On December 14-15, 2011, the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences hosted the VIII Conference of Arabists of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences "Modernization in the Arab World (Modernity and History) in the light of current trends in world reconstruction". The event was organized by the Scientific Council for Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Center for Arab and Islamic Studies of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Both in terms of the number of participants and the variety of issues and topics discussed, the conference lived up to its name. The work was conducted in two sections: "Political Science "and"History". More than 30 people made presentations. Among the participants were not only employees of the Institute of Information Technology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, but also scientists from other Moscow and regional research and educational institutions: Institute of Africa of the Russian Academy of Sciences, MGIMO(U) The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Institute of Asian and African Countries of Moscow State University, the Higher School of Economics, the Volga Region Center for Regional and Ethno-Religious Studies of the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies, Nizhny Novgorod State University, Bashkir State Pedagogical University.

The conference participants focused on the mass opposition demonstrations against the ruling regimes in the Arab East in 2011, called the "Arab Spring". The reports were devoted to both regional trends and the situation in individual States. The conference participants discussed the problem of typologizing protest movements in Arab countries and tried to find an answer to the question: are the events in the region revolutions, popular demonstrations or insurgent movements? Many speakers touched upon the main socio-political and economic causes of popular uprisings, the influence of external forces on events in Arab countries. The problems of social transformation, the alignment of political forces and the directions of transformation of political structures in the region were analyzed. The conference also addressed the socio-cultural problems of the Arab world's development in the Middle Ages, modern and modern times, which also had an impact on the modern destinies of Arab countries.

B. G. Seyranyan, Head of the Center for Arab and Islamic Studies and organizer of the conference, delivered a speech at the plenary session. Guests of the conference - Ambassador of the Arab Republic of Egypt to the Russian Federation Muhammad Alaa al-Din Al-Hadidi, Ambassador of the Syrian Arab Republic Riad Haddad, opened the first day of the meeting. They spoke about the situation in the Middle East region and the challenges facing their countries, and also noted the significant contribution made by Russian Orientalists to the study of the history and culture of their countries and the development of relations between Russia and the member States of the League of Arab States.

V. A. Melyantsev (ISAA MSU) devoted his report "The crisis in the Arab World: economic, historical and social aspects" to the problem of lagging behind the countries of the Middle East region in the main parameters of social development and the difficulties of modernization, which were the root causes of the "Arab Spring".

In the speech of G. K. Prozorova (Dip. acad. Russian Foreign Ministry) "Prospects of socio-political transformation against the background of a changing balance of political forces (on the example of Egypt and Yemen) "the general features of the" Arab Spring " were noted: an increase in the number of participants in the political process at the expense of the broad masses of the population, the role of young people and women in popular speeches, the persistent activity of protesters, the use of modern means of communication. (Institute of Africa of the Russian Academy of Sciences) in his report "Socio-economic problems of the Arab Spring "noted that the reasons for popular protests in Arab countries are based on the demographic situation, since high population growth rates that outstrip economic growth generate poverty and social discontent.

B. G. Seyranyan (Institute of Internal Affairs of the Russian Academy of Sciences), in his report "The political role of Islamist parties and the army in post-revolutionary Arab republics", proposed to divide countries into two categories in order to facilitate the analysis of events, depending on how the leadership of the national armed forces behaved in the conditions of popular protests: they sided with the rebels, as in Tunisia and Egypt, or supported the country's leader, as in Yemen, Libya and Syria. According to the speaker, the position taken by the Egyptian military allowed them to maintain authority among the population and strength, which the Islamists are forced to reckon with, who are trying to avoid open confrontation with the army elite. As for the third force, which also took an active part in the overthrow of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, the educated, modern youth, liberals and democrats have not yet consolidated as a political force.

A. B. Podtserob's report "The Arab Troubles: causes and consequences" listed the general causes of the surge in socio-political activity in the countries of the region. Among them are the emergence of educated, but not having prospects for social growth of young people, the strengthening of the national bourgeoisie and the modern middle class. This, according to A. B. Podtserob, allows us to speak about the beginning of the formation of civil society in the Arab East. The main consequence of the "Arab Spring" speaker called the growing influence of political Islam, adding that, in his opinion, the greatest threat from its radical, jihadist wing exists in Libya. B. V. Dolgov (IB RAS), who presented the report "The protest movement in the Arab world as a factor in the transformation of political structures", agreed with A. B. Podtserob's thesis about the strengthening of Islamists. From his point of view, this process cannot be perceived unambiguously negatively, since they do not set the goal of creating an Islamic state and are ready to cooperate with the left and liberal democratic forces not only in the fight against authoritarian regimes, but also in carrying out reforms.

R. G. Landa (IB RAS) did not agree with this assessment of B. V. Dolgov. In the report "Islamism and Imperialism: enemies or allies?" he suggested that Islamist political movements will not abandon the goal of building an Islamic state and the idea that the Koran should be the basis of the constitution, since these postulates are the main meaning of their ideology. R. G. Landa noted the connection of events in the Arab world with the process of globalization, perceived by the majority of the population as an invasion from outside, he also emphasized the influence exerted by the West on youth leaders and the military elite, who made a decisive contribution to the overthrow of the old regimes.

A. I. Yakovlev (Institute of History of the Russian Academy of Sciences) spoke about the problems of archaization and modernization in modern Arab society. He said that social and economic modernization on the Western model was not accompanied by the same success in the political, spiritual and cultural spheres. This led to such events as the Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1979, the rise of Islamists to power in Turkey in 2002, and the Arab Spring, which can be described as "the revival of the archaic".

The reports of I. D. Komarov and I. V. Ryzhov (both NSU) "Egypt 2011: Origins, problems and prospects", E. S. Melkumyan (IB RAS) "Opposition between the authorities and the opposition in the Kingdom of Bahrain: Past and Present", and S. N. Serebrov (IB RAS RAS) "The Yemeni revolution in the mirror of national and global political shifts".

The largest number of participants was gathered in the "Political Science" section. Its session was opened by L. R. Syukiyainen (HSE), who presented the report "Political cataclysms in the Arab world and Islam". He suggested that the Islamic forces will begin to seriously reconsider their ideological platforms, as being in power will force them to pursue a more realistic domestic and foreign policy and abandon the construction of an Islamic state.

The next speaker, V. M. Akhmedov (IB RAS), considered the features of socio-political transformations in the Arab countries of the Middle East in the context of the revolutionary upsurge in the region. He noted that the main content of the socio-political transformation is the problem of transferring power to new political players, who became the main driving forces of the "Arab Spring".

In the report "Syria in the system of the phenomenon of the "Arab Spring". Actual factors of influence " A. L. Khlebnikov (NSU) concluded that the strong influence of an external factor was a feature of the situation in Syria, since the phenomenon of the "Arab Spring" was competently used by Western and regional forces to destabilize the regime and remove President Bashar al-Assad from power.

A.V. Demchenko (IB RAS) dedicated his speech to the protest movement in Jordan. The "Arab Spring" in the Hashemite Kingdom was the result of half-hearted reforms limited to the economic sphere, contradictory and inconsistent policies of the authorities. The main demand of the opposition was to reduce the powers of the king and increase the role of parties and parliament. In conclusion, the speaker noted the resilience of Jordan as a monarchical state to the challenges of the "Arab spring".

In her report "China and Libya: Relations Before and after the Arab Revolution", M. A. Pakhomova presented an analysis of relations between the two countries and the Chinese government's response to the Libyan events. The share of Libyan crude oil in Chinese imports is low (there are only prospects for expanding contacts in this area), but the main damage during the 2011 civil war was caused by the presence of Chinese companies performing construction work. Currently, Beijing is actively establishing ties with the new authorities of the republic and is seeking to resume economic cooperation by providing assistance during the post-war reconstruction.

The picture was supplemented by Dmitry Mileev (IB RAS), who spoke about Japan's reaction to events in the Arab world, taking into account the interests of this power in the region. Official Tokyo, while supporting the movement of countries towards democracy, is primarily interested in ensuring uninterrupted supplies of hydrocarbons and the safety of maritime transport routes. In this regard, Japan is ready to support Arab countries in carrying out modernization. In general, Japan's policy towards the states of the region remains reactive, D. A. Mileev concluded.

G. I. Smirnova (IB RAS) in her report "The role of network technologies in events in the Middle East" noted that access to the Internet and information technologies was one of the factors that determined the course of protests in Arab countries.

The impact of events in the Arab countries in 2011 on the Muslim Ummah of Tatarstan was analyzed by R. R. Suleymanov (Volga Region Center for Regional and Ethno-Religious Studies RISS). Over the past 20 years, Tatarstan has become a territory that is increasingly attracting the attention of the Arabian monarchies, who seek to influence this region through the spread of the Wahhabi trend in Islam. The strengthening of these countries as a result of the "Arab spring", according to R. R. Suleymanov, along with the internal Russian reasons for the radicalization of Tatarstan Muslims, is a new challenge, which actualizes the need to counteract religious influence from outside.

The topic of the impact of events in the Arab world on international and intercivilizational relations was considered by V. V. Popov (MGIMO (U) MFA) in the report "Arabs from the spring of revolutions to the autumn of rulers". Given the growing social discontent in the US and EU countries, and the strengthening of the positions of right-wing parties, the civilizational divide between the Western and Islamic worlds will be felt more and more clearly. In these conditions, the role of Russia, which, due to its history and geography, has constantly acted as a link between East and West, between Europe and Asia, is objectively increasing, V. V. Popov noted.

The situation in certain Arab countries is the subject of reports by V. A. Kuznetsov (Institute of Internal Affairs of the Russian Academy of Sciences) "The political space of Tunisia in the post-revolutionary period: preliminary results and immediate prospects" and E. V. Pavlutskaya (Institute of Internal Affairs of the Russian Academy of Sciences) "Moroccan experience of political modernization from above". The first speaker expressed the opinion that the" jasmine revolution " in Tunisia not only gave an impetus to a radical transformation of the political space of the country and the region, but also marked serious ideological changes that go far beyond North Africa and the Middle East: the end of the era of postmodern worldview and the onset of a kind of ideological neorealism. The next speaker noted that Morocco was an example of successful modernization from above and some Westernization

under the leadership of the monarchical elite, which agreed to constitutional reform and found an adequate response to the demands of the opposition.

E. D. Eshba (IB RAS) spoke about the Circassian community's reaction to the events in the Arab world. The fact that the descendants of immigrants from the North Caucasus in Libya opposed the head of the Jamahiriya Muammar Gaddafi, and in Syria, on the contrary, supported President Bashar al-Assad, shows that the Circassian community in Arab countries is not always the support of the authorities, as is usually assumed. Eshba also touched upon the issue of possible migration of representatives of the North Caucasian community to Russia or Turkey in the event of a sharp increase in violence in the countries of the "Arab Spring".

The section ended with a report by D. A. Belashchenko and M. Y. Borodina (NSU) entitled "The main socio-political and economic causes of popular uprisings in Arab countries". They emphasized the economic causes and impact of the global financial crisis on the Arab world and noted that even anti-Western forces that come to power in Arab countries will be forced to maintain close trade and economic relations with foreign countries, since their states are closely integrated into the world economy.

The session of the History section was opened with a report by Dmitry Mishin (Institute of History of the Russian Academy of Sciences) entitled "The creation of the Sasanian State and changes in Arab Society". He considered the features of the ethnocultural interface of the Sasanian model of power relations and the values of the Arab tribal periphery. Emphasizing the originality and independence of statehood under the early Sassanids, D. E. Mishin at the same time showed the continuity of the attitude to the Arabian tribal groups of the Sassanids and their predecessors - the Achaemenids and Parthian kings. According to D. E. Mishin, the complex balance of power between Ctesiphon and the leaders of northern Arabia characterized the entire pre-Islamic history of relations between the imperial center and the Arabian "provinces". At the same time, the Arabians were viewed by the Sasanian elite as useful but self-willed allies in the context of the geopolitical confrontation between Iran and the Roman Empire.

V. V. Orlov (Institute of History of the Russian Academy of Sciences) in his report "Problems of modernization in the works of Moroccan Alims (the second half of the XIX century)" considered two approaches of traditional servants of Islam to modernization: one of them, based on the need to "save the benefits of the community", led the Alims to a creative perception of borrowing from Europe. The other approach was based on the fear of transformation as a vehicle for foreign interference, the threat of destroying the age-old spiritual and legal order and the collapse of the country's political independence. The speaker showed the inconsistency of their ideological aspirations on the examples of legal experts ' criticism of the projects and actions of Moroccan sultans in tax, export policy, and especially in the military-technical sphere. Analyzing the works of major representatives of Salafi thought in the 19th century (Ahmad al-Nasiri and Ali al-Samlali), V. V. Orlov came to the conclusion that their worldview was very pragmatic and rational, and they understood the sources of European material power, and then focused on their assessment of modernization as the only way to overcome European interference in Morocco's affairs.

N. A. Zherlshchyna (Institute of Africa of the Russian Academy of Sciences) in the report " Tunisian experience of modernization in the late 1980s and early 1990s."I have made a historical, economic and sociological analysis of the reforms implemented during the reign of Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali. Noting the positive aspects of Tunisian development at the end of the 20th century, such as the secular nature of official policies, the development of the education system, gender equality that is not typical for Arab countries, the large and relatively high culture of the middle class, the widespread use of the Internet and the focus of the economy on cooperation with the EU, the speaker also N. A. Zherlitsyna described the high level of government corruption under the Ben Ali-Trabelsi clan as a significant reason for mass discontent with the reforms of the 1980s and 1990s. This circumstance, as suggested by the speaker, coupled with the authoritarian-police nature of the political regime in Tunisia, contributed to the spread of ideas of Islamic fundamentalism as an alternative to the official ideology among the poor Tunisians and part of the middle class.

In the report of G. N. Valiakhmetova (Bashkir State Pedagogical University). uni-t) "The institution of the head of state as a factor of political stability: unknown pages in the history of monarchical Iraq" based on little-known facts, the essence of the monarchy as a stabilizing principle in a fragmented ethnically, religiously and culturally Iraqi society was revealed. Referring to the characterization of the personalities and political activities of Kings Faisal and Ghazi I, as well as the regent Malo-

according to Ghazi II Abd al-Ilaha, G. N. Valiakhmetova sees in their internal political course the prerequisites for the country's evolutionary development, while the forces opposed to the monarchy (primarily the Iraqi National Party, politicians grouped around the Al-Ahali newspaper, and after World War II the Baath Party) relied on a revolutionary change in the situation A decisive confrontation with Great Britain is also in their favor. The speaker shared her observations on the role of ethnic minorities (Assyrians, Kurds) in the political life of Iraq in the 20 - 50s and outlined the reasons for the weakening of the consolidating role of the monarchy, which contributed to the outbreak of revolutionary violence in 1958 and the proclamation of a military dictatorship under the guise of a republic.

I. H. Minyazhetdinov (Institute of Internal Affairs of the Russian Academy of Sciences) discussed the topic of internal politics in Iraq and the consolidation of Iraqi society in opposition to external forces in the report "Some factors of transformation of the political space of post-war Iraq". Leaving out the reasons and course of the US occupation of Iraq in 2003, he focused on the activities of Iraqi Shiites, especially the Mahdi Army, led by the influential al-Sadr family in Shiite circles. As the speaker has shown, in the 2000s, this organization successfully challenged the control of a number of districts of Baghdad, as well as Basra, Najaf and Karbala, from the coalition forces and the new authorities. Having developed a panorama of rivalry between Shiite organizations (the Mahdi Army, the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, and the Ad-Da'awa party), I. H. Minyazhetdinov concluded that the activities of the Sunni and Shiite opposition will contribute not so much to the unity of Iraqi society in the struggle to end the American presence, but to its further sectarian separation.

N. Berenkova's report "Hezbollah's position on the events of the Arab Spring "concluded the discussion of the current problems of political life in Arab countries. She stressed the importance of Hizbullah's allied relations with Iran in terms of evaluating all the statements and actions of the organization's leaders. In this regard, Berenkova believes that criticism of the US military-political alliance with repressive autocratic regimes in Arab countries remains a key component of Hezbollah's propaganda. The speaker also focused on the prospects of religious and political mobilization of the Shiite youth of Lebanon in the light of the events of the so-called Arab revolutions.

Thus, the conference continued the traditional discussion by Arabists of the Institute of Oriental Studies and their colleagues from other organizations of topical issues of modernity and the history of the Arab East, which has become traditional since 1995.

After the work of the sections was completed, the presentation of the Arabic version of the online magazine "New Eastern Outlook"was held. The event was opened by the editor-in-chief of the Online Magazine G. G. Kovtunov (IV RAS). V. L. Mikhin (Russian Academy of Natural Sciences) and A. Z. Yegorin, Head of the Russian-Arab Dialogue Research Center (IV RAS), addressed the audience, who noted the importance of the appearance of such an analytical journal in the Russian Internet space and its accessibility not only for Russian but also for foreign readers.

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