Mikhail Ilyin: Conceptual map of Europe revisited

Доклад М. В. Ильина на симпозиуме в Ювяскюля (10th Jyväskylä Symposium on Political Thought and Conceptual Change).

Презентация:

Ilyin, M. Conceptual map of Europe revisited

Текст доклада:

Ilyin, M. Conceptual map of Europe revisited

Роберт Эдкок стал лауреатом премии в области политического концепт-анализа

Очередным лауреатом премии в области политического концепт-анализа, присуждаемой Комитетом МАПН по концептам и методам, стал Роберт Эдкок.

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The International Political Science Association’s Committee on Concepts & Methods (C&M) is pleased to announce the winner of its 2015 Award for Concept Analysis in Political Science. This award is given every three years for the best work in concept analysis, broadly defined. The award committee for the 2015 competition was composed of three distinguished scholars: Dan Slater, University of Chicago (Committee Chair); Roman David, Lingnan University; and Ingo Rohlfing, University of Bremen.

The winner of the 2015 award is Robert Adcock, who will be joining the School of International Studies at American University in Fall 2015, for his Liberalism and the Emergence of American Political Science: A Transatlantic Tale (Oxford University Press, 2014).

In this work of remarkable historical sweep and theoretical heft, Adcock charts the birth of American political science from its largely unexplored European intellectual parentage. In so doing, Adcock traces the fascinating transatlantic travels and diverse historical expressions of one of political science’s most vital concepts: liberalism. Unlike scholars who portray liberalism as a relatively monolithic ideology infusing American political thought, Adcock meticulously chronicles the diverse and competing streams of liberalism that evolved and migrated across the Atlantic in response to the twin challenges of mass democracy and industrial capitalism. From common roots in the “democratized classical liberalism” of intellectual giants such as Alexis de Tocqueville and John Stuart Mill, as well as less-famed continental thinkers like Francois Guizot and Francis Lieber, there emerged both the “progressive liberalism” of scholars such as Woodrow Wilson at Princeton and the “disenchanted classical liberalism” best characterized by William Graham Sumner at Yale. Stunning in both its range of historical source materials as well as its subtlety of theoretical engagement, Adcock’s book contributes mightily not only to the international history of our discipline, but to intellectual history in general.

http://www.concepts-methods.org/Page/View/111

INION Staff Pleads Putin for Help

Dear President Putin!

Two and a half months ago the Institute of Scientific Information on Social Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences (INION) endured a terrible tragedy. A fire has done irreparable damage to the building and has formidably affected the funds of our fundamental library. However the staff of the institute has not stopped the work for a single day. Execution of all the planned tasks continues. All effort is hurled into the necessary recovery activities.

Tired with all these the personnel and administration of the INION led by Yuri Pivovarov face an unprecedented campaign of attacks. Some media are trying to make Yuri Pivovarov a scapegoat. They try to use his name as a label for the fire and the 'ruins'. They try to link his name to a batch of books stolen by villains, who were among the workers dismantling the burned structures... But we, the team of the INION, see the slyness of this information setting. For us the name of Yuri Pivovarov is the symbol of decades of development of our institute. It is the name of new projects, new scientific trends and schools. It is the name of a bright scholar and one of the most outstanding political thinkers of modern Russia. What will outweigh? We have no doubt that the time will put everything in its place. But we cannot wait. Now, as soon as possible – no matter what happens in media – we must accomplish our plans to preserve and restore the book collection of our library, to fulfill completely our public task and to develop a program of modernization of scientific information activity of the INION. Dear Mr. President, we need your support for this! And we call for Yuri Pivovarov to continue to play the leading role in all this work.

Reconstruction of the library both in paper and electronic form, restoration of the building and transformation of the institute into a scientific information center meeting all the needs of the Russian research community are the main challenges to be addressed by the institute staff in the coming years. And we are assured that the Federal Agency of Scientific Organizations, the Russian Academy of Sciences and other state agencies will provide all necessary assistance to us. For the entire scientific world it is important to draw lessons from the INION’s tragedy, to understand the need for sustained funding of libraries, museums, institutions of science and culture. That support is necessary for proper fire protection measures and for preservation of scientific and cultural heritage. It is obvious that in case of new emergencies, similar to the fire in the INION RAN, a mechanism of mobilization of all the government institution for the most rapid and effective response must be practiced. Today a start of this work (for example, in a form of a State Interdepartmental Commission) will bring forward the implementation of the premium efforts to overcome the consequences of the INION fire and to reduce the costs that are required.

And last but not least. Now our country is passing through a difficult phase of ordeals and struggle. In fact, the citizens of our country have to prove that Russia in the XXI century can be one of the most important subjects of the world history. At this difficult juncture we have no option but to request the help of the state. But there is no doubt that we will do everything to help the country with our knowledge, our information work, our research and expertise, our efforts to restore the book fund.
We sincerely hope, dear Mr. President, for your support and assistance in restoration of our institute and its fundamental library.

Adopted at a general meeting of the staff of the Institute of Scientific Information on Social Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences, April 14, 2015.

Update on INION fire

INION – a social sciences information institute with a huge library of over 14 million volumes – went ablaze last Friday on January 30th. The fire broke out in on the top floor of the three-story building shortly after 10 p.m. The fire was contained by early morning but its pockets continued to threaten the library till Tuesday February 3rd. INION experts entered the building only on Wednesday and had so far a very initial inspection. Probably up to a quarter of the entire storage is damaged but it is difficult to estimate so far.
My own Center for Advanced Methods in Social Sciences and Humanities has been completely destroyed with its book and documentation collection including my own two thousand books and much more articles, manuscripts etc. I am particularly unhappy about the loss of Rokkanian collection that I have been collecting for two decades already. It was the best one save the Bergen one.

My center moved into my office in HSE on Ilyinka 13, room 608. And we work there already since Monday. We have developed a page for the center and an emergency community on Facebook. INION restored its site. All INION PS postgrads are welcome to my postraduate school in HSE.

I'll keep you informed on developments

Misha