On May 15-19, 2006, within the framework of the "Days of Egypt", the Russian State Humanitarian University (RSUH) hosted scientific events initiated and organized by the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Faculty of Art History represented by the V. S. Golenishchev Center for Egyptology, as well as the Center for Political Science and Anthropology of the Modern East of the Faculty of History, political Science and Law of RSUH. The event was organized on the Egyptian side by Cairo and Helwan Universities, as well as the newly established Egyptian-Russian University, with which RSUH maintains intensive and fruitful ties in many areas of scientific cooperation and cooperation in the field of educational projects. The main events of the "Days of Egypt" were the conference "Egypt and the Middle East from the 3rd millennium BC to the 1st millennium AD" and the international symposium "Egypt, the Middle East and global Peace".

E. S. Kormysheva (IB RAS) and E. I. Pivovar, Rector of RSUH, spoke at the opening of the "Days of Egypt" from the Russian side. Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Arab Republic of Egypt Izzat Saad welcomed the participants of the conference.

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Dean of the Faculty of History, Political Science and Law of RSUH A. P. Logunov devoted his speech to the challenges of globalization and problems of intercivilizational interaction. He stressed that by creating new research projects in the field of Oriental studies and educational contacts with Egypt, the RSUH faculty and, in particular, the Faculty of History, Political Science and Law strive to make their possible contribution to the expansion of intercultural dialogue.

The conference "Egypt and the Middle East from the 3rd millennium BC to the 1st millennium AD"* was attended by leading experts on the ancient history and art of Egypt and the Middle East.

The symposium "Egypt, the Middle East and Global Peace" was held on June 16, 2006. Within its framework, four round tables were held: "Egypt and Russia: history and Modernity" (heads-A. P. Logunov, A. V. Korotaev), " Vectors of Political life in modern Egypt "(heads-G. V. Goryachkin, M. A. Sapronova), "Egypt and the countries of the Near and Middle East" (heads-E. S. Melkumyan, G. G. Kosach), " Egypt: Problems cultural and historical development" (heads-S. A. Kirillina, A. V. Korotaev).

Consider the presentations of the participants of the first and second round tables due to the proximity of their topics.

G. V. Goryachkin (ISAA at Moscow State University) in his speech "Egypt in the context of the Middle East and global peace" highlighted the political role of Egypt in shaping regional policy from the point of view of the country's trade, economic, military and scientific potential. Egypt's policy, which maintains close ties with the Russian Federation, the European Union, the United States, Japan, China, the Mediterranean countries, Latin America, Canada, Asia and Africa, is characterized by balance, which increases the importance of this country not only in the region, but also on the world stage.

B. G. Seyranyan (Institute of History of the Russian Academy of Sciences) - "Egypt: History in Faces (1952 - 2005)" - spoke about the contribution of three Egyptian presidents - Gamal Abdel Nasser, Anwar Sadat, Hosni Mubarak to the development of the country's political system and economy. He emphasized that these politicians led the country in various historical circumstances, but all their activities were aimed at maintaining stability in the region. They stood guard over the interests of their own country and people, step by step seeking to increase Egypt's political weight among the influential countries of the Arab-Muslim world and the West. The success of this policy, according to the speaker, can be considered the election of two prominent Egyptian diplomats in 1991 to the highest posts in major international organizations. They are Ismat Abdel Magid, who took the post of Secretary General of the League of Arab Countries (LAS), and Boutros Ghali , the UN Secretary General.

B. N. Gashev (Institute of Economics of the Russian Academy of Sciences) in his speech on "The growing importance of the fuel and energy complex in the Egyptian economy" emphasized that Egypt is an investment-attractive country with a harmoniously developing economy, where revenues from the oil industry do not exceed those from the operation of the Suez Canal and from the tourism industry. He noted that the proven oil reserves are not capable of making Egypt a regional leader in the field of production, but they are sufficient to meet the energy needs of this country and meet the needs of industrial and household needs of the population. Participants in the Egyptian oil market from England, Italy, the United States, Germany, France, Spain, India and Japan are striving for its progressive development. The speaker stressed that the current level of oil production in Egypt will free Egypt from the risk of "sitting on the oil needle" and help avoid the suppression of other dynamically developing sectors of the economy by energy. The author of the report believes that a relatively low dependence on the fuel and energy complex will facilitate the diversification of the economy, accelerate the development of the post-industrial sector, promote the development of innovative and information technologies, and develop "human capital".

A speech by G. G. Kosach (RSUH) devoted to the conceptual evolution of the concept of Arab nationalism aroused great interest. The speaker revealed the nature of Egyptian "Arabism", which, in his opinion, was by no means a symbol of the rejection of the former national identity, but assumed that the Egyptian state, while maintaining its national identity, was not a symbol of the rejection of the former national identity.-

* The conference was organized with the support of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (grant N 06 - 06 - 85039-d).

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It will turn into a central link in the Arab geopolitical space, become the center of the "Arab fatherland", as well as the African and Muslim world. In the discussion held on the report of G. G. Kosach, the main attention was paid to the problem of transformation of Egyptian nationalism and its tasks, reflected both in the constitution of Egypt and in the political activities of the current leadership of the country, according to which the Egyptian economy remains "socialist", and the vital activity of society is determined by its "social and ethical foundations". At the same time, such rhetoric does not prevent it from being called and perceived as "democratic" and showing "political pluralism"in the face of declared state paternalism towards citizens.

The fate of democracy and political pluralism in Egypt was discussed in a speech by M. A. Sapronova (MGIMO(U)). Russian Foreign Ministry) "Egypt's electoral law in the context of new trends in the constitutional development of the Arab world". According to the speaker, the meaning of liberal changes in Egypt boils down to the following: the electoral process in Egypt clearly demonstrates that in countries where democratic transformations are carried out "from above", there is a contradiction between liberal-reformist tendencies and the inertia of authoritarian rule, fueled by the complication of the internal political situation associated with the increased influence of Islamic parties and groups on politics. Egypt is no exception here. M. A. Sapronova was asked about the role and place of the Muslim Brotherhood party in Egypt's domestic political life, whose assessment of its activities ranges from considering it as a terrorist radical Islamic political organization to a parliamentary party. M. A. Sapronova stressed that it is difficult to give an unambiguous assessment of any of the Islamist organizations. At the same time, it is impossible not to take into account the mobilization potential of Islamists. But it is also impossible to consistently pursue a policy of suppressing such organizations, since they rely on broad segments of the population. In Egypt, more than 20 thousand people connected with the activities of opposition Islamist parties have already been arrested on terrorism charges, but most of them were acquitted, despite protests from the Interior Ministry.

This topic was developed by K. G. Yashin (RUDN University), who highlighted the activities of the Muslim Brotherhood organization as an opposition force in Egypt after the 2005 parliamentary elections. The main conclusion of the report was that the Muslim Brotherhood cannot be seen as an implacable opposition to the Egyptian regime. On the contrary, to some extent they play the role of a shock absorber of growing social protest. Legalization of the group, according to the speaker, will lead to their integration into the country's political system as a convenient "constructive" opposition or even an ally for the authorities.

I. L. Alekseev (RSUH) approached this topic on the basis of comparative material on the perception of the Islamic problem in various cultural environments: Western, Eastern and Russian, the latter was analyzed with special care. In his opinion, the problem of so-called Islamic fundamentalism requires new approaches, and the study of this phenomenon cannot be reduced only to the problem of the" Islamic threat","multi-level instability". According to the speaker, it is necessary to differentiate the concepts of " Islam "and" fundamentalism"," radicalism"," Islamism " and not be limited to a narrow framework of one specific civilizational logic, replacing this with objective research.

The round table "Egypt and the countries of the Middle East" was opened by the report of E. S. Melkumyan (RSUH) " League of Arab States: Approaches to Regional Security?"In which she noted that in the new conditions, regional Middle East security and global security have become almost synonymous. The Arab League, as an actor of world politics, seeks to contribute to the solution of security problems. E. S. Melkumyan stressed that the main threat to the destabilization of the region is the unresolved Arab-Israeli conflict, and therefore this conflict has always been the focus of attention of this pan-Arab organization. The peace initiative proposed by the Saudi monarch, Crown Prince Abdullah Bin Adel Aziz, was supported by the Arab League at the summit of Arab heads of State in Beirut, Lebanon, in 2002. At the Khartoum summit in 2006, it was also noted that " it is necessary to draw a line between terrorism and the right of the people to resist occupation." The Arab League has constantly drawn the world's attention to the problem of whether the conflicting parties have nuclear capabilities, as well as to the fact that Israel belongs to the "shadow" nuclear states that possess both thermonuclear weapons and, according to Western experts, nuclear weapons.,

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neutron weapons and their delivery vehicles. This potential cannot but be considered by the LAS as a threat.

K. A. Avilov (RUDN University) presented an interesting report on the unresolved problem of Palestinian refugees in Egypt. Egypt, the speaker recalled, supports the return of 1948 Palestinian refugees to the territory of the former mandatory Palestine without any restrictions and conditions. Due to the fact that the Israeli side is not ready to allow several million refugees to enter Palestine, these people actually remain stateless, which makes their situation difficult in the countries of temporary stay in general and in Egypt in particular. The speaker believes that the problem can be resolved through the implementation of the" Sinai development program " with its partial (or even full) funding by the Israeli side and with the assistance of Palestinians staying in Egypt, in exchange for obtaining Egyptian citizenship. Such an approach, in his opinion, would help solve the problem of Palestinian stateless persons in Egypt and set a precedent for its settlement in other Arab countries.

E. M. Bagirov (RUDN University) considered the role of Egypt as one of the key political actors in the region in the light of Iran-Egypt relations. He elaborated on the complex nature of bilateral relations between the two countries, which historically claim to be the main "center of power" in the Middle East. Only in the 1990s. Iran and Egypt have found points of political rapprochement. The rapprochement, according to the speaker, was facilitated by Egypt's condemnation of the occupation of Kuwait by Iraq, as well as the beginning of Israeli-Turkish cooperation in the field of defense and security. New threats have contributed to a convergence of political positions on the Palestinian issue and on a number of other regional issues.

Speaking about Egypt's foreign policy priorities, P. N. Mamed-zade (RUDN University) stressed that this country has managed to ensure that the West, Israel and, of course, the Arab countries are interested in ensuring that peace and tranquility prevail in Egypt, which is so necessary for it to implement a policy of mediation between Arab countries and the West.

D. A. Khalturina (Center for Civilizational and Regional Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences) in her speech "Political development of Egypt in the context of regional and global trends" offered her own view on political stability in Egypt, which she attributed to the peculiarity of demographic processes in the Middle East region. Pointing out that Egypt has long had a declining birth rate, and that the level of food consumption in Egypt was 3,356 kcal per day per person in 2003, which is even higher than recommended by the World Health Organization, the report concluded that the political upheaval, Due to low per capita consumption, Egypt is not threatened.

The round table "Egypt: Problems of cultural and historical development" was held by S. A. Kirillina (ISAA at Moscow State University) and A. V. Korotaev (RSUH). Thematically, the presentations were divided into two groups: historical-theoretical and historical research. The first group includes the reports of A. V. Korotaev "Cycles and trends in the long-term political and demographic dynamics of Egypt" and L. E. Grinin (Volgograd Center for Social Research) "Transformation of the Egyptian state system in the XIX - early XX century: from a developed state to a mature one". Both reports aroused great interest. L. E. Grinin presented his own concept of an" early-matured " state. He believes that it is necessary to take into account the differences between industrial and pre-industrial states and distinguish not two, as previously proposed by Kh. M. Klassen and P. Skalnik, but three stages of state development: early, insufficiently centralized states with an undeveloped social and class and administrative-political structure, established states with a pronounced class-class division, and states with a clearly defined state structure. epochs of industrialization. In each stage, the author of the concept identifies smaller stages of the initial, typical and transitional state. The speaker applied this concept to Egypt and came to the conclusion that a mature state was finally formed in Egypt only after the events of 1952 with the acquisition of real independence and sovereignty.

The second group of speeches covered the historical period from the seventh to the twentieth century A.D. The earliest period in the history of Egypt was presented in the report of D. E. Mishin (Institute of History of the Russian Academy of Sciences) "Egypt under the rule of the Sassanids (619-629)", in which he elaborated on the cultural and historical consequences for the development of Egypt of the confrontation between the two great powers. time - Byzantium and Sasanian Iran.

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The medieval history of Egypt was presented by A. S. Kadyrbaev (Institute of History of the Russian Academy of Sciences) "Queen of Egypt Shajarat ad-Durr: 1249-1250 (The story of a Turkic slave who became the empress and founder of the Mamluk state)" and a related report by A. A. Filippov (Belarusian State University) "The formation of Mamluk power in Egypt (1252-1260)". The Mamluk state, which existed for 132 years, was founded by a woman, which in itself, according to A. Kadyrbayev, should attract the attention of researchers, since this phenomenon is rare not only in the Islamic world, but also unusual for the entire medieval era. It laid the foundations of a new state in the Middle East, which included Egypt, Syria, as well as Mecca and Medina. The first Mamluks, according to A. A. Filippov, faced two major foreign policy tasks: legitimizing the coup in accordance with the principles of Islam and protecting them from the encroachments of the Mongol Ayyubid dynasty. The Ayyubid Mongols were perceived by the Mamluks, who strictly adhered to the norms of Islam, as pagans sent by Allah as punishment for ignoring the laws of Islam by the" God - chosen " people-the Turks.

N. A. Neflyasheva (Center for Civilizational and Regional Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences) presented the history of pilgrimage of Russian Muslims in the XIX - early XX centuries. Her report "Problems of organizing the Hajj of Russian Muslims: the way through Egypt" was based on the material of the foreign policy departments of the Russian Empire. The speaker concludes that the route through Egypt was the most convenient from the point of view of officials of the Russian Empire because, in addition to sanitary security (then the plague was raging in the East), this route allowed Russian diplomatic departments to control the movement of hajjis and limit the possibility of their contacts with co-religionists.

G. A. Khizrieva (RSUH) discussed the impact of contacts between Russian Muslims and representatives of the Muslim culture of Egypt on the revival and development of traditional public institutions of Muslims in the north-east Caucasus. This influence was reflected not only in the restoration of severed spiritual ties, the education of young Russian Muslims at Al-Azhar University, but also in the experience of creating institutions for managing religious life in Egypt, where individual Sufi communities were once politically influential. Thus, in Dagestan in the early 1990s, an Alim Council appeared, similar to the Supreme Council of Sufi Tariqas, established in 1895, when Egypt was part of the Ottoman Empire. The similarity between the two structures was that the Sufi Council in Egypt and the Alim Council in Dagestan sought to achieve political consolidation between religious charismatics. G. A. Khizrieva stressed that historical parallels also contributed to the appeal to similar Egyptian forms of organizing the life of Muslims in the North Caucasus. According to their structure, the vird fraternities of Muslims in Chechnya and Ingushetia can be correlated withThe bayts of the Egyptian tariqa are al-Rifaiyyah and al-Shazaliyyah. Like the Egyptian shaikhs, the murid-murshid relationship in the North-Eastern Caucasus had access to public space, for example, in the case of charges in court.

Apart from this is the report of T. A. Anikeeva (RSUH) "The history of book printing in Egypt: Bulak printing house". The author of the report turned to the history of the formation of printing in the context of administrative and political reforms carried out since the first half of the XIX century. Muhammad Ali and his successors. She analyzed in detail the technological and content specifics of the book publishing process in the Bulak printing House , one of the first printing centers in the Middle East. According to the speaker, it was thanks to the Bulak printing house that Egypt became one of the leading centers of intellectual culture of the Arab-Ottoman and the entire Islamic world of that era.

It is worth mentioning the reports that were the result of student research efforts. The report on the dialogue between the Orthodox and pre-Chalcedonian Churches on the example of considering the positions of the Egyptian Coptic and Russian Orthodox Churches is written by K. E. Kulikova (RSUH). The report presented by Yu. V. Zinkina (Kazan University) examined the process of forming political leadership in the region on the example of Egypt and Syria. Both presentations aroused great interest and won the approval of senior colleagues. Thus, the report of K. E. Kulikova raised the problem of the possibility of preserving traditional spiritual values in the context of secularization of those societies in which the Orthodox and Pre-Chalcedonian Churches have traditionally been prominent participants in the political process. The general negative attitude of the Roman Catholic, Orthodox and pre-Chalcedonian churches contributes to the dialogue.

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to the possibility of church blessing of same-sex marriages, contraception, the permissibility of abortions, and the ordination of women to the priesthood approved by other Christian churches. Common positions on these and many other issues have led to the intensification of the dialogue on the reunification of Orthodox churches. The Joint Theological Commission, which last met in Antelios, Lebanon, from 13 to 15 December 2005, was called upon to carry out such a dialogue. According to the author of the report, the dialogue is progressing rather slowly because the churches realize that haste in this matter can lead to new schisms, and besides, not only theologians and the church administration should be prepared for the restoration of Eucharistic communion, but also the monastics, clergy, and flock. The third student report of I. A. Tsaregorodtseva (RSUH) "Modern Egypt and Russia: sharing stereotypes at the level of two cultures" is based on the materials of the included observation and interviews with Russian citizens who come to Egypt as tourists and members of the host community. The speaker focuses on the mechanisms of forming ethnic stereotypes among both Russian-speaking tourists and local residents.

Mikhail Ananyin, Adviser to the Russian Embassy in Egypt, presented the latest statistical data on the sources of hard currency inflows to the Egyptian economy from the tourism sector compiled by the Egyptian Center for Economic and Financial Research in his report "Development of Tourism in Egypt".

Rector-organizer of the Egyptian-Russian University Sherif Helmi told the audience about the problems associated with the promotion of joint educational and academic Russian-Egyptian projects and ways to solve problems that arise during their implementation.

At the closing of the symposium, Hassan Mustafa Hassan El-Hemali, Adviser to the Information and Press Relations Department of the Embassy of Egypt in the Russian Federation, delivered a report on the role of the media in strengthening Egyptian-Russian relations. A detailed report with an extensive selection of materials from Egyptian and Russian print media attached to it aroused genuine interest among the participants of the symposium.

Plenary and sectional reports are fully reflected in the collection of reports of participants of the symposium "Egypt, the Middle East and the Global World", published by the Krankes publishing house, published for the "Days of Egypt" at the RSUH.

The closing ceremony of the "Days of Egypt" took place on May 17, 2006. University leaders and event organizers, who spoke at the closing ceremonies of the "Days of Egypt" at RSUH, noted the effective work of participants in scientific events and expressed hope for continued fruitful cooperation between their Russian and Egyptian colleagues.

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