On June 13-16, 2006, the IV International Conference "Hierarchy and Power in the History of Civilizations" was held in Moscow, organized by the Center for Civilizational and Regional Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Africa of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and the Faculty of History, Political Science and Law of the Russian State Pedagogical University. The following participants participated in the financing of the conference:: Institute of Africa of the Russian Academy of Sciences, RSUH and Uchitel Publishing House (Volgograd). 145 scientists took part in the conference: 64 colleagues from 32 foreign countries and 81 from 13 Russian cities; the work was carried out in 21 sections. In total, more than 150 reports and presentations were made. Abstracts of reports and applications for sections are published in the thirteenth volume of the "Civilizational Dimension" series, published by the Institute of Africa of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Center for Civilizational and Regional Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences [Fourth International Conference "Hierarchy and Power in the History of Civilizations", ed. by D. D. Belyaev and D. M. Bondarenko, Moscow: Institute of Africa of the Russian Academy of Sciences 2006; Fourth International Conference " Hierarchy and Power in the History of Civilizations "(additional issue, ed. by A. D. Savateev, Moscow: Institute of Africa of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 2006). Materials from this conference, as well as from three previous conferences, are available on the CCRI website (http://civreg.ru/)].

The main purpose of the conference was to discuss the phenomenon of hierarchy and power in its spatial and temporal diversity. This discussion contributed to a deeper understanding of the general trends and mechanisms of socio-cultural evolution, the interrelation and interaction of social, political, cultural and economic subsystems of society, as well as the methodology of anthropology, cultural studies, sociology, political science, history, economics, philosophy and a number of other scientific disciplines.

The study of hierarchical and power relations is impossible without studying the cultures and civilizations of the East. Therefore, it seems quite natural that at this conference the work of three sections was devoted to the problems of Oriental studies.

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The section "Hierarchy, State and Civilization in the history of Africa" (head - A. D. Savateev) was devoted to the analysis of the dynamics of interaction between cultural and political processes. The task of the leaders and speakers was both to discuss traditional forms of social and political hierarchy in Africa and to analyze the functioning of these forms in the context of modernization. The subject of the study was the relationship of the state, traditional institutions and network communities on the African continent in the pre-colonial and colonial periods, as well as at the present time. In the course of this section, the following reports were made: E. E. Lebedeva (IMEMO RAS) "Politogenesis and civilizational transitions"; V. A. Popov (MAE RAS-Kunstkamera, St. Petersburg) "Network structures as a factor of politogenetic processes in pre-colonial and post-colonial Tropical Africa"; N. A. Ksenofontova (Institute of Africa) "Problems of hierarchy and power in traditional African society in the tender dimension"; A.D. Savateev (Institute of Africa) "Sharia law in Tropical Africa as an expression of the hierarchy of values of Islamic civilization"; V. R. Arsenyev (MAE RAS-Kunstkamera) "Hunters and the modern political process in West African countries"; V. S. Koshelev (BSU, Minsk) "Historical experience of Mahdiya in Sudan"; E. S. Lvova (ISAA at Moscow State University) "The Status of the Emperor of Ethiopia as a result of the interaction of civilizations"; I. A. Fridman (ISAA) "Queen Judith/Gudit and Ethiopian Christianity: a Dark Spot in Ethiopian History"; N. V. Kosheleva (BSU) "Historical experience of Liberian Statehood"; V. T. Shubin (Institute of Africa) "Crisis in Zimbabwe: causes and Consequences"; A. V. Voevodsky (RSUH) " Autochthonous societies of South Africa in the pre-colonial period: on the nature of interethnic and intercommunal interactions"; G. V. Shubin (Institute of African Studies) "Possible options for social development of South Africa in the context of modern statehood"; A. N. Kasimova (Institute of African Studies) " Socio-economic situation in the Western Cape: growing tensions?" Yu. Seregichev (RSUH) " Sudan: running in a circle (social and civilizational factors of political evolution)"; A. Yu. Siim (MAE RAS-Kunstkamera) "Attributes of power at the permanent exhibition" Cultures of the peoples of Africa " in MAE RAS (Kunstkamera)".

Directly related to the main topic of the conference was the problems of the section " Power structure and hierarchy in the Empire of Genghis Khan in a cross-cultural perspective "(head-N. N. Kradin, Institute of History, Archeology and Ethnography of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Vladivostok). The objectives of this section were to identify the principles of organizing hierarchical and power relations in the Genghis Khan empire, determine its place in world-system processes, and search for the causes of nomadic empires. This problem was reflected in the reports made at the session of the section: N. N. Kradin "The role of the stateless empire of Genghis Khan in the evolution of the Afro-Eurasian world system"; 77. Turun (University of Connecticut, Storrs, USA) "Model of the formation of" mirror empires "on the steppe border"; T. D. Skrynnikova (IMBiT Co., Moscow). Ulan-Ude) "The struggle for power in the Mongolian ulus on the edge of the XII-XII centuries"; Yu. M. Drobyshev (Institute of Ecology and Evolution) "Climate and Khans".

The section " Structure and legitimation of power in ancient societies of North-East Africa, the Near and Middle East "(head-I. A. Ladynin, Moscow State University) was devoted to the study of a wide range of relationships between societies of various types (related to all forms of social evolution, according to the classification of I. Dyakonov) and their ideologies related to the construction and legitimization political structures. The following reports were made during the section: A. A. Tishkin (Altai State University, Barnaul)" Doubly best people" in ancient and medieval societies of Eurasia: prospects for studying the phenomenon based on archaeological data"; A. A. Tishkin, P. K. Dashkovsky (Altai State University, Barnaul)""The best people" among the nomads of Gorny Altai in the Scythian era".

During the work of the sections that are not entirely devoted to Oriental studies, a number of reports were also made that are of interest to scientists in the humanities, in particular for specialists in Oriental studies.

During the opening plenary session of the conference, C. Cioffi-Revilla (Univ. George Mason, Fairfax, USA) he made a presentation on "The canonical theory of the origin and development of social complexity".

The task of the section " Anthropology of Europe: The Limits of Political Centralization "(headed by P. Skalnik, Pardubice University, Czech Republic; A. Barrera-Gonzalez, Complutense University, Madrid, Spain) was to conduct an anthropological study of centripetal and centrifugal processes in the context of modern European integration. Review of scum-

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There were questions about the potential for the emergence of pan-European values, the relationship between the center and the periphery (and related identities), the formation of supranational institutions, and the prospects for EU expansion to the east.

The section "Cosmopolitanism, Globalism and Nationalism: (not) stable Identities in the former Soviet Union and former Yugoslavia" (head - A. Devic, Aarhus University, Denmark) was devoted to ideologies and everyday practices of forming global and nationalist identities in the two above-mentioned post-socialist regions. This section examined the impact of the globalization process on the film industry, changing the balance between national, nationalist and cosmopolitan projects. Attention was also paid to the perspectives of transnational identities and social networks in European and global contexts.

The issues of correlation between the cultural and political borders of Europe, the dissolution of national and ethnic cultures in the course of European integration, and the prospects for integration of immigrants into the societies of European countries were discussed at the section " Europe as a political and cultural integrity: a dialogue of Civilizations or a civilization of dialogue? "(headed by E. B. Demintseva, Center for Civilizational and Regional Studies, Moscow; Vol. Atnashev, Institute of European Studies, Florence, Italy).

The section "Hierarchy and Power before and after Revolutions" was devoted to sociological, political, and historical studies of the changing role of groups and classes in modern states. Imam Khomeini University, Iran).

The importance of a number of political and cultural factors for the history of mankind (such as ideology and legitimization of power, legal institutions, governmental, non-governmental and international organizations, hierarchy and heterarchy) was discussed at the section " Human Rights in the History of Civilizations "(initiator of the section meeting - P. Busapatumrong, University of Asia, Thailand; head - M. S. Ahluwalia, Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla, India).

The section "Interpretation of violence: confessional, national, generational and personal" was conventionally divided into two parts (head-Sh. Rom, General Defence Staff, Ottawa, Canada). The first part focused on the connection between faith and violence: the idea of a "Holy War" among the Crusaders, the use of force in the Jewish tradition, and the cultural codes of the Russian-language Israeli media when covering the intifada were analyzed. The second part was devoted to the interpretation of violence at the national level: the subject of discussion was an analysis of attitudes to violence in Denmark during the Second World War and Canada during the Cold War, as well as attitudes to violence in the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union.

The section " Modern mass media and the public sphere: new problems and opportunities for democracy "(head-V. V. Usacheva, Center for Civilizational and Regional Studies, Moscow), which included both theoretical and empirical research, was devoted to the following scientific problems: the public sphere; the role of modern media in maintaining civil society institutions and democracy; public discourses, their competitiveness and hierarchical relations.

Sessions of the section "Network Cultures: Cultural Differences in Competitive Spaces" (head-P. Mertenbeck, University of London, Great Britain) were devoted to discussing the dynamics and potentials of recently emerged socio-political network structures, as well as the ways in which they re - conceptualize socio-political organization through innovative forms of space use.

The section "Power and Identity in Multicultural Societies" (head-V. R. Filippov, Center for Civilizational and Regional Studies, Moscow) examined the relationship between power and ethnicity in the political practice of modern multinational states and quasi-states.

The section "Power and ideology among the Maya of the northern Lowlands" (led by J. M. Shaw, Redwoods College, USA) was devoted to reconstructing the forms of socio - political organization and ideological justifications of hierarchy among the ancient Maya according to archaeological research. A number of reports discussed the possibility of the Maya having several forms of socio-political organization at the same time.

The section was devoted to the discussion of mathematical modeling of historical processes - both the general theory of social evolution and the results of applied research

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"Sociohistorical dynamics: patterns, directions, mechanisms and mathematical models "(supervisors-A. V. Korotaev, D. A. Khalturina, Center for Civilizational and Regional Studies, Moscow).

The section "African, Ancient and Modern Slavery: Power, Theory and data" (head-M. Goodman, University of York, Toronto, Canada) considered the problems of power and hierarchy in slave societies. Special attention was paid to issues of power and ideological hegemony, as well as challenges to the authorities expressed in the form of riots and resistance.

The section "Status, society, accusation: concepts and forms of "accusation" and" investigation "from antiquity to the Renaissance" (head-N. A. Selunskaya, IVI RAS / RSUH) was devoted to the concepts of culpa, accusation and inquisition in various social contexts. The reports focused on patterns of social behavior in situations of accusation, confirmation of status and rights in antiquity, the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.

The section " Cossack communities, identity and power in the Eurasian space in the XVI-XX centuries "(head-S. M. Markedonov, Institute of Political and Military Analysis, Moscow) discussed the following issues: typology of Cossack communities; history of the Cossacks; Cossacks as a political myth and political ideal of public thought in Russia, Ukraine and other countries european countries.

The problem of distribution of nominal and real powers of power between rulers and societies as a whole as one of the main issues of studying hierarchy as a means of social (self -) development.organizations were considered at the section " The Ruler and the socio-cultural norm in the Ancient and Medieval world "(head-A. A. Nemirovsky, IVI).

The section " Transitions, Interactions and Transformations of hierarchical structures and social networks at the end of the XX - beginning of the XXI century "(headed by A. G. Lutsky, Government of Moscow, Russia; O. I. Kavykin, Center for Civilizational and Regional Studies) focused on the following issues (including the example of African countries): power transfer from hierarchical structures to social networks; institutionalization of subcultures and replacement of the network principle of organization by a hierarchical one; methods of transformation of hierarchies and networks; the principle of complementarity in the coexistence of networks and hierarchical structures; global and local trends.

Anthropologists, philosophers, historians, political scientists, sociologists, and religious scholars participated in the free section divided into two subsections: 1) " Hierarchy and Power in the History of ancient and Medieval Civilizations "(head-D. D. Belyaev, Center for Civilizational and Regional Studies / Faculty of History, Political Science and Law, RSUH); 2) "Hierarchy and power in the history of modern and contemporary civilizations" (head-I. L. Alekseev, RSUH).

Summing up, it should be noted that the IV Conference was distinguished by the same interdisciplinary nature as the previous ones: philosophers, anthropologists, historians, archaeologists, cultural scientists, philologists, and specialists in other fields of knowledge participated in its work, which contributed to a multi-faceted and, consequently, deeper study of the phenomenon of hierarchy and power. It should also be noted that the high scientific level of both domestic and foreign scientists (including young ones), which is traditional for the conferences "Hierarchy and Power in the History of Civilizations", was demonstrated. The benefits obtained by Russian researchers from communicating with their foreign colleagues are also indisputable.

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