March 21, 2023 Seminar "Civilizational Transit of the Modern World: Conceptual Approaches"
THE MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND HIGHER EDUCATION
OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
RUSSIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
INSTITUTE FOR AFRICAN STUDIES
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30/1 ул. Спиридоновка, Москва, 123001 |
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30/1 Spiridonovka str., Moscow, 123001 |
COMMISSION ON SOCIAL AND CULTURAL PROBLEMS OF GLOBALIZATION OF THE SCIENTIFIC COUNCIL "HISTORY OF WORLD CULTURE" UNDER THE PRESIDIUM OF THE RAS
CENTER FOR CIVILIZATIONAL AND REGIONAL STUDIES
Seminar March 21, 2023 (Moscow)
"CIVILIZATIONAL TRANSIT OF THE MODERN WORLD: CONCEPTUAL APPROACHES"
On March 21, 2023, a research seminar "Post-colonial political and civilizational transit of Africa" was held at the Institute for African Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences. 5 reports were heard and discussed at the seminar.
Seminar moderator - Ph.D., Senior Research Fellow of CCRR Naima Neflyasheva.
Head of CCRR, Dr Sc. (History), Leading Researcher Igor Sledzevsky in his report “The Wind of Change: Attractors of the Post-Colonial Transit of Africa” focused on the synergistic nature of African post-colonial transitivity – the wave-like exit of the unstable and diverse processes of Africa’s opposition to the hegemonism of Western European structures, institutions, values and standards of development onto relatively stable, attractive attractors (goals, models, projects) of such confrontation as their own, alternative to the Eurocentric paradigm of world history, the structures and values of social development. The synergetics of African post-coloniality is presented as a complex, contradictory process of redefining the political and cultural heritage of European colonialism, reorganizing the pre-colonial and colonial past to the extent of the general significance of post-colonial attractors, turning them into historical reality. First, from the middle of the twentieth century. – an attractor of African nationalism: a wave of affirmation on the continent and world recognition of nation-states (actually created on the basis of the standards of authoritarian colonial power, within the borders of the colonies and preceding the national unification of heterogeneous ethnic conglomerates); subsequent implementation in the form of authoritarian one-party regimes, their stagnation and change through military coups; then from the end of the twentieth century. - an attractor of the democratization of African states: the rejection of one-party power while maintaining in practice authoritarian and parallel forms of political organization of society.
Particular attention was paid in the report to the fact that in the conditions of growing competition of political attractors of post-coloniality, the role of super-attractors of decolonization - the goals, ideals, projects of broad unity, freedom and independence of the former African subalterns - is growing. The conclusion is made about the presence and growing competition of several such attractors: since the beginning of the 20th century - the superattractor of pan-Africanism, which played an important role in the formation of African identity at the supra-ethnic, civilizational level, since the middle of the 20th century - superattractor of religious (Christian and Islamic) revival, since the end of the 20th century - the superattractor of African globalism (cosmopolitanism) - the rise of "Africans of the world", not only representatives of the Negroid race, but also people of other races who are historically associated with Africa and have acquired an African identity. According to the speaker, it is the competitiveness and at the same time the dialogue of these super-attractors that will determine to a decisive extent the stability and prospects of the post-colonial civilizational transit of Africa.
Senior Research Fellow of CCRR, head of the "North-South" group CCRR, chairman of the Commission on Social and Cultural Problems of Globalization of the Scientific Council "History of World Culture" at the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences Alexander Neklessa in his report “The Burden of Change: Transition of the World Order and Postcoloniality” presented a stepwise path of the global organization of mankind: the evolution of its generations from the imperial colonization of the planet through political decolonization and the worldwide unification of nations to some hypothetical state - a society of postcolonial nomadism with an emphasis on personal sovereignty. The features of the current civilizational transit, complicated by recurrences, were also noted: from the world order of Modernity to the planetary ensemble of social and cultural interactions, today defined as Postmodernity.
The ecumene is an evolving organism, it is a complex anthropological system, which in its development experiences mental, socio-cultural and material transits. Its changeable and complex atlas is formed in a mobile environment with the syndiachronous interaction of the elements of the planetary ensemble: values, cultural styles, goal-setting of many countries, times and communities. The three phases of the globalization of the Oikumene - the achievement by it of one or another formula of cumulative integrity, this is the path from (1) the multi-imperial organization of the world (its subordination, division, development) to the formation of (2) a system of independent nations and (3) a polyphonic universe based on the universalization of human rights and the acquisition by people of personal sovereignty.
The very concept of globality, its holistic formula, and its model of the world, are born in the bosom of sacred geography, and then, under the influence of practice, change in the process of corrosion and rethinking of mythological ideas about the balanced construction of spaces of human existence (look Eric Vogelin's "globalization-1" and “spheres” by Peter Sloterdijk). The transition of civilization to planetary expansion contains two connotations - colonization and colonialism: economic development and socio-cultural cultivation vs. economic exploitation and political domination. The history of our time is the transition from colonialism to the decolonization of peoples, the nationalization of territories, and the post-colonial formation of personality.
Director of the Center for African Studies of the RUDN University, Dr Sc. (History), Professor of the RUDN University Vladimir Belov in his report "Russia and African countries on the way to a new system of international relations: the problem of combining priorities" focused on the problem of conjugation of the four main development spaces (North-South-West-East) in building a polycentric world. It is noted that in this context, the format of global interregional strategic partnership becomes promising, when the leading countries of Eurasia (India, China, and Russia), Africa (South Africa), and Latin America (Brazil) decided to build integration within the framework of the BRICS international association. A special place in the policy aimed at the implementation of significant investment projects for the development of the BRICS interregional partnership is occupied by Africa, where, as in Eurasia, the “continental market” is being formatted, including through the international project “One Belt and One Road” (2013) as an integrated platform for the development of Afro-Eurasia, coupled with the Russian project "Greater Eurasian Partnership" (2015).
The study of the declared goals and practice of the foreign policy activities of the states of Afro-Eurasia allows us to single out the following principles of international cooperation, including the participation of Russia, as the fundamental principles of Afro-Eurasian integrity. First: sovereignty, national security, independence, and territorial integrity. The same principles are enshrined in the current international law, which demonstrates the identity of the Afro-Eurasian countries to the rest of the world. Second: consensus. It is important to note that, although this is not a specific Eurasian principle, it is well applicable precisely in the conditions of the multi-civilizational nature of the Eurasian space. Third: economic independence. The uneven distribution of resources implies economic inequality and provokes militarization, which can be overcome in the course of fair Afro-Eurasian integration. Fourth: a new quality of life. It seems that in the conditions of the formation of a new human environment - nanotechnological, with artificial intelligence, new areas of activity, other food products, other clothing and medicine, and a sharp reduction in traditional types of labor - it will be necessary to form a long-term development strategy for the countries of Afro-Eurasia, taking into account the understanding of new challenges the quality of life.
Aida Moseiko, Ph.D. in Philosophy, leading research fellow of CCRR in the report “Africans’ ideas about the significant and necessary values of the future (based on the speeches of African intellectuals at the XII International Scientific Conference of the Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia and the Institute for African Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences “Africa in the context of the formation of a new system of international relations” March 1-3, 2023)” drew attention to changes in the ideas of African intellectuals about the future in its normative value meaning. The grandiose transformations of the world order that have taken place in recent decades affect all spheres of the material and spiritual life of various societies. Especially "loudly" these transformations affected the value systems, which always have an ethical character.
It is not a coincidence that the lines of confrontation also touch upon the issue of values. This factor was sharply manifested at the XII International Scientific Conference of RUDN University and the Institute for African Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences "Africa in the context of the formation of a new system of international relations" in the speeches of African participants, especially during the round table "Afrocentricity in international relations: from theory to practice". In all speeches by African scientists, there was a negative trend toward Western values and standards and attempts to impose them on Africans. Much has been said about African values proper in the spheres of economy, politics, and people's attitudes to each other and nature. It was emphasized that the value is not mercantile, but ethical relations. It should be noted that African values are about their place in the world, which Africans define as "legal personality", their way of development without the intervention of "new colonizers".
Report of Ph.D. in Psychology, Senior Scientist of CCRR Elena Kharitonova “Approaches to assessing and analyzing the competitive advantages of a civilizational project: theory and practice” was a continuation of her report “Levels of consideration of civilizational projects” at the previous meeting of the seminar on February 21, 2023. In the presented report, the author dwelled on the issues of competition between civilizational and political projects, as well as on the factors of competitiveness of civilizational projects.
In business, competitive advantage is understood as a category that means that an economic entity has unique characteristics that distinguish this entity from other similar entities in the market. The concept of "competitive advantage" was first scientifically substantiated by Michael Porter at the turn of the 1970s and 80s. Competitive advantages and competitive disadvantages are revealed in the process of comparing the elements of activity with the elements of activity of rivals. The designation of competitive advantages as "competitive strength", and their absence - as "competitive weakness" is accepted. In the report, the tradition of considering competitive advantages, adopted in business processes, is supplemented by consideration of political and managerial factors of competition. The levels of hybrid warfare in the context of project competition, as well as the main "targets" of influence in the context of acute competitive confrontation, are considered.
In the speeches of the participants in the debate, the question was raised about the degree of attractiveness of the democratic attractor of the African post-colonial transition. Alexander Tkachenko, Ph.D. in Economics, Head of the Centre for North African and African Horn Studies, IAfr RAS, in his speech drew attention to the fact that the choice of Africans in favor of democratic reforms is confirmed by sociological surveys conducted in individual countries of the continent. At the same time, there is a negative attitude in the statements of representatives of the African diaspora regarding the democratic project of a Eurocentric orientation. Africa "is looking for its path of political reorganization, and not the introduction of democracy from outside", no matter where it comes from - from Europe, from the USA. The right to choose the model of the political structure of African states belongs exclusively to the Africans themselves. There is no doubt that the solution to this problem can only be African. At the same time, the history of the last decades, according to Alexander Tkachenko, gives convincing examples of the fact that a consistently high percentage of electorate participation in elections at different levels (more than 60-70%) is a convincing example of what the choice of the inhabitants of individual countries of the Middle East and Africa is like. At the same time, historical experience shows that in countries with a relatively low level of socio-economic development, the implementation of certain democratic measures is extremely difficult, and sometimes does not go at all or gives only results that cannot be called positive. This should be carefully taken into account when promoting democratic steps and measures to form individual institutions and structures of civil society.
Emphasizing the real problem of the identity of Africans, Afrocentrism, one should remember, Andrey Tkachenko, not only about the globalizing world in Africa but also about the fact that Africa itself is in this world. Those. the world has its obligations to respect and care for Africa, but Africa is also called upon to respect and care for the outside world. In conclusion, Tkachenko said that the successful implementation of the project of civilizational development (for example, the achievement of 17 strategic goals "Africa-2063") is possible only in the style of positivism ("silencing the guns", as an example), and not confrontation, chaos, and conflicts.
