Moscow University Bulletin. Series 12. Political Science. 2022. 2.

The foreign policy of the state has its own specifics because its effectiveness depends on many circumstances that go beyond the framework of national sovereignty. Differences in approaches to the analysis of foreign policy, as well as in the definitions that are given to it, are explained by the variety of factors affecting it and its associated “diversity”. In general, foreign policy is both the general course of the state, the basic principles that characterize its position in a foreign environment, and the practical actions or behavior of the state outside its borders, finally, it is a complex, multi-level process of preparing and making appropriate decisions. Often, it is the process of making foreign policy decisions and related organizational, bureaucratic, psychological, and other problems that occupy a central place in the analysis of the state foreign policy. At the same time, for all the importance of the results of the analysis of the decision-making process, they do not give a complete picture of the foreign policy of the state, leaving without due attention its conceptual foundations and the behavior of the state in the international environment. Russian authors, without denying the place that decision-making takes in the foreign policy of the state, proposed to consider its formation and implementation in the unity and continuity of all its stages based on the concept of “ foreign policy process”. At the
same time, the need to pay attention to the dialectics of the factors of the foreign policy process is especially emphasized. In the light of the exacerbated value, culture and politics-based contradictions in the contemporary world, factors of civilizational, political, cultural, and regime nature affecting the foreign policy of states are attracting increasingly growing attention.

The article is devoted to the problem of the formation of digital sovereignty of Russia in the context of the formation of a global digital society. The paper examines various approaches in political science to understand digital sovereignty.
Authors analyze the threats that arise to Russia’s sovereignty during the process of digitalization develops, as well as the conditions for the implementation of Russia’s digital sovereignty in the global digital society.
The article pays special attention to the fact that ensuring the digital sovereignty of Russia is the main condition for ensuring the national security of the country, so it is important to reveal the main tasks of the state to ensure its digital sovereignty and its practical activities in this direction.
According to the results of the research, today national digital sovereignty is necessary not only for the creation of national digital resources, but also for the national independence of the state in the era of the global digital society.

The article’s primary purpose was to identify relevant scientific approaches, models, and scenarios for digitalizing the space of contemporary policy. To solve the work tasks, we used discourse analysis, critical analysis and predictive scripting. According to the research results, the authors could identify the essential effects of current technological transformations that ensure the close interweaving of the traditional political space and the digital environment into a single digital space of politics, claiming to form an independent phygital socio-technical reality. Among the key areas of transformation of the space of traditional politics, we can include the intensive digital algorithmization of the socio-political sphere of the life of the modern state and society, the emergence of digital intellectual actants, as well as alternative subjects of digital politics, to which we primarily include global technology corporations. Based on the study results, the authors describe a scenario for forming hybrid state-technological regimes that combine the resources of political power, digital infrastructures and technologies into a single subject of socio-political governance of a new type.

Based on empirical quantitative data, the article examines the relationship between the severity of the epidemiological situation in a particular country (1), the stringency of protective and restrictive measures imposed by the government (2), and the institutional characteristics of the country (including the quality of healthcare, management, the level of public confidence in the government, value orientations, etc.), which determine the specifics of the application of measures and their effectiveness (3). As a result, with the help of the index of the severity of the epidemiological situation, institutional characteristics were identified that most affect the effectiveness of the measures applied and, if possible, allow combining the relatively easy passage of the pandemic with relatively lax measures. Based on statistical indicators, practical recommendations have been developed aimed at reducing the severity of the epidemiological situation and reducing the severity of measures.

The author analyzes the impact of the new coronavirus infection on the campaign for the election of deputies to the 8th State Duma, both during the campaign period and at the time of voting. Research objectives are to find out whether the coronavirus pandemic affected the election campaign in general and the transparency and legitimacy of the electoral process in particular; what forced changes have been made to the electoral system and the pre-election work of candidates and parties, and whether these changes are applicable outside the conditions of the pandemic. In the article, the author research the program documents of the parties, uses content analysis, and the comparative method. As a result, the author came to the conclusion that the coronavirus pandemic had a serious impact on the 2021 election campaign, in terms of organizing, preparing and conducting voting, and in matters of electoral activities of political parties and candidates. Some changes are situational, and not applicable outside the conditions of epidemiological risks, others, systemic, have chance of becoming standard practice outside the conditions of a pandemic. The changes affecting the electoral process did not affect the transparency and legitimacy of the electoral process, and in some aspects made it more convenient for voters.

The article discusses the connection between literature and politics on the example of Aleksandr S. Pushkin (1799–1837). Already the first poetic works by Pushkin reflect his civic thought and ideas about the rule of law. An analysis of his works of fiction and non-fiction shows that he used scholarly and literary approaches for the analysis of Russia’s past and the assessment of existing problems. He denied schematism in the interpretation of the past, advocated progress based on the wise ruling the country, citizenship, and patriotism of the people, supported the idea of reforms leading to the elimination of serfdom and the autocracy, but his good and visionary advice was not heard. On the contrary, he was sent into exile, first to the south, then to Mikhailovskoye. After his release from exile in 1826, he was under police surveillance. The historical role of his works lies in the fact that he played a significant role in the growth of national consciousness and public interest in politics.

Nikolai Chernyshevsky is one of the most prominent radical thinkers of the 19th century. This article attempts to answer two questions. First, can Chernyshevsky be considered a revolutionary? The second is whether the novel “What Is to Be Done?” is propaganda of the revolution? In Soviet times, the dominant point of view was that the novel contains a call for revolution. In the post-Soviet period, the point of view began to dominate that Chernyshevsky was not a revolutionary, but a reformer. And the novel contains a call for peaceful activity. According to the author, both positions are incorrect. They characterize the need of readers of different epochs to see Chernyshevsky as a revolutionary or reformer. Chernyshevsky does not propagandize in the novel “What Is to Be Done?” peaceful development or revolution, the novel is a reflection on possible scenarios for the development of the country.