Articles

Russia’s October revolution of 1917 was of great importance in the history of the Chinese revolution. It was under the infl uence of the October revolution that the Chinese revolution took the path of socialism. The practice of the Chinese revolution has shown that the vector of socialist modernization designated by the October revolution is consistent with the development needs of Chinese society. Today, China’s development will not stray from this path, for which the Communist party of China fought and fi ghts, despite blood and sacrifi ce. At the same time, the country does not refuse to renew the theory and practice of socialist modernization, which in China is characterized by political, economic, cultural and ideological features. The path of socialism with Chinese specifi cs is the path that the Chinese people embarked on in the practice of reform and openness.

This article is an analysis of the political senses of the Russian World concept at the Russian-Chinese and Russian-Mongolian frontiers. The author proceeds from the thesis that the Russian World is a key domestic political category in Russia and can be used to describe and interpret both the Russian diasporas and systems of signs-symbols that have a correlation with the Russian or Soviet presence abroad. The text deals with three main components of the Russian World: ideology of the Russian presence, Russian orthodoxy and the Russian language. The author points out that each of the components can have multiple meanings. On each frontier, each component has at least three connotations. These connotations defi ne the diversity of the Russian World, focusing on the category of ‘world’ as presupposing multiplicity. Proceeding from this, an attempt is made to dispute the amorphousness ascribed by Western Russianists to the Russian World concept. In the author’s opinion, diversity of religious confessions and its hybrid nature are the key characteristics of the Russian World across the entire expanse of the Asian frontier of Russia.

This article analyzes theoretical approaches in energy security studies within the liberal paradigm of international relations theory. The author notes that the current content of various theoretical trends in the liberal/neoliberal paradigm of the Anglo-Saxon school gives a new understanding of energy security and has a number of advantages relative to the realistic school of international relations analysis.
In the liberal approach, three aspects can be identifi ed that determine the analysis of energy security: the importance and impact of international energy markets in determining the demand, supply, price and stability of hydrocarbon resources; analysis of energy security in terms of development and decision-making; and the impact of international institutions on international security. The article emphasizes that representatives of liberal policy directions consider the free energy market one of the key conditions for maintaining stable and sustainable relations between exporting and importing countries. At the same time, neo-liberal approaches limit perceptions of the causes of resource confl icts, and liberal market relations lead to corruption in states where governance is weak, sustainable democratic institutions are lacking, and natural resources are the only source of income.

This article discusses the main criteria and attributes of the modern information society. In the fi rst part of the article the author shows that the dynamics of social changes increase after the acceleration of technological progress; in the most dynamically developing information societies, moreover, characteristic phases of conceptualization, institutionalization and implementation can be identifi ed. We are on the threshold of an innovation avalanche, the author continues, which will increasingly infl uence the political process, public administration and socio-political activities. In this connection, seven major megatrends and technological drivers will set the further direction of the development of the information society and the fourth industrial revolution. On the one hand, these megatrends still seem abstract and “piecemeal.” On the other hand, they become the basis for practical applications and developments, attracting signifi cant investments. For example, once such innovations as photography, the telephone, television were also exclusive and accessible to a limited number of people; but eventually the cheapening of technologies contributed to their ubiquitous and large-scale distribution. The author comes to the conclusion that the concept of the information society in part brings about a kind of political program that aff ects both national states and the entire world community.

A round table devoted to the analysis of ways to achieve civil harmony in various socio-historical conditions was recently staged by the Department of Political Science at Lomonosov Moscow State University as part of the department’s “Lomonosov Readings-2017” conference. The purpose of the round table was to discuss possible trajectories of the preservation of civil peace in phases of confl ict and harmony under a complex ideological situation that features, at the present stage of development of society and the state, the segmentation of public discourse and the absence of a common language. The round table demonstrated that the study of citizenship – as both a phenomenon connecting history, politics and culture, and at the same time as a particular kind of socio-political practice — entails a rather wide range of methodological approaches. Within the framework of the round table, this issue was discussed in aspects of confl ict and harmony, including material from various periods of the history of Russia, as well as in the contexts of historical memory, in the perspective of the problem of constructing a civil nation-state, of a common civil identity and of schismatic disruption — all of which fi nd refl ection in discussions of topical issues on the Russian Internet and in Russia’s media space.

Partisan governments play an important role in the elaboration of macroeconomic policies of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries: they manage fiscal policy and coordinate with a Central Bank that conducts monetary policy. Ideology is a crucial parameter of the ruling coalition. This study focuses on the infl uence of the ideology of the ruling coalition on macroeconomic policies of the OECD countries. Using statistical methods, the analysis examines the relationship between the “rightism” of the ruling coalition and such characteristics of budgetary policy as budget balancing, state expenditures and tax collection. The fi ndings show that the infl uence of ideology is determined by a set of social and economic factors, so the nature of the infl uence that ideology wields may work in diff erent directions depending on the conditions.