Articles

The author examines the political-philosophical and sociological aspects of the formatting of violence in international relations (IR). The study reactualizes concepts aimed at the advancement of the world community toward social justice and the absence of war based on the optimization of political and legal regulation of IR. The analysis connects the teleology of “social justice” with the functional and systemic approaches to the hierarchy of regulators of violence, which theoretically substantiates the prospects of international “pacifi cation.” The activation of the problem of progress towards social justice was stimulated in international-political theory both by the memory of the world wars and the Cold War and by modern changes in social reality — the turbulence of world politics. Such a hierarchy is an indispensable condition for overcoming the imbalances that arise in the anarchistic variety of regulators; it orders the subordination of regulatory complexes (formats) that determine the regulation of international relations.

This article addresses the issue of defi ning the determinants of electoral diff erentiation over the territory of a large city, with he city of Donetsk and the elections held in it from 1991 to 2012 used as the example. The characteristics of the electoral geography of a large city are described in detail, and the issues of their “causes” as well as markers of detected determinants are discussed. The following methods of mathematical statistics were used: the study of voting results and their comparison with socio-demographic indicators (especially with population census results) using the Pearson correlation coeffi cient; the determination coeffi cient; variance analysis ; and multiple regression analysis. The study maintains that there were two main determinants of the electoral geography of Donetsk: 1) a more signifi cant “Center — Periphery”; and 2) a less signifi cant “East — West.” In authentic elections these determinants have explained up to 99% of the variations in the main electoral indicators in the districts of the city. The demographic markers of these two determinants were the proportion of people with higher education and the ethnic composition of the population. Falsifi cation of election results causes a signifi cant decrease in the statistical reliability of the identifi ed links.

This article presents an analysis of the main contradictions in U.S. — European Union relations in the area of defense policy during the presidency of Donald Trump. The author examines the principal steps taken by the EU towards the formation of “strategic autonomy” in the military sphere and indicates the directions of the further development of an independent EU defense potential. The most important defense projects implemented by the EU independent of NATO are also considered. Particular attention is paid to existing disagreements between the parties on NATO funding. Questions related to the ongoing intra-EU discussions about the possible creation of its own army are likewise analyzed. This study allows us to identify, problematize and characterize the key features of the current stage of relations between the United States and the European Union in defense policy. The author concludes that despite attempts to create its own defense potential, the EU today is not able to off er a full-fl edged alternative to the existing system led by NATO. However, the actions and rhetoric of the American administration could push the Europeans to more decisive action.

This article examines aspects of the interaction between transnational elites and civil society in the modern world. The author focuses in the main on the infl uence 20 of transnational elites on organizations of the “third sector,” political parties and their leadership, and on the media. The articles sets out the principal content borne by the concepts “transnational elites” and “civil society.” The analysis shows that transnational elites tend to turn a well-developed “third sector” into an eff ective counterbalance to the national state. Thus they actively fi nance and support its activities, since the opposition of the “third sector” and the national state weakens them as the main competitors of transnational elites on the world stage. According to the author, political practice of the second half of the 20th century and the fi rst decades of the 21st shows that transnational elites have managed to bring their proteges to political leadership in a number of countries, thus increasing their infl uence on the adoption of many political decisions. In order to achieve their own goals, these elites use and indeed monopolize the media in various countries of the world community as a powerful means of infl uencing public opinion, in the process violating one of the fundamental principles of democracy: equal access to the media for all citizens.

This article presents an analysis of political processes in the post-Soviet space from the 1990s to the fi rst half of the 2010s through the prism of the foreign policy doctrines of Russia and the United States. For Russia, the region of “near abroad” is a zone of vital interests and priorities. At the same time, the basis of the Russian foreign policy in the CIS space in the post-Soviet period is the goal of political and economic reintegration of the region. The reintegration eff orts of the Russian Federation in the post-Soviet space are an important component of the course towards strengthening Russia’s position in the world as one of the global centers capable of implementing an independent foreign policy. For the United States, the most important task in the region is countering the integration eff orts of Russia, which, in turn, is viewed in the context of preventing the formation of a political and economic pole in Eurasia that could undermine American global leadership. Both Russian and American approaches to politics in the post-Soviet space are closely linked with their understanding of European and Eurasian integration projects as well as the principles of building a common European security system. The revitalization of Russia in the international arena and the consistent development of the Eurasian integration project led to an aggravation of the Russian-American confrontation in the region, a natural consequence and manifestation of which was the Ukraine crisis.

This article examines the increasing infl uence of real practices of civic activism in online communities on the specifi cs of incorporating civic activists’ projects into the political agenda. The institutionalization of network civic activism in recent years 8 has made it possible to implement network practices into political reality, moving them to a new level of infl uence thanks to the construction of numerous inclusive horizontal connections. The fact is that global changes in the post-information society have contributed to a steady “deliverance” from communications monopolies, creating a delicate balance of state interests and the interests of society and the individual. The fi rst part of the article shows that current network communities are not a shapeless mass but clearly structured by horizontal non-hierarchical ties. The information and communication abundance of today allows actors to eff ectively apply individual and collective actions in implementing political and non-political activities. According to the author, civic activity is capable of forming important vectors of socio-political development; grass-roots mobilization of citizens is a coordinating tool of civil society and is contributing to the slow transformation of the political system in Russia.

The leading states of the modern world declare the creation and implementation of large-scale political projects aimed at changing certain areas of world politics in accordance with their economic, social, military-strategic and socio-cultural interests. In 2014, Vladimir Putin outlined the contours of the “great project” of the Russian state-civilization in his address to the Federal Assembly. In the same year, Barack Obama, speaking from the United Nations rostrum, laid out the general characteristics of the new American civilizational project. In 2016, Martin Schultz formulated the concept of an updated “Europe” civilizational project. From 2017 to 2019 Latin American, Asian and African political leaders presented their own political projects at the regional and global levels. Conceptualization of such projects is successfully carried out in modern social sciences and humanities studies. This takes place on transcontinental, civilizational, geopolitical, ideological and military-strategic grounds. At the same time, the terminological apparatus of the last four has been developed in detail and has passed the necessary testing in modern social sciences and humanities studies. That notwithstanding, the transcontinental basis for the identifi cation of large-scale political projects has not received proper conceptualization. This article presents the author’s formulation of the concept of “transcontinental political project,” defi ned by its essential characteristics, the mechanisms of formation of such projects and the diff erences between a transcontinental political project and civilizational and global projects.

This essay’s part contains two relatively independent sections. At the beginning of the text, the authors discuss the mental and civilizational mission of Christianity in England, in particular the Catholic and Celtic churches. The mental and civilizational foundations, as well as the distinctive statehood of the future British nation, were laid in the process of their multidimensional interaction. The second section describes the stages of the transition from impersonal, undogmatic, autochthonous polymentality to the formation of a subjective, dogmatic, monotheistic mentality among the inhabitants of the British Isles. The fundamental political and psychological result of the Christianization of the British elites was the emergence of new mental properties. First of all, subjective identity as awareness of the exclusivity of one’s potential, and also the ability to political refl ection and to identify oneself with the goal of political activity. The British elite’s uniqueness is due to the peculiarities of the historical development and formation of their subjectivity, which gave rise to a special ruling regime and original political culture.

This study reconstructs the ideas of patriotism and nationalism in the perception of modern Japanese youth, analyzing the two concepts through the prism of such categories as the image of the country, the image of a political leader, shame and pride, national problems and international relations. The author presents the results of interviews with Japanese students, drawing conclusions on this basis about the patriotism of modern Japanese youth. The main trend can be considered an orientation towards culture and cooperation. Japanese youth convey a commitment to soft power and disclaim the possibility of military confl icts. The author draws a conclusion about the peace-loving nature of modern Japanese youth and its commitment to “constructive” patriotism.