Moscow University Bulletin. Series 12. Political Science. 2021. 1.

The article takes into consideration different important approaches to understand the concept of state sovereignty in the modern world. The article analyses the views of “traditionalists” and “globalists” on the problem of sovereignty in the context of international relations. In recent years, indeed, Russia regained full-fledged sovereignty in all aspects of this concept, having re-balanced monetary and social policies, paid off foreign debts, diversified foreign trade, ensured food security, reduced its dependence on imports, achieved a low level of inflation, significantly reformed and strengthened the armed forces. Not surprisingly, in 2020 a considerable attention was paid to the political and legal protection of sovereignty. The article examines the implementation of various aspects of the concept of sovereignty in the framework of the amendments to the Constitution of the Russian Federation and the 17 laws passed through the State Duma of the Russian Federation in 2020. The article concludes with an overview of a number of initiatives in the framework of ‘parliamentary diplomacy’ that were launched over the last few years and that serve to strengthen the country's authority on the global stage, and, therefore, protect Russian sovereignty.

The article explores the effect of the implementation of digital technologies able to affect the modern processes in the field of political management. The starting assumption is that the key political actor — the state — is undergoing today an important transformation. The article starts by analysing the concept of ‘sovereignty’ in a broad historical perspective, as well as in its modern interpretation (through the lens of neorealism, neoliberalism and post-positivism). Although in the conditions of hybrid confrontation the virtual space appears a challenge to sovereignty, the state remains a powerful actor. The key task of the state today indeed is the control of the virtual space, while the protection of the ‘information sovereignty’ becomes a priority in the framework of its information policy. The definition of the concept of ‘information sovereignty’ used in the article is drawn on the comparison of different available approaches. The authors finally suggest different directions through which the protection of ‘information sovereignty’ can be implemented, namely the development of information infrastructure, the identification of threats and the creation of an appropriate legislative framework.

The article considers the main factors contributing to the tension in interethnic relations in the Russian North Caucasus: contradictions and conflicts between the federal center and the subjects of the federation; ethnic territorial conflicts; ethnic status conflicts associated with the relationship of the titular and non-titular population; ethnic economic conflicts related to ethnic preferences in labor activity and redistribution of property; ethnic confessional problems caused by the use of a religious factor in ethnic political mobilization; political contradictions between the subjects of the federation within the North Caucasus Federal District. Beyond all these elements, the danger posed by the revitalization of radical Islam / Islamic fundamentalism in the region is also discussed and emphasized. Although according to many experts, there is currently no reason to designate North Caucasus as a region characterized by ethnopolitical crisis and in permanent conflict, the author indicates several problematic issues. The main focus of analysis, indeed, looks at the problems of inefficiency of both, the corrupted North Caucasian ethnocratic elites and the officials of the North Caucasus Federal District. This unsolved problem makes still possible the return to a negative scenario of ethnic political development of the whole region.

Mathematical methods are today the most popular way of evaluating the voting results, providing insight on their reliability. In Russia and in the rest of the world, there is a need to develop scientific tools for the application of mathematical research methods to assess the election results, especially if such results are considered fraudulent by the public. The author examines four case studies: Mexico, Great Britain, Afghanistan, Russia, discussing advantages and disadvantages of adopting mathematical research methods in evaluating the election results. The article finds that the reason for the refusal of the state authorities to conduct such an assessment of election results, may be first of all the nature of the actors requesting the ex-post analysis, namely a non-professional political scientists and the opposition, aiming at identifying electoral fraud. Indeed, a mathematical evaluation of the election results can show approximately the same balance of forces and dynamics of the electoral process that were already well known even before. Indeed, in countries where government agencies refuse to conduct such an assessment, independent experts rely on the resources of civil society and international organizations. For all these reasons, the article concludes suggesting that state authorities should implement the process of evaluation of election results using mathematical methods, as well as provide clear guidance for conducting such a process.

Almost every important election in the world in recent years — especially in post-Soviet countries — has been accompanied by allegations of manipulations of the results. To determine whether such allegations are plausible, the identification of a pattern of electoral behaviour across specific territories appears necessary. Based on the analysis of the results of about 30 elections — from 1991 to 2014 — across the municipal districts of Donetsk, the article shows that electoral support of both winners and non-dominant political forces is rather stable and proportional. Over the period of nearly 25 years, the proportionality ratios between municipal districts during fair elections have not been affected by major changes, despite the evolution and transformation of the political agenda. The article argues that based on these results, the degree of deviation of particular districts can be traced and studied. Thus, using the reliable percentage values of electoral support even in only one of the districts, it is possible to predict the results of a particular election at both, the district level and municipal level as a whole.

The article presents the results of the analysis of political news about electronic voting on YouTube. The research focuses on 12 countries that have made electronic voting the only or a widely used way to implement active suffrage (Belgium, Brazil, the Kingdom of Bhutan, Venezuela, India, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Namibia, the Philippines, Switzerland, Estonia and Russia). The main tasks of the research were: to collect a database of videos about electronic voting; to determine the tone of the coverage of electronic voting in each considered country; to identify trends in the use of YouTube as an outreach channel. This methodological process was set to answer the main research question: what type of attitude to electronic voting is shaped by political news about electronic voting in YouTube: neutral, positive or negative? Finally, based on the analysis of existing conceptual and theoretical approaches to the issue of impact of social networks on political processes, the article attempts to test the explanatory capacity of the concept of ‘information capsule’ in relation to political news about electronic voting on YouTube.

The article presents an analysis of the existing incentives and strategies for interaction and mutual influence of political parties and social movements in a democratic context. This analysis is complemented by the overview of the consequences of this interaction and influence on the structural and ideological foundations of both political parties and social movements and, more globally, the social environment, party system, political regime, and political system. Due to the success of new social movements in mass mobilization the interaction of parties and movements has intensified since the 1970s. This process led — in particular — to the development of a phenomenon usually known as ‘party-movement’, namely a social movement morphing into a political party. The relations between political parties and social movements however are characterized not only by alliances, but in some cases also by rivalry or even confrontation. The article concludes by examining the main factors of the involvement of movements in politics, presenting a typology of movements participating in politics, and a typology of the party system according to its susceptibility to the influence of social movements.

The article analyses the attitude of French conservative thinkers of the late 19th — early 20th century towards social policy, drawing on the intellectual heritage of two conservative authors, namely Adrien Albert Marie, Comte de Mun and Henriette-Lucy, Marquise de La Tour du Pin. The article provides the intellectual and political context in which the two thinkers developed their views regarding social policy. The analysis draws on comparative and historical methods to trace both, the intellectual milieu influencing the two conservative thinkers and their own ascendancy on other intellectuals of the time. The article also relies on a series of legal documents and traces the development of social institutions in order to estimate the influence that Comte de Mun and Marquise de La Tour du Pin had upon laws and practices. The research finally identifies the most important ideas of the two authors in the context of social policy: reliance on the Catholic church and Christian norms in social issues, corporative organisation of the society, responsibility of the upper class. Based on this set of ideas, indeed, both authors suggested the introduction of retirement schemes, sickness and unemployment benefits and medical insurance.