Vol 2, No 3 (2020)

The paper is devoted to one of subject in the Lapland Question, which was a result of territorial dispute of Russia and Denmark-Norway in European Arctic. The author examines the complex of arguments formulated by tsarist government to confirm the rights and positions of the Russian state in Lapland region (using the example of a letter from Tsar Feodor Ivanovich of August 1585), and also analyzes the counter-arguments of the King of Denmark.

The article is devoted to the history of the Samara nature protection movement which was based on the Kuibyshev regional branch of the All-Russian Society for Nature Protection in the Soviet period. On the base on archival documents, the author examines the activities of the society in the Kuibyshev region, analyzes the role of the public in preserving the region’s natural resources, environmental education of citizens and solving other problems in the field of nature protection in the 1950s and 1980s.

Turn to the historical cases has not only academic, but also political significance. And their interpretations within the framework of expert support of foreign policy activities encourage the analysis of this decision-making aspect to be more attentive and cautious than methodological constraints, disciplinary filters, intellectual climate and relations with the customer of analytical products. In this regard the article focuses on the characteristics of the expert support of the decision-making process in the United States at the beginning of the Cold War in the context of the activities of the RAND Corporation, which worked closely with the Ministry of Defence and practically monopolized the analytical support of American policy in the South-East Asia in the organization of counterinsurgency during the 1960-s. The focus of research is on methodological approaches and principles of analysis of the perspectives of the transfer of the Chinese model of the people’s war by the RAND experts - typical discussions about the export of the democratic and socialist models of development during the Cold War often leave this issue of the history of international relations after 1945 on the periphery of scientific discussion.

The article provides an analysis of development of regional historiography of «Russian sectarianism» in the pre-revolutionary, Soviet and contemporary periods. The author highlights the peculiarities of studying this issue at each stage, and underlines the shortcomings that forced the researchers to search for a new methodological basis. He comes to the conclusion that a comprehensive study of informal religiosity in the Southern Ural in pre-revolutionary Russia remains an actual scholarly task.

The author summarizes and systematizes the data on the Kamskaya Neolithic culture in the northeast of Europe (the territory of the modern Komi Republic, Arkhangelsk Oblast and the northern part of the Perm kray). At present 18 sites belonged to this culture have been identified in the basins of the rivers Vychegda, Pinega and Vishera. They represent its northern province of distribution, the length of which in the region is more than 1000 km (from southeast to northwest). The data of geochronometry and comparison of analogies from the territories of the East European and West Siberian plains determine that the most probable time of existence of this culture in the region was the VI millennium BC. A stable feature of the Kamskaya culture is ceramic ware made of clay with an admixture of chamotte and decorated with comb ornament. Its peculiarities in the basin of the Vychegda River are a small number of pots in complexes (from 1 to 5) and typological homogeneity. It indicates the short-term duration of this tradition and the lack of links with the population of other cultures. Ceramics in the basin of the Vyshera River are characterized by a great variety of decoration and provide an evidence of the connections between the population of different cultures. Flint knapping is situational and selective. The special and most stable feature of toolkit is the bifacial diamond-shaped or leaf-shaped arrowheads of short proportions. The tools made of other rocks are relatively well represented with chopping tools, abrasives, and fishing weights. In the assemblages of the Vishera river basin the signs of correction of traditions of stone processing to the peculiarities of raw materials of the region are revealed. It can indicate their more significant metamorphoses as they moved away from the original territory of culture. The complex data such as topography of monuments, qualitative and quantitative characteristics of stone tools, indicate a significant role of fishing in the Kamskaya culture’s economy. As a result of the research the peculiarities of this culture in the northeast of Europe and possible transformations of its elements in different habitats of the Vychegda and Vishera rivers basin were revealed. The main factors that influenced this difference were natural and climatic conditions and different population densities.

The article is devoted to the discussion of the processes of interaction between the population of Neolithic and Eneolithic cultures in the Upper and Middle Don basin. A.T. Sinyuk considered these processes within the framework of «Neolithic survival», A.M. Skorobogatov and A.V. Surkov propose to single them out into a special Neo-Eneolithic stage. The use of the new term does not solve the problem and does not contribute to a better understanding of the situation. There are no metal finds on the settlements of Don forest-steppe area, and the studied burials are few. The topography of the Sredny Stog settlements does not differ from the location of local Neolithic sites. The osteological materials from the Upper Don settlements named Vasilyevsky cordon 17 and 27 indicate that the leading place in the Eneolithic economy was occupied by hunting and fishing. And at the Middle Don settlement of Cherkasskaya 5 domestic animals were known already in the Neolithic Age. The layers with Sredny Stog`s pottery are usually found on the same monuments as Neolithic materials. A prerequisite for the conflict-free coexistence of different groups within a limited area is their orientation towards different sources of food, connected with the development of different natural and economic resources. There were no conditions for the parallel development of the population with different economic and social patterns in the Don region. Migrants and aborigines came into close contact with each other, which was reflected in the emergence of hybrid ceramic materials. The processes described above represent a particular case of transition from the stone age to the metal age, the content of which fully corresponds to the definition of Eneolithic.

The article was prepared on the base of the of sociological research materials. The research program included criteria and indicators on the basis of which the author determines a vector of development of diaspora communities and the results of socio-cultural integration of culturally different migrants. The author examines religious practices as an indicator of the socio-psychological criterion. The results of the research indicate a generally high level of religiosity and active use of cult practices by the majority of the respondents. However, religious practices which in some cases mark the cultural boundary are not clearly isolationist in their character.