Moscow University Bulletin. Series 12. Political Science. 2025. 6.

In just a decade, Western political thought has gone from using the concept of ‘Civilizational State’ to describe the geopolitical opponents of the modern West to using it in studying the changing political structure and the geopolitical nature of Western civilization itself. These discursive changes demonstrate profound shifts in the paradigmatic perception of both the very structure of international relations and the essence of the actors in these relations. The article presents the results of an analysis of various directions of the civilizational approach in the West, which have an impact in the modern political and scientific discourse of Europe and the United States. The ‘Civilizational State’ is the most appropriate concept to describe the reality of a multipolar world, the transition from the Westphalian model of nation-states to the order of “large spaces” by Carl Schmitt. The reflection of Western political thought on the semantic burden of the concept of ‘Civilizational State’ is obligatory for comprehension in the context of the study of the identity of the Russian Civilizational State — its political, spiritual and social aspects.

The article investigates social architecture as a concept linking the theoretical understanding of social order with the practical tasks of public administration and the coordination of socio-political processes within the Russian sociocultural context. It examines the transition from the classical problem of social order to a new governance paradigm grounded in the principles of social architecture. The focus is on the theoretical and methodological dimensions of positioning social architecture as an element of scholarly and socio-political discourse that aspires to a normative character. The article analyzes the institutional consolidation of the social architecture concept across the domains of media, education, expert knowledge, and public policy. It assesses the potential of this discourse in terms of addressing state objectives related to the formation of national (civilizational) identity. The study draws on a combination of discursive institutionalism, the ‘analytics of government’ (in the tradition of governmentality studies), and the strategic-relational approach (of neo-Marxist tradition), enabling social architecture to be examined not as a given, but as a constructed social reality aimed at ensuring the resilience and stability of state systems. The author demonstrates that the development of the social architecture discourse represents an attempt to resolve contradictions in the governance of socio-political processes — contradictions arising from the exhaustion of the previous sociocultural tradition's potential and the need to form new systems of expert support for state policy. In a broader theoretical perspective, social architecture is considered as one possible response to the fundamental problem of social order — a problem of enduring relevance to the contemporary social sciences and humanities — in conditions where interest in Russia's national political tradition and the interpretation of its historical experience of state-building is growing.

This article provides an analytical review of the key stages in the formation and development of GR management as a system of practical-political for the relationship between businesses and government and an applied discipline in Russia and abroad. The authors examine the evolution of GR management through the lens of four primary organizational forms of GR activity: corporate, associative, consulting, and international (transnational) GR, development of GR as an educational and research system is also reviewed.
The study explores the key stages of GR institutionalization in Russia, systematizes existing theoretical and methodological approaches and elaborates on the core features, functions, and operational frameworks of each of the four organizational GR forms. The analysis identifies challenges facing GR management as an academic discipline and outlines directions for future research.
The findings demonstrate that GR management in Russia has evolved significantly from the fragmented practices of the 1990s to a fully-fledged academic discipline and professional field. Further institutionalization of GR in Russia requires consolidating efforts by academic and professional communities to expand its theoretical-methodological foundation, and develop new or enhance existing programs for training industry specialists.

The article, devoted to the characteristics of the process of forming and training of political elites in the Soviet Union, tries to identify key aspects in the formation of the Soviet managerial class, analyze training methods and the role played by ideological factors. It also reveals the concepts such as ‘Soviet political elites’ and ‘nomenklatura’. We will consider institutions that formed political cadres and give an idea of specific requirements for a state cadres, consider decisions made by the Soviet leadership to create political elite. Methodological tools used include historical, comparative and sociological analyses, as well as institutional and discourse analysis, which allow a comprehensive reconstruction of the processes of political elite formation and tracing internal mechanisms for change.
The article substantiates the conclusion that the Soviet elite was formed as a closed managerial class, where membership was determined not by origin, but by inclusion into nomenclatural hierarchy and ideological allegiance. The results allow us to rethink the Soviet elites as dynamic systems with internal stratification, whose characteristics can be justified by stable reproduction mechanisms that combine formal access to “social elevation” with strict ideological control.

Studying how young social media users understand and demonstrate the value of self-development allows for a better understanding of new norms and contradictions emerging among young people. The aim of the study was to identify the key forms and meanings of representing the value of self-development among Russian youth in social networks. The empirical basis of the study was a corpus of public posts by users under 35 on the topic of self-development, mainly from the VKontakte network, published between October 2024 and April 2025. Among the topics of the 369 analyzed posts related to the “Development — Self-Realization — Self-Improvement” value cluster, the predominance of two themes emerged: “Autobiographical Narrative” (50,9 %) and “Rituals and Participation” (texts in which self-realization and self-development are framed through calendar milestones and/or collective formats, 43,6 %). It was revealed that self-narratives resonate more strongly with audiences, while collective rituals are articulated through individual reports and promises. The study showed a high potential for promoting role models through the description of personal experience; the topics of various aspects of self-realization provide additional potential for the development of creative industries, as well as the development of youth policy system.

This article attempts to characterize the interplay of geopolitics and space activities based on an analysis of the evolution of international relations in the realm of space exploration. The study emphasizes that in recent decades, space has become a key element of contemporary global politics. With the transition of international relations to a multipolar model among centers of influence, competition and rivalry in global affairs, including space, have intensified. Several countries are actively developing their space programs and striving for leadership in the space domain as a means to ensure national security, gain economic advantages, and wield influence in the world. The study discusses the relationship between Russia and the USA in the space domain in a historical retrospective, and analyzes the development of China’s space industry as a long-time partner of Russia in space exploration over the past thirty years. The author concludes that today, Russia and China, possessing significant space potential, set ambitious goals in this area and plan to jointly implement prospective space projects. The consolidation of efforts will open up new opportunities for both countries in space exploration.