Moscow University Bulletin. Series 12. Political Science. 2018. 2.

This article examines the development of the Russian concept of politics during the period in which the modern Russian literary language was emerging. The semantic analysis is based on dictionary entries, translations, government publications and journalistic writings that dealt with the topic of the political. Russia’s political vocabulary expanded and became more diff erentiated over the course of the 18th century. The traditional term “state matters” (gosudarstvennye dela) was supplemented by the foreign term “politika” and its derivatives, and Aristotelian and Machiavellian semantics of politics entered into Russian discourse. This adoption signalled the orientation of elite discourses towards Western categories of thought and Russia’s membership among the nations of Europe. This article presents the specifi c semantic contexts that were created through this transfer and the lexical means that were used in Russian to talk about the domain of politics.

This article examines the forms of public communication and public selforganization in Russia in the fi rst half of the 19th century. Such forms of public socialization as circles, salons, clubs, scientifi c organizations, and others are analyzed. The purpose of the study is to shed light on particular features of public communication and public self-organization in Russia during the period. Complex and contradictory processes were under way in both the society itself and in the relations between society and the state. On the one hand, the government contributed to social modernization, the development of new forms of self-organization by society. On the other hand, the government also tried to be as vigilant as possible in monitoring any manifestations of public activity, both by normative acts and by creating various control bodies.

This article presents a systematic analysis the motivational profi le of the political participation of young people in the activity of contemporary Russian parties, using research conducted by the Sociology and Psychology of Politics Program of the Political Science Department of Lomonosov Moscow State University. Particular attention is paid to the psychological foundation of youth political activism among contemporary Russian citizens, the characteristic features of the political behavior of the younger generation, and comparative analysis of the motivational aspirations of the young activists of Russian parties. The article also analyzes the infl uence of the basic institutions of political socialization on the formation of the personality of young Russian politicians. The author examines the basic motives that contribute to the the choice of by young people of the sphere of politics as a profession for the formation of one’s own personality. Judging by the results of the study, the author concludes that the motivation of young people going into politics depends, in many respects, on the generational specifi city of their political socialization, in which a desire for their own self-realization is clearly expressed.

This article analyzes the results of a study conducted in 2017–2018 by the Program of Sociology and Psychology of Politics of the Political Science Department of Lomonosov Moscow State University. The study examined the features of the perception of foreign countries (of Western Europe, BRICS and the former Soviet Union) by Russian citizens. The results of the study lead to a number of conclusions. First, the perception of a number of other countries — the images of the “signifi cant other” — are the backbone structures of Russian political consciousness. Their importance and relevance is explained by the desire, through an appeal to “others,” to see the cultural and historical specifi cs of Russia and the Russian national-state identity more clearly. Secondly, the hypothesis put forward by the authors was generally confi rmed: the images of foreign countries in the minds of Russians are shaped under the decisive infl uence of socio-political discourse — a situational factor that broadcasts certain semantic patterns through various mass media. At the same time, the infl uence of prolonged socio-cultural and generational factors on the system of ideas about a foreign country is less pronounced. The most vivid example of such infl uence was the total negativization of the image of Ukraine, a transition from the category of “ friends” to one of “aliens.” In the structure of Russian perception of other countries, the “ friend — alien” scheme likewise occupies a central position. States perceived as “ friends” (for example, Belarus, Kazakhstan) are deemed, a priori, to possess more positive characteristics. These positive evaluations are usually emotionally tinged and fairly weak from the point of view of cognitive justifi cation. This also characterizes the images of those states that are viewed by Russians as “allies,” conventionally “ours” (e.g. Brazil, China). At the same time, Western countries perceived as “aliens” are endowed with mostly negative emotional characteristics.

This article analyzes the emergence and operation of the Tripartite Maritime Safety Cooperation initiative (TMSC). The fi rst mechanism in the history of the Indian Ocean region involving interaction at the level of security advisers of India and its key security partners — the Republic of Maldives and Sri Lanka — existed for three years; at the moment its activities are frozen. The author sets himself the task of analyzing the reasons for the creation of this initiative, the interests of the participating countries, the activities carried out in the framework of the TMSC and their results, and fi nally the possible reasons for the termination of the TMSC’s functions. The author concludes that the reasons for the failure of the TMSC initiative in their current form are objective, and that India, if it intends to create an eff ective alliance, will have to either change the approach to the formation of such mechanisms, formalize them even more, or negotiate with China as an alternative security provider.

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.

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.

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.