Moscow University Bulletin. Series 12. Political Science. 2024. 5.

The article is devoted to the role of Russian museums in constructing collective memory of the Special Military Operation (SMO) events and the main aspects of this process. The research is based on publicly available materials on museum and exhibition projects dedicated to the SMO, as well as the results of an expert survey (n = 5) of representatives of federal museums and non-profit organizations who participated in collecting artifacts at the frontline zone as part of the work of the intermuseum group of the Ministry of Culture of Russia. During the study it was explained why museum workers were involved in creating exhibitions dedicated to the SMO, and main approaches to making exhibitions in departmental, federal and regional museums were revealed. Today’s most problematic issue is that military departmental museums posess priority access to collecting artifacts in the area of SMO. At the same time civil museums, that have more visitors and widest public, get the access on a residual basis. The difficulty also lies in the fact that small regional museums are often unable to place exhibits from SMO area in a broad historical context, as required by the guidelines developed at the federal level.

S. Huntington’s article on the clash of civilizations, published a little over 30 years ago, and the book that followed it, partly seemed prophetic — in any case, the main conflicts in Europe unfolded just along the line of civilizational faults outlined by the author; the ideas outlined are still in the focus of attention of political scientists. The article attempts not only to systematize the critical arguments against this concept, but also hermeneutically, based on the text of the article, to consider the question of understanding civilizations and substantiating the idea of their inevitable conflict, and systematically present errors in reasoning. Textual analysis shows that identification, which is considered by Huntington to be actually the key criterion of civilization, is first unreasonably reduced to fundamentalist religious, and then this information is supported by ad hoc assumptions. In addition, a number of logical errors in reasoning are revealed. Based on the results obtained, the heuristic potential of this concept is questioned; the conclusion about the fault line in Europe in this regard is not scientific, but “projective-ideological”.

Over the past few years, a fairly large number of authors have appeared (I.S. Tehlikidi, E.N. Verkin, V.O. Bogdanova, D.S. Zakharov, D.A. Danilov, Ya.M. Wagner) who use the dystopian genre for the socio-political construction of the future, and also use the methods of dystopia and heterotopia to represent modernity or certain aspects of the historical past. The article examines the evolution of the dystopian genre and the current state of this direction, the basis of which is not individual signs and distinctive features, but the concept of ‘dystopian narratives’. In the dystopias of the second decade of the 21st century, three key narratives can be distinguished: 1) adaptation of humanity to the world after a nuclear disaster, 2) digitalization of society and technologization of individual physiology; 2) the strengthening of non-Western political regimes and the collapse of the unipolar world. Thanks to the convergence of contemporary works of art, as well as the active interest of Russian publishing houses, through promotion through traditional media and digital platforms, authors have the opportunity to shape the cultural identity of their readers, as well as influence the perception of modernity. In this model, the reader, thanks to decoding the sign systems of a work of art, creates his own “average version”, which can claim to be both an individual and mass political ideology.

In the context of the ongoing mass development of the environment of information and communication technologies (ICT) and the simultaneous increase in international tension, ensuring technological sovereignty in ICTs becomes a qualitatively new challenge, which, among other things, implies the unimpeded reproduction of said technologies against the backdrop of various sanctions regimes and the increasing likelihood of a large-scale military-political escalation. A systematic study of the US experience in overcoming this challenge indicates that, in the perception of American political circles, this challenge is strategic both in essence and its temporal boundaries. At the same time, it can be reasonably argued that the process of semiconductor production capacities reshoring to the US is based on political rather than economic prerequisites, and is faced with a number of issues — most serious of which is a serious shortage of personnel — which cannot be overcome in the short term. It is also important to note the comprehensive nature of the measures taken, which are aimed not only at developing national competencies and production, but also at preventing similar processes in other countries — primarily China.

The article discusses the theory and practice of applying the institute of publicprivate partnership (PPP) as the basis for the interaction of state bodies and business structures. The activation of the problem of interaction between the state and business allows us to find optimal and effective ways to solve emerging problems. The partnership makes it possible to transfer part of the powers to business. Thereby reducing budget expenditures and optimizing the work of the authorities. An effective dialogue between the public and private sectors can solve acute social problems, increase the pace of infrastructure development in the public interest and accelerate economic growth. Therefore, it is important to study the experience and practice of implementing partnerships. The Russian Federation and the USA were chosen as the objects of the study. With the help of comparative analysis, the strengths and weaknesses of each interaction model were identified. The study of the scope of the PPP institute allowed us to make assumptions for expanding the area of interaction between partners. Based on the analysis of the American experience, proposals were put forward to modernize the domestic PPP institute.