The Republic of Tatarstan is often portrayed as a model of moderate Islam within the Russian Federation, with its stability commonly attributed to the liberal traditions of Tatar Islam and interfaith coexistence. This article argues that such explanations overlook the political-geographical contexts within which competing expressions of Islam emerge and acquire public legitimacy. Drawing on qualitative historical and interpretive analysis of public discourse, institutional publications, official documents, and symbolic landscape, it examines how changing territorial conditions reshaped competing expressions of Islam in post-Soviet Tatarstan. The article first reconstructs an intellectual history of debates among nationalist organizations, intellectuals, religious leaders, and state institutions concerning the relationship between Islam and homeland before examining how those changing expressions found material form in the symbolic landscape of the Kazan Kremlin. The findings demonstrate that changing territorial conditions reshaped the discursive, institutional, and material expression of Islam as Tatarstan moved from republican sovereignty toward accommodation within a recentralized multinational Russian state.
India and Afghanistan share deep civilizational, cultural, and historical ties that have long transcended formal diplomacy. Rooted in ancient linkages through the Silk Road, Vedic-Avestan connections, and shared anti-colonial struggles, the bilateral relationship has evolved significantly across different political regimes in Kabul. This paper examines India’s geopolitical policy shift towards Taliban 2.0 following the abrupt collapse of the Afghan Republic in August 2021. Drawing on Kautilya’s Rajamandala theory, which views the neighbour’s neighbour as a natural ally, the study analyses how geography and strategic imperatives continue to shape India’s approach towards Afghanistan. Despite ideological differences and historical mistrust stemming from the Taliban’s past linkages with Pakistan-sponsored terrorist groups, India has adopted a pragmatic “engage but do not endorse” policy. This recalibration is marked by incremental diplomatic normalisation, including high-level meetings such as the October 2025 visit of Afghan Acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi to New Delhi, the upgrade of India’s mission in Kabul to a full embassy, and renewed economic cooperation. The paper highlights the convergence of mutual interests in counterterrorism, regional connectivity, and reducing over-dependence on Pakistan and China. Key elements include the operationalisation of the Chabahar Port–International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC), revival of bilateral trade (which crossed US$ 1 billion in FY 2024–25), and India’s continued development and humanitarian assistance. At the same time, it critically evaluates the challenges, including normative contradictions related to women’s rights and human rights, persistent security threats from anti-India militant groups, great-power competition with China, and Pakistan’s efforts to undermine the rapprochement. Through qualitative analysis of policy documents, official statements, and secondary literature, this study argues that India’s post-2021 Afghanistan policy reflects a classic geopolitical recalibration rooted in Kautilyan realism—prioritising strategic interests, connectivity, and influence over ideological alignment. The long-term sustainability of this engagement will depend on balancing security concerns with India’s democratic values in an uncertain regional environment.
This article examines the role of energy and natural resources as structuring factors in contemporary geopolitics and geostrategy. Building on classical geopolitical thought, it explores how material conditions have historically shaped spatial configurations of power, while remaining analytically implicit in traditional frameworks. The study develops the concept of energy-resource determinism as a heuristic approach for understanding how the access to, control over, and distribution of resources conditio state behaviour, strategic interaction, and patterns of asymmetry in the international system. Through a conceptual and comparative analysis, the article traces the transition from geographically oriented determinism to more explicit energy- and resource-centred perspectives. Particular attention is paid to the role of infrastructure, asymmetric dependence, and energy security in shaping contemporary geostrategic dynamics. The analysis also considers how ongoing transformations, including the global energy transition and the increasing importance of critical materials, are reconfiguring the existing patterns of dependency and power. Rather than proposing a formalised theory, the article offers a structured analytical framework that highlights the relevance of material constraints in international relations and political geography. It aims to contribute to ongoing debates on geopolitics by providing a conceptual foundation for further theoretical development and empirical research.
Urban regeneration of abandoned industrial sites or brownfields presents both challenges and opportunities for cities around the world, helps to clean up and revitalize inner cities by reintegrating abandoned, inactive or underutilized sites, reduces urban sprawl and eliminates chaotic/unplanned development by strengthening the spirit community, creating jobs and increasing local tax revenues, revitalizing communities and renewing economic activity, particularly in underserved urban areas. By addressing environmental, social and economic aspects, through urban regeneration, these brown spots can be transformed into sustainable, vibrant and inclusive urban spaces. This study is a continuation of the study published in the book “Architectural Reflections. An architectural study regarding the urban regeneration of former industrial sites in Oradea”, with the aim of analyzing the subsequent evolution of the urban regeneration process and reintegration into the urban fabric of the lands and buildings where the former factories operate.
Since the very beginning of the operation of allotment gardens, the main goal (idea) of their creation was to provide areas for cultivation. Such gardens were created for the poorest families and the families of underpaid workers who, by cultivating garden plots, could support their modest household budgets, sourcing basic produce grown on their own plot. Changes in everyday life, caused by the development of civilization (including cheap food in hypermarkets) and political changes in Poland, contributed to the intensification of the process of a gradual shift in the use of allotment gardens from agricultural production to recreation (Szkup, 2022). The contemporary importance of Family Allotment Gardens (RODs) results from a combination of production, recreational, social and ecological functions. Allotment gardens should also be treated as multifunctional elements of the urban spatial structure whose importance has been changing with the social, economic and spatial changes in Europe (Bell, et al., 2016). This article attempts to present changes in the use of “Morwa” Family Allotment Garden in Łódź, comparing the use of plots in the garden in 2010 and 2025. The article also presents changes in the socio-demographic features of garden users in analogous time cross-sections. These goals were realized by using a direct inventory and a questionnaire survey among the users of the surveyed garden. The results show very clear transformations of the socio-demographic structure in terms of the garden users’ age and gender. The most important change between 2010 and 2025 is the clear aging of the population of “Morwa” ROD users. In “Morwa” Family Allotment Garden in Łódź, a transformation in the use of plots is taking place. There is a gradual shift in the use of the garden from production use related to the cultivation of vegetables and fruits to leisure and recreational use, but the scale of these changes is small compared to the gardens of the Łódź Voivodeship.
