INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL & SCIENCE EDUCATION 2016, VOL. 11, NO. 15, 7868-7879 OPEN ACCESS The Image of Russia Formed by Means of Modern Russian Paper Money Elena A. Dzhandzhugazovaa, Mikhail Y. Laykoa, Elena L. Ilinaa, Aleksander N. Latkina and Ekaterina N. Valedinskayaa aPlekhanov Russian University of Economics, Moscow, RUSSIA ABSTRACT The relevance of the problem posed in the article is caused by the fact that under current conditions it is necessary to develop a comprehensive, but a complete image of Russia as a huge Eurasian state on the basis of effective use of scientific and practical approaches proposed by marketing of territories and tools used in the practice of territorial branding. The purpose of the article is to examine the role and socio-cultural value of paper money as an important instrument of state monetary policy and at the same time an integral attribute of everyday life. The leading methods of investigation of the defined problem are the methods of sociological research and modeling, allowing on the base of an analysis of public opinion research results to highlight the main objects-symbols that Russians prefer to see on modern Russian paper banknotes. The article offers an integrated scientific grouping of objects-symbols on the basis of which it is supposed to form visual images of Russian area space and that then will be reflected on paper banknotes. On the basis of conducted comparative analysis of the objects-symbols selected for banknotes in 1997 and 2016, conclusions about the stability of preferences of Russians are made, and also the fact of increasing symbolic value of Russian paper money is emphasized, despite an increase of the growth of non-cash turnover. Article submissions may be useful for the members of scientific and educational community concerned with the problems of study of marketing of territories and countries, as well as political scientists and representatives of the government. KEYWORDS ARTICLE HISTORY Image of Russia, territorial branding, Russian paper Received 04 May 2016 money, objects-symbols Revised 28 June 2016 Accepted 09 July 2016 Introduction The power and stability of any country depends a lot on its economic and including monetary policy forming conditions of functioning of the money market of the country. At the same time money is not only an economic tool but also an important attribute of everyday life, which is also the product of a complicated historical development. However socio-cultural features of the CORRESPONDENCE Elena A. Dzhandzhugazova E-mail: [email protected] © 2016 Dzhandzhugazova et al. Open Access terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) apply. The license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, on the condition that users give exact credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if they made any changes. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL & SCIENCE EDUCATION 7869 relation of people to money still are little explored. Nowadays the most studied are issues that reveal an attitude to money as to a means of savings, which reflects one of the most important functions of money, but does not affect their socio-cultural specifics, including symbolic value. At the same time, with a growth of the volume of non-cash turnover and emergence of electronic money, traditional paper money is gradually transformed into a kind of attribute or symbol that can carry an interesting and even cognitive information. From the cultural and historical point of view paper money has a particular importance, as they form the image of the country by their visual “picture”, revealing its cultural, historical and geographical features. The process of production of paper banknotes is complex and creative, because at first the original of a banknote is designed, and precisely at this stage the visual image of future money is created. Images of in-progress banknotes along with special financial functions are also conductors of official symbols and act as special propaganda means. Every banknote has its own “face”, that is the front and back side. The front side is referred to as Obverse, from the Latin “adversus”, or “turned by the face”. On the front side is usually depicted a portrait of the acting or former head of state; state symbols – the coat of arms or an emblem of the country; sometimes coats of arms are placed on both sides, then as the obverse is considered the one on which there is the main symbol, higher on a rank or larger in size; legend showing the name of the state or territory; the name of the emitting bank (Kislinskaya, 2015) The approach to the formation of a visual image of banknotes has, first of all, national specifics. So on paper banknotes of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union (USSR) on the obverse were depicted national symbols and portraits of governors or heads of state. In the design of money was traditionally used the so-called “portrait approach”, that undoubtedly emphasized features of the political system and a high degree of centralization of power. In modern Russia is dominated a new “spatial” approach to the selection of the themes for Russian paper money. Huge open spaces, variety and uniqueness of the Russian regions inspire for the formation of a new positive image of the largest, very distinctive and open country. Appeal to the spatial images is not accidental, as there is a strong invisible connection between a person and a place called topophilia, it facilitates awakening at people of positive feelings at the sight of beautiful landscapes and favorable places. The term “topophilia” has been introduced for scientific use by the American topographer and culturologist Yu-Fu Tuan (1976a, 1976 b) in 1970s. In the context of modern marketing of territories topophilia focuses attention on the preservation of natural habitats through various and including artistic images of territories capable to be transformed into images and brands of territories. The developed image of the place increases interest and affection to it, forming a special cognitive map of the area, enhancing the symbolic value of the territory (place). Space, full of images, is easily read, and thus becomes an attractive and open. (Tuan Yi-Fu, 1976a; Tuan Yi-Fu, 1976b) The image of such country as Russia, undoubtedly, must take shape on a geographical basis, since the cultural diversity and distinction of a multinational country can easily and clearly be demonstrated through the images of the Russian space (Dzhandzhugazova, 2016a; Dzhandzhugazova, 2016b). 7870 E. A. DZHANDZHUGAZOVA Materials and Methods For studying of the mechanisms and conditions of formation of the image of Russia, transmitted by means of depiction of themes of the Russian space on banknotes, it is necessary to carry out research revealing the conditions and reasons for creation of visual images of modern Russian paper money. The process of formation of visual images on the Russian banknotes, begun in the early 1990s, continues so far. At the same time it gradually becomes more democratic, as it engages in a broad discussion almost all of Russian society, providing a significant increase of the sources of research base. The first series of new Russian banknotes in nominal values of 5, 10, 50, 100, 500, 1000 and 5000 rubles came into circulation on January 1, 1998 was called “urban”, as on them are located views of Russian cities and including the most famous sights. Selection of the cities and sights of this series carried to a greater degree random and subjective character. However, despite the fact that it was not succeeded to widely present the geography of Russia, but on the banknotes, except Moscow and St. Petersburg, appeared the views of other Russian cities: Yaroslavl, Arkhangelsk, Krasnoyarsk and Khabarovsk. This fact has emphasized the formation and development of a new vision of the image of Russia, aimed to reflect the space of our country in all its diversity. At the same time the lack of systematic scientific approach to the selection of themes for the already issued and future series of paper money causes a justified criticism from the scientific community and the public, which makes it possible to initiate carrying out research covering the problems of development of branding of territories. As the main methods for studying of the problem have been chosen: sociological research and method of modeling of findings. According to researchers, these methodological approaches will allow to define the main groups and key characteristics of objects-symbols that are supposed to be placed on the banknotes. As an analytical base of the research acted the results of observation and expert evaluation of objects-symbols of the series of paper banknotes of a 1998 sample, selected by the emitting bank (The Central Bank of Russian Federation), and the results of the all-Russian contest for the creation of new paper banknotes in nominal values of 200 and 2000 rubles which will be released into circulation in 2017. The contest of the themes of new banknotes has been organized by the Central Bank of Russian Federation on the website “Your Rossiya.rf” (Tvoya-Rossiya, 2016). During the first stage of the competition were generalized the views of 1.1 million respondents from 85 regions of Russian Federation, who in the on-line mode were suggested to consider 5000 objects from 1113 Russian cities as images-symbols for the new paper banknotes. At the final stage were analyzed the opinions of 970 thousand respondents voted for 18 objects-symbols in 10 Russian cities. The proposed comparative analysis aims to identify the main trends in formation of an image of modern Russian money, having checked the working hypothesis consisting in a preference of the geographic (city) series over the cultural-historical (portrait) series that will allow to denote stable preferences of INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL & SCIENCE EDUCATION 7871 the Russian society in the field of a selection of the types of objects which are supposed to be placed on the banknotes. All of these objects can be divided into five major groups: natural, cultural and historical and architectural, engineering and technical, religious, complex. Such grouping of objects has complex scientific character and is based on the developed by E.A. Dzhandzhugazova (2011) classification of tourist resources in the framework of the project “Living Map of Russia”. The received generalized results of two stages of the held contest have allowed to draw conclusions about which types of objects according to the Russians opinion are the most preferred for the new Russian banknotes (Fig. 1.) Types of objects-symbols 50% 40% 30% 45% 20% 10% 20% 13% 12% 10% 0% Cultural Complex Engineering Religious Natural Figure 1. The most popular types of objects-symbols. According to Russians, cultural and historical objects-symbols more fully and deeply reflect the image of Russia, this opinion is supported by 45% of respondents, the second place occupied complex objects (20%), on the third place Russians set the objects of engineering-technical nature (13%), religious and natural objects noted 12 and 10% of Russians. Results Here are the detailed results of a comparative analysis of the themed range of symbols selected for the Russian paper banknotes in 1997 and 2016. Characteristics of the symbol range of Russian paper banknotes 1997 is shown in Table 1. Table 1.Characteristics of the symbol range of Russian paper banknotes 1997 # Banknote City Characteristics of Symbol Type of Symbol 1. 10 rubles Krasnoyarsk - The bridge across Yenisei Engineering-technical - Orthodox Chapel Religious - Krasnoyarsk hydroelectric Engineering-technical power station - Coast of Yenisei River Natural 2. 50 rubles St. - Sculpture “Neva” Cultural and historical Petersburg - Peter and Paul Fortress - - Exchange Square - 7872 E. A. DZHANDZHUGAZOVA - Rostral Columns - - Stock Exchange building - - Coast of Neva River Natural 3. 100 rubles Moscow - The Bolshoi Theatre Cultural and historical - Sculpture of Apollo - - General view of the Complex Bolshoi Theatre Square 4. 500 rubles Arkhangelsk - Solovetsky Monastery Religious Solovki - The monument to Peter Cultural and historical the Great Complex - View of the city of Arkhangelsk 5. 1000 Yaroslavl - The monument to Yaroslav Cultural and historical rubles the Wise - St. John the Baptist Religious Church in Tolchkov - View of the Yaroslavl Complex Kremlin Complex - View of the city of Yaroslavl 6. 5000 Khabarovsk - The monument to the Cultural and historical rubles governor-general of Eastern Siberia N. N. Muravyev- Amursky Complex - View of the city of Natural Khabarovsk Engineering-technical - Amur River - Khabarovsk Bridge across the Amur Distribution of objects-symbols over the main types on the banknotes of 1997 we consider in Table 2 and Figure 2. Table 2.Distribution of objects-symbols over the main types on the banknotes of 1997 Type of object-symbol Amount Percentage Natural 3 13 Cultural and historical and architectural 9 39 Engineering-technical 3 13 Religious 3 13 Complex 5 22 Total: 23 100 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL & SCIENCE EDUCATION 7873 Cultural and historical objects 13% Complex objects 39% 13% Natural objects 13% Religious objects 22% Engineering-technical objects Figure 2.Structure of objects-symbols over the main types (on the banknotes of 1997) The results of the comparative analysis of the selection of objects-symbols in 1997 have shown that the cultural and historical objects are most preferred (39%), the second most popular have become the objects of complex nature, as a rule combining a complex of sights or scenic characteristics of the landscape, the equal preference have had the rest of objects: natural, religious and engineering- technical (13%). Initially, and during the entire subsequent period the choice of these subjects was criticized and including because of the fact that the composition of objects-symbols didn’t include the majestic natural objects, in particular views of the Lake Baikal, the Volga River, and others. But, those views on the banknotes were inexpressive and therefore have not been chosen by the selection committee of the emitting bank. As a result, the choice of the objects-symbols in 1997 has been recognized as subjective, that supposed to be corrected by the competitive selection of banknotes in nominal values of 200 and 2000 rubles, which the Central Bank of Russian Federation envisages to release into circulation in 2017. We consider the characteristics of the symbol range of Russian paper money which won in the 2016 contest, given in Table 3. Table 3.Characteristics of the symbol range of Russian paper banknotes on the results of the 2016 contest Counties Cities (amount of Name of Symbol Type of Symbol symbols) Central Federal Vladimir (2) 1. The Golden Gate Cultural and historical District 2. Assumption Cathedral Religious 12 cities Voronezh (2) 3. The monument to a Cultural and historical 18 symbols kitten from Lizyukov - Street 4. Ship-museum “Goto Predestination” Zaraysk (1) 5. Zaraysk Kremlin Cultural and historical Kaluga(1) 6. The State Museum of Cultural and historical the History of Cosmonautics named by K. E. Tsiolkovsky 7874 E. A. DZHANDZHUGAZOVA Klin (2) 7. House-Museum of P. I. Cultural and historical Tchaikovsky - 8. The monument to P. I. Tchaikovsky Kolomna (1) 9. Kolomna Kremlin Cultural and historical Kostroma (1) 10. Ipatiev Monastery Religious Murom(2) 11. Murom Bridge across Engineering-technical the Oka Cultural and historical 12. The monument to Ilya Muromets Smolensk (2) 13. The Fortress Wall Cultural and historical 14.Holy Assumption Religious Cathedral Sergiev Posad (1) 15. The Holy Trinity St. Religious Sergius Lavra Tula (3) 16. Tula Arms Factory Engineering-technical 17. Museum-manor Complex “Yasnaya Polyana” 18. Tula Kremlin Cultural and historical Volga Federal Kazan (3) 1. Kazan (Volga) Federal Complex District University 7 cities 2. Kazan Kremlin Cultural and historical 14 symbols 3. Qol Sharif Mosque Religious Ufa (1) 4. The monument to Cultural and historical Salavat Yulaev Nizhny Novgorod 5. Nizhny Novgorod Cultural and historical (3) Kremlin Complex 6. Nizhny Novgorod Fair Cultural and historical 7. The monument to V. Chkalov Saratov (2) 8. Saratov Bridge across Engineering-technical the Volga Complex 9. Saratov Conservatory named by L. V. Sobinov Perm (1) 10. Sculpture “The Perm Cultural and historical Bear” Samara (2) 11. Stele “Shallop” Cultural and historical 12. Museum and Complex Exhibition Center “Samara Cosmic” Cheboksary (2) 13. The monument to Cultural and historical Vasily Ivanovich Chapayev - 14. The monument “Mother the Patroness” North-Western Vyborg (1) 1. Vyborg Castle Cultural and historical Federal District Pskov(1) 2. Pskov Krom Complex 6 cities Murmansk (2) 3. Memorial to defenders Cultural and historical 7 symbols of the Polar region “Alyosha” Engineering-technical 4. Nuclear-powered icebreaker “Lenin” Kaliningrad (1) 5. Cathedral in Religious Kaliningrad Petrozavodsk (1) 6. Kizhi Complex INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL & SCIENCE EDUCATION 7875 Syktyvkar (1) 7. Pillars of weathering Natural on the plateau Manpupunyor Southern Volgograd (2) 1. Sculpture “Motherland Cultural and historical Federal District is calls!” Complex 7 cities 2. Mamayev Kurgan 12 symbols Kerch (1) 3. The bridge across the Engineering-technical Kerch Strait Krasnodar (2) 4. Cinema “Aurora” Cultural and historical 5. The monument to - Catherine the Great Novocherkassk (1) 6. Voznesensky Army Religious cathedral Rostov-on-Don (2) 7. The monument of Cultural and historical “Tachanka- Rostovchanka” - 8. The monument “To Liberators of Rostov” Sevastopol (2) 9. The monument to the Cultural and historical Drowned Ships 10. Chersonese Taurian Complex Sochi (2) 11. Olympic Stadium Cultural and historical “Fisht” Complex 12. “Rosa-Khutor” North Caucasus Grozny (1) 1. Religious Federal District Mosque“HeartofChechny 3 cities a” 3 symbols Kislovodsk (1) 2. Cascade Stairs Cultural and historical Derbent (1) 3. Fortress “Naryn-Kala” Complex Ural federal Magnitogorsk (1) 1. The monument “The Cultural and historical district Rear – to the Front” 5 cities Nizhnevartovsk(1) 2. The monument “To Cultural and historical 7 symbols the Conquerors of Samotlor” Tyumen (2) 3. Tyumen Bridge of Engineering-technical Lovers Natural 4. Tura River Embankment Ekaterinburg (2) 5. Sevastyanov's House Cultural and historical 6. Hotel “Iset” - Chelyabinsk (1) 7. Chelyabinsk meteorite Natural Siberian Barnaul (1) 1. The monument to I. Cultural and historical Federal District Polzunov 6 cities Irkutsk (2) 2. Sculpture “The Irkutsk Cultural and historical 9 symbols Babr” Natural 3. Lake Baikal Kyzyl (1) 4. Obelisk “Center of Cultural and historical Asia” Novosibirsk (3) 5. Bugrinsky Bridge Engineering-technical 6. Novosibirsk Zoo Complex 7. Novosibirsk State Complex Opera and Ballet Theatre Tomsk (1) 8. Tomsk State Complex University Sheregesh (1) 9. The mountain Natural “Green” Far Eastern Vladivostok (2) 1. The Bridge to Russky Engineering-technical 7876 E. A. DZHANDZHUGAZOVA Federal District Island - 3 cities 2. Golden Bridge 5 symbols Petropavlovsk- 3. The monument “Here Cultural and historical Kamchatsky (2) Begins Russia” 4. Volcano Natural Klyuchevskaya Sopka Tsiolkovsky (1) 5. Vostochny Spaceport Engineering-technical At this stage of voting 45 cities of the Russian Federation and 75 objects- symbols have taken part in it. Up to now, the contest isn't finished yet, but the intermediate results of the choice of objects allow us to judge how a wide Russian public sees the image of Russia and, in particular, one of its profiles which will be located on the new banknotes. Distribution of objects-symbols over the main types on the banknotes according to the results of 2016 contest we consider in Table 4 and Figure 3. Table 4.Distribution of objects-symbols over the main types on the Russian banknotes according to the results of 2016 contest Type of object-symbol Amount Percentage Natural 6 8 Cultural and historical and architectural 39 52 Engineering-technical 9 12 Religious 8 10 Complex 13 18 Total: 75 100 Cultural and historical objects 12% Complex objects 10% 8% Natural objects 52% Religious objects 18% Engineering-technical objects Figure 3.Structure of objects-symbols over the main types on the Russian banknotes according to the results of 2016 contest The results of the comparative analysis of the selection of objects-symbols in 2016 have shown that the cultural and historical objects are still the most preferred (52%), the second in popularity remained the objects of complex character (18%), the rest of the preferences were distributed as follows: engineering-technical (12%), religious (10%) and natural (8%). The final stage of voting at which 18 objects-symbols in 10 cities of the Russian Federation have INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL & SCIENCE EDUCATION 7877 been allocated has confirmed the previous results of research, having placed all types of objects-symbols on preferences in the same proportions and the same sequence: 1. cultural and historical; 2. complex; 3. Engineering-technical; 4. religious; 5. natural. Discussions Comprehensive image of Russia is difficult to imagine, but compact informative picture, reflecting the nature and specifics of the image of Russia, is necessary. The image of Russia in recent years has been tried to form with a support on different of product brands, postcard views, displaying of key sights and much more. Symbolic picture, reflecting the territorial and cultural and historical specifics of a country, is necessary, but it can’t be universal one. Most likely, the compact image of the symbolic object located on the territory of Russia is required. There is a lot of potential carriers of an image of Russia. Along with official and traditional symbols it is possible to attribute to them also banknotes (modern Russian paper money). On banknotes are depicted separate photogenic images, among which there are practically no unique ones. Set of depicted objects is diverse: river, island, coast, mountain, rock, bay, hydroelectric power station, bridge, building, fortress, monument, statue, sculpture, temple, chapel, theater, street, embankment. All listed objects in a varying degree reflect the features of the urban area presented on a banknote, they are also not connected with the nominal value of the banknote in any way and perform exclusively decorative role (Dzhandzhugazova, 2016b). The image is a sequence of objects. The image of the country, according to the famous Russian geographer V. L. Kagansky (2004), - is a collective whole. Usually it is imagined in the form of a dot object in space, forming a so-called visual-semantic constellation. The image of Russia as of a country is best formed on a geographical basis, that is why an urban series of paper banknotes looks more preferable than a portrait one. Ancient Russia, called in Icelandic sagas about the Vikings in VIII- XI centuries “Gardarika” (the country of cities), since ancient times attracted outlanders by its identity and the vastness of space, where in those days were located about 150 cities. Nowadays Russia is also the country of regions. Consequently, the image of modern Russia can be represented as a constellation of regions, in fact very different, but historically connected in a whole. (Kagansky, 2004) To form the visual image of Russia as a country, it is necessary to group all of its extended space, divided into regions with the main points – cities and iconic sights, in such a way as to allocate the main semantic points, which in total will make a complete image of Russia. Of course, there can be several profiles of this complete image, and one of them is undoubtedly the image on the Russian paper banknotes, which continues to develop and including due to enrichment by new themes. (Dzhandzhugazova, 2013) In this regard we consider very important comparison and analysis of two time phases of the formation of the image of Russian paper money: the first phase (1997) – having no alternative; the second phase (2016) – competitively. Conclusion The conducted studies allow to draw a conclusion that the results of the objects-symbols selection in 2016 compared with the choice in 1997 substantially