Monthly Archives: June 2023

Abstract

The paper investigates models expressed by equations with higher-grade spatial derivatives which are devised for describing transport phenomena in nanosystems. Particular attention is addressed to the Guyer-Krumhansl equation as a prototype of equations with higher-grade terms. First the thermodynamic consistency of the equation is investigated and conclusions are found for appropriate properties of the coefficients. Next a rather new approach is developed in that evolution equations are not given from the outset but are determined by applying a representation formula that makes the consequences of the second law directly operative. In this approach the free energy, the entropy flux, and the entropy production are considered as constitutive functions that eventually generate the desired evolution equation. Some equations derived in this way prove to be highly non-linear. The approach though leads also to simple models such as the one expressedby the well-known Maxwell-Cattaneo equation.

Keywords

Heat conduction in nanosystems, Higher-grade derivatives, Non-local equations, Guyer-Krumhansl equation

Introduction

In nanoscale systems the heat carrier mean free path may result comparable with the geometric dimensions. While equilibrium properties are well established within statistical mechanics [1], the order of dimensions explains why the literature shows a deep attention to heat transport equations of non-local character at the macroscopic level (see, e.g. [2-4]). Among the approaches involved in the derivation of macroscopic equations it is worth mentioning the recourse to the Boltzmann equation [5], phonon hydrodynamics models [6] or arguments within non-equilibrium thermodynamics [7]. The thermal properties of crystals at low temperatures is often modelled by the Guyer-Krumhansl equations for heat conduction [8]. For definiteness, in the uncoupled harmonic limit the equation for the heat flux reads

where the superposed dot is the time derivative and ∇ is the gradient operator. Within continuum physics, eq. (1) can be viewed as a rate equation for q where q˙ depends linearly on q itself, a source field r and the second-grade gradients ∇∇q. Owing to the derivation within the kinetic theory and the associated approximations, it is natural to inquire about the thermodynamic consistency within continuum physics. Further, we may look for generalizations suggested by the continuum context. For instance, we may view λ, ν, ζ as constants but even more generally as temperature dependent parameters. Thermodynamically the analysis of (1) is of interest within the so called rational thermodynamics [9] also because so far investigations have been mainly performed through other approaches (see, e.g., [10]). Further, we observe that, in general, the thermodynamic restrictions involve inner products and leave the transverse (orthogonal) parts of vectors or tensors fully undetermined. The application of an appropriate representation formula allows us to look for the general structure of thermodynamically-consistent constitutive equations.This paper has a twofold purpose. First, to examine the validity of the thermodynamic consistency of rate equations like (1) with temperature dependent coefficients. Secondly, to apply the representation formula for the rate q˙ so that a generalization is given of eq.(1) and higher-grade terms, compatible with thermodynamics, are determined.

Representation Formula

The body under consideration occupies the region Ω in the three- dimensional space. Given an origin O, with any point of the body is associated a vector position x. We denote by ∇ = ∂_x the gradient operator. For any vector, say f , we define the norm |f | by |f | = (f · f )^1/2. The symbol Skw denotes the set of skew-symmetric tensors.

Let w, f be two vectors. Letting we have

2 above

If w is subject to

w · f = g (2)

then

then kinda

If the transverse part w_⊥ is undetermined then we can represent it in the form

thenkinda

where u is an arbitrary vector. Hence, in view of (2) we can represent w in the form

A number of applications of this representation formula, and of the analogous one for tensors, are developed in refs [11,12].

Thermodynamic Consistency of the Rate Equation

Let ε be the internal energy density, per unit mass, and ρ the mass density. The assumption that the body is rigid makes ρa constant. The balance of energy can be written in the form

where q is the heat flux, r is the energy supply, and the superposed dot denotes the time derivative.

Let θ be the absolute temperature and η the entropy density. The balance of entropy is expressed by

4 kinda

where k is the extra-entropy flux and is the entropy production. Substitution of ρr – ∇.q from the balance of energy (4) and using the free energy

be the set of variables. We then assume η , k, ϒ , q˙ are continuous functions of r and continuously differentiable. Indeed we first let q˙ be given by (1) and allow λ, ν, ζ depend on the temperature θ. Compute ψ and substitute in (5) to obtain

To avoid lengthy calculations we observe that replacing q˙ through (1) leads to

as far as the dependence on ∇∇θ and ∇∇∇θ is concerned. The arbitrariness and symmetry of ∇∇θ and ∇∇∇θ imply , in that

and the like for . Though not necessary we put

Thus it follows . Moreover the arbitrariness of and implies

Hence eq. (6) simplifies to

which is a restriction on the functions and λ, ν, ζ For definiteness we let

789

and is constant. Hence which is consistent with the condition Incidentally, in stationary and uniform conditions , eq. (1) reduces to the Fourier form

In light of the results (9) we infer

infer after

thus showing that the heat conductivity is required to be positive. In addition, the entropy production is

and then

Since is the specific heat, we guarantee the condition by letting

In summary, we have considered the rate equation for q, as given from the outset in the form (1), and have determined conditions for the thermodynamic admissibility. Instead, we now start with the Clausius-Duhem inequality (5) and look for possibly more general thermodynamically-consistent rate equations for q.

Generalized Rate Equations

Rate equations are now derived by appealing to the Clausius-Duhem inequality (5) and the representation formula (3). We continue to let be the set of variables and assume Hence eq. (6) reads

F 1

Since ψ, k, and ϒ are independent of then the arbitrariness of implies again the classical relation

For definiteness we keep assuming

Hence it follows that

We then apply the representation formula (3) with the identifications

Hence the general representation of q˙ is

where u is an arbitrary vector-valued function of

Models with k = 0

If k = 0 then (11) simplifies to

If also u = 0 then we can write

In one-dimensional settings (x-direction) we have

More interestingly, let Equation (12) becomes

The particular case results in

that is the Maxwell-Cattaneo equation [13,14] with relaxation time and heat conductivity

Models with K ≠ O

First we let u = 0 and observe that, by (11), in a non-linear form.

By analogy with eq. (1) we assume

where is the second-order tensor with components . Hence eq. (11) can be written in the form

Notice that

where the prime 0 means differentiation with respect to temperature.

Hence we obtain

after notice 2

If, rather, we let be constants then results in the addition of a term proportional to but also a term in the expression of q˙ . This shows the qualitative role of u in the formulation of constitutive equations. As an aside, observe that the flux is given in [15]; here the whole value of k is established by (9) subject to the constancy of

Conclusions

Models of nanosystems within continuum physics are often established by using highergrade spatial derivatives so as to account for the mean free path of particles comparable with the geometric dimensions. This paper addresses attention to the Guyer-Krumhansl equation (1) as a prototype of equations with higher-grade terms. Owing to the kinetic derivation of (1) it is natural to contrast the equation with the basic requirements of continuum physics. Here this is performed in relation to the thermodynamic consistency namely the compatibility with the second law via the Clausius-Duhem inequality. Definite conclusions are shown to follow if attention is confined to appropriate coefficients constant along with the requirements (9)).

Next a rather new approach is developed in that evolution equations are determined by applying a representation formula that makes the consequences of the second law directly operative. In this approach we consider the free energy, the entropy flux, and the entropy production as constitutive functions that eventually generate the desired evolution equation. Some equations derived in this way prove to be highly non-linear.

It seems then that this way is profitable in establishing involved higher-grade equations within continuum physics. The approach though leads also to simple models such as the one expressed by the well-known Maxwell-Cattaneo equation.

Acknowledgments

The research leading to this work has been developed under the auspices of INDAM-GNFM.

References

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Zhu CY, You W, Li ZY (2017) Nonlocal effects and slip heat flow in nanolayers. Sci Reports 7:9568.
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Collecting Evidence and Testimonies of Severe Human Rights Violations – The Importance of the Mind

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DOI: 10.31038/AWHC.2023621

Abstract

Especially since the recent atrocities in Ukraine and Iran, but also in Syria and China, the close interaction between psychological recovery of survivors, and efforts to investigate and prosecute severe human rights violations has become an issue of concern. Investigations and the collection of evidence, especially witness statements, are conducted by national and international authorities, including international courts, but also by NGOs and journalists. While preservation of evidence, that should be guided by the relevant UN/WMA standard, the “Istanbul Protocol” and witness statements, are an important and necessary part of such investigations, the protection of already psychologically distressed or even traumatized victims against suffering and traumatizing interviews or re-traumatization has become a concern in international, such as EU, standards, and is also mentioned in the Istanbul Protocol as reference standard, but without giving sufficient concrete guidance. Mental health is an important part in this process, as outlined in this article. An interdisciplinary working group of the World Psychiatric Association Scientific Section on Psychological Consequences of Persecution and Torture has developed and tested a new standard protocol that is recommended to be used when interviewing survivors of extreme human rights violations to address this concerns, especially in the context of the important global efforts to involve direct and indirect victims such as family members in collecting evidence as important first step in identifying, documenting, investigating and prosecuting such crimes.

Keywords

Human rights, Torture, Genocide, War, Therapeutic justice, Psychology, Victims

Human rights violations, and especially those usual described as “extreme violations” such as torture, war crimes, or genocidal actions, are not only destructive to societies, but also have been demonstrated to have severe, often lifelong impact on the mental health of individuals and communities, including transgenerational trauma transmission [1] and epigenetic sequels [2-4]. They must be seen as the probably at present most severe challenges to public mental health [5,6]. New and usually interdisciplinary strategies and interventions targeting not only individuals but communities and societies at large, might have to be developed and implemented, usually in the context of the general mental health and psychosocial services (MHPSS) approach [7,8] recommended by the UN and WHO. In spite of the development of a number of international legal and humanitarian treaty systems and instruments in humanitarian and human rights law, and of monitoring institutions such as the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, of International Criminal courts, and of offices of the UN special rapporteurs on subjects like torture, on the rights of women and children, and on genocide, the impunity of perpetrators is still a major challenge so far not sufficiently addressed in an effective way in national or international courts, except in a few exceptional cases. This means not only that the risk of future violations by the same or other perpetrators or countries must be expected to increase, but also that the suffering of victims will continue or even increase [9,10]. New strategies like the application of the legal principle of Universal Jurisdiction [11], that permits countries to prosecute, arrest and put on trial perpetrators of such extreme violations like torture or other crimes under international law, have been implemented in countries such as Germany, Austria, and France, yielding first results and conviction of some perpetrators. This must be seen as an important tool in the unfortunately common situation, that an efficient investigation and fair legal process is not possible in the country of origin of the victims who are escaping to safer third countries such as EU countries or the United States. Evidence is a strong element necessary in this process [12].

One of the key areas identified in this context, is that of an interdisciplinary approach in the collection of evidence and in the psychological support off survivors and witnesses, who must be expected to suffer by re confrontation with highly traumatic memories during witness statements, medical examination [13], and during the court hearings.

Medical evidence, including especially also psychological evidence, can play an important role in this context, and international standards such as the Minnesota protocol [14] and the recently updated Istanbul protocol (Manual on Effective Investigation and Documentation of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment) [15,16] have been developed and are supported by the United Nations and other international bodies and organisations to ensure proper procedures in examining victims and survivors. The Istanbul protocol also underlines the importance of protecting survivors during examination and during and after the witnessing and investigation process against undue distress and secondary victimisation or re-traumatization by the necessary legal interventions. In a similar way, standards by the European Union (mostly framework directives influencing the legal process in all EU countries), such as the reception guidelines for refugees or the “minimum standards on the rights, support and protection of victims of crime”, have initiated a paradigm shift to underline the importance of such psychological support and protection against secondary trauma in the necessary legal procedures besides legal recommendations.

The EU … states in article 9 of the “crime victims” directive that:

“victims of crime should be protected from secondary and repeat victimisation, from intimidation and from retaliation, should receive appropriate support to facilitate their recovery and should be provided with sufficient access to justice”.

In this context, a number of projects have demonstrated, that giving testimony about human rights violations in an adequate setting can be as or even more important than established medical treatment models or that giving testimony can improve their impact. A probably first example was the “testimony therapy” approach developed in Latin America [17,18] when a legal fight against impunity was impossible during total social control by local dictatorships. Creating a testimony or witness statement against perpetrators of torture by survivors became a key element of this special form of psychotherapy and has inspired also other new treatment approaches [19]. This is an insight that is also used on the level of communities and societies as part of a transitional justice process, for example in so-called truth and reconciliation commissions in South Africa or Rwanda [20-23], though results appear to be not always satisfactory. The discussion compares here the concepts of “restorative” vs. “punitive” justice, but in any case, impunity of perpetrators must be seen as a major challenge to survivors’ psychological health and wellbeing in whatever setting [9]. The EU Network for investigation and prosecution of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes (The Genocide Network), Eurojust and the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court published on 21 September 2023 guidelines for civil society organisations, which seek to collect and preserve information to contribute to investigations and prosecutions at national level or before the ICC on “Documenting international crimes and human rights violations for accountability purposes”.

A necessary conclusion in this context is, that giving witness statements and evidence for example in proper medical examination and court testimony can be an important part of recovery and healing for survivors and witnesses [21], in addition to supporting the legal process.

Unfortunately, neither the before mentioned standard examination protocols, nor the support of survivors of extreme violence are sufficiently covered by most medical curricula.

The interdisciplinary team of the World Psychiatric Association Scientific Section on Psychological Consequences of Persecution and Torture have therefore developed a training programme and protocol to improve the psychological aspects of evidence collection and to protect witnesses and survivors during the legal process or investigation.

The protocol was applied, tested, and modified as part of a project supported by the UN Voluntary Fund for the Victims of Torture, with survivors of human rights violations from Syria and to Ukraine, in collaboration with legal NGOs active in this process and with the WPA section since 2018.

We developed a protocol focusing on the specific steps of the medical accompaniment and required psycho-social support in the context of collecting evidence and testimonies of international crimes and severe human rights violations based on our work experiences and research. In the following part of this article, we want to present this protocol for discussion and dissemination in the international medical and legal communities, considering especially the possible use in the recently started process of universal jurisdiction, International Criminal courts and the collection of evidence for example in Syria and the Ukraine. The protocol also underlines and is referring to the afore- mentioned Istanbul protocol of the United Nations and the World Medical Association, [15,16,24] and is to be seen as supporting, and not replacing this important standard, focusing on the psychological and mental health aspects of examination, witnessing and witness support.

This last aspect is important, but often neglected in forensic settings in the interaction with survivors and witnesses, who can be seen also as indirect victims, probably due to the historical focus of the forensic sciences either on the bodies, or in forensic mental health on evaluation of perpetrators, or on the evaluation of competence.

We see a psychological and/or psychiatric examination as an integral and important part of the above legal process, keeping in mind that this has to consider the stigma against mental health and the possible distress by survivors during re confrontation with traumatic memories, as also culture specific issues such as cultural idioms of distress, that can be part of the evidence [25-27]. We have summarized the key points on the importance of mental health assessment in Table 1.

Table 1: Summary: Relevance of mental health in the examination of witnesses of crimes

tab 1

Guideline and Protocol

The WPA section therefore recommends the following steps:

(Note: For the following process, we recommend an interdisciplinary approach, and installation of a well experienced and trained team)

Preparation of the case. All evidence available should be collected, and translated by lawyers, and for medical findings by the medical team (Medteam). The Medteam will analyse medical data to identify issues as mentioned in attachment I (note: here: Table 1) and familiarize team members with history and experience of the survivor/witness, in order to better prepare for testimony and examination and avoid repetition of details in the examination, to consult with experts knowledgeable of the situation and of transcultural issues, to identify experts or translators to be added to the process. The team leaders will offer legal and psychological training of the legal and medical team, including in the Istanbul Protocol.
Preparatory contact with witness, to present the team, build trust and confidence and the approach in the protocol, identify further issues as in table/attachment, agree on procedures with client, reduce stigma anxiety, provide support to locate and bring medical and other documentation, answer questions in regard to treatment and legal framework
Conduct “Welcome” meeting with support team on arrival for court hearing, psychological preparation and further rapport and trust building, if necessary or adequate in the process, medical or diagnostic interventions.
Offer support during hearings by legal, medical and psychological team members, and if necessary, organize immediate crisis intervention and medical treatment, including interventions to reduce distress. If required they will also provide advice or specific expertise to the court.
Debriefing and measures for stress reduction and relieve immediately after testimony will be offered
Follow up support including psychosocial support (following the Interagency Standing Committee (IASC) mental health and psychosocial services (MHPSS) model [28,29], provision or organization of medical support, and of further expertise as required by court, team or survivor/witness, including contact with local specialized service institutions.

Summary

Providing for mental health aspects in interacting with witnesses of human rights violations is important not only for supporting evidence collection and aiding investigation and prosecution by lawyers, but also addresses the necessary protection of often psychologically severely traumatized, vulnerable and suffering survivors and witnesses. The guideline/protocol offers concrete advice in protecting witnesses during necessary interviews and examinations, as outlined by the UN Istanbul Protocol. This approach has become even more important in the context of present wide spread violations of international humanitarian and human rights laws in Ukraine, Syria and other countries.

References

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Yehuda R, Daskalakis NP, Lehrner A, Desarnaud F, Bader HN, et al. (2014) Influences of maternal and paternal PTSD on epigenetic regulation of the glucocorticoid receptor gene in Holocaust survivor offspring. Am J Psychiatry 171: 872-880. [crossref]
Wenzel T, Kienzler H, Wollmann A (2015) Facing Violence – A Global Challenge. Psychiatr Clin North Am 38: 529-542. [crossref]
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Developer Goals for e-Commerce Startups: Applying AI-enhanced Mind Genomics to Thinking about Everyday Issues

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DOI: 10.31038/PSYJ.2023553

Abstract

Mind Genomics explored responses for an e-commerce website, focusing on a website with ‘deep knowledge’ of the user’s preferences. To understand the application of Mind Genomics in a real-world setting, the timing of the setup and the fielding were limited to a total of 120 minutes. The data were collected in Spring, 2019. Four years later, newly developed AI analysis further interpreted the results. The initial analysis in 2019 deconstructed the ratings assigned by the respondents to vignettes, combinations of messages, describing the website. The respondents used an anchored 5-point scale, with the anchors ‘buy’ and ‘not buy’, respectively. The deconstruction by OLS regression revealed the contribution of each element to the ‘buy’ rating. Clustering the 46 respondents using the 16 coefficients uncovered three Mind-Sets: MS1-Help the client grow, MS2-Client Consulting, and MS3-Generate Leads. Four years later AI was applied to each group in the population, using six standard AI queries applied to all positive elements which were deemed to be strong drivers of ‘buy.’ This paper shows the possibility of rapid and insightful learning on new topics. Learning is promoted through experimental design coupled with human validation, and AI interpretation.

Introduction

The computer, the Internet, the Internet of Things, and the focus on real-time optimization continue to empower our modern age. You can’t go a single day without encountering a constant stream of ads and requests to buy. These advertisements often feature items that have already been purchased or viewed, as well as items left in a shopping cart. They are based on microsecond analyses of the shopping behavior of consumers. The analytic abilities are now so powerful that big data looks antiquated when compared to the small data generated constantly.

This paper explores what could be considered an important issue, the need to improve the flow of information between the customer and the online retailer. Online retailers function best with a large amount of data about their customers.

For roughly a decade, brands and retailers have been promoting their strategies for being “consumer centric” This means that they want to put the customer at the heart of all the work they do. In effect, this puts the consumer into the driver’s seat, with consumers ‘telling the brands’ what brand experience to create for them. When it comes to analyzing consumer behavior and preferences, retail analysts are tasked with interpreting data from consumers – such as sales figures, consumer trends and satisfaction ratings to develop insights for managing the retail enterprise profitably.

Retailers, the brands they carry, and internet service providers are increasingly criticized by privacy advocates and regulators for using data collected from consumers to develop detailed profiles on each one to tailor the commercial experience and to precisely target their messages. In response, most data collectors now offer opt-out methods to limit the data collection, its uses, and sharing with third parties, but doing so is not obvious. There is a widespread growing belief or, at the very least, a loudly expressed recognition, that data created by an individual belongs to them and should be controlled by them, similar to the requirements set forth in the EU’s 2018 General Data Protection Regulation [1].

Our world is inundated with data. As the speed and volume of data increase, our ability to form scientific questions, track trends, or subject the rapid pace of life to scientific inquiry is lost. Amidst massive amounts of data and massive optimization opportunities, it becomes increasingly hard to ‘think slow’.

We are accustomed to the slow, majestic, ingrained, now entrenched system of hypothetico-deductive reasoning [2]. It is a basic concept that scientists, or even individuals, can ‘advance,’ when they form a hypothesis and test it rigorously, trying to falsify the hypothesis. As technology speeds up the production of data and its acquisition, it is also necessary to accelerate knowledge and thought. In the harder sciences like biology and chemistry it may take exceptional creativity to produce knowledge, but in the human-centered sciences this may not be a major problem. With the advancements in computer technology, some paradigm shifts may already be possible [3].

Recurring Issues in the World of More Knowledgeable Websites

With the increasing excitement and, occasionally, almost manic positive responses about websites ‘knowing people’ comes the issue of privacy at the most obvious, but more deeply the morality of machines which have been programmed to learn about people The topic of this paper is the desire of respondents for websites (viz., provider technology) to ‘know them’, or perhaps the opposite, the fear that the machine may know too much, and the consequent loss of privacy. Some of this issue is one’s own desire for privacy, but some of it is the ‘morality’ of machine knowledge about facts relevant to individuals, and the implications of the wide availability of such knowledge. The issue is not ‘all or not’ either, for with knowledge by websites of people comes the smoother operation of interactions, the reduction of annoying, and occasionally harmful friction.

Mind Genomics: The Promise and Vision for the Future

Mind Genomics is a new, emerging science which traces back to three disciplines [4-8]. These are:

Experimental psychology which searches for the causes of human behavior. The specific area of experimental psychology giving rise to Mind Genomics is psychophysics, the discipline which searches for lawful patterns in between what is presented and what we perceive For Mind Genomics that relation is between the words describing a situation and the judgment we say we would make.
Statistics, The respondent reads combinations of elements, messages, describing this ordinary situation, and rates the feeling on a scale provided by the researcher.
Consumer research, which examines how consumers make decisions in everyday life, in which we live, work, succeed or fail. The goal is not to develop a new theory or to disprove an existing one, though these noble endeavors are possible. The only goal is to make sense of these patterns.

It is important now to keep in mind that the effort is more in the world of ‘hypothesis-generating’ than in the world of ‘hypothesis-testing.’ Quite often researchers really have no hypotheses to test but are constrained to do the study as if it were guided by a hypothesis. Mind Genomics does not care about that. It is simply a tool to discover patterns that may be interesting regarding how people think.

The process of Mind Genomics is a simple one, beginning with the question of what do people do about the information they receive as they are instructed to make a decision? Typically, the respondent is presented with the situation, using a simple story, even a single sentence. It is the goal to find regularities and relations within nature. Such discoveries generate the raw material for understanding how people think. When these discoveries are amalgamated from well-done experiments and when they reach critical mass, they form a coherent database, and in turn these coherent databases become the foundation of technology and science.

This study forms part of a new initiative in Mind Genomics which aims to massively accelerate the acquisition of information and insights for everyday life, including topics such as subjective feelings toward e-retailing, including ‘smart websites.’Another motivation is to show, through a research program integrating artificial intelligence and systematized human testing, if the two can be used to reveal aspects of everyday life or even weak signals about changing attitudes.

This study was done in 2019 before the massive expansion of AI into the world of everyday consumer research analytics. The original study was done without any focus on what AI could add to the research effort, but rather focused on what people would want for a system in which they would give up their privacy. The actual data analysis reflects what people were thinking in 2019. The subsequent AI analysis, in turn, was done in the third week, of May 2024, with a view to what the data might mean for a business issue.

The project itself in each phase ran on an accelerated schedule. For the first part of the project, the actual research, the total time involved was less than three hours from start of the project (create the experiment) to the acquisition of analyzed data. For the second part of the project, the AI analysis of the results obtain four years before, the analysis took 30 minutes, consisting of an automated AI-driven reanalysis of the data tables The actual study itself with people came shortly after the first experience integrating AI and Mind Genomic by hand, with AI providing the raw information first, that information transformed into the test stimuli [9]. The effort presented here moves the process in the opposite direction, with AI providing a second, deep analysis of results already obtained.

The First Part of the Project – The Creation and Execution of the Survey with the Respondents

Mind Genomics is now scripted. It follows a templated process which reduces the “angst” of doing experiments as well as the time and effort required to collect data. Experience over a half century has shown that individuals are anxious when asked to “do science.

Mind Genomics scripts are designed to make sure that researchers can present the information in the correct format. In the actual experiment, relevant messages about a subject (called “elements”) are combined into short, easily readable vignettes. A vignette consists of 2-4 messages. People then rate the combinations using a scale. Each respondent ends up rating 24 different vignettes. The vignettes are different for each respondent, but all the elements remain the same [10].

Mind Genomics’ studies have been scripted to allow them to be run on a computer, smartphone, or tablet, with results available in a very short time. The information in Table comes from the study, text taken from the actual input by the researcher, and put together in the report to document the study. The information in Table 1 is available within five minutes after the end of the study, as is the basic analysis. The AI summarization requires an extra 20-30 minutes after the end of the field work. (Table 1)

Table 1: Key information about the study provided by the Excel report.

The setup begins with naming the study and the instructions to provide four questions relevant to the topic of study. Researchers are asked to structure four questions in a way that they “tell a story,” and then provide four answers to each question. Figure 1 shows the template. In 2019, it took several hours to create the four questions for each question and four answers.

Figure 1: The templated request of four questions (left panel) and four answers as used by respondent to manually provide questions and answers.

Since Mind Genomics became available to the public more than 10 years ago as a DIY (do it yourself) technology, there have been many instances where researchers felt overwhelmed with the task of creating the elements.

It is now possible to use artificial intelligence to generate questions. The researcher only needs to write a paragraph into the Idea Coach box in the Mind Genomics template and the AI will return 30 different questions. The Idea Coach technology, which was launched in 2022, was three years after this study was conducted.

Figure 2 shows three additional set up screen shots from BimiLeap. These include the orientation page (left panel), the rating scale (middle panel), and the researcher’s file information about the rationale for the experiment as well as key words for a later search (right panel).

Figure 2: Three setup screen shots for BimiLeap. These are the orientation page (left panel), the rating scale (middle panel) and the file information (right panel).

The researcher can select the respondents’ source using the screen in Figure 3 following the study’s launch. This is done quickly within the BimiLeap software. Respondents are ‘sourced from’ a panel provider that specializes in online surveys. There are a number of panel providers around the world. These panel providers maintain lists of respondents with their qualifications. They are individuals who have agreed, in exchange for a reward from the supplier, to take part in similar studies. The researcher does not need to know about the agreement. The panel provider only needs to find the right respondent.

Figure 3: Sources of respondents selected by the researcher at the end of the project.

Mind Genomics research can include elements (questions, answers, etc.) in many different languages and alphabets. However, the instructions on how to set up the study as it is done by the researchers are only available in a limited number of languages.

The actual experiment with the subject lasted about 3 minutes. The experiment starts with a brief orientation. The respondent then answers a few self-profiling questionnaires (Figure 4, bottom panel). Finally, the BimiLeap program presents 24 different vignettes that have been systematically created. The vignettes contain 2-4 elements, at most one answer to a single question but often no answer to one or two of the questions (see Figure 4, top panel).. It will be this very incompleteness of the combinations which allows the analysis by OLS (ordinary least-squares), and the estimate of absolute values for the coefficients.

Figure 4: Sample four-element vignette (top), and self-profiling classification (bottom).

The experimental design allows for the analysis of each individual’s ratings, respondent by respondent, as well as analysis of groups comprised of any set of 46 respondents who participate in this study. The vignettes have been set up in a way that each person evaluates 24 unique vignettes. This design structure allows the researcher to explore different aspects of a problem without having to select which combination of elements gives the best chance for discovery.

Database Structure, Analysis, and Reports – Total Panel

It is easy to analyze the data because the experiment design has been preselected in a way that all the 24 combinations of different sets are isomorphs. The vignettes are different, but the mathematical structure is identical. The researcher will have a powerful analytical tool that allows them to explore a large part of the “design space” (the combinations). More respondents, and therefore more people, means that more design space will be covered.

A simple database makes it possible to perform the analysis. The database is divided into 24 rows, each of which corresponds with one of the vignettes that a respondent has tested. The database for the study contains 1104 rows, or 46×24, of data. Each respondent contributes 24 rows to the database, one row for each of the 24 vignettes evaluated by that respondent. The Columns are allocated for bookkeeping (row number, how the respondent profiles herself or himself), a column for the order of rating of the 24 vignettes (1-24), then 16 columns to show absence or presence (value 0 or 1) of an element, and finally the assigned rating and the response time. The response time is the number of seconds between the appearance of a vignette and the answer.

The program then creates two binary variables: TOP (ratings 5, 4 transformed into 100) and BOT (ratings 1, 2 and 4 transformed into 100). BimiLeap adds a vanishingly small number of random numbers for each BOT or TOP value to create needed This prophylactic measure ensures the required variability, even if the respondent rates all the vignettes as either 5 or 4 (all transformed TOP become 100) or 1 or 2 (all transformed BOT become 100).

Table 2 shows the parameters of the equation, expressed as: TOP = k0 + k1A1 + k2A2 .. k16D4 . This equation can be estimated accurately because the OLS regression does not have any correlation issues between variables. The coefficients emerging from the OLS are absolute values, so a 5 has half of the value as a 10 It is crucial to understand this necessary property, which allows Mind Genomics to create a science. The researcher can quickly grasp the dynamics in the data revealed by the experiment when the coefficients show the real magnitude of the effects.

Table 2: Elements for the Total Panel which drive TOP (Sounds interesting). Only elements with coefficients > 1 are shown.

As a side note, this vision of absolute coefficients is often counter-intuitive to ‘experts’ who believe that the respondent needs all the information from the different questions to make a decision. Admirable as that point of view is, which ends up presenting complete vignettes to each respondent, the results data is almost impossible to understand, because the absolute coefficients have no meaning. It is only differences which have meaning. There is no possibility of databasing the results unless the entire study is replicated. Only then do the coefficients have meaning.

Table 2 shows the results from the Total Panel, of 46 respondents, each rating a unique set of 24 vignettes. The Table shows us places for the 16 coefficients, along with the additive constant.

This constant indicates the likelihood of respondents saying ‘buy’ in the absence of any element in the vignette. The vignettes are all designed with a minimum of two and maximum four elements. The additive constant can be thought of as a statistical correction factor. On the other hand, we can use this as a base, or a tendency for respondents to respond “buy”. This will help us gain this insight. Table 2 indicates that 45% of the responses will be 5 or 5, when they know what the system is, even when there are no specific elements to qualify the product. We could have measured this change over the years if we had done the same type of experiment.

In the interests of revealing patterns, the convention in this paper and others is to show only positive coefficients of value 2 or higher. Coefficients of 1, 0 and negative are of no interest. The low coefficients indicate that an element’s presence in a vignette “doesn’t add”. This does not necessarily mean the element detracts or is insignificant.

Eight out of 16 elements have coefficients greater than 1. All the rest generate coefficients that are 0 or negative. . However, only one element is really successful, “create amazing ads” with a coefficient of 6. Subgroups are likely to be hiding strong performers, as we shall soon see.

We now move to the AI interpretation of these results from the total panel. AI analysis should only be viewed as a set of tentative observations by a heuristic. AI can provide a quick answer before taking the time to analyze the entire dataset. The BimiLeap report has been upgraded to provide AI responses to the following six queries, using the coefficients for the key subgroup being summarized.

The following are the six queries.

Interested in

Create a label for this segment:

Describe this segment:

Describe the attractiveness of this segment as a target audience:

Explain why this segment might not be attractive as a target audience

Which messages will interest this segment

These queries primarily consider moderate or high performing elements with coefficients greater than +5. The elements with coefficients below 4 are considered, but not relied upon.

The AI summarization of the data, based on the six queries appears in Table 3.

Table 3: AI first scan and interpretation of the strong performing elements for the Total Panel.

Results from Self-profiling Questionnaire

The BimiLeap program instructed respondents to put themselves into one of four groups, based upon how they feel about an outside website having deep knowledge of oneself. Table 4 shows the pattern of coefficients generated by the two polar opposite groups, the first very excited and positive about the situation, the second bothered. As one might expect, the additive constants are higher for the positive group, and much lower for the negative group. Furthermore, there are more strong-performing elements in the positive group. Table 4 shows the coefficients of the elements. Table 5 shows the AI analysis of the patterns.

Table 4: Elements which drive TOP (Buy) for the two key segments emerging from the self-profiling question: How important is it that the website know my mind to give me offers?

Table 5: Elements which drive TOP (Buy) for the three Mind-Sets, emerging from k-means clustering of all the element coefficients from the 46 respondents.

Dividing Respondents According to Mind-Sets Using the Coefficients

The final analysis of the data will be focused on creating Mind-Sets. These are groups of respondents that have been created by using the K-means Clustering Program based upon the similarity of the patterns made by their coefficients. We use the 16 coefficients whether they are positive or negative for clustering. The additive constant is not used in clustering [11].

BimiLeap. It generates two Mind-Sets at first, then three Mind-Sets. The Mind-Sets encompass all respondents. A person belongs to only one mind-set for the two mind-set solution, and again to only one mind-set for the three mind-set solution. The clustering results in meaningful groups that can be interpreted, despite the fact that the process is mechanical and mathematical.

Table 6 lists the elements that make up the successful performance of the Three-Mind-Solution. In order to save space, the two-mind solution is not included. The AI results are shown in Table 7, emerging after applying the six AI queries to the Mind-Sets.

Table 6: AI interpretation of the strong performing elements) by AI for the three-Mind-Set solution.

Table 7: The IDT, Index of Diverged Thought, showing the performance of the elements, and thus the strength of the thinking behind the specific Mind Genomics study.

Understanding Performance Using an Index Number (IDT, Index of Divergent Thought)

Researchers in many fields ask the same question: “How did we perform?” With Mind Genomics and AI still at an early stage, but available worldwide at the touch of a button, it becomes a matter of whether the research produced anything valuable. It is important to note that the notion of “value” does not refer to personal worth of data for the researcher or to reproducibility of science. Instead, for Mind Genomics we ask whether or not the study produced any high-performing elements. When we find strong elements, there’s a link between the element and rating questions. In these studies, the researchers are looking for this link. In those elements, the issue at hand can be better understood.

We present IDT Index of Divergent Thought as part of our effort to “systematize” the use of Mind Genomics, in an era of simple-to-use AI-powered techniques. IDT’s objective is to determine the effect of elements. IDT produces a simple, indexed result. This is shown in Table 8. When we divide the study into six groups, each sum of positive coefficients for that group is weighted by the relative number of respondents for that group. The six groups are Total, Mind-Sets 1 & 2 for the 2-Mind-Set solution, and Mind Sets 1, 2, & 3 for the 3-Mind-Set solution. The IDT is the weighted sum of positive coefficients. The weight is the ratio between the respondents per group and the total of 138.

The IDT by itself is simply an index number about how well the elements performed. With continuing use of the IDT as a metric, it may become possible to measure the degree to which a person grows in the ability to think creatively. One could imagine charting the IDT value for a person or group of people as they are challenged to think through various problems. The IDT gives us a way of measuring the ‘strength’ of alternative efforts to deal with the same issue, with different issues, after teaching interventions, and so forth. The alternatives may be the same researcher over time, the performance of studies done by individuals vs. those done by collaborating groups, and so forth. The IDT is objective, a simple index quickly calculated as part of the report to the researcher.

Discussion and Conclusions

The Mind Genomics method has been used to investigate the decision-making process for the world of the ‘everyday.’ Rather than focusing on topics of deep significance and with a long history of investigation, the researcher using Mind Genomics investigates simpler problems, such as what does a person want from a website which ‘knows’ the user. It is within that world view that the current study was done.

What emerges from Mind Genomics is far more than a simple snapshot of human decision making at the level of the concrete issue. One can sense from the use of commonplace features as elements that behind these everyday statements lay an entire universe of motivations, a universe that might totally disappear or at least lose its vitality if the statement were couched in the general, rather than in the specific. It is the richness in the meaning of everyday experience which provides deep learning. In other words, Mind Genomics provides emotion-rich, philosophically rich metaphors that ordinary, academic language cannot.

Armed with that point of view the paper no longer talks only about websites which know the person. Rather, the paper talks to the issue of emotional responses to different ways of weighting information to decide. different ways of responding to recommendations from a ‘machine’ and the concern with the nature and trustworthiness of machines which know the person. The issues lose a bit in the translation when they are stated in the form of generalities, but create immediate, palpable internal sensations when they are described by daily, identifiable events, viz., by realistic metaphors.

Beyond the actual data from the Mind Genomics exercise, however, lies the second layer of AI analysis. The AI process was told to look at the elements in general, especially those with coefficients of +6 or higher, along with the additive constant, and summarize the results through six queries. The objective of the exercise was to publicly present the data, and then the AI interpretation of the data, untouched by human hands. No attempt was made to structure the output of the AI, this effort being among the first to attempt a machine-level summarization. It is likely that we will see significant advances in ‘insights and languages, as the ever-evolving AI amplifies the structured outputs of Mind Genomics experiments.

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Russia’s Domestic and International Politics: No Explanation Possible without the Cognitive- Developmental Approach

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DOI: 10.31038/PSYJ.2023552

Abstract

Russia’s war on Ukraine is not a failure by accident but reflects mentality and stance of the Kremlin and greater parts of the Russian people. Russia’s domestic policy is characterized by autocracy and his international politics follows imperial dreams, prosecuted by most brutal methods. Obviously, the political consciousness of the Russians has not progressed to the rates and standards that shape mind and behavior both of politicians and electorate in the most advanced nations of our time. It is argued that political sciences must consider research conducted by the cognitive-developmental approach to understand divergent political cultures more thoroughly. Contemporary nations operate on differently developed stages of mind and cognition with far-reaching effects on moral reasoning, social understanding, and humanitarian standards. There is evidence that a weaker development of the fourth stage of human cognition, the stage of formal operations, accounts to backwardness concerning the process of civilization. This seems to be the main cause to the existence of the chasm between the “Russian World” and the “Free World”.

Keywords

Developmental stages, Civilization process, Political consciousness, International politics, Democracy, Autocracy, Moral values, Humanism

Introduction

Since February 2022, social scientists, politicians, journalists, and the public have been more and more realizing that the differences between Russia on the one side and Western nations on the other side concerning culture, politics, and mentality are much greater than previously assumed. Even a few weeks before the war, only a small number of the 2.000 experts visiting the Munich Security Conference expected Russia was to attack Ukraine, while the majority assumed Russia would only try to blackmail the West and Ukraine for receiving some guarantees and concessions. Many Western observers previously believed that the Russian Federation would share common norms and standards concerning international treaties, territorial integrity, warfare, and humanism at least to that rate to be hindered from starting a brutal war against a nation to whom it had maintained a lot of connections in terms of language, culture, and family ties. Though many experts and observers still continued in preserving their naïve illusions even during the whole year 2022, some others recognized that the war might evidence the huge cultural gulf between Russia and the West, a cultural chasm which has existed for generations and centuries but was overlooked for long. The war threw a new light on how to understand Russia, its society, culture, politics, and people, both the past and the contemporary Russia.

In fact, the tremendous differences are manifest concerning domestic and international politics, economy and judiciary, culture and mass media, family life and morals. They seem to touch every aspect of life, refuting the assumption that the use of modern media, rise of higher education, international contacts, and participation in globalization might prompt and unify the standards of politics and morals on a worldwide scale, at least with reference to the comparison between Russia and the West. It is obvious now that Russia has not shared the advancements in political culture, morals, and humanism to that rate the Western nations, including for example Japan and South Korea, have accomplished over the past generations. Russia has not successfully progressed to heights which are identifiable in the most advanced nations of our time.

Many experts may agree on the existence of this cultural chasm as outlined in the previous sentences [1,2]. However, the cultural gap may be much deeper than most critics of contemporary Russia even believe. I am going to maintain that the cultural gap is describable in terms of developmental stages as they are known and worked out by professional developmental psychology. This kind of research and theory is almost unknown among most political scientists, historians, sociologists, journalists, and politicians. Even the harshest critics of Russia, seeing it as backbencher concerning modernization and progress, understanding it as Stalinist or partially even as medieval, usually have no idea of possibility and necessity to apply developmental psychology to scrutinize Russia specifically and cultural differences between nations generally.

In several essays, E. Fein and A. Wagner have described Russian politics in terms of psychological stage theory, using theories of adult development [3,4]. Adult development describes stage developments unfolding and discernible among adults within a given society or between adults of different societies. This approach illuminates the backwardness of contemporary Russia in a fresh and astonishing way, dwarfing the common political science studies related to Russia by showing their limited precision and their insufficient or almost missing explanatory power.

This article goes beyond that as it erases the boundaries between developmental psychology and adult development theories. Theories of adult development actually do not bridge the gap to child development; it remains unclear how adult development follows those stages children go through. More precisely, theories of adult development sometimes describe about ten stages, maintaining there are some adults in modern societies operating on stages two or three of ten possible ones [5,6]. Then they have the problem to connect these assumptions with the fact that there are prior stages to consider, those provided for children and teenagers. When modern adults might stay on stage three of ten possible ones, where did they stay when they were six or 14 years of age?

Therefore, my own approach solely bases on the most common stage theory known in developmental psychology, on the theory of stage development according to Jean Piaget. It describes four main stages, covering the development from neonate over child and adolescent to adult phases [7]. My approach, called structural-genetic theory programme, is developed as a general theory of history, and expounds the history of human development from archaic to modern societies, including the history of culture, politics, law, religion, sciences, philosophy, arts, and morals (XXX).

Archaic or ancient humans share with modern children stage two and sometimes stage three but do not develop stage four, which is a stage that only adolescents and adults of modern societies are able to develop. The evolution of stage four – the stage of formal operations – originated late in history, usually in Europe during the 17^th and 18^th centuries, and did not reach the average people before the 20th century. Stage four has evolved stepwise from generation to generation over the past centuries. Stage four has continually grown within the most advanced nations of today, while developing and threshold countries are somewhat behind concerning that development. While the most advanced nations of today stay comparably highest on formal operations, people of threshold countries are more or less somewhat behind, while people living in traditional regions within the developing nations often do not attain the fourth stage at all. These uneven stage developments across world society account for uneven developments of politics, morals, and humanism (XXX).

The structural-genetic theory programme refers for example autocracy, missing human rights, corruption and criminality, maltreatment of women and children, brutal punishment laws, and superstition to lack or weak development of the fourth stage, while a strong development of that stage reversely accounts for democracy, protection of civil rights, humanism, rationality and enlightenment (XXX). Therefore, it is claimed that the comparably cultural backwardness of current Russia must be explained in terms of developmental psychology, that is, it is rooted in comparably weaker developments of the fourth stage in the minds of people.

On the whole, Piagetian stage theory delivers a sharper and deeper foundation to the phenomena mentioned than adult development theories, with foundations that are much more precisely and more consistently based. There is no gap between child and adult development, but adult development is continuously connected to child development. Sciences need only one stage theory, not two of them.

Civilization Theory and Piagetian Psychology

There has been a forerunner of the structural-genetic theory programme. The civilization theory of Norbert Elias [8] shares many assumptions, including the description according to that humankind went through psychogenetic stages from childhood to adulthood. Elias compares ancient or medieval adults to children, seeing adults of modern societies as the only ones to have surmounted children’s stages. He describes medieval humans as people characterized by narrowness of mind, inability to overlook complex relations, cognitive egocentrism, low thresholds of shame and embarrassment, low forms of conscience, strong and wild passions especially concerning sexuality and aggression. According to Elias they have a strong Id and a weak Super-Ego, allowing the I to follow his drives and passions. Modern adults have overcome the child’s psyche and are therefore more civilized. The history of civilization, the transition from medieval to modern times, roots in this psychogenetic development of humankind. Elias recognized that non-European nations have been following this path during the 20^th century. According to that theory, Russians can be categorized as backbenchers concerning the civilization process.

Piagetian theory and Piagetian Cross-Cultural Psychology can evidence that what Elias had already described, thereby using better data and theoretical models than Elias had had available. All humans all over the world develop the sensorimotor and the preoperational stages likewise, but then divergences between ethnicities appear. The preoperational stage is the modal stage of archaic or premodern adults, the stage that explains archaic mind, behavior, and culture mainly. Some of them develop also the concrete operational stage, mainly partially and mostly bound to certain issues and tasks. They never develop the formal operational stage, the fourth and final stage [9-14].

The preoperational stage matches to children between their second and their tenth year roughly, and the concrete operational stage covers developments between the sixth and the 12^th year of age. The formal operational stage stepwise unfolds between the 12^th and the 25^thyear of age. That implies that archaic or premodern humans usually stay on stages of children between their third and their tenth year, most often between their fourth and their seventh year. Archaic humans may differ in life experience and knowledge from preschool children, but not regarding their psychological stage structures. More, every single phenomenon developmental psychology found to describe children, empirical research also discovered as main feature of archaic adults. The commonalities regarding stage structures are encompassing and complete, leaving no room for any differences whichever. Modern adults, however, distribute on developmental ages between 10 and 25. While some modern adults stay on substage A of formal operations (10-15 years of age), others exhibit substage B (from 15 years onwards) (XXX).

Children and archaic adults share the same patterns concerning numbers, logic, physics, social affairs, political understanding, morals, religious phenomena, and worldview, right across the whole range of mind, consciousness, and world understanding. Both groups likewise believe in ghosts and sorcerers, magic and oracles, and share animistic understandings of nature and movements. Both groups hold on a law-and-order justice and discern laws as holy and unchangeable things. Both groups have religious feelings towards natural phenomena and view the cosmos as some kind of God by itself. Both groups have the same attitudes towards myths and fairy tales and apply the same categories of causality, chance, and probability. Both groups support autocracy and deny democracy. The commonalities include even small details such as the understanding of shadows or the ignorance of syllogisms.

Against this background is it possible to reconstruct the history of culture, sciences, philosophy, religion, politics, law, morals, and arts in terms of developmental stages [15-18]. The preoperational stage carries and defines the historically early stages of these branches of culture, no matter where and when in world history, and the higher stages carry their trajectories through later times. The modern structures of these branches mentioned are mainly nothing else than manifestations of the formal operational stage. On the whole, modern, industrial society simply is a manifestation of the fourth stage. As stage theory is the deepest description of the psychogenesis of humankind, as the structural-genetic theory programme delivers the most fundamental description of the history of the branches because it directly refers this description to the core structures of the four stages respectively (XXX).

Developmental Psychology and Political Studies

Stage Theory and Political Behavior in World Politics

Psychological stages have widely shaped the evolution of political institutions and political thought [19,20]. They do not only account for the existence of autocracy or democracy but also for the rate of brutality and criminality concerning political behavior, or for the values and moral standards shaping political conduct. Politicians governing developing nations have been tending more to brutal and criminal behavior than politicians ruling the most advanced nations of our time. Not political institutions and legal frameworks account for that difference, as most political studies suggest or imply. Psychological stages cause these differences as they cause both institutions and mentality of people. Nations operating on lower stages have no problems in accepting violent rulers, they are loyal to dictators and tolerate their insane methods. Only nations on higher stages rebuke both autocracy and violent and absurd methods of politicians. Political sciences, however, don’t know about the necessity to apply developmental psychology to the study of political phenomena. I have yet published some book chapters and some articles to outline the link between political sciences and stage theory.

For example, the former president of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, won elections for presidency due to his official statements he, as mayor of Davao, had killed drug-users and dealers by his own gun on regular controls he had done through his city with his motorbike. He won the election campaign because the nation wanted to have a strong man capable to solve problems by most brutal methods. Then staying in power, hundreds of private persons and police officers alike received 300 USD for every assassination of both addicts and dealers. More than 10.000 persons were killed anywhere in the streets or in their homes, without any supervision or judicial procedures. More, the Philippines had no special drug problem though, at least less than many other nations (XXX). It is apparent that such phenomena could never happen in the most advanced nations of today, and even not in advanced developing nations such as Brazil or Argentina.

Prince Johnson murdered Liberia’s president Samuel Doe in September 1990 and made a detailed two-hours-film of the slow and brutal torture and killing of Doe. The video became the biggest attraction in Liberia and was widely cast in West Africa over years. It did not endanger Johnson’s presidency but ran in bars and shops from morning to night, entertaining the appetite and appealing the taste of some nations at best (XXX). Again, such things could never happen in Brazil or Argentina. It is impossible to imagine Angela Merkel sitting on a motorbike hunting addicts with her own gun or even Donald Trump casting videos showing a torture of “sleepy Joe”.

Even people with most limited knowledge of developmental psychology should immediately grasp that only stage theory can explain these great differences in political behavior. There are huge differences with this regard between contemporary nations whether political sciences and journalism can address or envisage this or not. These pieces of information are the best precondition to understand the necessity to apply stage theory to political studies, to the ignorance of our intellectual and political elite, and – to Russia.

Stage Theory as Explanatory Model to the Evolution of Democracy

Developmental psychology does not only explain daily political behavior and political mentality. It explains also whether a nation prefers autocracy or democracy. The structural-genetic theory programme has outlined that not social structures or power constellations account for autocracy/democracy but stage developments concerning a nation’s political consciousness (XXX). Jean Piaget delivered the decisive data to develop this new theory of political systems. He evidenced that children by their tenth year roughly see rules and laws as unchangeable and holy, made by God or the elderly. They think people are not allowed to make rules and to govern society on their own, by applying democratic customs and procedures. Teenagers, however, surmount this idea of divine and autocratic government, and establish ideas and customs of democratic leadership. Accordingly, stage theory accounts for the existence both of autocracy and democracy [21]. Subsequent research has repeatedly confirmed Piaget’s early study. Teenagers have a better understanding of liberty rights, tolerance of dissident opinions, and democratic procedures, while children focus on the privileges of rulers and hold on strict principles of obedience [22-30].

Not before 2013 did an encompassing study with about 100 pages exist to evidence that humankind went through exactly the same stages of political systems and ideas as those outlined by developmental psychology, as those found among children. It is now sufficiently and coherently worked out that stage theory is able explaining the rise of democracy (XXX). The gradual rise of formal operations during the time 1750 to 1950 is the main cause to the continuous rise of liberty rights, rule of law, and democracy, first in the West, later on in other regions of the world. The era of Enlightenment worked out the ideas of liberalism, while the era of revolution at the end of the 18^th century and the era of modernization during the following centuries put the liberal ideas into praxis and created the institutions of democracy. The emergence of the stage of formal operations has carried the whole process of civilization manifest in political systems, political consciousness, moral standards in political behavior, and political values. The decline of violence, corruption, mafia connections, and warfare mentality is consequence of psychogenetic advancements. This late description or discovery is insofar astonishing as Piaget himself in his early study launched a lot of remarks that there are parallels to history, while for example decades later Radding also made some formulations related, being by no means the only author with this regard. However, it was the structural-genetic theory programme to develop the new theory consistently and fundamentally (XXX).

The Political System in Russia

Russia transformed from monarchy to communist dictatorship in 1917. Democracy existed in Russia only during the last decade of the last century, while since 1999 with Putin in power Russia slowly turned into autocracy again, holding democratic institutions only as a mere façade. Already in the year 2000, the new government overtook greater parts of mass media in order to control public opinion in favor of the Kremlin. By 2008, the Kremlin is said to control 90% of mass media. The new government put former KGB agents into central positions of state and administration with clear intention that the secret service should dominate the whole state and society. In fact, with Putin the former KGB overtook the power in Russia and removed both the new democratic elites and the Jelzin “family” from influential positions. By 2006, 78% of the Russian state elite had a background with the “services”. From the scratch on these people aimed at abolishment of liberalism, democracy, and rule of law. Liberty rights were contained and there was nobody anymore to enjoy legal protection against prosecution or attacks by agents or officials. The division of jurisprudence, legislation, and government slowly dissolved [31].

The new power elite overtook the economic empires made by the Oligarchs of the 1990s and thousands of enterprises, thus dominating whole branches, media, energy, building, finances, etc. They forced former entrepreneurs to resign and to hand over their property, or just killed them, when they refused to give in. It was just brutal force that made the grand robbery feasible. Or, they used justice and police to accuse any businessmen to get their property into their hands. Especially the accusation of not having paid taxes offered a good pretext for expropriation.

It was common that true Mafia organizations killed entrepreneurs, overtook their property, and shared their conquest with either local state officials or even with the Kremlin. Or, that state officials overtook enterprises, thereby using the help of Mafiosi. Coalitions with Kremlin, administration, police, and Mafia became widespread. Robbery, basing on such coalitions, did not only concern enterprises but entailed also private houses or appartements. Violence decided over business success and ownerships referring to enterprises and houses.

The Kremlin dominates at the top of the corrupt system. When gangsters or service agents want see their robbery secured or even guaranteed, then they must share with the Kremlin. The Kremlin receives this way its shares from all parts of economy throughout the country. Secret services or the Kremlin now control 70% of Russia’s Gross Domestic Product. Russia is practically a feudal state where the Kremlin approves ownerships in exchange of shares or contributions. Thereby it is possible that in case of missing loyalty or missing shares, the Kremlin expropriates owners to overtake the property by its own, or by consigning it to other persons or groups. The Kremlin allows or withdraws ownerships from any conglomerates, enterprises, or businessmen for whichever reasons. It is maintained that there does not take place any transfer of capital over 50 Mio. USD in Russia without the personal permission of Putin himself. Therefore, he could accumulate more than 200 Billon USD for his own fortune and build his own “Versailles” close to Sochi.

The slow transformation from democracy to autocracy accelerated since the invasion of February the 24^th. Since that time every trace of opposition has vanished, and strict loyalty and obedience is requested from any citizen in the state. The question arises why did the Russian people accepted that transformation? Why did they allow gangsters to overtake office and economy? Why did they endure their slavery and loss of rights? According to the new theory of political systems presented above the ultimate cause to the existence of autocracy is the weak development of the adolescent stage of formal operations. Dictators can only rule when greater parts of a nation support them, accept them and are loyal to them. Without support and wish of the people dictators cannot keep their power and rulership. The existence of autocracies depends on the political consciousness of greater parts of the nation. In fact, psychological stages account for dictatorship.

Without knowledge of the structural-genetic theory programme, authors studying Russia have recognized that the majority of Russians already in the beginning of Putin’s rulership were in favor of autocracy and saw it as the best method to rule the country, to recover both economy and Russia’s greatness in world politics. Russians disrespected democracy and liberty rights as Western propaganda and as accountable to the chaos of the 1990s. The Russian people have elected Putin and his party time and again during the past two decades, especially people living in the countryside and in the provinces. State propaganda has its share but educated people fully staying on the fourth stage would neither swallow this propaganda nor back the whole system generally. “A majority of people deliberately accepted the new system that cemented the way of government prevailing in Russia since the time of the czars.” The deep connection between political consciousness of people on the one hand and the actual political system on the other hand completely matches to expectations of the psychological stage theory mentioned above. The structural-genetic theory programme claims to be able to explain the primitive and uncivilized political system of Russia.

Theories of Adult Development and the Political System of Russia

Elke Fein and Anastasija Wagner belong to those having applied theories of psychological development to the study of Russian society. They use, as mentioned above, theories of adult development to understanding contemporary Russia. They apply among others the stage theory of social forms and political behavior outlined and devised by Stephen Chilton [32]. The lowest stage 1 (“punishment and obedience”), expressed by physical compulsion, threats, seizure by force, and extortion, is manifest in pecking orders, slavery, and prisons. The second stage (“individual instrumental purpose and exchange”), expressed by barter, trading, bribery, deterrence by revenge, prebend, curses, exhibits in feudal systems, patronage systems, and hostages. The third stage (“mutual interpersonal expectations, relationships and conformity”), expressed by friendship and romantic love, is to find in client systems, social patronage, and corporatism. The stage four (“social system and conscience maintenance”), basing on mutual support of moral system, manifests in modern army, bureaucracy, tyranny of majority rule, and absolutism. Stage five (“prior rights and social contract or utility”) includes mutual respect, rational debate, fair competition, and scientific testing, and materializes in democracies and preservation of civil rights and liberties. Finally, stage 6 (“universal ethical principles”) bases on mutual care and undistorted communicative action and is still Utopia.

According to Fein, the Russian society after 1990 by today displays a mixture of stage 2 and stage 3, basing on patron-client-relations, clientelism, barter, or “blat”. Therefore, democracy and rule of law, tolerance and civil rights could not function in Russia because the political consciousness of people has been too weakly developed. Institutions can function only on that level of developmental complexity people have attained in their mind. “Unless the institution’s structure is preserved by people at the appropriate stage, the institution will regress to less developed forms.” The Russian political elite and electorate could not adopt the democratic institutions and practices introduced by B. Jelzin and thus the new formal institutions came to be devaluated in favor of clientelism, patronage, and brutal violence.

Thus, there is no great gulf between the political system of the USSR and that of contemporary Russia, at least measured by some criteria. The Soviet regime was ruled by “truth” and “dogma”. It was an ideological dictatorship, basing on clientelism and patronage, thus exhibiting the levels 2 and 3 according to Chilton. Stalinism was created by the Georgian clan culture.

The political consciousness of the Russians did not advance and remained blockaded on earlier stages, those stages that already prevailed in the USSR, and could not compete with the advancements taking place in the West especially between 1970 and today. “Modern and postmodern values and logics have neither become the dominant structures of public reasoning nor of political action on a larger scale. Sustainable post-conventional action logics, for example, would also include post-materialist and other post-conventional values, such as critical self-reflection, putting higher weight on good relationships and inner growth as compared to material goods, increasing feelings of empathy, tolerance, and respect for other cultures, social and political minorities and even the rights and dignity of political opponents.”

Fein also resorts to the stage theory of Susanne Cook-Greuter. Stage 0 (pro-social) is followed by stage 1 (symbiotic) and stage 2 (impulsive). Stage 2/3 (self-protective) bases on minimal self-description and characterizes many Russians including Putin. Stage 3 (conformist/rule-oriented) is followed by stage 3/4 (self-conscious) and stage 4 (conscientious), then by stage 5 (autonomous) and stage 6 (unitary). I do not comment Cook-Greuter’s stage theory here. Fein earmarks an early stage such as 2/3 as modal stage of many Russians, and this shows at least that Fein sees the Russians as tremendously backward in terms of personality development and political consciousness. Self-protective persons (stage 2/3) “see the world only from the perspective of their own needs and wants. They are as yet incapable of insight into themselves or others in a psychological sense. This is why they are generally wary of others’ intentions and assume the worst. Everything to them is a war of wills, and life a zero-sum game. Their ‘I win, you lose’ mentality inevitably causes friction and hurt feelings wherever they go, especially with others at more conventional stages. In turn, others experience self-protective people often as manipulative and exploitative, because in their perspective, the only way one can get what one wants is by controlling others and protecting oneself.” According to that research, self-protective individuals do not feel responsible for failure they cause, because they do not understand the connection between action and consequences. “Others are to blame, never oneself.”

Wagner and Fein researched the behavior of Putin by using several data bases, especially by analyzing his speeches, articles written about him, and other sources. The data were coded and interpreted by the stage theory of Cook-Greuter. They found Putin’s mind and behavior matching to stage 2 with 24% of his actions and statements, to stage 2/3 with 46%, to stage 3 with 25%, and to stage 3/4 with 5% of them. Thus Putin’s personality is dominated by the self-protective stage. “This structure does not show empathy with others, and often does not view them as equal others with legitimate, potentially differing perspectives on things. Instead, it perceives all outside actors and events through an egocentric, somewhat narcissist lens, primarily asking: ‘how does it affect me?’ and ‘what’s in it for me?’… And due to a lack of more differentiated coping strategies, they consequently try to control, hunt or eliminate them by all means. If there are no enemies, they invent or create them.” Fein shows that this attitude characterizes both the treatment of other nations and the own past. Russian foreign politics sees the ambitions and problems of other nations in an astonishing way only through own lenses. For example, Russia cannot recognize that the Eastern European nations’ hurry for membership to NATO or other alliances originated in its own conduct against these nations. Russia caused the problems but is incapable to connect its own mistakes with the unpleasant results and therefore always blames others.

The same attitude is identifiable concerning the interpretation of the own past. Russia addressed his own past seriously only during the Jelzin era, with “Memorial” that researched the crimes of the Stalin era, and with historians to scrutinize Stalin’s responsibility for the outburst of war [33]. Afterwards, with the beginning of the Putin era, the open and critical confrontation with the own past radically declined and was finally abolished. Stalin, the USSR, Russia’s role in the war, and the whole past was glorified and whitewashed, any form of criticism of the own past was prosecuted and criminalized. “I claim that self-protective logics of reasoning and action have come to function as a strategy to avoid a more differentiated confrontation with the after-effects of these dislocations and with the Soviet past in general, at least during the past ten years.” Higher psychological stages, being able to self-reflexive operations, do not whitewash own mistakes and ignore them but would accept them as facts. “Even psychological lay people would probably agree that self-reflexive efforts to confront past crimes and traumas constitute a more complex, more differentiated and thus more developed way of dealing with a criminal and traumatizing past than trying to whitewash, repress, or relativize it, for example by setting it off against the ‘positive sides of history’ or by denying or avoiding questions of responsibility.”

Since Putin took office as president, Russia’s rating on Transparency International’s Corruption Scale has dropped from rank 82 in 2000 to rank 136 in 2014 (www.transparency.org). While in Western societies, during the past centuries, models of cognition and social conduct have developed from concrete, interpersonal logics to more abstract and formal logics, Russian society preserved the concrete-personal relations as dominant form of society, thus continuing traditional relations such as patronage, clientelism, and corruption. Corruption belongs to everyday practices in traditional society and is seen as problem only when society attains the mode of preserving abstract rules and impersonal functionalities.

Premodern peoples usually stay on moral stages 1 or 2, only small percentages of a premodern population reach stage 3 [34]. These three stages manifest moral reasoning bound to concrete personal relationships only. They ignore any moral considerations referring to society, abstract rules, or general principles. Only stage 4 refers to abstract bodies such as state and society, that is, principles and institutions outside the range of personal interrelationships. Therefore, the problem of corruption can only be recognized on stage 4. This stage 4 was nonexistent in imperial Russia and seems to be missing or only very weakly developed in contemporary Russia. Corruption can only be defeated when people attain the stage 4 at modal stage, otherwise persons see no problem in preferring those who pay most or to whom they are personally connected. Corruption is visible as problem only when rule-oriented cultures of reasoning (at least stage 4) and their respective action logics emerge.

“Historians have described society in late tsarist Russia as a society of physical presence or as a gift giving society, in which the efficiency of power depended on the quality and stability of personal networks. The latter, in turn, were built and stabilized through practices of exchanging material and immaterial goods against loyalty, personal service, or obedience. Patron-client relationships were universal, unquestioned phenomena structuring the whole society, including its social, economic, and political institutions. At the same time, typical elements of modern statehood, such as impersonal institutions, the rule of law, and professional work ethics based on personal skills, formal qualifications, and specialized knowledge were nonexistent.”

Clerks were not appointed due to their qualifications but due to their personal relationships to patrons. Offices were distributed as reward for loyal behavior to the aristocrat, ultimately to the Czar. There was no spirit of lawfulness and strict obedience to rules, as Weber had described as prerequisite of modern bureaucracy. Higher education and professional education were missing in 19^th century Russia. While Germany had already a three-stage school system and two state examinations as condition to join state service, Russia introduced compulsory school education not before 1917 and demanded from clerks only the knowledge of reading and writing but not any specific skills. “Most officers served exclusively because of the honor or of earning a certain rang or medal, without really taking an interest in the files or in the essence of the matter. They signaled anything that came to them by the chambers” [35].

Though higher qualifications and abstract rules played a higher role during the Soviet regime, it is quite obvious, that patron-client relations, clan structures, and blat-relations (personal networks to receive goods and to circumvent formal procedures) have dominated the Soviet society throughout the last century. “The Russian mentality is oriented toward personalizing one’s contacts… In Russia, formalities never meant more than personal relations. It is a country which is governed by mores rather than laws” [36].

This stage of consciousness has continued in Russia by today. Concrete personal relations and moral stages below stage 4 still shape contemporary Russian mentality. “Many observers therefore continue to think of corruption and the direct exchange of services based on relations of mutual trust as the true organizational principle of Russian society.” Russia is a patrimonial and neo-feudal state. Most archaic social relations continue, including clan structures, Mafia structures, and secret service networks to undermine market economy, rule of law and democracy. “In this sense, it is not accurate to say that impersonal systems in today’s Russia are ‘defect’. Rather, they have never fully developed in the first place due to a lack of sufficiently complex reasoning structures able to sustain them as a dominant culture… So even though a general developmental progress of cognition and culture can be analyzed here, post-Communist Russia still does not meet the modernity standards set by Weber. This is due to a missing systematic-stage political culture, which neither the Soviet nor the post-Soviet Russian government was interested in fostering. This also explains the difficulty of modern type (systematic-level) democratic institutions to take root in Russia.”

Social Affairs and Morals in Contemporary Russia

When Russians have developed the fourth stage of formal operations in a weaker way than people of the most advanced nations have done, as the previous analysis evidences, then Russian society is expected to manifest lower stages of personality development, social norms, and morals throughout. I want to document this by some short descriptions of the role of violence in society, the role of street fights, the impact of domestic violence, the situation in prisons, alcoholism, and the treatment of handicapped persons. These different phenomena emerge from a lower stage of personality development and moral consciousness than most advanced nations have reached during the past generations. Using the terms of N. Elias, it is quite apparent that Russian society is less civilized than some other nations are nowadays.

The enormous readiness of Russian people to exert cruel violence currently manifests in its war on Ukraine. While some politicians such as Gerhart Baum adamantly deny any difference between Russian aggressiveness and those of other nations in wartimes, not only the American Institute for the Study of War but also other observers maintain the special aggressiveness and cruelty of the Russian army not only today but also in former times [37]. Butscha und Irpin reflect the normal way of Russian warfare. “What happens in Ukraine over the last three months is an orgy of epic, unbounded violence. Mass executions and bestial torture, assassinations of civilians, just so, just for boredom, for fun, with rapes and murders of parents before their children’s eyes and conversely, with violence against women and girls between 8 and 80 years of age.” [38] Jeffrey Hawn maintained that the Russian army, quite different to Western armies, has not developed an institutional culture to minimize losses among civilians; there simply are no protective mechanisms against unjustified violence in place. Main targets of the Russian attacks are apartment blocks where thousands of normal people live. Destruction of whole cities, as already practiced in Syria, to take civilians all means to survive, is the normal Russian way of warfare. Waiting for the winter to destroy power stations and heating facilities to hope for the death of thousands of civilians in their cold homes, this is a normal strategy in the eyes of Russian military. “Russia has presented to the whole world its senseless Russian anger, its sinister barbarism, his criminal mentality, cruelty, violence and its contempt of human dignity and human life, both that of Ukrainians and its own soldiers.”

Deadly and bloody gladiator fights in arenas before thousands of spectators belonged to the most influential entertainment opportunities of ancient times (XXX). This culture of violence has vanished due to risen psychological stages shaping morals and emotions. Residual forms of that may exist in current box fights, while in Russia harder forms of entertainment fighting have survived, combats that would be impossible to stage in Western Europe. The custom is called Strelka championship (mixed-martial-arts combats) conducted right across Russia. Everybody in the streets is allowed to participate at the combats, without any preparation and exercise. The organizer asks bystanders to enter the ring and to join, giving them joke names and money when they win. Those, who fight bravely and in an entertaining way, can become famous across the country. The fighters are simply amateurs that fight each other without any rules [39].

This culture of violence penetrates the personal and family relations likewise. Russian statistics document 50.000 crimes in 2015, where violence in private homes was involved. 36.000 of them refer to violence used against women. According to UN statistics, 14.000 women in Russia are annually killed by their relatives, especially by their husbands. 40% of all crimes, that entailed use of violence, took place in private homes and family. Especially 2/3 of heavy body injuries and premediated assassinations are committed inside the own family. 600.000 women are annually beaten in Russia. Since March 2017, a new law passed the Duma to remove all those attacks, which do not cause remaining body damages, from penalty consequences. Those persons, who cause only moderate injuries, are not prosecuted by law, but must pay for regulatory offences only [40]. Though the US population has more than double the size, only 1.800 women are killed in the USA. The ratio with this regard between the USA and Russia thus amounts almost 1:20, albeit the USA exhibits much more violence than European nations do. For example, 122 women were killed in Germany in 2018.

Domestic violence is frequently accompanied by alcohol. According to Russian police, 80% to 95% of culprits commit domestic violence under alcohol abuse. Every fifth Russian dies from alcohol abuse, according to WHO statistics. Alcohol causes more than 50% of deaths in the age groups between 15 and 54 years of age, with reference to men 59% and to women 33%. Alcohol intoxications, liver cirrhosis, injuries and homicides under alcohol impact belong to the special causes leading to death [41]. Alcohol abuse is typical for many developing nations and was also a great problem in Europe generations ago but has decreased over time in consequence of education and greater consciousness. In Africa, alcohol abuse has played a great part till yesterday or even today, greater parts of whole village populations were drunken on an almost daily basis. It can be maintained that there does exist a link between the civilization process and alcohol consumption.

Russia manifests his brutal behavior against human beings also in his detainment policy. 480.000 people were imprisoned in Russia in March 2021. Only the United States have higher rates of imprisonment than Russia has. The chance to get imprisoned is great as judicial courts convict most of the defendants: If persons are charged, they have still little chance to get rid of accusations and of conviction to go to jail. While European nations at the average pay for every prisoner 68,30 € per day, Russia has the lowest costs with 2,40 € per prisoner per day.

The Russian detainment system does not aim for resocialization of personality but for its breaking. Withdrawal from sleeping, total ban of speaking, torture, beating, raping, and electro shocks belong to common practices. Or some prisoners must stay in frost or in uncomfortable body positions over hours. The cells are overcrowded, and the staff exerts his power without much control [42,43].

Similar tendencies are to find in the treatment of handicapped persons. Nearly 10% of people living in Russia suffer from handicaps, though these 14 million people are hardly seen in public. It is widely avoided to hint at their mere existence, as handicaps are not subject of official discussion. Since Soviet times, most people shares negative attitudes against handicapped persons, they are seen as people with low worth. Parts of people wanted them even to be eliminated. Though Western NGOs did a lot to improve the situation of handicapped persons in Russia, public transportation, offices, and the whole public space do not consider the needs of handicapped persons. Elevators, ramps, sound signals, and braille are widely missing to relieve their mobility [44,45].

Usually, handicapped persons are removed from their families and brought to shelters for disabled. In Soviet times, families were not even allowed to rise their disabled children on their own. However, still nowadays it is usage that they spend their lives in shelters and not in their families. Time and again, they were tied to their beds, beaten, locked in their rooms, and completely socially ignored. Handicapped persons are usually excluded from education and job market. “There aren’t any institutions to employ mentally handicapped persons in a responsible way. When these persons have finished their school, then they have nothing to expect from the employment system.”

War on Ukraine

Some weeks after the occupation of Crimea, I prognosticated Russia’s try of total conquest of Ukraine in future. I wrote that the only possibility to rescue Ukraine from that fate would be the deployment of sufficient Western troops in the country (XXX). Ukraine had no hostile feelings against Russia by 2013. Ukraine’s commitment to democracy and rule of law, and his wish to join European Union, caused Russia’s readiness to undermine Ukraine’s policy by brutal force [46-50]. Instead of continuing friendly relations with Ukraine, Russia decided to subdue Ukraine by war. The result was a unified and patriotic Ukraine that will hate Russia probably for generations. Outcomes of that policy are a hostile Ukraine, decisive resistance of democratic nations around the world, Russia’s decline of power and influence in many parts of the world, decline of its GDP for many years, problems of preserving power in Russia, thousands of casualties in Ukraine and Russia, devastation of Ukraine’s infrastructure, industry, and towns, and uncountable damages and injuries.

Only a tremendous weakness of formal operations, consciousness, rationality, and overview, including a to that matching far-reaching lack of information and knowledge, can cause such failures. Only people staying on lower stages of formal operations are inclined to disrespect the rights of other nations, to believe that they themselves have the right to decide over that what other nations should do and whether they have the right to exist as independent nations or not, to start wars to conquer a foreign nation and to subdue its population, and to sacrifice thousands of people for such criminal targets. Only uncivilized and criminal persons lead wars for imperial dreams, for the enlargement of territory, and for restauration of former influences, causing losses not seen in Europe for many decades. Only persons staying on lower stages of the civilization process disrespect a couple of international treaties, international law, and humanitarian standards. It is incredible that there are persons that are inclined to devastate a so-called brother nation, thereby even maintaining the non-existence of any difference between Russians and Ukrainians.

Observers rightly estimated that the war on Ukraine is not only “Putin’s war”. Greater parts of the Russian people support imperial dreams concerning the restauration of the Russian Empire with Ukraine as an indispensable part. These people accept that Russia has the right to decide over its influence sphere and over Ukraine’s policy. They support wars when they lead to victory and to an increase in power. Even the consideration of state propaganda cannot divert from the fact that only weakness of formal operations – weakness of political consciousness and morals – can explain such uncivilized stance.

Conclusions

It is apparent that the wrong policy of the West, that is, the missing containment of Russia and the lacking prevention of Russia’s invasion, has originated in illusions concerning the civilization level of Russian society. Due to the missing education in Elias’ civilization theory and the structural-genetic theory programme, Western politicians and journalists simply overlooked the backwardness of Russian society generally and Russian policy specifically. They simply assumed that Russians politicians would share the political consciousness, the moral stages, the humanitarian standards, and the values that are deeply rooted in the minds of politicians and people living in the most advanced nations of today. They could not even imagine the abysses that separate the “Russian World” from the “Free World”. The prevalent ideology of Cultural Relativism penetrating the minds of the educated elite in the West has caused these illusions mentioned.

Of course, there are percentages of people in Russia who strictly object to the course of the Kremlin and to the backward stance of Russia. Those Russians, who fight against the Kremlin policy, express the better part of Russia and have deserved greatest respect. Mikhail Kasjanov, Alexei Navalny, Irina Scherbakowa and Marina Owsjannikowa belong to the large group of Russians that represent the best Russia has to offer. They align with those Ukrainians such as Ihor Terechow, Dmytro Kuleba, Wolodimir Selenski and Sergij Osachuk, who define higher standards of European politics.

Declarations

Funding and/or Conflicts of Interests/Competing Interests

The article was written without any funds. There are no conflicts of interest to report. The article aligns with the binding ethical standards.

Compliance with Ethical Standards

Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest: There are no conflicts to report. Research involving human participants and/or animals: The study does not base on experimental procedures conducted with humans or animals. Informed consent: There are no other persons whose interests might be infringed, or no ethical standards to be violated.

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