Russian Bear in the mirror of Dawkinss theory towards comprehension of the international political discourses Lika Rygina GSSR, IFIS PAN Sociobiology,

Richard Dawkins The Selfish Gene (1976) Meme (from the Greek mimema) – replicator, a noun that conveys the idea of a unit of cultural transmission, or a unit of imitation. Just as genes propagate themselves in the gene pool by leaping from body to body via sperms or eggs, so memes propagate themselves in the meme pool by leaping from brain to brain via a process which, in the broad sense, can be called imitation. Living structure: When you plant a fertile meme in my mind you literally parasitize my brain, turning it into a vehicle for the meme's propagation in just the way that a virus may parasitize the genetic mechanism of a host cell.

Memes features A.Transmission: vertical and horizontal (Limsed & Wilson). B. Survival value: longevity, fecundity, and copying-fidelity (Dawkins). C. Selfishness. We must not think of genes as conscious, purposeful agents. Blind natural selection, however, makes them behave rather as if they were purposeful. They behave in such a way as to increase their numbers in future gene pools tend to be the genes whose effects we see in the world (Dawkins)

Cultural Software Jack Balkin Cultural Software: A Theory of Ideology -memes form narratives, networks of cultural associations, metaphoric and metonymic models, and a variety of different mental structures; - the same structures can be used to generate harmful or maladaptive ideas depending on the environmental context.

Russian bear in the pre- and earlier modern international politics The map of Moskovia, Jenkinson, The map of Europe, Blau, 1617/1630

The Russian Bear and her Invincible Rider encountering the British Legion, 1791 James Gillray, The Valley of the Shadow of Death, 1808

Late 1800s and 20 century John Tenniel. Beati possidentes! 1878 B. Nowakowski. Polowanie na niedzwiedzia, Mucha, 1920

Werner C.G. The Bear that Walks Like a Man Chicago Sun, 1943

Russia-Georgia conflict in cartoons and installations

The Cold War isnt finished yet. Even if the Russian body do not wish to fight. It is tired. The Russian spirit is disoriented in the darkness. The Russian Idea is forgotten. No one should be afraid of Russia anymore. Though, one should always be afraid of the Russian Bear, because it will live forever in the memory as the Russian Idea, and because it is an orthodox creature. It barely remembers itself what this Idea was all about, and how it looked been the orthodox bear, but if someday it recalls these things, the cold war would return (Iarkevich, 2008).

Sport banner: Russia, go ahead!

Olympic mascots: Teddy Bear & Cheburashka

Russian Bear in national symbolic

Credits Dawkins, Richard. (1999/1989). Memes: the new replicators. Electronic version of the chapter of the book The selfish gene. de Lazari, Andrzej and Riabov, Oleg. (2008). Russian Bear in Polish satiric graphics in the period between wars ( ). [Russkiy medved v polskoiy satiricheskoy grafike mezhvoennogo perioda ( )]. Granitsi, 2. Ivanovo: IvGU Press. riabov-almanach-2008.htm Lipovetsky, M., (2001). In remembrance of Buratino [Pamjati Buratino]. Iskusstvo kino, 5. Riabov, Oleg and de Lazary, Andrzej. (2008). Misha and a Bear: The bear metaphor of Russia in the representations of Georgian-Russian conflict [Misha I Medved: Medvezja metephira Rossii v representacii gruzino-rossiiskogo konflikta]. Evropa [forthcoming]. Rossomakhin, Andrei and Khrustalyev, Denis. (2008). Russia as a Bear [Rossija kak Medved]. NZ, 1 (57). medved.html Images from

Russian Bear in the mirror of Dawkinss theory towards comprehension of the international political discourses Lika Rygina GSSR, IFIS PAN Sociobiology,

Ю. Черепанов. Не в бровь, а в глаз… Огонек, 1980 Б. Ефимов. Разные «весовые категории» Огонек, 1980