Neprikosnovennyj zapas

Neprikosnovennyj zapas (Russian: «Неприкосновенный запас. Дебаты о политике и культуре», meaning "Emergency Reserve: Debates on Politics and Culture") is a Russian intellectual journal published by the Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie (New Literary Observer) publishing house. It was founded in 1998 and appears six times a year. The journal is edited by Irina Prokhorova as editor-in-chief, with Kirill Kobrin serving as chief editor since 2021. Together with the journal Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie, it is part of the Eurozine network of European intellectual journals. The journal began as a publication focused on intellectual essays addressing pressing social, political, and cultural issues in Russia and the world. Over time it moved toward a more strictly scholarly approach while retaining lively and rich discussion. Its uniqueness lies in combining academic rigor with accessibility for the educated non-specialist reader, making it a one-of-a-kind publication in Russia. In 2001, starting with issue No. 15, the journal was updated and reformed, expanding its editorial platform from reflecting on the current state of the Russian intelligentsia to the comprehensive subtitle "Debates on Politics and Culture." A distinctive feature of the journal is its interdisciplinary approach, bringing together sociologists, economists, political scientists, philosophers, and representatives of other humanities disciplines. According to Ilya Kalinin, the journal is particularly important as a platform for public discussion that engages views from different segments of the humanities community, while requiring contributors to seek a more accessible language beyond narrow professional jargon. Main topics include economics, politics, human rights, education, Russia through European eyes, and Europe through Russian eyes. The journal publishes short works and speeches by classics of modern world humanitarian thought (Louis Althusser, Susan Sontag, Judith Butler, Antoine Compagnon, and others). Each issue contains reviews of new books and Russian intellectual journals. The editorial team includes editor-in-chief Irina Prokhorova and chief editor (since 2021) Kirill Kobrin, with editors Andrei Zakharov, Anton Zolotov, and Igor Kobylin. Prior to 2021, editors also included Mikhail Gabovich (chief editor), Grigory Dashevsky, Ilya Kalinin (chief editor), Andrei Kurilkin (chief editor), Alexander Nosov, Lev Usyskin, and Igor Fedyukin. Regular contributors include Oleg Beida, Stefan Weidner, Tatyana Vorozheikina, Yuri Zaretsky, Leonid Isaev, Alexander Kynev, Alexei Makarkin, Richard Marshall, Nikolai Mitrokhin, Vadim Mikhailin, Igor Petrov, Anatoly Ryasov, Igor Smirnov, Owen Hatherley, and others. The journal has published texts by Johan Arnason, Polina Barskova, Svetlana Boym, Boris Dubin, Ivan Krastev, Vyacheslav Kuritsyn, Mark Lipovetsky, Reza Negarestani, Alexander Pyatigorsky, Pavel Uvarov, McKenzie Wark, Sergei Ushakin, Mark Fisher, Geoffrey Hosking, Alexander Etkind, Juan Linz, and others. A standard issue consists of two or three thematic blocks interspersed with regular sections such as "Culture of Politics," "Politics of Culture," "NZ Archive," "NZ Interview," "Case Study," "Practices of Depoliticization," "Political Theory," and "Essays on Manners," ending with a bibliography section. The journal also features author columns by Alexander Kustarev ("The Political Imaginary"), Alexei Levinson ("Sociological Lyrics"), and Alexander Pisarev ("Review of Russian Intellectual Journals"). In addition to standard issues, the editorial team prepares one or two thematic issues per year. In the 2010s, issues on the politics and culture of memory of the Siege of Leningrad (No. 5–6, 2019), the phenomenology of oil (No. 4, 2019), the centenary of the October Revolution (No. 5–6, 2017), the anthropology of state holidays (No. 2–3, 2015), the fate of modernity in the modern world (No. 6, 2014), and the ontology, sociology, and politics of sound (No.

Neprikosnovennyj zapas was founded in 1998, with its first issue appearing that year. It began as a publication specializing primarily in intellectual essays devoted to acute questions of the social, political, and cultural life of Russia and the world. The first issue attracted attention primarily from the literary community: critic Sergei Kostyrko assessed it as "long-awaited," Irina Rodnyanskaya as a "serious challenge to thick literary-artistic journals," while Andrei Nemzer offered a more ambiguous review: "The rejection of the kitchen-poetic-intimate context is conducted in its language. The same irony, the same historical caution, the same liberal individualism. It is precisely the seventies leaven that explains the worthy pathos (the apology of August '91 in the editor-in-chief's article), the consistent criticism of lazy or hysterical 'would-be oppositional' grumbling, the calm acceptance of modernity and restrained optimism (the main tonality of NZ)." In 2001, starting with issue No. 15, the journal was updated and reformed, expanding its editorial platform from an attempt to reflect on the current state of the Russian intelligentsia to the comprehensive subtitle "Debates on Politics and Culture." Over time, the journal evolved toward a more strictly scholarly approach without losing the liveliness and richness of its discussions. Its uniqueness lies in combining academic thoroughness of publications with their accessibility for an educated non-specialist reader. In this sense, Neprikosnovennyj zapas is a one-of-a-kind publication in Russia. A distinctive feature of the journal is its interdisciplinary approach, bringing together reflections of sociologists, economists, political scientists, philosophers, and representatives of other humanities specialties on its pages. According to Ilya Kalinin, the journal is particularly important as a platform for public discussion that engages views from different segments of the humanities community; moreover, contributors to the journal must seek a more accessible language for their statements, going beyond narrow professional jargon. Main topics include economics, politics, human rights, education, Russia through European eyes, and Europe through Russian eyes. The journal's practice includes publishing short works and speeches by classics of modern world humanitarian thought (Louis Althusser, Susan Sontag, Judith Butler, Antoine Compagnon, and others). Each issue contains reviews of new books and Russian intellectual journals. The editorial team has evolved over time. Irina Prokhorova has served as editor-in-chief. Kirill Kobrin became chief editor in 2021. Editors include Andrei Zakharov, Anton Zolotov, and Igor Kobylin. Prior to 2021, editors also included Mikhail Gabovich (chief editor), Grigory Dashevsky, Ilya Kalinin (chief editor), Andrei Kurilkin (chief editor), Alexander Nosov, Lev Usyskin, and Igor Fedyukin. Among regular authors, in addition to leading author columns, are Oleg Beida, Stefan Weidner, Tatyana Vorozheikina, Yuri Zaretsky, Leonid Isaev, Alexander Kynev, Alexei Makarkin, Richard Marshall, Nikolai Mitrokhin, Vadim Mikhailin, Igor Petrov, Anatoly Ryasov, Igor Smirnov, Owen Hatherley, and others. The journal has published texts by Johan Arnason, Polina Barskova, Svetlana Boym, Boris Dubin, Ivan Krastev, Vyacheslav Kuritsyn, Mark Lipovetsky, Reza Negarestani, Alexander Pyatigorsky, Pavel Uvarov, McKenzie Wark, Sergei Ushakin, Mark Fisher, Geoffrey Hosking, Alexander Etkind, Juan Linz, and others. A standard issue of the journal consists of two or three thematic blocks interspersed with regular sections: "Culture of Politics," "Politics of Culture," "NZ Archive," "NZ Interview," "Case Study," "Practices of Depoliticization," "Political Theory," "Essays on Manners"; each issue concludes with a bibliography section. The publication usually contains author columns by Alexander Kustarev ("The Political Imaginary"), Alexei Levinson ("Sociological Lyrics"), and Alexander Pisarev ("Review of Russian Intellectual Journals"). In addition to standard issues, the editorial team prepares one or two thematic issues per year. In the 2010s, issues devoted to the politics and culture of memory of the Siege of Leningrad (No. 5–6, 2019), the phenomenology of oil (No. 4, 2019), the centenary of the October Revolution (No. 5–6, 2017), the anthropology of state holidays (No. 2–3, 2015), the fate of modernity in the modern world (No. 6, 2014), and the ontology, sociology, and politics of sound (No. 6, 2020) received significant resonance. The journal uses the practice of inviting outside editors for entire issues or individual thematic sections. A distinctive feature of the journal's design is the use of ligatures or symbols with unusual typography (see the cover example using st, a ligature of the Latin letters s and t; earlier issues used æ, ĝ, etc.). The symbol is chosen for all six issues of the year, as is the color scheme (light green for 2017, pink for 2016, light blue for 2011, etc.). The journal is laid out with wide margins for handwritten comments on the text, and the page design also uses the motif of placing various typographic symbols and letters (&, §, @, etc.) by analogy with the cover—half extending beyond the page edge. Neprikosnovennyj zapas has for many years organized the scholarly conference "Small Banya Readings" (together with the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences of St. Petersburg State University). From 2011 to 2019, in cooperation with the Nizhny Novgorod Center for Contemporary Art Arsenal, the journal implemented the urbanistic project "Nizhny Novgorod: An Attempt at a New Description." The Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie publishing house conducts related activities.

• 2021

  Kirill Kobrin became chief editor.

• 2019

  Urbanistic project "Nizhny Novgorod: An Attempt at a New Description" concluded.

• 2011

  Urbanistic project "Nizhny Novgorod: An Attempt at a New Description" launched with Arsenal.

• 2001

  Journal reformed starting with issue No. 15, adopting subtitle "Debates on Politics and Culture."

• 1998

  First issue of Neprikosnovennyj zapas published.

A unique Russian intellectual journal combining academic rigor with accessibility for educated non-specialists, serving as a platform for interdisciplinary debate on politics and culture.

• Neprikosnovennyj zapas journal

  Bimonthly intellectual journal (6 issues per year) published by Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie.

• Thematic issues

  One or two thematic issues per year, often with guest editors, on topics such as the Siege of Leningrad, oil, the October Revolution, state holidays, modernity, and sound.

1. 1Wikidata: Neprikosnovennyj zapaswikidata.org
2. 2Wikipedia (Russian): Неприкосновенный запас (журнал)ru.wikipedia.org