Articles

This article addresses problems of modern political demography both in a broad context and through examples of specifi c regions. The authors show how the infl uence of political decisions taken by individual countries and leading to demographic changes have provoked cascades of destructive eff ects with catastrophic long-term consequences for entire countries and regions. An example from documents of the U.S. Department of State illustrates how, under two diff erent administrations — fi rst Obama and then Trump — the attitude in the American establishment changed towards the migration problem in the United States itself. The mechanism of destabilization of the Maghreb zone, as a result of which conditions were created for a mass outmigration, is also developed. In addition, the authors off er a study of the collapse of multiculturalism using the example of the ill-considered policy of European countries in accepting migrants, which led to diffi culties in integrating them into an environment with a diff erent ethno-religious composition and sociocultural characteristics. Further, the authors draw a cautionary conclusion as to the risk of a systematic and strategic catastrophe in the long term for the whole of European society if current policies and approaches in the fi eld of demography and specifi cally migration are maintained. Finally, the article identifi es the most striking factors of migration-as-weapon, the study of which received a powerful impetus after the 2015 migration crisis in Europe. The mechanism of initiating an international crisis through the controlled direction of masses migrating to a number of EU countries to achieve short-term strategic and geopolitical goals is addressed by the authors. The success achieved using major tides of people in the form of a military-political special operation on the international level against a number of state and supranational actors, as well as the scale of the consequences, have made it possible to asses the forced and controlled exfi ltration of signifi cant masses of people as a new non-classical weapon of mass destruction. The article adds a further conclusion, asserting that the lack of control in the fi eld of migration poses serious risks to Russia’s national security.

The Battle of Stalingrad (1942–1943) is a battle that became a turning point in the Great Patriotic War, World War II and world history. Soviet troops defeated the German armies and allies of Nazi Germany and, seizing the strategic initiative, laid the foundation for the great victory of 1945. The Stalingrad victory, this “Russian military miracle,” has never ceased to amaze the world. The Battle of Stalingrad is an event of planetary, civilizational and geopolitical scale. Recently, however, it has emerged, as has the entire Second World War, at the center of a fi erce ideological information war. Valuations, results and the signifi cance of the Battle of Stalingrad have been falsifi ed. In recent years, a great number of very strange interpretations, symbols and myths about the Second World War have been aimed at the consciousness of our people. There is an obvious geopolitical order behind this, since the discrediting of our victory leads to the discrediting of Russia itself. The focus in this article falls on the current signifi cance of the Battle of Stalingrad.

This article analyzes certain aspects of the historical consciousness of Russian youth related to the perception and use of historical analogies. The empirical basis of the study was the results of a survey conducted in September — November 2019 among students of higher educational institutions in Moscow, Kazan, Saratov and Penza (sample size — 576 people) as well as the results of a focus group adjacent to the Digoria All-Russian Forum of Young Political Scientists (Republic of North Ossetia — Alania, September 15–21, 2019). The authors demonstrate that the prevailing type of historical consciousness of students at present is “rationalempirical,” which assumes a non-critical perception of historical analogies. The features of this type were demonstrated via the example of the parallel between modern Russia and the Brezhnev-era USSR. The authors note that when faced with the need to justify this analogy, young people sense a lack of factual knowledge. This leads to a spontaneous “construction” of the past in accordance with current political attitudes of the respondents, and the communicative memory — reference to the opinions of older family members or other familiar representatives of the older generation — goes practically unused.

The construction of international transport corridors connecting the Asia Pacifi c region and the European Union certainly contribute to integration processes as well as stimulate the development of states along these routes. At the same time, it is obvious that the international transport corridors pose a distinct threat to small states, since they are a tool of infl uence or control. In particular, plans to build a China–Kyrgyzstan–Uzbekistan railroad, which have been discussed periodically for more than 20 years, may be considered in this light. This article addresses the main challenges and prospects for the Kyrgyz Republic related to the implementation of the China–Kyrgyzstan–Uzbekistan railroad project. In addition, the author discusses the results of other international transport projects implemented in the territory of the Kyrgyz Republic. Two conclusions represent the main fi ndings of the study: (1) The construction of the China–Kyrgyzstan–Uzbekistan railroad will give impetus to the development and modernization of the transport infrastructure of the Kyrgyz Republic, notably in the context of breaking out of possible transport isolation; and (2) Special attention should be paid to the ecological and security issues connected with the construction and operation of the China–Kyrgyzstan–Uzbekistan railroad.

In this article the author examines the process of formation of a regional political order during the 17th–20th centuries in the territories whose population adhered (and adheres) to the traditions of Mahayana Buddhism. Analyzing the process of statehood formation in Bhutan, Tibet and Khalkha-Mongolia, the article traces the infl uence of Buddhism on the formation of state institutions and the determination of the head of state — the monarch. A provisional conclusion is advanced to the eff ect that, unlike the Theravada tradition, the monarch could fulfi ll both the role of head of state and the functions of a spiritual leader. This appeared particularly rational in Tibet, which since the middle of the 17th century was ruled by the Dalai Lamas. The institution pf the Dalai Lamas, which arose in the Gelug School of Buddhism, envisioned in the Lamas the embodiment of the Bodhisattva of compassion, Avalokiteshvara, which organically fi t into the concept of theocratic power. At the same time, a civil administration was created in both Bhutan and Tibet, with powers corresponding to its status. The transfer of supreme power was associated with reincarnation, which subsequently caused serious problems and created political crises. The stabilization and achievement of the peak of power of Tibetan statehood is associated with the name of the Dalai Lama XIII, who, fl eeing the invasion by British troops, hid for two years in Khalkha-Mongolia and thereby ensured the legitimacy of the supreme power of Bogd Gegeen VIII, who became the last Great Khan of Mongolia after the fall of the Qing Empire. In 1912 an agreement was concluded between the two monarchs, and the tendency toward the rule of Buddhism in the region, not only in the spiritual but also in the secular sphere, was dubbed pan-Buddhism. The author also cites data on polities that did not receive full development: the Kudun state within one of the Buryat aimaks in 1919 and the theocratic movement in the Khorchin lands of Inner Mongolia in the 1930s. The article concludes that despite its significant encompassment of the population, Buddhism did not become a driving force that would compete with the two leading powers of the region — Soviet Russia and the Japanese Empire — which maintained more radical views on the political order in the region and more eff ective tools for its construction.

This article analyzes the systems of public service management in a number of developed and developing countries, substantiating the relationship between the level of development of society and the complexity of the system necessary to manage the bureaucracy. The transformation of subjects of management by the state service of Russia in the course of its post-Soviet institutionalization is considered, and problems and contradictions in this sphere are treated. Taking into account historical practice and advanced scholarly concepts, the author offers proposals to improve the bureaucracy management system at the federal level: the solution lies, the article maintains, in the area of intersection of centralization and denationalization. It is necessary to expand the legal content of the civil service, the author proposes, gradually turning it into a public service aimed at solving the tasks of the country’s social and economic development.

The article’s conclusions were substantiated during the author’s participation in the work on the draft of the project Strategy for Social and Economic Development of Russia through 2030.