Go to previous
page Go to main
page of site
From the Editors
This volume is the first encyclopedia in
the world dedicated to the problems of globalization and to the basic trends of
global development. It has been prepared by a large international group of
authors (278 people) in both English and Russian editions and contains about
430 entries reflecting the most significant achievements in the field of global
studies accumulated within the last 30 years in Russia and abroad.
This publication appears in a period of
worldwide attention to the process of globalization, the consequences of which
are universally significant and potentially dangerous. Since the 1960s the
world scholarly community has been involved in studying these consequences. As
a result, a new broad interdisciplinary field of studies emerged – global
studies – embracing achievements of many disciplines exploring globalization
and those global problems, crises, and contradictions that it engenders. The
scholarly literature on this topic is vast; heated discussions headlined in
scholarly periodicals and mass media are held. At the same time, neither in
Russia nor abroad can one find encyclopedic and analytical books covering the
basic theories, concepts, and trends in global studies, containing the newest
facts about the changes occurring, the organizations and persons involved, etc.
This publication is designed to bridge this gap.
Another reason for publishing this
distinctive encyclopedia is the fact that although extensive research in global
studies is being conducted in many countries of the world, this work is, in
fact, not coordinated globally. The academic ties among scholars working on the
same tasks in various corners of the planet are far from being satisfactory. To
change this situation, 278 scholars from 28 countries (Russia, the United States, Canada, China, India, the United Kingdom,
Germany, Japan, Israel, Turkey, Mexico, Ireland, Iran, Finland, Switzerland,
Greece, Australia, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Poland, Serbia, the Ukraine,
Belarus, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, Estonia) were invited to
take part in the preparation of this volume. They represent social, natural,
and exact sciences and approach the problems of globalization from the
perspectives of ecology, economics, political science, culture studies, law,
and other disciplines. There are also politicians, social activists, and
governmental officials among the contributors. The full list of authors may be
found at the end of the volume.
Effective coordination of the work of
this large international team, including selection of terms and entries and
simultaneous editing of the Russian and English volumes within a short period
of time (less than two years), was possible due to the use of the newest
technologies of interdisciplinary cooperation of scholars and other
specialists. These technologies include virtual communication, e-mail, the
Internet, and participation by the authors in academic communities and
organizations that contributed to spreading the initial information about this
project.
All entries are signed and selected on
the basis of competition specially for this publication. Preference was given
to articles reflecting the new directions and methods of research, dealing with
the new fields of knowledge, and formulating unresolved problems along with
evaluating their significance and demonstrating the prospects for their
theoretical and practical solution. Most of the entries reveal the origins of a
term; some are accompanied by a reference list composed of the most valuable
and up-to-date publications on the problem in question. Unfortunately, it was
impossible to publish all the references suggested by authors.
Since articles were selected on a
competitive basis, some important entries may be composed of articles by two
authors and more. This allows scholars across countries and disciplines to
approach one topic from various viewpoints providing a stereoscopic and
polyphonic vision of the most complex issues. Some contributions include
statistic data, tables, graphs, and pictures submitted by authors or taken from
the other respected sources.
The high scholarly quality of this
publication was achieved thanks to the efforts of the Editorial Board uniting
influential and well-known Russian and foreign scholars, many of them being
full and corresponding members of the Russian Academy of Sciences and other academies,
as well as prominent politicians and leaders of some of the largest Russian and
international organizations, academic communities, and governmental bodies. All
of them contributed full-length articles written specially for this volume.
The entries are situated in alphabetical
order. They fully reflect twenty basic directions in contemporary global
studies formulated clearly in the process of making this Encyclopedia. The
vocabulary structure of the volume is unprecedented in Russian and foreign literature.
It is a result of intense creative work not only by the editors, but also by
the whole interdisciplinary international team of authors whose members
contributed on the topics of their specialization. To assist readers in finding
a needed term, the terms are classified in accordance with the basic research
fields in global studies.
The
Encyclopedia has been composed and published by TsNPP “Dialog” with scholarly
and methodological support from the Russian Philosophical society and the
Russian Ecological Academy and with the participation of an international
non-governmental organization “Concerned Philosophers for Peace” and the
Paideia Project of Boston University (U.S.A.). This also made this publication
not only a reliable reference book but a guide for future explorations of the
basic development trends in the contemporary world.
We think that the Encyclopedia will find
its devoted readers in Russia and abroad and that its dissemination in many
countries of the world will contribute to promoting academic cooperation,
political dialogue, and mutual understanding among nations having different
values, traditions, and beliefs. It is intended for both academics and the
general reader; it may be useful for people of various ages and occupations.
We
express our gratitude to the members of the Editorial Board, to the editors and
authors of the Encyclopedia, as well as to the translators and operating stuff
– to all who contributed their knowledge, experience, and skills into the
preparation of this volume.