The book of President Islam Karimov, Uzbekistan on the Threshold of the XXIth Century: Threat of Security, Conditions and Guarantee of Progress, is a key text on the culture of international communications at the present time. This treatise had great resonance and in a short time was translated into many languages, West and East. The political and social leaders of many states as well as scholars in many countries have highly appreciated this work. The book treats the main international events in the sphere of culture and science, past, present and future, and according to modern theoretical and methodological positions.

This chapter follows the President’s lead in treating the problems of the culture of international communications as an important condition for civil society, international agreement and the progress of the Republic of Uzbekistan, which has chosen an independent way of development. This is a new page in its national history and in the international contacts between the nationalities of the Republic of Uzbekistan and other peoples of he world.

These include: the celebration of Independence Day; the days of the Uzbek’s culture in Tajikistan; the Central Asian folklore festival, organized with famous writers and scholars of the region; the international film festivals; festival "Shark taronalary" ("Talents from the East"); the dialogue "Uzbekistan-European Union"; the participation of UNESCO and other international organizations at the celebration of the anniversaries of Mirzo Ulugbek, Amir Timur, Imam Bukhary in the cities of Bukhara and Chiva; cooperation between Uzbek and German philologists; the showing of the best German, French, Japanese movies at the Republic Cinema; exchanges of pupils, students and specialists from different countries, such as the USA, Europe, Asia, and other activities and exchanges.

Therefore, it is necessary to study the culture of international communications, the objective laws, ways and methods of its formation, and its development and manifestation in every sphere and at every level of society. The main aim of the culture of international communications is social progress, which is the integrated and mutual dependence of different parts of the whole society. In this way, humankind has many possibilities and means, as well as many difficulties and obstacles. The culture of international communications is very important at the present time; many things depend upon it because the culture of international communications is both a factor of stability in social relations and a factor of progress for the whole of humankind, inasmuch as it is an essential part of national culture and international relations. The culture of international communications is the self-awareness of the independent interests of nations and nationalities, as well as a step in the process of economic, political, social and spiritual life. It can be realized only on the basis of the principles of equal rights, mutual aid and social justice for the benefit of every nation, every nationality and the whole multinational family.

The culture of international communications has a political, legal and spiritual basis. This means, that the basis, connections, mutual implications and interactions are based upon the character, content and direction of the culture of international communications.

The deformation of that basis, which took place for a long time in the former Soviet Union, certainly affected international relationships and their culture. The cult of Stalin’s personality and despotism in the sphere of national politics limited the independence of the Soviet Republics and entailed the deportation of many nationalities from the Crimean states, Germans from the Volga, Turk-meskhitines and other nationalities. Excessive centralization in state administrations which did not admit democracy, and big errors in political planning of the productive forces and the formation of the industrial potential brought about inequality of the nations and nationalities of the former USSR. That is why, the Soviet Republics differed greatly in the level of their economic, social and cultural development. These steps, as well as the desire to hide contradictions in the sphere of international relations brought about conflicts in many places in the former Soviet Union.

The administrative-command system, which never was real democracy and humanism, but worked only for itself and primarily for the central elite of the system, impeded the development of the region and consequently of international relationships and their cultivation. This political approach made the former Uzbek SSR and all Central Asian regions only "raw material and an appendage" of the Soviet empire. Central Asia was the greatest producer of cotton in the former Soviet Union, but the spinning industry and weaving mills were built far from the Central Asian Republics. The aviation industry was created in Uzbekistan during the Great Patriotic War, but the larger part of the specialists worked in the main cities of Russia. This was necessary and historically justified in that historical period. But this method was used in other conditions for different branches of industry, such as weaving, metallurgical and so on. This national politic, of course, did not further the modern development of a classless social structure of the nations. Further, the government underestimated the abilities and possibilities of the Uzbek nation. The formation and strengthening of brotherly friendship and cooperation, and the cultivation of international contacts were subject to the politics of a totalitarian state, which broke the democratic rules of the equality and freedom of all nations and nationalities of the former USSR.

The experience of many countries shows that a multinational state must keenly but gently interweave the scientific, cultural and historical heritages of all nations and nationalities in order to develop national cultures and national languages. This was not done; instead, intellectuals who asserted national traditions and customs were called "nationalists" which wounded their national dignity and exerted a repressive force upon the outstanding people of those nations.

The contradictions in the development of international relationships have become manifest in the conflicts in such post-Soviet territories as Russia and Chechnya, Nagorny Karabach in Armenia, Abchasia in Georgia, etc. These conflicts have many causes, but all reflect an insufficient development of the culture of international communications. The present events show that a way out of conflict situations requires cultivation of international interaction and that decisions on international questions and problems at all levels in social structure must be based upon positions of equality, respect and mutual understanding. This appears negatively from the bad heritage of the administrative-command system, which deformed the deep basis of social and international relationships. Very often many people were deported from their native lands and many nations were not able to participate in the political life of the former USSR.

International experience shows that not only economic, but also socio-political, spiritual and cultural causes and factors play a very great role. A culture of international communications can be formed and developed when law and other social and moral values are observed consistently, when there is respect for the independence of other nations, and when peoples and nations share common interests with other nations and develop international communications.

This supposes awareness by every nation and nationality of the obligations and duties of life in a multinational environment. Recently the idea of national movements has become widespread as an effect of the growth of national self-awareness. Though there is truth in this, national movements have a very complicated structure. Consequently, we need another approach for understanding the culture of international communication because very often self-awareness of the social, as of the theoretical, level is impermissibly simplified to seeing national self-awareness as only the relationship to one’s own nation, whereas it reflects an appreciation of the relations of that nation or nationality to other nations and nationalities and vice versa. On that basis we need to generate a new concept of national self-awareness.

Self-awareness is the affirmation of the national independence of a really existent subject entailing material and spiritual values according to the national-awareness to the some ethnic groups, states, languages, cultures and traditions. Our interest in the problem of national self-awareness is due to its place in the content, structure and role of the culture of international communications. We consider national self-awareness as one’s specific impression of one’s relation to one’s own nation as a subject of socio-historical life and particularly of international communications.

First of all, we must underline that the culture of international communications is not reduced to national contacts, but includes many elements, such as:

- mutual respect, mutual understanding and consideration of interests of nations, nationalities and races;

- the different languages of every nation and nationality and also the international languages, stipulated by the development of contacts and mutual understanding;

- history;

- national rituals and customs;

- national cultures (literature, music, different kinds of art: applied and fine arts, architecture, theater, choreography);

- national mode (way of life, utensils, clothes, traditions, specific modes of family relations);

- common and specific kinds of religions; and

- the national self-awareness.

As noted above, the culture of international communications includes such important elements as knowledge. At a minimum, all subjects of culture in national communications have their own language and it is necessary to display mutual respect for the language of another nation as if its language were our native language. First, such simple knowledge of one’s own language is an important condition for the culture of international communications; second, national self-awareness is enriched and developed by this knowledge. The same is true of the correlation of historical knowledge, national rituals, customs, national cultures and styles, different religious confessions, national character and self-awareness, and awareness of other nations. This approach develops important objective laws, which are connected concretely with human culture and the culture of international communications: these are fuller, many-sided, more correct and freer from prejudices, wrong stereotypes, and so on, the higher the level of the culture of international communications.

An objective analysis and exploration of problems must attend as well to the fact that the activation and rise of national self-awareness can ignite, isolate and contrast one nation to others and transform national self-awareness into nationalism. This tendency leads to the destabilization of the international order and an overall pattern of social relations because it means a disastrous isolation of moods and positions of one nation from the whole society, an endeavor to contrast one’s own interests to those of other nations. It is very important not to confuse the culture of national contacts with nationalist extremism, which has nothing in common with culture. The main characteristics of national extremism are:

- impatience;

- desire to intimidate rather than to convince;

- imposition of one’s ideas and will; and

- ignoring law and moral rules.

It is typical of extremist positions to ignore absolutely the other’s opinion. That is why it is necessary to develop the theory and pursue the practice of national self-awareness and the cultivation of international communications which overcomes these negative tendencies and opens new ways and possibilities for resolving the problem of international communications, democratization and the humanization of society. Experience tells us that without taking account of the interests of nations there can be no culture of international communications, because interests are the most important factors of interaction between nations.

A high level of the culture of international communications and national self-awareness are displayed by those different nations which support the "Law of State Language", secure the State status of the Uzbek language and also consider it necessary to provide good conditions for the function of languages of other nations and nationalities of the Uzbek Republic, especially Russian. This culture must be developed throughout one’s whole life in the process of interpersonal relations and the observance of national rituals and national customs. In the families of different nations, nationalities or religions the birth of a child has different modes of celebration, but the essence of that event is the same — acknowledgement of the great goodness of this gift. Another example is the wedding ceremony. It is necessary for every person to know such rules as:

1. a public profession as the heart of the wedding ceremony;

2. respect for the national rituals of the wedding ceremony;

3. providing some support for that ceremony.

Our analyses underlines that it is necessary to understand that international relations depend upon national self-awareness and the culture of international communications.

As noted above, the administrative-command system deformed all aspects of social life including the culture of international communications. The new approach is to revive and develop the social, economic, political, spiritual and cultural spheres of social life, integration into world civilization and, of course, the development of the culture of international communication. The latter is a mode of relations between people which enables everyone to fulfill oneself in one’s country with responsibility for its future. The culture of international communications is the process of transforming interaction between nations and nationalities into cooperation.

Cooperation is the most important condition and factor for the stability of each society, nation and nationality as a subject of economic, political, spiritual life, culture and the contacts of international communications. Each kind of human activity in a multinational country shares the character of international communications. This is characterized by the basic principles of that society and also the dynamics and objective laws of the development of human culture. Of course, the culture of international communications cannot decide economic, political, military and other problems. But it furthers the forces of consolidation, simplifies mutual consensus, and creates a socio-psychological and moral atmosphere for optimal collaboration between the subjects of international social contacts.

The culture of international communications pervades all aspects of social and individual being and consciousness. Without this no questions about international relations in one country, or between countries, regions and society as a whole can be decided, such as, for example, communications between the USA and Iran. The crisis situation for many years manifests a lack of international communication between those countries.

At the present time an absence of a culture of international communication is a hindrance for the resolution of economic, military, political, social, spiritual and moral problems. The culture of international communications must be an important factor for decisions on those problems because one of the functions of the culture of international communications is to support every subject of international relations in developing its own potential and to assist in establishing the stable development of society and humanity on their own way of progress,

Among many conditions and factors which have helped to form and develop the culture of international communications the most important has been the development of understanding. By this is meant objective research and knowledge of the history and culture of one’s own nation and of other nations, of one’s region and of the world, and also awareness of the importance of national and human values. That is why it is necessary, indeed very important, for the formation of national self-awareness and national culture to know one’s real history. Many nations do not know this because they were separated from their Motherland and estranged from their history and culture.

Precisely here it is necessary to develop such characteristics of the culture of international communications as mutual respect, mutual aid, mutual understanding, tact and tolerance. This is especially true as the development of international relations takes place as a process of democratization, humanization of society, pluralism of views and priority of human values. This tends toward globalization. This tendency is stipulated by the level of the culture of international communications — interpersonal, international and regional — between CIS countries and worldwide interchange. All these levels form an interconnected unity ordered by principles and laws for the formation and development of the culture of international communication.

The culture of international communications is founded on such principles as:

- mutual respect for the cultural and historical heritage, languages, literature and arts of the nations and nationalities living in other countries;

- mutual understanding;

- good relationships between nations;

- collaboration;

- orientation of all spheres of culture (school education, all systems of education, arts, public opinion) to national and human values;

- priority of human values;

- equal rights of nations, nationalities, regions, countries, states;

- pluralism of world outlooks;

- tolerance and working out compromise agreements where nations have problems or conflicts;

- mutual confidence and responsibility;

- humanism; and

- respect for human dignity and national pride.

Therefore, the culture of international communications is a conscious interaction of nations, nationalities and regions on the basis of mutual confidence in the good of each. It is a method for humane and progressive development, for well-being of nations and nationalities depend, for the most part, upon such cultivation of international communication.

1. I.A. Karimov, Uzbekistan on the Threshold of the XXI Century: Threat of Security, Conditions and Guarantee of Progress (Tashkent, "Uzbekistan", 1997), p. 27.

2. Ibid., p. 112.

3. I.A. Karimov, Turkestan as Our Common Home (Tashkent, "Uzbekistan", 1996), p. 137.