Around the Caspian: a Political Process in the Dialogue of Civilizations

Abstract

The article deals with the monograph of the famous political scientist and Buddhologist B.U. Kitinov «Civilization Foundations of the Political Process», dedicated to the analysis of the political potential of the only Buddhist region on the map of Europe – Kalmykia, in connection with its civilizational dynamics at the crossroads of different religious and spiritual traditions and practices. The strength of the monograph is a thorough study by the author of modern Western European and domestic theories on the problems of sustainable regional development and security. The author offers his vision of the influence of system-forming civilizational factors on the dynamics of relevant political processes not only in the Caspian region, but also outside it: in the Russian Federation, the European Union, and wider in Eurasia. Controversial issues include the author’s statement about the stabilizing influence on the political process in the region of the Buddhist civilizational presence, as well as insufficiently clear presentation of his own author’s concept on this issue, which has sunk somewhat in private argumentation.

Keywords

• the caspian region
• russia
• europe
• eurasia
• the political process
• civilization
• security
• religion
• buddhism
• orthodoxy
• islam
• interfaith dialogue