Articles

The subject of the essay is the main stages of the historical past of French civilization, in the depths of which the political mentality of the ruling elites was formed. In the beginning, the authors consider the mental and civilizational results of the five hundred years of Romanization of Gaul as a province of the Roman Empire. The role of Christian proselytism in the formation of the monotheistic mentality and the political role of the Church of Gaul are revealed. The thesis about the mental heritage of the Roman Empire in the conditions of its collapse and the formation of the foundations of an original Christian nation is revealed. Then there is the convergence of the Roman and barbarian social structures of the Frankish Empire, as a result of which a monotheistic mental space was formed and Catholicism became the state religion. The conclusion is made about the historical and mental-political significance of chivalry. In the next section, the authors turned to the philosophical, theological and scientific heritage of the enlighteners of the Middle Ages and the New Age, who influenced the development of the political mentality of the French elites. The separate part of the essay examines the influence of the French Renaissance on the ruling elites, who, having mastered the mental models of the Italian Renaissance, began to build their national identity on their basis. The centuries-old theological and political nature of French political power in the Renaissance was transformed into a subject-pragmatic one. For the first time in the political history of Europe, politics was separated from religion. Christian dogmas as the basic mental attitudes of the elites gave way to the semantic primacy of secular principles of existence. During the period of absolutism, on the soil cultivated by the Renaissance, anti-absolutist and anti-clerical mental and political attitudes were formed in the elite environment, which determined the nature of the revolutionary events of the 18th-19th centuries. During the period of the Consulate and the First Empire, Napoleon I, seeking to ensure the economic dominance of the Empire and its military superiority over the countries of the continent, pursued a policy of mental reconstruction of the elite in order to create a new nobility. In the course of the analysis, the authors reveal the dialectical nature of the mental dynamics of the French elites.

Combating corruption in rapidly developing countries is one of the key directions of state policy. Despite decades of research, no universal approach has been proposed that can guarantee a minimum level of abuse of power for personal gain. Governments of countries, considering successful experiences, have to develop unique management approaches to address this issue, taking into account the specific political system, sociocultural characteristics, and dynamics of economic development. The goal of this article is to trace the evolution of anti-corruption policies in China. The study has demonstrated that the party leadership promptly changed approaches to combating corruption, in line with the changing forms and scales of corruption, understanding its origins and causes at different stages of the country’s development. China has a zero tolerance policy towards any manifestations of corruption and is actively combating abuses in government agencies. China’s current anti-corruption policy in the territory uses coercive instruments.

This article examines several issues related to Hungary, the personality and management style of its leader Viktor Orban, and the policies pursued by this European country towards migrants and refugees. Hungary is a state whose migration policy over the past years has been at odds with the European mainstream. This is largely due to the views of Orban himself. For him, the issue of migration is central, axial in his worldview. This course is perceived differently: the Hungarian Prime Minister has both supporters and opponents. In the scientific research literature one can also find polar assessments. At the same time, Orban is a significant figure for the study of migrant discourse, and his policies obviously strive to be framed in a new eclectic ideology. The Prime Minister of Hungary continues to pursue his course, maneuvering between various forces and interest groups — potential allies from other states, opponents from the European liberal establishment, his own electorate, and voters of other Hungarian parties.

The article examines the problems of the current state of Russian-Turkish relations through the analysis of the theoretical and methodological apparatus of neo-Ottomanism (new Ottomanism) as a foreign policy tradition, which, from the author’s point of view, today occupies one of the leading places in the foreign policy course of the current government of R.T. Erdogan. The complexity and uncertainty of this phenomenon require the use of specialized analysis methods: a system-structural analysis of the foreign policy of states (developed by the corresponding MGIMO school), a scientific approach within the framework of FPA (foreign policy analysis), separate tools for analyzing the strategic culture and foreign policy institutions of Ankara (according to the methodology of G. Almond and S. Verba). According to the author, for the current foreign policy of Ankara, the tradition of neo-Ottomanism is system-forming due to its ideological saturation of the initial ideological foundation. At the same time, the ambiguity of its interpretations lays down an expansive interpretation of Turkey’s foreign policy behavior in the international arena, which is fraught with problems and conflicts for Moscow’s foreign policy in realizing its interests in areas of international politics that cross Ankara.

The formation and functioning of various models of the world order has a deep and complex history that does not fit into the traditional chronologically consistent scheme, and these models themselves did not inherit each other, but were combined in varying degrees of harmony. The dynamics of international relations, at least in the medium term, will be determined by the trends observed over the past decades — such as inequality in the levels of economic development, the redistribution of shares of world wealth, the rivalry for global dominance between the United States, gradually losing its position as sole leader, China, Russia and other global players, and finally, the search for new tools balancing the global status quo.
Expansion geopolitics will also remain the dominant trend in the short- to medium-term perspective. One of its striking manifestations is the Belt — Road Initiative, implemented by the PRC. Expansion geopolitics seems to get start most intensively in West Africa. The region, on the one hand, needs large infrastructure investments, on the other hand, — has a number of advantages that could create a production and logistics hub in it, the starting point of a project similar to the Chinese Belt — Road initiative.

This article raises questions related to the political interpretation of A.I. Solzhenitsyn. It is demonstrated that Solzhenitsyn’s work in this aspect can be described as a political and philosophical legitimation of the project of “conservative modernity”. The main plot dominant in Solzhenitsyn’s reflections is the political and philosophical criticism of Western secularism and its political consequences. Secularism is described by Solzhenitsyn as a “perversion” of the Christian idea, in this respect Bolshevism and Western liberalism are equated with each other, embodying the radical features of the Western modernist project. The main question that worries Solzhenitsyn: how is modernity possible, in which the basic Christian principles and rules are preserved and developed? The solution to this issue is connected with the political implementation of this project — the construction of a conservative version of democracy, in which the observance of human rights and the construction of a rule of law state is based on Christian, not secular values.

This article presents the stages of politicization of Russian literature in the era of the Great Reforms. The first stage is the end of the reign of Nicholas I (1848–1855), the second is the period of preparation for the Great Reforms (1855–1861), the third is the period of the Great Reforms (1861–1866), the fourth is the period of the end of the Great Reforms (1866–1881). The first period can be characterized as the period of the emergence of political literature, as yet without a pronounced social ideal. Censorship increased during this period, but important features of the liberal ideal were articulated in the literature. The second period was characterized by the weakening of censorship, the emergence of a number of new newspapers and magazines. Then literary criticism begins to play an important social role and the maximum politicization of the literary process takes place. At the same time, a patriarchal social ideal was formulated in a number of works of art. The third period was distinguished by the fact that raznochintsy authors began to play an important role in literature. This led to the emergence of opposing parties of “nihilists” and “anti-nihilists”, as well as to the emergence of the phenomenon of the anti-nihilist novel. First half of 1860 became the time of the formation of a social ideal of raznochintsy. The fourth period can be characterized as a period of reflection on the results of the Great Reforms, as a time for writers to rethink their views and develop new ideas about the social ideal.

The change in the relationship between the state and science is clearly manifested at the present time (we are talking about a slowdown in the growth of funding and a change in its principles, precarious employment in science, the prevalence of technoscience, etc.). After presenting the most characteristic features, the article discusses what these changes are related to and how objective they are. Based on the analysis of statistical data and strategic documents of a number of states, the reasons for the ongoing transformation are revealed. It is emphasized that its risks have been presented in many futuristic concepts representing scenarios for the development of society (from the knowledge society to transhumanism), but have not received due attention. It is concluded that we are witnessing a transition from the classical model of the relationship between science and the state, which emerged during the scientific and technological revolution of the twentieth century, to a new model characterized primarily by the expansion of the number of stakeholders, the creation of new forms of innovative research organization, networking and internationalization of scientific research, new techniques for evaluating and stimulating scientific activity, expertise of scientific projects, including public.

One of the achievements of the reflectivist turn in international relations theory in the late 20th century was the attention given to the role of discourse and other ideational factors in international politics. In recent years, however, approaches critical of the discursive emphasis in international studies have emerged, seeking to restore the significance of non-discursive aspects of international relations such as geography, technology, and the non-human. This article offers a perspective on the development of international relations theory from the standpoint of the debate between materialism and idealism. Within this framework, it provides a brief overview of the historical evolution of international relations theory and subsequently delves into a detailed analysis of three strands of the new wave of materialist theorizing in the field — critical realism, new materialism, and neoclassical geopolitics. The article suggests considering the new materialist wave as, on the whole, a positive development, but also points out the necessity of taking into account the risk of “exiling” the human element from international relations research as such concepts proliferate. The possibility of collaboration between reflecivists and post-reflecivists, as well as between idealists and materialists in general, is underlined for the comprehensive study of contemporary international realities.

The authors determine the features of the introduction of the concept of sustainable development into the socio-political discourse. The research methodology is based on the political analysis of various views of researchers concerning mechanisms and ways for implementing sustainable development. As a result of the study, the authors made conclusion that the implementation of the concept of sustainable development carry out non-linearly and requires a radical revision of relations with the natural system, finding new mutually beneficial models of cooperation between business, civil society and a state, increasing their environmental responsibility, developing innovations and overcoming the problem of the glass ceiling of environmental modernization. The reverse side of the introduction of the concept of sustainable development in the interests of the West and large financial alliances through the mechanism of creating debt of developing countries, putting them in a deliberately losing position and leading to economic stagnation, is analyzed. The authors present own vision of the transformation and implementation trends of this concept in the world. The present research can be used as a theoretical basis in the
development of effective mechanisms for the realization of the concept of sustainable development in the Russia.