has conducted a deep analysis of monetary and fiscal reform packages, worked out by governments and monetary authorities of the East Asian countries that aim to stimulate domestic demand and make national household consumption the key driver of economic growth.

ASIAN AFRICANS HOW THEY LIVE IN CHINA AND INDIA by T.L.Deych, Dr.Sc. (History), V.A.Usov, PhD (History), Institute for African Studies RAS
Keywords migrants, Africans, Nigerians, diaspora, China, Guangzhou, India, Deli, trade, business, racism, migration policy
Migration and migrants are taking an increasingly noticeable place in the system of global international relations. The steadily growing flows of migrants, primarily from Africa and the Arab world, and related problems require the fixed attention of researchers, as well as of state and international structures.
Apart from traditional destinations - the US and Western Europe, African migrants increasingly go to the developing countries, including China and India, gradually turning into one of important factors for these countries’ mutual relations with Africa. If the formation and development of African communities in China and India is the subject of many studies, including the Russian ones, this problem is practically a «terra incognita» for Russian scholars. The aim of the article is to some extent to fill this gap, to analyze general and particular in the problem of African communities in two Asian countries, to trace the origins of these communities, their relations with authorities and local population, and to appreciate the ability of African migrants to realize their aspirations in the host country.

INVESTMENT CLIMATE OF SOUTH AFRICA by I.R.Yutyaeva, student of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (University)
Keywords South African Republic, investment, climate, risks
The article analyses the present investment climate of the South African Republic. The author characterizes natural resources of the country, its achievements in the economic development after the end of apartheid and its special position as the economic centre of the African continent.
The article deals in detail with the factors of social tensions and political instability of South Africa, analyses the characteristics of the national currency and the legal regime in the country. The author assesses the conditions for doing business in South Africa, its infrastructure, as well as its labour market and the degree of skill of the work force. The most attractive branches for investments and the most important investing countries are also mentioned.

EGYPT-RUSSIA RELATIONS FROM PARTNERSHIP TO ALLIANCE by Nurhan el-Sheikh, Dr.Sc. (Political Sciences), Cairo University
Keywords Russia, Egypt, bilateral relations, nuclear energy, military cooperation, the fight against terrorism
November 19th 2015, Egypt and Russia signed an agreement on construction in the area Dabaa with the latest Russian technology of the first Egyptian nuclear power plant. This is an important step in the development of bilateral relations on the way of a strategic alliance partnership.
The author makes an attempt to analyze the further development of bilateral relations in various fields, including military sphere. The author notes that Egypt is facing the threat of «old and new challenges», which prevented the country to build full-fledged relations with Russia. The article focuses that the main task for the two countries at present time is the fight against terrorism.
However, according to the author, Egypt and Russia will have to go a long way to ensure the stable development of the relations and partnership, and to come, eventually, to the strategic alliance.

AMEENAH GURIB-FAKIM MAURITIAN ROYAL MAJESTY by A.A.Panov, Junior Research Fellow, Center for History and Cultural Anthropology, Institute for African Studies, RAS
Keywords Mauritius, women in politics, interreligious relations, elections
The paper depicts the political portrait of the President of the Republic of Mauritius Ameenah Gurib-Fakim who assumed her office in June 2015. Since Mauritius is a parliamentary republic, the President’s office is secondary in significance the Prime Minister’s. In general, it is perceived as non-political and even as the post of honor. Meanwhile, a sudden appointment to it of a person from the academic circles who has never before been either engaged in politics or took any public office, provoked great enthusiasm of the islanders and was perceived among them as an historic step of great importance for the nation.
Gurib-Fakim’s ascending to the top of state bureaucracy is examined in a broad context of turbulent political events of the end of 2014 and first half of 2015, when the Alliance Lepep block won elections to the National Assembly and took the power. The paper deals with the phenomenon of imaginary large support for the new-come President by the Mauritian people through an analysis of her image as a female President, President-intellectual, and President-apolitical figure.

«ASIYA VA IFRIKIYA AL-YAUM» - «ASIA AND AFRICA TODAY» MAGAZINE IS NOW PUBLISHED IN ARABIC LANGUAGE by D.I.Vinitsky, our own Staff correspondent in Egypt
Keywords Russia, Egypt, publishing, cooperation
2015 was a landmark year in the history of the magazine «Asia and Africa today». The «Russian News» publishing house in Cairo published the first issue of its Arabic version - «Asiya va Ifrikiya al-Yaum».
The official presentation of the new magazine, which was attended by representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Egypt, political figures and journalists, members of the Egyptian Association of Graduates of Soviet and Russian universities, was hold at the Russian Center of Science and Culture in Cairo on 29 October 2015.
The publication of the Arabic magazine found a broad response in the Egyptian and regional media.

THE FIRST SOVIET STUDENTS IN VIETNAM by E.V.Kobelev, PhD (History), Institute for Far Eastern Studies, RAS
Keywords Vietnam, Hanoi University, Ho Chi Minh, Gen. Vo Nguyen Giap
In 2015 Moscow and Hanoi have celebrated the 65th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Russia and Vietnam (30 January 1950). On the occasion of this significant date Central Vietnam Television prepared a television documentary, which first aired a story that, in 1958-1960 the first three Soviet students were studying in the Hanoi University. The author of the present essay was among them.

A WOMAN NEEDS TO GET USED TO HERSELF. Persian women’s prose in the late 20th - early 21st centuries by M.Norouzi, PhD (Philology), Faculty of the Persian Language and Literature, Allameh Tabataba'i University, Tehran
Keywords Zoya Pirzad, women’s world, interpersonal relationship, а woman and а society
In this article the author is analyzing the women’s world in works of a modern Persian writer Zoya Pirzad. Unlike the prose of previous authors, her works mostly dedicated to the family sphere. The main conflicts in her works are the following a woman and a society, relationships between men and women, a woman and a patriarchal world. Revealing the internal world of heroines, Zoya Pirzad insists that first of all a woman should believe in herself and get used to herself, to know what she is like.

ALGERIAN FAIRY TALES IN EYES OF CHILDREN AND SCIENTISTS by M.V.Nikolaeva, PhD (Philology), Literature department of the Institute of Oriental Studies, RAS
Keywords Algerian fairy tales, 60-anniversary of Algerian revolution
The article deals with the publication of the first Algerian fairy tales in a series of books “Fairy tales of Russia and the World by children’s eyes”. Folkloric texts are luxury illustrated by children of Russia and other countries. The project is born to commemorate the 60-anniversary of Algerian revolution and the Year of Literature in Russia.

BOOK ABOUT PAST AND PRESENT FOR THE FUTURE OF AFRICA by L.Ya.Prokopenko, PhD (History), Institute for African Studies, RAS
In the summer of 2015 monograph of the doctor of historical sciences, professor, prominent Russian political scientist N.D.Kosukhin «Political leadership in Africa Past and Present» was published. It was the last book of the well-known Africanist, who has worked at the Institute for African Studies for almost half a century, since 1967.
He was the author of more than 300 scientific publications on the ideological and political development of the African continent. The monograph «Modern ideological systems» (Moscow, 1999), «Africa the search for renovation. The dynamics of political change in the late XX - early XXI century» (Wiley, 2007), «Political development in Africa» (Wiley, 2009) were among them.
The last monograph of N.D.Kosukhin is devoted to one of the main problems of modern political science - political leadership.

FEDERALISM IN AFRICA by Okeke O.A.A. (Nigeria), Post-graduate student, Institute for African Studies, RAS
The present work is a review of the collection of articles titled «Federalism in Africa Problems and Perspectives», which was published by the Institute for African Studies (Moscow, 2013, 406 p.). The book highlights the theoretical and practical aspects of the functioning of federal systems on the African continent.
The publication includes the materials of two scientific forums - firstly, the panel «Nigeria 100 Years After Amalgamation», organized in the framework of the 13th International Conference of Africanists (held at the Institute for African Studies in Moscow on 27-30
May 2014), and, secondly, the part in the Russian language that includes articles based on the reports of the round table «Problems and Prospects of Federalism in Africa», which was organized by the Center for Tropical Africa of the Institute for African Studies on November 12, 2014.

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