Dear colleagues,

(Apologies for cross-posting!)

NZ No. 36 is out and fully accessible for free at
www.nz-online.ru. This issue?s main topics are historical
and sociological approaches to Soviet and Russian youth, a
critical analysis of Russian and Ukrainian history text
books, and contemporary Russian prisons. It also features
articles on such topics as untapped resources of Russian
civil society or Putin?s likely successor on the
presidential ?throne?. Please find an English summary and
contents below.
We have updated our English-language page to include new
articles in English (on the Kyoto Protocol, Moscow?s car
boom and other topics) as well as summaries of past issues
back to No. 24.
Beside subscription information, our web site also
features the fullest available list of links to
Russian-language journals that have a presence on the
World Wide Web.
Finally, the NZ Library section now includes excerpts from
Nikolai Mitrokhin?s recent book on the post-Soviet Russian
Orthodox Church which is likely to become the standard
work on the subject for many years to come.

Mischa Gabowitsch
Editor-in-chief


NZ No. 36 opens with an article by Australian scholar
Kanishka Jayasuriya on September 11, Security, and the
Postliberal Politics of Fear. Jayasuriya discusses the
ways in which discourse about security before and after 11
September 2001 has presented a challenge to politics,
understood as an area of open debate and power struggles,
even in the most advanced liberal democracies. The Russian
leadership has of course profited from this new
international context. By publishing this essay we hope to
start a debate on the ways in which the language of
security has been used to destroy Russia?s fledgling
public sphere and democratic culture, and on possible
alternatives to the ?liberties/security? tradeoff.
The Culture of Politics section features an article by
Sergei Asmanov, prompted by recent statements by Vladimir
Putin, on the ways in which the current Russian head of
state may try to establish a system of ?inheritance? of
the presidency. The Japanese, Mexican (PRI) and other more
authoritarian/monarchic patterns of succession are
considered as possible models for engineering such a
system (Putin and his Successors: an Experiment in
Democratic Construction).
Topic 1 is devoted to Soviet and Russian youth from the
1950s to the present day. It opens with an article by
historian Kristin Roth-Ey entitled Who?s on the Pedestal,
and Who?s in the Crowd? Stilyagi and the Idea of Soviet
?Youth Culture? in the Thaw, which tries to broaden our
understanding of the so-called ?stylish youth? in the
1950s and 1960s beyond the positive stereotypes
popularised by numerous recent memoirs. Bella
Ostromoukhova analyses the making and evolution of a
popular TV show called ?Club of the Cheerful and
Resourceful?, or KVN, which was considered an expression
of youth creativity in the 1960s and 70s (KVN: ?1960s
Youth Culture??) Sociologist Boris Gladarev discusses
different approaches to the study of youth culture, with
reference to the Life Worlds of the ?Special? Leningrad
Youth, a milieu of young people which originally formed
around an archaeological club in the 1970s. Ethnologist
Tatyana Shchepanskaya analyses the symbolic role of the
road in the culture of 1980s hippies and hitchhikers.
Finally, sociologist Elena Omelchenko gives an overview of
Russian youth subcultures (though she prefers to speak of
?cultural strategies?) in the 1990s, ranging from
skinheads through role players to clubbers.
Our columnist Alexei Levinson links this topic to the next
one by presenting recent findings on young people?s image
of Russian history. He concludes that the youngest
generations are most prone to phasing out those periods of
history that are potentially the most traumatic.
Under the Politics of Culture rubric, historian Igor
Dolutsky, author of a recent school history textbook which
was banned for allegedly criticising Putin, reflects upon
his experience as a history teacher and argues that the
teaching of history should aim to instil a spirit of
critical analysis and immunity to manipulation rather than
just teach facts or foster patriotism.
His article introduces Topic 2, which takes up the issue
of history textbooks. Anton Sveshnikov discusses the ways
in which politicians, textbook authors and the public have
tried to shape the content of course books since
Perestroika. Maria Ferretti reviews a recent two-volume
textbook on Russian history edited by the director of the
Academy of Sciences? Institute of Russian History, and
shows how the extreme nationalism and methodological
positivism of the work serves to prop up Russia?s new
?official history' promoted by the current regime.
Finally, Ukrainian historian Andriy Portnov examines The
Image of Russia in Ukrainian School History Textbooks
since 1991.
Yevgeny Saburov devotes the latest instalment of his
Humane Economics to a discussion of the state-sponsored
attack on YUKOS and the recent crisis at several Russian
banks as examples of De-Institutionalisation.
Topic 3 deals with contemporary Russian prisons and their
place in society. Sociologist Anton Oleinik reviews a
recent book by ethnologist Ekaterina Yefimova on the
prison as a ?marginal? subculture, and argues that
contemporary Russian mainstream culture is so infused with
elements of the peculiar culture of Russian penitentiary
institutions that it hardly makes sense to speak of a
prison ?subculture?. In a reply to Oleinik, Yefimova
defends the semiotic approach used in her study, and
explains the way in which she uses the concept of
?marginality?. Sociologist Asmik Novikova reports on the
results of a recent large-scale study of religious
sentiment and practice in Russian prisons, and shows how
attendance at religious ceremonies has once again, as in
Tsarist times, become an element of conformism and a
requirement of ?good conduct? rather than an expression of
genuine religious feeling.
In the Morals and Mores sections, old NGO hand Alexei
Tokarev argues that the oft-scorned vestiges of Soviet-era
organisations such as veterans?, women?s or trade unions
continue to play a more important role than is generally
supposed, and should be counted among the building blocks
of civil society in contemporary Russia. The New
Institutions rubric features the Ulyanovsk-based Youth
Resource Centre which strives to strengthen links between
NGOs, government agencies and academic specialists dealing
with youth issues. The Journals Review section includes a
review of recent Russian journals in politics, the social
sciences, and the humanities as well as a survey of the
landscape of Slovak intellectual journals by Alexander
Bobrakov-Timoshkin. Finally, this issue?s New Books
section focuses on recent books about the methods of
historical scholarship.

The Liberal Heritage
KANISHKA JAYASURIYA
September 11, Security, and the Postliberal Politics of
Fear

The Culture of Politics
SERGEI ASMANOV
Putin and his Successors: an Experiment in Democratic
Construction

Topic 1: ?Stilyagi?, ?Gopniki? and Others: Soviet and
Post-Soviet Youth
KRISTIN ROTH-EY
Who?s on the Pedestal, and Who?s in the Crowd? Stilyagi
and the Idea of Soviet ?Youth Culture? in the Thaw
BELLA OSTROMOUKHOVA
KVN: ?1960s Youth Culture??
BORIS GLADAREV
Life Worlds of the ?Special? Leningrad Youth
TATYANA SHCHEPANSKAYA
On the Road: ?Pipl? and ?Telegi? of the 1980s
ELENA OMELCHENKO
Subcultures and Cultural Strategies on the Youth Scene at
the End of the 20th Century: Who Wins?

Sociological Notes
ALEXEI LEVINSON's Pages
Young People for a Non-Traumatic History

The Politics of Culture
IGOR DOLUTSKY
The Present Idyll

Topic 2: Textbooks vs. History
ANTON SVESHNIKOV
The Battle for School History Textbooks in Post-Soviet
Russia: Main Tendencies and Results
MARIA FERRETTI
Identity Regained: The New ?Official History? of Putin?s
Russia
ANDRIY PORTNOV
Terra hostica: The Image of Russia in Ukrainian School
History Textbooks since 1991

Humane Economics
YEVGENY SABUROV's Pages
De-Institutionalisation

Topic 3: Russia and Her Prisons: A Closed Community in a
Closed Society
ANTON OLEYNIK
Outcasts and Bigwigs: How a Subculture is Becoming an
Element of Culture
EKATERINA YEFIMOVA
Contemporary Subcultures as ?Marginal? Oral Cultures
ASMIK NOVIKOVA
Notes on Religiousness in Prisons

Morals and Mores
ALEKSEI TOKAREV
Whence Will Civil Society Emerge? (Observations of a Civic
Activist)

New Institutions
The No.Generation Youth Resource Centre

Journals Review
Review of Russian Intellectual Journals
ALEXANDER BOBRAKOV-TIMOSHKIN
Slovak Cultural Journals: Bloom or Decay?

New Books
Reviews