Articles

Although economic cooperation is a priority of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), it is characterized by low efficiency. The reasons for this lie in the fact that during the establishment of the organization, defense issues received the most attention. Over time, SCO members have begun to actively cooperate in the areas of trade, transport, industry, agriculture and customs regulation. An analysis of the regulations and mechanisms of economic cooperation within the SCO suggests that the difficulties of economic cooperation are due to differences in the priorities of the member states. Russia considers the SCO above all an instrument of defense, but China regards it as a full-scale organization of which close economic cooperation is a necessary element. For this reason, it has not yet been possible to establish rela tionships in the financial and banking sectors or to establish a relationship between the SCO and alternative integration projects (the Eurasian Economic Union and the Silk Road Economic Belt). Joint efforts with these organizations and the admission of new members to the SCO will facilitate further economic cooperation.

This article is devoted to the analysis of transnational corporations (TNC) as specifi c subjects of international politics and intities capable of changing the foreign policies of both their states of residence and states of origin. The author offers two approaches to studying the infl uence of TNCs on the foreign policy of a state. Each approach depends directly on what part is assigned to corporations in the world’s political processes. The fi rst approach considers a TNC as the instrument of a state of origin’s foreign policy. In the second view a corporation is an independent actor to some extent. The author covers the principal means and mechanisms used by corporations when exposed to internal and external policies of developed and developing countries. Also offered are examples of the infl uence of corporations on the totality of foreign policies of national states and, as a consequence, on world politics. Particular attention is paid to media corporations and the phenomenon of media protection. In his conclusion the author addresses prospects for the application of categories of Western political economy, alternative to the concept of TNC in Russian political science studies.

In world developments one sees an ever closer interweaving of phenomena different in essence and origin, which sets scholarship the task of fi nding and conceptualizing a “common denominator” for them. One approach to a solution is to focus on social facts and processes. In this connection, this article analyzes the advantages and limits of using sociological instruments — in particular, those related to the theoretical legacy of classical sociology. The author believes that the heuristic potential of sociology, from the point of view of its contribution to overcoming crisis phenomena in the theory of international relations, is beyond doubt. At the same time, it must be borne in mind that the sociological approach also contains certain risks, chief among which is the risk of losing the specifi city of the “international” — a step fraught with the possibility of mistakes, not only of an epistemological but also of a practical nature.

This article analyzes the relationship of integration, one of the defi ning trends of our time, with the political stability of countries and regions. An analysis of the events of the last several years leads to the hypothesis of a close relationship between integration as a process and stability as a category of the political process in particular countries and regions. One of the main conclusions is that integrated systems are able to create a much-needed “space of equilibrium” for the modern world and as a result contribute to the stabilization of national political systems. However, these processes are accompanied by a variety of different kinds of risk, including the integration strategy of aggressive contenders for regional and global leadership. The relationship between the dynamic of integration and political stability is analyzed using the examples of the modern Arab world and Latin America. The correlation of integration and stability is very important for modern Russia as the leader of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU). Strengthening the integration of identity and political stability of the EAEU member states is considered in the context of opposition to integration with the EU program “Eastern Partnership”. Finding a way out of the geopolitical deadlock is impossible without building a new post-confl ict platform trialogue of EAEU–EU–“Eastern Partnership” countries. A significant result of compromise strategies should be the stabilization of the political regimes, systems and the region as a whole. At the global level, the consolidation of new supranational pillars of the world’s political and economic architecture (EAEU, BRICS, SCO) is becoming a necessary condition for the formation of an anti-crisis model for the new world order.

A round table staged by the Political Science Department of Lomonosov Moscow State University during the Lomonosov Readings Conference of 2016 outlined the theoretical and practical aspects of political system stability in the modern world. The discussion began with an elaboration of current Russian and Western approaches to the concept of political stability, which included a suggestion that there was a need to consider both the internal and external factors of such stability. In subsequent discourse, the problem of sustainability was examined in the context of political practice. More specifi cally, stability was interpreted as a frame of mass consciousness, and various models capable of taking this factor into account in public opinion research were suggested. The discussion also treated the relationship between sustainability and the cyclical nature of the political process. Attention was likewise drawn to the role of the historical policy of the state and of civic education in ensuring the stability of the political system.

In this article the authors examine political culture as a legitimate constituent of a political system in which the actors within an existing stable structure are able to initiate and effi ciently realize changes needed to maintain adaptive capacity — thus making political culture an important factor in political stability. The importance of cultural elements in relation to this status is connected to examples of political behavior and different orientations expressed within the community that are able to either facilitate or hinder the achievement of stability.
The article discusses the validity of the terms “stability” and “stabilization” in relation to authoritarian and totalitarian systems. Certain factors mitigate against such validity: the suppression of political participation, the “imposed consensus”, the falsifi cation of preferences, the presence of an imposed ideology associated with the prospect of its own “hypernormalization,” etc. Particular attention is paid to different scenarios of interaction between a political system and political culture, using specifi c historical examples.

This article documents the sources, character and impact of political polarization on the U.S. Congress and American politics generally. Partisan polarization among the public, activists, and elected officials characterizes American politics in the 21st century, and it is often seen as the major source of our governing problems, especially in Congress. In the 2016 election, Republicans and Democrats are further apart ideologically than at any point in recent history, expressing highly negative views of the opposing party. This deleterious impact of partisan polarization cannot be exaggerated. It discourages compromise, produces gridlock, fosters mistrust, and ultimately hinders the functioning of governmental institutions. Lawmaking, representing, overseeing, executing laws, and adjudicating legal and constitutional disputes requires that individuals who might otherwise disagree come together and serve interests that go beyond their own. Failure to compromise results in gridlock, dysfunction, and partisan warfare as we see in 2016 and likely beyond with a new Congress and President.

This article considers the application of methods of online campaigning in the Russian political sphere in the period 2000–2015. The informational activity of citizens on the Internet shows new prospects for the development of existing methods of Internet technologies in the process of the election campaigning. Modern online tools enable political actors to become closer to voters and confi gure active interaction with the electorate. The rapid development of these technologies now allows politicians and voters to communicate in an online mode. In this context, the current methods of agitation during the election campaign have begun to change. Political actors are beginning to pay more attention to the Internet as the most effective way to influence the modern electorate. The author believes that the use of such methods is important for the Russian policy-making segment, effective in the current political situation and shows great potential for further development.

This article introduces the concept of the “democratization trap.” Democratization can be considered as a process with an autonomous logic of development that cannot be fully grasped by standard “actor-oriented” and “structural” approaches. The autonomous logic of democratization is formalized via a game-theoretical model with “politicians” and “voters” as players. They interact under conditions that are inherent to all young democracies. The model predicts that certain types of linkages between politicians and voters emerge endogenously; the emphasis is on the observation that these types of linkages are defective in the context of “liberal democracy.” Moreover, these defective linkages may arise even if elections are free, honest and competitive. Empirical evidence underpins the main predictions of the model. The concept of the “democratization trap” may have several interesting implications which call for further research, from factors that cause democratic transitions to “ freeze up” to contradictions between “liberal” and “democratic” components of liberal democracy.