Articles

This article off ers an analysis of “Bourgeois Happiness” and “Molotov,” two novels by Nikolai Pomyalovsky that present an artistic conceptualization of the formation of the consciousnes of the raznochintsy class. The heroes of Pomyalovsky’s novels, Yegor Molotov and Mikhail Cherevanin, personify two strategies for the behavior of representatives of the new class. Molotov integrates into the existing structure of society and comes to creatie a bourgeois “idyll.” Cherevanin refuses to integrate, becomes a pessimist and chooses a path of self-destruction. The search for a mission by both heroes ends in failure. Molotov and Cherevanin do not have faith in their own strength and lack a clear understanding of what to do. But the artistic conceptualization of such searches undertaken by Pomyalovsky had a greater socio-political signifi cance. Pomyalovsky began the work to be completed by Nikolai Chernyshevsky, another well-known writer of the raznochintsy class. And the achievment of Chernyshevsky was that he united the disparate parts of the unformed raznochintsy consciousness in a comprehensive doctrine that he presented in the novel “What Is to Be Done?”

Development of contemporary informational society embraces all the spheres of human social activities. The sphere of military-political interaction traditionally rested beyond the framework of mainstream in the communications system and included a number of specifi c rules, forms and rituals that served as a sort of guarantees from a destabilizing infl uence of propaganda upon foreign policy decision-making process. But the development of the technologies of integrated communications that are based upon the ability for unlimited transformation of a digitalized content together with the potential of instanteneous and nearly simultaneous impact upon the primary audiences, including decision-makers, creates a new model for the infi ltration and mutual infl uence information society and the sphere of international security. Now we witness active diff usion of the social and technological specifi cs of contemporary integrated communications into the areas of foreign policy and military-political interaction. This is an objective trend but in creates serious new challenges. And the results of their implementation are yet to be understood completely. But at this point it is already clear that their infl uence go far beyond classic propaganda and use of informational manipulation technologies in the military confl icts. A new socio-political phenomenon emerges and it has a potential to alter the specifi cs and algorithms of employment of the key institutes of international security.

This article is devoted to the prospect of using collective memory as a resource of soft power. The author notes that the importance of this use of collective memory is associated not only with purposeful social activity, but also with a special sociolinguistic matrix. The article sets out the main political and philosophical ideas that retinterpret the power practices underlying the use of collective memory in soft power strategies. Scaling up to the level of international relationships, collective memory is associated with soft power as one of the eff ective tools for implementing strategies that mitigate the eff ects of overt or covert interstate confl icts. Collective memory as a separate tool of soft power is deployed in various practices of memorial diplomacy, although its use to improve interstate relations and reconciliation of various historical narratives in the world is not exhaustive. The aims, actors and forms of memorial diplomacy are noted by the authors, as are the main scenarios of its implementation: 1) for overcoming the negative and tragic experience of the past; and 2) to update narrative strategies in territories with pronounced narrative inconsistency.

The new state formations of Eurasia at the turn of the millennium were faced with a number of problems, with the periodization of their recent history fi guring prominently among them. Political processes in the newly independent states played an important role in their transition to a market economy and the development of interstate contacts, primarily in foreign policy orientation. In the Republic of Kazakhstan, one of the largest Eurasian states, these problems developed in a particular way as the republic gradually moved from a parliamentary administration to a presidential one. The President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, has repeatedly published books in which he expresses his views on current changes in the political landscape. In his latest volume, The Age of Independence (2017), Nazarbayev proposed a new concept for the evolution of an independent republic, suggesting that it be viewed as a three-stage modernization. Scholars deemed the appearance of the book “a methodological breakthrough in modern Kazakhstani historical science.” This article examines the fi rst part of the work by comparing the proposed ideological bases of modernization and practical solutions adopted by Nazarbayev in the process of ensuring the sustainable development of independent Kazakhstan. The author of the article, emphasizing that the ideology of modernization helps in understanding the realities of Kazakhstan’s political life, maintains that it is necessary to use alternative methods of historical and political studies.

Analyzing China’s energy security strategy in the framework of its national development goals and the modern system of international relations is extremely important in understanding the future course of international developments. This article presents a comparative analysis of the Chinese and American energy security strategies, an analysis of offi cial Chinese documents in the sphere of strategic planning, as well as an examination of existing forecasts regarding China’s energy system. The facts show that China has a comprehensive vision of its own positioning in the world energy system and the system of international relations in general. In contrast to the ideologically motivated approaches of the dominant power, China off ers cooperative solutions that allow it to reach its national goals and can become the key to a truly balanced multipolarity.

Transnational corporations (TNC) are today increasingly intensifying their infl uence on the shaping of world politics. Their status as non-state actors in international relations makes it possible for them to actively join in the resolution of the most important issues and problems of world politics — functions that were previously left to the competence of nation-states. TNCs sponsor, lend to and invest in national economies, and in some cases manage them directly. Russia hosts both its own TNCs, which consider the Russian Federation their country of origin and home base, as well as representations of foreign transnationals. The activities of these cross-border entities, which have extensive capabilities and resources with which to infl uence the national economy and policy, need special forms and methods of state regulation. In order to eff ectively regulate the activities of TNCs in the political system of Russia, a system of institutions or specialized bodies is required to perform these functions.

The dynamic change in the realities of the modern world has led to, among other things, the transformation of the political resource of the mass media. The mass media has a much greater infl uence on the political process today than it did at the end of the last century. Major changes have taken place both in the functioning of the press and in the discourse in which it is customary to consider it. In this regard, this article is devoted to the analysis of terms that have become quite popular and in demand in a short time, despite the fact that they are relatively new to the categorical corpus of political communication studies. Having studied the content of the most frequently cited works in the “Science Index” system (RSCI: Russian Science Citation Index) that touch on these subjects, the author identifi es the main meanings attached to the concepts of “post-truth” and “ fake”; identifi es similarities and diff erences between disinformation and misinformation, verifi cation and factchecking; and formulates specifi c ways to counter the manipulative infl uence of the mass media on the audience.

Social networks are an environment that refl ects the social practices of youth. From the situational activity of each network group, large clusters are formed which accumulate attitudes of the corresponding layer of young people. This study focuses on regional groups of the social network VKontakte in the city of Tomsk. Data collection and visualization create a methodology for mapping this information space (“community detection”) that is relevant in network analysis. The presence of two socially diff erentiating strategies of behavior among the youth of Tomsk were substantiated by the study. They feature diff erent everyday practices, values, reference groups and information sources, and self-stigmatization systems. “Low” sociocultural practices correspond to a social group that can be described as a “group without a future,” with a negative identity. The practices of another social group, aimed at obtaining higher education and building a career, diff er radically from those of the former. Its representatives are guided by foreign sources, organizations and models. Signifi cant attention in the study is given over to issues of methodology, the mapping process and the interpretation of research results.

This article is devoted to the analysis of the directions and possibilities of using Internet technologies in the implementation of the state youth policy of Russia. The author notes that information technologies and network forms of communication form fundamentally new models of socialization and, as a result, expand the range of possible forms of political participation of young people. In this regard, it is important that youth policy is implemented taking into account current socio-political and cultural trends, as well as the opportunities off ered by modern information and communication technologies. Special attention is paid to the use of Internet technologies to solve information and communication problems of youth policy, as well as to ensure the process of civil and Patriotic education of young people.

This article is devoted to the study of the impact of socio-demographic factors such as gender, age and level of education on the process of forming an image of an ideal president. Examining part of a study of the ideal presidential image conducted by the Political Sociology and Psychology Program in Moscow State University’s Political Science Department, the author identifi es and analyzes the universal and unique personal and professional characteristics in the mass consciousness of Russian citizens from diff erent social categories. The results of the study lead to certain conclusions concerning the integrity and organicity of the ideal president’s image. In the opinion of young people, the political and professional qualities that a head of state should possess were largely infl uenced by relatively new, “rational-secular” values that were introduced into the political system of the state during the period of recovery after the collapse of the USSR. Moreover, despite the quite successful “resocialization” that representatives of the older generation went through, that generation’s view on the image of the exemplary head of state still appears more conservative in comparison with the “eff ective manager” that the younger generation of citizens imagines of the president.