- Language and Identity, Discourse Analysis, Language and Ideology, Language in Society, Language and Power, Political Lingustics, and 26 moreInternational Studies, Philosophy Of Language, Political Discourse Analysis, Political Philosophy, Poststructuralism, Postmodernism, Identity Politics (Political Science), Cognitive Linguistics, Punk, Punk Culture, Cognitive Modeling, Philosophy of Social Science, Political Science, Discourse, Media Discourse, Race, Class, Sex and Gender, South Caucasus, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Post-Soviet Politics, Abkhazia, Michel Foucault, and History of Philosophyedit
The chapter seeks to apply semiotics to resolve some conceptual problems of the meme theory of cultural evolution. There are three aspects in which semiotics can be helpful in this respect. They correspond to three problems of memetics:... more
The chapter seeks to apply semiotics to resolve some conceptual problems of the meme theory of cultural evolution. There are three aspects in which semiotics can be helpful in this respect. They correspond to three problems of memetics: the form/content problem, the interpretation problem, and the agency problem. The study shows how the semiotic concepts of vehicle-interpretant-object, secondary subagency, and tardo-sign can provide solutions to resolve these problems. Firstly, the form/ content problem can be mapped onto the distinction of sign vehicle and interpretant, and thus the tension between memetic externalism and internalism can be transformed into a framework that would distinguish meme vehicles and meme interpretants as elements of memes. Secondly, the notion of tardo-sign can be used for a stricter definition of memes, conceptualizing them as degenerate signs that produce no final interpretants but provide inertia and stability in cultural development. Thirdly, the problem of whether memes are agents can be transformed into a question of what kind of agents they are. While not all cultural signs are agents, semiotics distinguishes a particular kind of secondary subagents that trigger the production of cultural signs, and memes can be considered a special case of these subagents. Overall, memes can be defined as secondary subagent-signs of cultural tardosemiosis. In this sense, they are important for cultural evolution but are not the only kind of semiotic entities involved in it. Moreover, various other definitional options for the notion of meme can be distinguished based on whether memes are assumed to be necessarily agentive and post-semiotic, as well as whether the term “meme” has to refer to sign as a whole, its vehicle or interpretant.
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The paper provides extensive methodological discussion of the network approach to legislative studies and gives an overview to different methods and techniques that show great promise to the research of parliamentary politics. The key... more
The paper provides extensive methodological discussion of the network approach to legislative studies and gives an overview to different methods and techniques that show great promise to the research of parliamentary politics. The key points of the proposed network theoretical framework are the informal interactions and collaborations of actors and their respective groups, that are tied by linkages of trust and mutual interests. We also keep the focus on the influence of the nodes (MPs) which is being accumulated due to the access to various resources, performance, and individual interests. This article also suggests description of the public data used to reveal the networks of legislative co-sponsorship, which is the well-developed method of legislative studies. In this context we also review some other approaches to obtain information about the ties between the MPs, that have been suggested in the academic literature: the voting data, personal interactions revealed by the interviews, range of connections in the online social networks, official mail, public speech, and others. We show that the network analysis appears to be very insightful for the legislative studies because it allows to perceive parliaments as the “small worlds” each with its own highly institutionalized composition of nodes and ties. We also argue that it is critical to take into consideration the influence of several exogenic forces – voters, the public, and other authorities on the MPs persistent interactions and the respective network structure of the parliament. Finally, we propose two methodological solutions to the research of complex network structures. We debate on the potential implications of the discourse-network analysis in legislative studies. It provides the opportunity to map the advocacy coalitions and model the relations between the nodes, which are based on the similarities and differences of their ideas in the public speeches. We also discuss the potential of the inferential network analysis in regard to the quantitative research in legislative studies. Specifically, we provide a critical review of the modern studies of the innerparliamentary networks, that are based on ERGMs and their variations (SAOM and TERGM). We show that dyadic interactions between the MPs and political parties can be modeled taking into account both individual covariates (exogenous and endogenous) and network parameters of the current structure of parliament as a whole.
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Abstract:This article is devoted to the comparison of two Armenian protest coalitions: the 2016 coalition of Sasna Tsrer supporters and Nikol Pashinyan's My Step coalition of 2018. The analysis shows that Pashinyan's coalition,... more
Abstract:This article is devoted to the comparison of two Armenian protest coalitions: the 2016 coalition of Sasna Tsrer supporters and Nikol Pashinyan's My Step coalition of 2018. The analysis shows that Pashinyan's coalition, unlike the coalition of Sasna Tsrer supporters, was not a liberal-nationalist alliance, but rather a liberal-bureaucratic one. This difference turns out to be crucial, as the Sasna Tsrer polemic was heavily polarized by the clash between the statist and counter-statist frames of the Armenian nation, with none of the sides possessing enough symbolic or political resources to win. The generally successful outcome of Pashinyan's protest can thus be explained by the fact that it was not so strongly framed by a counter-statist understanding of the Armenian nation.
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The article reconsiders the notion of strategic culture using fundamental categories of general and social semiotics, which make it possible to systematise and instrumentalise this concept while preserving its broad scope. The proposed... more
The article reconsiders the notion of strategic culture using fundamental categories of general and social semiotics, which make it possible to systematise and instrumentalise this concept while preserving its broad scope. The proposed framework suggests a relationalist reconceptualisation of strategic culture based on Charles Peirce's semiotic theory, thereby helping to transcend the existing controversy about how culture-as-ideas, culture-as-artefacts, and culture-as-behaviour are related to each other in strategic culture. The suggested approach helps to clarify the problematic aspects of the notion of strategic culture by redefining strategic culture as a logonomic system (a system of rules of meaning-making) that constrains interactions in strategic affairs. Such reconceptualisation helps to study how strategic cultures are reproduced not only through verbal discourse but also through other artefacts and actions. Semiotic categories also make it possible to account for impo...
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The study seeks to contribute to the concept of semiotic causation by building a nomenclature of effects (interpretants) produced by signs. As a starting point, the suggested approach uses Charles Peirce’s idea that the interpretant... more
The study seeks to contribute to the concept of semiotic causation by building a nomenclature of effects (interpretants) produced by signs. As a starting point, the suggested approach uses Charles Peirce’s idea that the interpretant itself is a sign that is produced by another sign. From this, the study suggests that Peirce’s ten-fold division of signs can be used as a basis for the division of interpretants and, thus, proposes a nomenclature that distinguishes poti-interpretants (interpretants that are quali-signs), sin-interpretants (interpretants that are sin-signs), and legi-interpretants (interpretants that are legi-signs), also differentiating between iconic, indexical, and symbolic interpretants, as well as rhematic, dicent, and argumentive interpretants. The article uses Peirce’s famous whistle example (EP 2:4–5) to illustrate how the proposed systematics of interpretants works and demonstrates that it aligns well with Peirce’s distinction of feeling, reaction, and thinking, as feeling corresponds to the production of iconic poti-interpretants and iconic sin-interpretants, reaction corresponds to the production of indexical sin-interpretants, and thinking corresponds to the production of legi-interpretants. The article also suggests how the proposed ten-fold systematics of interpretants can be reconciled with Peirce’s original classifications of interpretants, as immediate-dynamical-final interpretants correspond to the triad of poti-, sin-, and legi-interpretants, while emotional-energetic-logical interpretants correspond to the three sub-classes of sin-interpretants, i.e. iconic sin-interpretants, rhematic indexical sin-interpretants, and dicent indexical sin-interpretants. The study then explores how the suggested classification of interpretants can be used to draw distinctions between different kinds of semiosis in different agents. In particular, the study shows how the proposed ten-fold classification can be applied to analyze diverse biosemiotic and anthroposemiotic processes. It also tests how different capacities to produce interpretants can be used to distinguish full-fledged signs from quasi-signs and demonstrates that in some cases of zoösemiosis, as well as in proto-semiosis and tardo-semiosis, the production of symbolic interpretants is diminished.
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The article is devoted to the study of the specificities of the use of the Soviet past in the rhetoric of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and the United Russia. Based on the analysis of the texts of the leaders and... more
The article is devoted to the study of the specificities of the use of the Soviet past in the rhetoric of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and the United Russia. Based on the analysis of the texts of the leaders and functionaries of these parties, the authors reveal the goals of addressing the Soviet heritage, the distinguishing features of its interpretation, the invoked discursive strategies and macrosemantic structures. The authors show how interpreting the Soviet past and establishing its connection with the present and future of Russia serve the tasks of political identification of the party and legitimization of its position. According to the authors’ conclusion, the specifics of the studied parties’ appeal to the Soviet legacy is largely determined by the position they occupy in the country’s political system, as well as the history of their creation and development. With the help of the references to the USSR and certain aspects of its existence, representatives...
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The paper provides extensive methodological discussion of the network approach to legislative studies and gives an overview to different methods and techniques that show great promise to the research of parliamentary politics. The key... more
The paper provides extensive methodological discussion of the network approach to legislative studies and gives an overview to different methods and techniques that show great promise to the research of parliamentary politics. The key points of the proposed network theoretical framework are the informal interactions and collaborations of actors and their respective groups, that are tied by linkages of trust and mutual interests. We also keep the focus on the influence of the nodes (MPs) which is being accumulated due to the access to various resources, performance, and individual interests. This article also suggests description of the public data used to reveal the networks of legislative co-sponsorship, which is the well-developed method of legislative studies. In this context we also review some other approaches to obtain information about the ties between the MPs, that have been suggested in the academic literature: the voting data, personal interactions revealed by the intervie...
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The chapter seeks to apply semiotics to resolve some conceptual problems of the meme theory of cultural evolution. There are three aspects in which semiotics can be helpful in this respect. They correspond to three problems of memetics:... more
The chapter seeks to apply semiotics to resolve some conceptual problems of the meme theory of cultural evolution. There are three aspects in which semiotics can be helpful in this respect. They correspond to three problems of memetics: the form/content problem, the interpretation problem, and the agency problem. The study shows how the semiotic concepts of vehicle-interpretant-object, secondary subagency, and tardo-sign can provide solutions to resolve these problems. Firstly, the form/ content problem can be mapped onto the distinction of sign vehicle and interpretant, and thus the tension between memetic externalism and internalism can be transformed into a framework that would distinguish meme vehicles and meme interpretants as elements of memes. Secondly, the notion of tardo-sign can be used for a stricter definition of memes, conceptualizing them as degenerate signs that produce no final interpretants but provide inertia and stability in cultural development. Thirdly, the problem of whether memes are agents can be transformed into a question of what kind of agents they are. While not all cultural signs are agents, semiotics distinguishes a particular kind of secondary subagents that trigger the production of cultural signs, and memes can be considered a special case of these subagents. Overall, memes can be defined as secondary subagent-signs of cultural tardosemiosis. In this sense, they are important for cultural evolution but are not the only kind of semiotic entities involved in it. Moreover, various other definitional options for the notion of meme can be distinguished based on whether memes are assumed to be necessarily agentive and post-semiotic, as well as whether the term “meme” has to refer to sign as a whole, its vehicle or interpretant.
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The article explores how the ideology of Putin’s regime is configured depending on the purposes for which it is used. It examines how the Kremlin’s attempt to mobilize the nation through ideology after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine... more
The article explores how the ideology of Putin’s regime is configured depending on the purposes for which it is used. It examines how the Kremlin’s attempt to mobilize the nation through ideology after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine aligns with its broader strategies of utilizing ideology. To understand variations in the Kremlin’s discourse, the study contrasts two conceptual configurations: patriotic statism (state as the ultimate value, requiring citizens to make sacrifices) and welfare statism (state as a means to provide people’s well-being). This framework enables us to analyze how different configurations of Putin’s ideology are employed in various political genres. The analysis reveals that while the genres of ideological proclamation, ideological indoctrination, and declarative justification are dominated by patriotic statism, welfare statism proves essential for the genre of mobilizing invocation. When Putin aims to mobilize the nation, the promises of welfare appear more reliable than mere rhetoric of patriotic self-sacrifice.
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This article seeks to provide a better understanding of the dynamics of the nationwide protests that appeared in Russia as a result of the large-scale political campaigns of 2017–18. On the basis of an original database devoted to six... more
This article seeks to provide a better understanding of the dynamics of the nationwide protests that appeared in Russia as a result of the large-scale political campaigns of 2017–18. On the basis of an original database devoted to six protests, organized in this period by different anti-systemic opposition leaders and organizations, the study explores the turnout and geographic scope of these events and the repertoire of frames that were used to mobilize the protesters. The analysis contrasts three types of frames (an anti-corruption protest frame, election campaign event frame, and anti-systemic protest frame) and demonstrates that appropriate framing was a necessary condition of successful protest mobilization. In combination with other factors, such as the quality of protest organization and the impact of repressive actions of the authorities, the changes of protest frames contributed to the protests’ turnout dynamics. Alexei Navalny, the most popular anti-systemic leader, succeeded in organizing the initial mobilization by framing it as an anti-corruption protest, but then, under increasing repression, the opposition failed to convert this dissent into a longer-term campaign with broader electoral or anti-systemic frames.
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The article introduces the concept of the logonomic sign as an elaboration on Hodge and Kress’s promising yet under-examined ideas about logonomic systems. Logonomic signs are defined as socially devised signs that constrain multimodal... more
The article introduces the concept of the logonomic sign as an elaboration on Hodge and Kress’s promising yet under-examined ideas about logonomic systems. Logonomic signs are defined as socially devised signs that constrain multimodal semiosis by restricting who is able to produce what signs under what circumstances. Based on the Peircean categories, the functioning of logonomic signs is modeled as a three-phase process of (1) logonomic understanding (production of the meaning that is the Initial Interpretant of a logonomic sign), (2) logonomic actualization (production of the actual semiotic event that is the Dynamical Interpretant of a logonomic sign), and (3) logonomic reproduction ([re]production of the semiotic Habit that is the Final Interpretant of a logonomic sign). Based on Kull’s theory of evolution of semiotic systems, logonomic signs are theorized as mechanisms of retention and standardization of semiotic Habits. The mechanism of reproduction of logonomic signs is modeled as a sign in which past logonomic semioses function as Objects by being iconically represented by similar current logonomic semioses functioning as Representamens, and in which future logonomic semioses are produced as Interpretants. The methodological potential of the proposed concept is discussed in the context of the integrative transdisciplinary capacity of semiotics in social research.
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The article reconsiders the notion of strategic culture using fundamental categories of general and social semiotics, which make it possible to systematise and instrumentalise this concept while preserving its broad scope. The proposed... more
The article reconsiders the notion of strategic culture using fundamental categories of general and social semiotics, which make it possible to systematise and instrumentalise this concept while preserving its broad scope. The proposed framework suggests a relationalist reconceptualisation of strategic culture based on Charles Peirce's semiotic theory, thereby helping to transcend the existing controversy about how culture-as-ideas, culture-as-artefacts, and culture-as-behaviour are related to each other in strategic culture. The suggested approach helps to clarify the problematic aspects of the notion of strategic culture by redefining strategic culture as a logonomic system (a system of rules of meaning-making) that constrains interactions in strategic affairs. Such reconceptualisation helps to study how strategic cultures are reproduced not only through verbal discourse but also through other artefacts and actions. Semiotic categories also make it possible to account for important distinctions between various elements of strategic culture and formulate principles that can guide the studies of this phenomenon. The article provides some examples from the Russian strategic culture to demonstrate how the proposed framework can be applied.
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The study seeks to contribute to the concept of semiotic causation by building a nomenclature of effects (interpretants) produced by signs. As a starting point, the suggested approach uses Charles Peirce’s idea that the interpretant... more
The study seeks to contribute to the concept of semiotic causation by building a nomenclature of effects (interpretants) produced by signs. As a starting point, the suggested approach uses Charles Peirce’s idea that the interpretant itself is a sign that is produced by another sign. From this, the study suggests that Peirce’s ten-fold division of signs can be used as a basis for the division of interpretants and, thus, proposes a nomenclature that distinguishes poti-interpretants (interpretants that are quali-signs), sin-interpretants (interpretants that are sin-signs), and legi-interpretants (interpretants that are legi-signs), also differentiating between iconic, indexical, and symbolic interpretants, as well as rhematic, dicent, and argumentive interpretants. The article uses Peirce’s famous whistle example (EP 2:4–5) to illustrate how the proposed systematics of interpretants works and demonstrates that it aligns well with Peirce’s distinction of feeling, reaction, and thinking, as feeling corresponds to the production of iconic poti-interpretants and iconic sin-interpretants, reaction corresponds to the production of indexical sin-interpretants, and thinking corresponds to the production of legi-interpretants. The article also suggests how the proposed ten-fold systematics of interpretants can be reconciled with Peirce’s original classifications of interpretants, as immediate-dynamical-final interpretants correspond to the triad of poti-, sin-, and legi-interpretants, while emotional-energetic-logical interpretants correspond to the three sub-classes of sin-interpretants, i.e. iconic sin-interpretants, rhematic indexical sin-interpretants, and dicent indexical sin-interpretants. The study then explores how the suggested classification of interpretants can be used to draw distinctions between different kinds of semiosis in different agents. In particular, the study shows how the proposed ten-fold classification can be applied to analyze diverse biosemiotic and anthroposemiotic processes. It also tests how different capacities to produce interpretants can be used to distinguish full-fledged signs from quasi-signs and demonstrates that in some cases of zoösemiosis, as well as in proto-semiosis and tardo-semiosis, the production of symbolic interpretants is diminished.
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In 1976, Richard Dawkins coined the term meme as a way to metaphorically project bio-evolutionary principles upon the processes of cultural and social development. The works of Dawkins and of some other enthusiasts had contributed to a... more
In 1976, Richard Dawkins coined the term meme as a way to metaphorically project bio-evolutionary principles upon the processes of cultural and social development. The works of Dawkins and of some other enthusiasts had contributed to a rise in popularity of the concept of memetics (“study of memes”), but the interest to this new field started to decline quite soon. The conceptual apparatus of memetics was based on a number of quasi-biological terms, but the emerging discipline failed to go beyond those initial metaphors. This article is an attempt to rebuild the toolkit of memetics with the help of the more fundamental concepts taken from semiotics and to propose a synthetic conceptual framework connecting genetics and memetics, in which semiotics is used as the transdisciplinary methodology for both disciplines. The concept of sign is used as the meta-lingual equivalent for both the concepts of gene and meme. In the most general understanding, sign is a thing which stands for anoth...
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This travel essay is devoted to the trip to the Netherlands made by the editors of METHOD yearbook in October 2019. During the journey the authors took part in the 41st Annual Conference of the Association of Interdisciplinary Studies in... more
This travel essay is devoted to the trip to the Netherlands made by the editors of METHOD yearbook in October 2019. During the journey the authors took part in the 41st Annual Conference of the Association of Interdisciplinary Studies in the University of Amsterdam and visited Eindhoven to meet Bernardo Kastrup. These notes represent some of their experiences and reflections inspired by the Low Countries that are deeply biographically associated with personal life and scholarly research of René Descartes.
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This article seeks to provide a better understanding of the dynamics of the nationwide protests that appeared in Russia as a result of the large-scale political campaigns of 2017–18. On the basis of an original database devoted to six... more
This article seeks to provide a better understanding of the dynamics of the nationwide protests that appeared in Russia as a result of the large-scale political campaigns of 2017–18. On the basis of an original database devoted to six protests, organized in this period by different anti-systemic opposition leaders and organizations, the study explores the turnout and geographic scope of these events and the repertoire of frames that were used to mobilize the protesters. The analysis contrasts three types of frames (an anti-corruption protest frame, election campaign event frame, and anti-systemic protest frame) and demonstrates that appropriate framing was a necessary condition of successful protest mobilization. In combination with other factors, such as the quality of protest organization and the impact of repressive actions of the authorities, the changes of protest frames contributed to the protests’ turnout dynamics. Alexei Navalny, the most popular anti-systemic leader, succee...
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The article designs and tests a framework which grasps ideological divergences among the Russian elite by focusing on Radical Statism (Radical Gosudarstvennichestvo) and contrasting it with Radical Civicism. In order to operationalize... more
The article designs and tests a framework which grasps ideological divergences among the Russian elite by focusing on Radical Statism (Radical Gosudarstvennichestvo) and contrasting it with Radical Civicism. In order to operationalize this distinction, the study develops lists of particular statist and civicists topoi that are used as indicators for ideological positions. The framework is applied to the study of the texts that are publicly produced by the Russian elite. The analysis shows the observable ideological divergences that exist among the Russian top decision-makers by dividing the ideological spectrum into six cohorts (hard, moderate, soft statists, and hard, moderate, soft civicists).
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We revisit and empirically evaluate crucial yet under-examined arguments articulated in “God Gave Physics the Easy Problems” (2000), the authors of which emphasized that, in International Relations (IR) predictions, predominant nomothetic... more
We revisit and empirically evaluate crucial yet under-examined arguments articulated in “God Gave Physics the Easy Problems” (2000), the authors of which emphasized that, in International Relations (IR) predictions, predominant nomothetic approaches should be supplemented with concrete scenario thinking. We test whether the IR predictive toolkit is in fact dominated by nomothetic generalizations and, more broadly, map the methodological profile of this subfield. We build on the TRIP database, supplementing it with extensive original coding to operationalize the nuances of predictive research. In particular, we differentiate between nomoscopic predictions (predictive generalizations) and idioscopic predictions (predictions for concrete situations), showing that this distinction is not reducible to other methodological cleavages. We find that even though in contemporary IR an increasing number of articles seek to provide predictions, they consistently avoid predictions about concrete ...
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This article outlines major trends in the development of social semiotics during the last four decades of its existence. The starting point was the interface between functional analysis of the semiotic system of language and the... more
This article outlines major trends in the development of social semiotics during the last four decades of its existence. The starting point was the interface between functional analysis of the semiotic system of language and the structural interpretation of language as a social system. Their convergence provided the basis for further developing an interdisciplinary domain of social semiotics. Michael Halliday’s book “Language as social semiotic: The social interpretation of language and meaning” (1978) gave an initial impetus to exploring the interface of semiotic and social. Ten years later his approach was reinterpreted by Bob Hodge and Gunther Kress in “Social Semiotics” (1988). They suggested that both the social and semiotic nature of language had a broader significance and extends to the entire domain of human activity and existence. Thus, social semiotic (in singular) of language was enhanced into all-embracing social semiotics (in plural). This article further examines lingu...
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The article presents an overview of the key arguments of Terrence Deacon's theory of how mind emerged from matter. Deacon’s emergentism is analyzed as a way of refocusing the «hard problem» of consciousness. He suggests considering... more
The article presents an overview of the key arguments of Terrence Deacon's theory of how mind emerged from matter. Deacon’s emergentism is analyzed as a way of refocusing the «hard problem» of consciousness. He suggests considering the phenomenon of consciousness as a dynamic coupling of mutually constraining processes. Such coupling is the defining feature of the subjective self and other teleodynamic phenomena. So self cannot be found as something embodied in existing material substrates. Consciousness is not present in such substrates themselves, but in the way different processes unfolding in these substrates constrain each other. Deacon shows that even looking at the simplest forms of life (autogens) one can observe that in them each part, interacting with other parts, creates the whole, and the whole as a synergetic complex makes possible the reproduction of its parts. The same principle underlies the organization of subjective consciousness, as subjective consciousness is...
Research Interests: Philosophy and Metod
The introductory essay conveys the overall purpose of the issue and then outlines its composition. Intention of the editors has been to retrace a dozen generations back to Descartes’ times, to grasp his ingenuity, to follow his insights... more
The introductory essay conveys the overall purpose of the issue and then outlines its composition. Intention of the editors has been to retrace a dozen generations back to Descartes’ times, to grasp his ingenuity, to follow his insights and try to further them on. Another starting line is a challenge to notorious Cartesian dualism which may reside in epigones of self-rid Cartesian dogma and disclosure of self-incited research of Descartes himself. In fact, Descartes himself resorted to his own personality or his whole self ( me totum ) that entangles both soul (thing that thinks) and body (thing that extends). Thus, dualism is only one instrumental aspect of far more complex cognitive proficiency of Descartes himself. What actually happens within me totum between the two analytical extreme modes of thinking and extended substances is embodiment and disembodiment. Introductory essay further outlines the sections of the Yearbook: Self, Reason, Body, Communication, Methodological Alter...
Аннотация В статье рассматривается, как европейские праворадикальные популисты, находящиеся в оппозиции к правительству, используют понятие прав и свобод при конструировании идентичностей. В основу исследования лег дискурсанализ текстов... more
Аннотация
В статье рассматривается, как европейские праворадикальные популисты, находящиеся в оппозиции к правительству, используют понятие прав и свобод при конструировании идентичностей. В основу исследования лег дискурсанализ текстов выступлений лидера французского «Национального объединения» Марин Ле Пен в ходе предвыборной кампании в парламент Европейского союза 2019 г. Проведенный разбор дискурсивных стратегий, используемых в этих текстах, позволил эмпирически подкрепить и детализировать некоторые существующие теории по поводу ключевых идеологических и дискурсивных черт праворадикального популизма и его позиций в отношении прав и свобод. Вместе с тем анализ также продемонстрировал, что в целом ряде аспектов существующие модели праворадикального популизма могут быть детализированы или скорректированы. Проведенное исследование согласуется с существующими концепциями в том плане, что одним из центральных элементов праворадикального популистского дискурса оказывается противопоставление «своих» и «чужих»: в дискурсе Марин Ле Пен, когда речь идет о разнообразных правах и свободах, идентичность французского народа и европейских народов конструируется через соотнесение со значимыми негативными Другими по двум осям: по вертикали – через популистское противостояние элитам, по горизонтали – через нативистское противостояние разнообразным чужакам. Народу предицируется обладание широким спектром прав, «Национальному объединению» – защита прав народа, а элиты и чужаки репрезентируются в качестве источника угрозы для этих прав. Это разделение, однако, зачастую четко не артикулируется, и в нем систематически создаются многочисленные «серые зоны»: существует целый ряд акторов, валентность которых изменяется в зависимости от контекста. Такой же амбивалентной представляется и конструируемая праворадикальными популистами европейская идентичность, от которой они не желают отказываться, даже отвергая существующий проект европейской интеграции в рамках ЕС как попирающий права и свободы. В целом проведенный анализ позволяет заключить, что праворадикальные популисты в странах ЕС выступают одним из активных участников интерпретативных битв за переосмысление понятия прав и свобод.
Abstract
The article explores how the EU populist radical right in opposition to its national governments uses the concept of rights and freedoms when constructing identities. The research is based on a discourse analysis of speeches given by the leader of the French Rassemblement National Marine Le Pen in the run-up to the 2019 European parliamentary elections. The analysis of discursive strategies employed in these texts allows to empirically demonstrate and elaborate some of the existing theories on key ideological and discursive features of the populist radical right and its positions on rights and freedoms. It also shows, however, that these models need to be reviewed or altered in a number of aspects. The research corresponds to the existing models as it shows the opposition the Self vs. the Other to be one of the central elements in the populist radical right discourse. For instance, when speaking about rights and freedoms, Marine Le Pen constructs the identity of the French people and European peoples by opposing them to the negative Other along two axes: vertically – by constructing a populist opposition to the elites – and horizontally – by constructing a nativist opposition to alien identities. The people is predicated to possess various rights, the Rassemblement National is represented as the defender of these rights, while the elites and the aliens are depicted as a threat to these rights. Yet, these oppositions are not always clearly articulated with numerous ‘grey zones’ systematically constructed: the research demonstrates that the depiction of some actors in a positive or negative way depends on context. The European identity constructed by the populist radical right is also ambivalent: it is not completely rejected although the ongoing European integration project – the EU – is reproached for infringing rights and freedoms. In general, the analysis allows to conclude that the populist radical right in the EU should be regarded as an active contester in the ongoing interpretive struggle over the concept of rights and freedoms rather than its enemy.
В статье рассматривается, как европейские праворадикальные популисты, находящиеся в оппозиции к правительству, используют понятие прав и свобод при конструировании идентичностей. В основу исследования лег дискурсанализ текстов выступлений лидера французского «Национального объединения» Марин Ле Пен в ходе предвыборной кампании в парламент Европейского союза 2019 г. Проведенный разбор дискурсивных стратегий, используемых в этих текстах, позволил эмпирически подкрепить и детализировать некоторые существующие теории по поводу ключевых идеологических и дискурсивных черт праворадикального популизма и его позиций в отношении прав и свобод. Вместе с тем анализ также продемонстрировал, что в целом ряде аспектов существующие модели праворадикального популизма могут быть детализированы или скорректированы. Проведенное исследование согласуется с существующими концепциями в том плане, что одним из центральных элементов праворадикального популистского дискурса оказывается противопоставление «своих» и «чужих»: в дискурсе Марин Ле Пен, когда речь идет о разнообразных правах и свободах, идентичность французского народа и европейских народов конструируется через соотнесение со значимыми негативными Другими по двум осям: по вертикали – через популистское противостояние элитам, по горизонтали – через нативистское противостояние разнообразным чужакам. Народу предицируется обладание широким спектром прав, «Национальному объединению» – защита прав народа, а элиты и чужаки репрезентируются в качестве источника угрозы для этих прав. Это разделение, однако, зачастую четко не артикулируется, и в нем систематически создаются многочисленные «серые зоны»: существует целый ряд акторов, валентность которых изменяется в зависимости от контекста. Такой же амбивалентной представляется и конструируемая праворадикальными популистами европейская идентичность, от которой они не желают отказываться, даже отвергая существующий проект европейской интеграции в рамках ЕС как попирающий права и свободы. В целом проведенный анализ позволяет заключить, что праворадикальные популисты в странах ЕС выступают одним из активных участников интерпретативных битв за переосмысление понятия прав и свобод.
Abstract
The article explores how the EU populist radical right in opposition to its national governments uses the concept of rights and freedoms when constructing identities. The research is based on a discourse analysis of speeches given by the leader of the French Rassemblement National Marine Le Pen in the run-up to the 2019 European parliamentary elections. The analysis of discursive strategies employed in these texts allows to empirically demonstrate and elaborate some of the existing theories on key ideological and discursive features of the populist radical right and its positions on rights and freedoms. It also shows, however, that these models need to be reviewed or altered in a number of aspects. The research corresponds to the existing models as it shows the opposition the Self vs. the Other to be one of the central elements in the populist radical right discourse. For instance, when speaking about rights and freedoms, Marine Le Pen constructs the identity of the French people and European peoples by opposing them to the negative Other along two axes: vertically – by constructing a populist opposition to the elites – and horizontally – by constructing a nativist opposition to alien identities. The people is predicated to possess various rights, the Rassemblement National is represented as the defender of these rights, while the elites and the aliens are depicted as a threat to these rights. Yet, these oppositions are not always clearly articulated with numerous ‘grey zones’ systematically constructed: the research demonstrates that the depiction of some actors in a positive or negative way depends on context. The European identity constructed by the populist radical right is also ambivalent: it is not completely rejected although the ongoing European integration project – the EU – is reproached for infringing rights and freedoms. In general, the analysis allows to conclude that the populist radical right in the EU should be regarded as an active contester in the ongoing interpretive struggle over the concept of rights and freedoms rather than its enemy.
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The article is devoted to the analysis of the discourse of the Russian oppositionist Alexei Navalny. The purpose of the study is to understand how one of the leaders of the Russian non-parliamentary opposition uses narratives about the... more
The article is devoted to the analysis of the discourse of the Russian oppositionist Alexei Navalny. The purpose of the study is to understand how one of the leaders of the Russian non-parliamentary opposition uses narratives about the Soviet past. The analysis shows that the arsenal of such narratives in Navalny's discourse is quite broad and includes references to events, actors, and realia from all main periods of the Soviet history. The whole variety of ways of using the narratives about the Soviet past in Navalny's discourse can be generalized to four typical discursive templates: (1) “analogy with the Soviet”, (2) “inheriting the Soviet”, (3) “stealing the Soviet”, (4) “(mis)commemorating the Soviet”. The “analogy with the Soviet” and “inheriting the Soviet” templates are used by Navalny in his strategies of negative representation of certain contemporary Russian political events, actors, institutions, and practices (in particular the ones having to do with political repressions and state propaganda). The application of the “stealing the Soviet” template is almost entirely limited to the texts that negatively represent Russian “oligarchs”. The “(mis)commemorating the Soviet” template is applied in the texts that promote (or condemn) certain commemorative practices. In general, in his discourse Navalny often effectively applies the discursive strategies that allow him to use the narratives about the Soviet past, but, at the same time, he is rarely seeks to actively construct such narratives himself.
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Статья посвящена анализу дискурса российского оппозицио-нера Алексея Навального. Цель исследования состоит в том, чтобы понять, каким образом в дискурсе одного из лидеров российской внепарламентской оппозиции используются нарративы о советском прошлом. Проведенный анализ показывает, что арсенал сюжетов такого рода, которыми оперирует Навальный, довольно широк и включает в себя отсылки к спектру событий, акторов и реалий, относящихся ко всем основным периодам советской истории. Всё разнообразие способов использования нарративов о советском прошлом в дискурсе Навального можно свести к четырем типовым дискурсивным шаблонам: (1) «аналогия с со-ветским», (2) «преемственность от советского», (3) «похищение советского», (4) «(мис)коммеморация советского». По шаблону «аналогия с советским» устроены используемые Навальным стратегии негативной репрезентации ряда современных российских политических событий, акторов и практик (особенно репрессивных и пропагандистских). Шаблон «преемственность от советского» применяется Навальным главным образом для негативной репрезентации отдель-ных персоналий из числа российских чиновников и некоторых государственных институций. Применение шаблона «похищение советского» почти полностью ограничивается текстами о российских «олигархах». К случаям использования шаблона «(мис)коммеморации» можно отнести все высказывания Навального о (не)одобряемых практиках в сфере исторической политики. В целом Навальному удается задействовать набор дискурсивных стратегий, которые позволяют ему успешно использовать существующие активы нарративов о советском прошлом, однако сам спикер в конструировании таких нарративов принимает весьма ограниченное участие.
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Статья посвящена анализу дискурса российского оппозицио-нера Алексея Навального. Цель исследования состоит в том, чтобы понять, каким образом в дискурсе одного из лидеров российской внепарламентской оппозиции используются нарративы о советском прошлом. Проведенный анализ показывает, что арсенал сюжетов такого рода, которыми оперирует Навальный, довольно широк и включает в себя отсылки к спектру событий, акторов и реалий, относящихся ко всем основным периодам советской истории. Всё разнообразие способов использования нарративов о советском прошлом в дискурсе Навального можно свести к четырем типовым дискурсивным шаблонам: (1) «аналогия с со-ветским», (2) «преемственность от советского», (3) «похищение советского», (4) «(мис)коммеморация советского». По шаблону «аналогия с советским» устроены используемые Навальным стратегии негативной репрезентации ряда современных российских политических событий, акторов и практик (особенно репрессивных и пропагандистских). Шаблон «преемственность от советского» применяется Навальным главным образом для негативной репрезентации отдель-ных персоналий из числа российских чиновников и некоторых государственных институций. Применение шаблона «похищение советского» почти полностью ограничивается текстами о российских «олигархах». К случаям использования шаблона «(мис)коммеморации» можно отнести все высказывания Навального о (не)одобряемых практиках в сфере исторической политики. В целом Навальному удается задействовать набор дискурсивных стратегий, которые позволяют ему успешно использовать существующие активы нарративов о советском прошлом, однако сам спикер в конструировании таких нарративов принимает весьма ограниченное участие.
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We revisit and empirically evaluate crucial yet under-examined arguments articulated in “God Gave Physics the Easy Problems” (2000), the authors of which emphasized that, in International Relations (IR) predictions, predominant nomothetic... more
We revisit and empirically evaluate crucial yet under-examined arguments articulated in “God Gave Physics the Easy Problems” (2000), the authors of which emphasized that, in International Relations (IR) predictions, predominant nomothetic approaches should be supplemented with concrete scenario thinking. We test whether the IR predictive toolkit is in fact dominated by nomothetic generalizations and, more broadly, map the methodological profile of this subfield. We build on the TRIP database, supplementing it with extensive original coding to operationalize the nuances of predictive research. In particular, we differentiate between nomoscopic predictions (predictive generalizations) and idioscopic predictions (predictions for concrete situations), showing that this distinction is not reducible to other methodological cleavages. We find that even though in contemporary IR an increasing number of articles seek to provide predictions, they consistently avoid predictions about concrete situations. The proportion of idioscopic predictions is stably small, with an even smaller proportion of predictions that develop concrete narratives or specify any determinate time period. Furthermore, those idioscopic studies are mostly limited to a niche with specialized themes and aims. Thus, our research shows that the critical claims from 20 years ago are still relevant for contemporary IR, as the “difficult problem” of developing predictive scenarios is still consistently overlooked in favor of other objectives. Ultimately, the types of predictions that IR scholars develop depend on their specific aims and constraints, but the discipline-wide result is a situation in which international studies’ ambition to provide predictions grows, but they tend to reproduce the same limitations as they did in 2000.
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Research Interests:
The article explores the correlation between Russia’s formal alliance obligations and the patterns of its actual military and political cooperation. Using a number of quantitative indicators of cooperation between Russia and other... more
The article explores the correlation between Russia’s formal alliance obligations and the patterns of its actual military and political cooperation. Using a number of quantitative indicators of cooperation between Russia and other countries of the world the research tests the hypothesis of whether Russia’s formal obligations are associated with the scope and stability of its actual cooperation with the partners. Four indicators are used to measure the levels of the actual military and political cooperation: the share of the Russian armaments in the total amount of the country’s arms imports, the number of joint military exercises with Russia, the deployment of Russia’s military bases on the country’s territory and the UN General Assembly affinity scores. The level of formal alliance obligations is measured based on the Alliance Treaty Obligations and Provisions project data. The multiple regression analysis shows no significant association between the level of formal alliance commitments and the actual military cooperation, but demonstrated that the level of formal obligations does significantly correlate with the UN General Assembly affinity scores. Based on the results of the analysis, the article further hypothesizes that Russia uses formal alliances as tools to enforce bargains in which its close partners are expected to provide Russia with international political support in exchange for its military resources. Moreover, the article presents an attempt to divide all the countries in the world into four groups based on the levels of their formal and actual affinity to Russia, showing that the majority of Russia’s formal allies does not actively cooperate with it in terms of military cooperation or political support.
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This article outlines major trends in the development of social semiotics during the last four decades of its existence. The starting point was the interface between functional analysis of the semiotic system of language and the... more
This article outlines major trends in the development of social semiotics during the last four decades of its existence. The starting point was the interface between functional analysis of the semiotic system of language and the structural interpretation of language as a social system. Their convergence provided the basis for further developing an interdisciplinary domain of social semiotics. Michael Halliday’s book “Language as social semiotic: The social interpretation of language and meaning” (1978) gave an initial impetus to exploring the interface of semiotic and social. Ten years later his approach was reinterpreted by Bob Hodge and Gunther Kress in “Social Semiotics” (1988). They suggested that both the social and semiotic nature of language had a broader significance and extends to the entire domain of human activity and existence. Thus, social semiotic (in singular) of language was enhanced into all-embracing social semiotics (in plural). This article further examines linguistic as socio-semiotic, semiotic as social, semiotic as multimodal, socio-semiotic as functional, interpretative as socio-semiotic. The article outlines two frontiers of social semiotics, that of its subject matter and that of its methodological dimension. Finally, the article focuses on current challenges faced by social semiotics, particularly those relevant to sociology.
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In 1976, Richard Dawkins coined the term meme as a way to metaphorically project bio-evolutionary principles upon the processes of cultural and social development. The works of Dawkins and of some other enthusiasts had contributed to a... more
In 1976, Richard Dawkins coined the term meme as a way to metaphorically project bio-evolutionary principles upon the processes of cultural and social development. The works of Dawkins and of some other enthusiasts had contributed to a rise in popularity of the concept of memetics (“study of memes”), but the interest to this new field started to decline quite soon. The conceptual apparatus of memetics was based on a number of quasi-biological terms, but the emerging discipline failed to go beyond those initial metaphors. This article is an attempt to rebuild the toolkit of memetics with the help of the more fundamental concepts taken from semiotics and to propose a synthetic conceptual framework connecting genetics and memetics, in which semiotics is used as the transdisciplinary methodology for both disciplines. The concept of sign is used as the meta-lingual equivalent for both the concepts of gene and meme. In the most general understanding, sign is a thing which stands for another thing. In genetics, this translates into gene that is a section of DNA that stands for the algorithm of how a particular biomolecule is built. In memetics, the similar principle works in meme that is a thing that stands for the rules of how a particular cultural practice is performed.
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Вступительная статья поясняет смысл темы нынешнего выпуска МЕТОДа и раскрывает его общий замысел. Объясняются тонкие, но существенные различия между русской, английской и немецкой формулировками, касающимися смысла заголовка и концепции... more
Вступительная статья поясняет смысл темы нынешнего выпуска МЕТОДа и раскрывает его общий замысел. Объясняются тонкие, но существенные различия между русской, английской и немецкой формулировками, касающимися смысла заголовка и концепции ежегодника. Отталкиваясь от крайне актуальной идеи трансфера знаний, ежегодник обращается к еще более интригующей проблематике конвергенции и дивергенции когнитивных способностей. В этом контексте вводная статья обращается к трансдисциплинарным органонам. Они вытекают из наших основополагающих когнитивных задатков. Исходным является дар различать уровни, степени и подобные характеристики наших чувственных восприятий (больше - меньше, теплее - холоднее и т.п.), а затем ранжировать размеры объектов и интенсивность процессов. Следующим является распознавание образов или наше умение выделять некие уже «замеренные» образования из их окружения. Дальнейшая способность состоит в придании смысла «распознанным» обликам и формам окружающей действительности. Ее дополняет дарование использовать слова и образы, чтобы являть смыслы и обмениваться ими. Каждая из трех базовых когнитивных способностей множится в череде последующих поколений все более богатых умений и навыков. Изощренные методы научных исследований достигают пределов познания, где они переплетаются друг с другом. Возникают междисциплинарные связки. Прорисовываются трансдисциплинарные возможности. Первая - метретика (metretics), или высокоразвитое умение измерять и вычислять. Она проявляется в математических и статистических исследованиях. Следующая - морфетика (morphetics), или мастерство изучения форм и фигур разного рода. Она представлена в различных морфологических, сравнительных, конфигуративных и эволюционных исследованиях. Этот ряд завершает семиотика (semiotics), или искусство обработки смыслов и значений. Ее можно обнаружить во все еще складывающихся специальных семиологиях, в когнитивных исследованиях и пока еще зачаточных гуманитарных науках.
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Research Interests:
Политическая наука: Научный журнал / РАН. ИНИОН. Центр социал. науч.-информ. исслед. Отд. полит. науки; Росс. ассоц. полит. науки; Ред. кол.: Мелешкина Е.Ю. (гл. ред.) и др. – М., 2016. – No 3: Политическая семиотика / Ред.-сост. номера... more
Политическая наука: Научный журнал / РАН. ИНИОН. Центр социал. науч.-информ. исслед. Отд. полит. науки; Росс. ассоц. полит. науки; Ред. кол.: Мелешкина Е.Ю. (гл. ред.) и др. – М., 2016. – No 3: Политическая семиотика / Ред.-сост. номера Золян С.Т., Фомин И.В. – 276 с.
Рассматриваются возможности исследования политической действительности с помощью семиотических инструментов. Особое внимание уделяется концептуальному аппарату политической семиотики. Выявляются основные достижения и проблемы в развитии семиотических исследований политики.
Рассматриваются возможности исследования политической действительности с помощью семиотических инструментов. Особое внимание уделяется концептуальному аппарату политической семиотики. Выявляются основные достижения и проблемы в развитии семиотических исследований политики.
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Please refer to the final version of this paper:
https://www.academia.edu/39898845/Memes_genes_and_signs_Semiotics_in_the_conceptual_interface_of_evolutionary_biology_and_memetics
https://www.academia.edu/39898845/Memes_genes_and_signs_Semiotics_in_the_conceptual_interface_of_evolutionary_biology_and_memetics