Abstract: The concept of nation can be obviously called one of the key concepts of our time both in Russia and abroad. However, in recent years there has been a visible paradox in understanding the phenomena of nation and nationalism. The growth of the importance of national issues was associated, on one hand, with the dominating liberal ideology of ‘multiculturalism’ and, on the other hand, with the decrease of interest towards traditional political ideologies. As a political concept, ‘nation’ is a discursive construct which meaning is defi ned with the intergroup (interparty) struggle. This meaning cannot be stable, because it changes along with the transformations in the balance of political power. Consequently, a researcher studying this concept should always ask himself what purposes are being pursued by the political forces that use the concept of ‘nation’ or struggle for the monopoly privilege to defi ne the meaning of the term ‘nation’. To study the concept of nation in the political party discourse about a Russian ‘powerless party’, the author of the article uses the conceptological approach developed by V. Makarenko. The purpose of the present article is to create a methodological construct for studying the concept of nation in the discourse about political parties of modern Russia. For a differentiated analysis of the discourse about the ‘powerless party’, the author offers a conceptological version of the dramaturgic approach to the political party system. Analyzing the concept of nation in documents of the democratic party ‘Yabloko’, the author notes that the party rhetoric may change depending on the political environment. However, these variations have their own limits, too. In case of the party ‘Yabloko’ they are framed with the civil concept of nation. Noteworthy that the concept remains the same in all party public declarations.

Keywords: Concept, nation, inclusion, exclusion, powerless party, powerful party, political fi gures, sphere of concepts, discourse, imitative party discipline.

Abstract: The author of the article analyzes the infl uence of the socio-cultural factor and the factor of settlements in terms of opportunities and prospects of modernizing the activity of territorial communities. The importance of the topic is caused by the differences and contradictions in the values of the Russian society as well as a deep social inequality, territorial disparity and inter-settlement differentiation. Special attention is paid to the analysis of peculiarities of traditional and modernistic values and behavioral stereotypes of Russians depending on a type of settlement. The author also views contradictory effects of modernization regarding the territorial development of the country in general. Analyzing the problem, the author takes into account the main provisions of the theory of modernization regarding transformations of socio-cultural grounds of a modern society which allows to conceptualize integrated infl uence of the socio-cultural factor and the factor of settlements on the development of territorial communities. A territorial community is viewed as a complex self-development system which performance and development depend on many factors. The integral infl uence of the socio-cultural factor and the factor of settlements causes the difference in values of Russian people which, fi nally, defi nes creates special features of the social and economic development of independent territorial communities and territorial development of the country in general.

Keywords: Territorial community, social and economic development, modernization, socio-cultural factor, factor of settlements, values, value priorities, social inequality, territorial disparity, differentiation between settlements.

Abstract: The article is devoted to the analysis of the brightest period in the pre-revolutionary development of the theatre arts in Perm. It has been proved that the frontier epoch conventionally called ‘the Silver Age’ was rather intense and fruitful even in the province. Due to a rich theatre life and outburst of creativity, the cultural life in Perm had the highest level of response to the demands of the times, generally growing interest towards theatre art and new esthetic searches typical for different kinds of art at the turn of centuries. The main research methods used by the author when writing the present research article were: historical, empiric and analytical methods. The author also used the methods of comparison and analogy. The scientifi c importance and novelty of the article are the following. The author has established that during the period studied there were qualitative changes not only in the sense of the self of people but also in their perception of the city. In fact, in those years Perm signifi cantly ‘advanced’ in acquiring the fame of a theatre city. According to the author of the article, here it is appropriate to refer to V. Dal’s dictionary and his defi nition of ‘fame’ as a ‘famous in a certain quality’. Therefore, the entire period of the pre-revolutionary development of the city was associated with the cultural life of the city reaching the highest level of response to the demands of the times, generally growing interest towards theatre art and new esthetic searches typical for different kinds of art at the turn of centuries due to a rich theatre life and outburst of creativity. These are the main results of the ‘seven years of theatre’ in Perm that had a good impact on the level of further development of the theatre life in the city.

Keywords: theatre, art, intelligentsia, cultural heritage, pre-revolutionary period, theatre life, theatre management, society, artist, Silver Age.

Abstract: The article is devoted to the ideas of a professor A. V. Naumov on the issues of crime and punishment in the human history, history of science and religion. The professor analyzes these issues comprehensively and takes into account data obtained by researchers of different branches and movements of science. The reviewed book contains intertwinement of historical facts, opinions, statistical data, illustrations of criminal law concepts and attitudes to punishment and crime in literature s well as the analysis of legislation. The reviewer appraises the objectivist approach of A. V. Naumov to the study of crime and punishment. The author of the review also analyzes the ideological neutrality of the author of the book and underlines that personal assessments of studied phenomena can be of interest to the readers. The reviewer also analyzes the main content and the structure of the book. The reviewed book can be the beginning of a new stage of refl ections on the fate and fortunes of criminal law, crime and punishment, victim and criminal. The book can also trigger further researches in the sphere of criminal law. The author of the book manages to maintain an open mind when analyzing the Russian criminal law and comparing it to the Western law. When necessary, the author also appeals to the comparative law besides Russian law history.

Keywords: Crime, punishment, history of Russia, criminal law, the Criminal Code, objectivist approach, criminal law concepts, historical facts, legislation, reform.

Abstract: The subject under review of the present research article is the improvement of the management effi ciency at organizations of the state sector through using different mechanisms of adopting methods and models from organizations of the private sector of the economy. The author describes modern trends in choosing methods of increasing management effi ciency such as human resource rotation in the state and private sectors of economics and provides a critical evaluation of these methods. The author also views peculiarities of using the concept of the new public management as an alternative to the traditional form of public administration and provides a critical evaluation of these methods as well. In his research the author has used the following methods: the expert survey method, content analysis of documents and scientifi c resources on the matter and secondary data analysis. The article also presents the results of the analysis of the methods of improving effi ciency of public management that are of immediate interest under the conditions of the modern Russian environment. The author also offers his own classifi cation of effi ciency improvement methods and carries out a critical analysis of the results of implementing the new public management concept. At the end of the article the author concludes about the need to apply the evolutionary approach to increasing the effi ciency of public administration.

Keywords: Effi ciency, management, rotation, revolving door syndrome, management, new public administration, evolutionary, revolutionary, bureaucracy, neo-liberalism.

Abstract: The article is devoted to the essence and content of the terms ‘regionalization’ and ‘federalization’, their main differences and peculiarities of their implementation while viewing the process of public authorities decentralization in terms of transformation of the form of political and territorial government in Italy, Spain and other member states of the EU with the diffi cult unitary form of government. Both terms mean a similar direction of reformation of the territorial government and at same time, being based on different forms and methods of the implementation of the reform, they predetermine different goal-setting as well as the fi nal result of activity performed by public authorities to expand powers of regional units. In his research the author has used the dialectic method. When focusing on different constitutional regulation of the institution of political and territorial government in different countries of the world the author has used the comparative method s well as the historical and institutional methods along with the systems analysis method. The author of the research article introduces a whole number of new defi nitions and terms into science, in particular, political interpretation of such an institution at ‘region’ as an intermediate authority between the government and local self-government and its differentiation from the defi nition of ‘region’ as a sub-state unit depending on geographical, economic and other principles. In his research the author mostly uses the researches of foreign scientists such as Derek Gregory, Ron Johnstone, Matteo Legrenzi, Cilja Harders, France Schriver and others.

Keywords: Regionalization, federalization, Spain, Italy, European Union, decentralization, political and territorial government, devolution, regionalism, federalism.

Abstract: The subject under review is the institution of public administration, institution of monarchy and domestic policy processes triggered by the Arab spring. Socio-political upheavals that started in 2011 have involved almost all Arabian countries and made a great infl uence on the reformation of the scope of further political development in the region. As a part of his research, the author of the article makes an attempt to systematize analytical information about the Arab spring in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The author analyzes the reasons of social protests and purposes of opposition groups and consequences of the Arab spring for domestic political processes in Saudi Arabia. The author also makes an attempt to give a long-term outlook on the democratization process in the region. In his research the author has used applied intra-disciplinary research methods of the content analysis and event-analysis. The purpose of the analysis is to analyze the content of texts and products of communications and correspondence. In Saudi Arabia the process of modernization has assumed a very profound character which has been proved by the intensive social transformation. Within one single generation the core of the tribal social structure has been broken down and the life style of the overwhelming majority of population has been completely changed. Despite the fact that the oil reserves have made fundamental changes in the social structure of the region, there is still a need in further economic, legal and administrative transformations in order to maintain a sustainable development of the society and state and respond to all challenges of the modern world.

Keywords: Arab spring, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Advisory Council, Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf, modernization, monarchy protest, demonstration, Peninsula Shield.

Abstract: The author of the present article shares his thoughts on the choice between rebellion and submission made by human from time to time. Very often the choice made by man conflicts with the ruling authority which is interested in preventing de-legitimation by creating political institutions aimed at maintaining a consensus between the society and the government. However, these institutions cannot be all the way efficient because it is impossible to fully satisfy man’s need in justice. The author shows there can be certain moral reasons for man choosing to rebel. Rebellion and submission are very topical issues due to the objectivity of the authority itself and its countersand as a dialectical opposition. By using the political hermeneutic method and addressing to the writings of political philosophers studying this problem, the author tries to understand the reasons of such a moral choice. The author underlines that opposition to all initiatives of the authority is unavoidable because opposition is an essential part of the authority as it is. A choice of a particular man to either rebel or submit is also related to a particular political situation triggering a certain strategy of man’s behavior. Noteworthy that political transformations considerably increase chances for the radical model of behavior because the level of uncertainty grows and the hope for one’s own resources becomes evident. Quite on the contrary, periods of political stability significantly increases the need for opposition making man choose conformal models of interaction with the government.

Keywords: Rebellion, authority, de-legitimation, opposition, counterstand, submission, political actor, ruling elite, protest, repression.

Abstract: Sovereignty is one of the most important problems in political philosophy because it makes us search for the answer to the most important questions of politics, ‘Who has the highest level of state authority?’. Do the people, representatives, monarch or God have sovereignty? Development of this topic is one of the most popular and fruitful directions in the political philosophy of the XIXth century. Studying sovereignty, Francois Guizot tried to fi nd answers to particular questions such as about the reasons of the decaying of revolution and death of the Napoleon empire, the fate and fortunes of the House of Bourbon and the vitality of the Charter of 1814. The analysis of the development of ideas and term has allowed to reconstruct Guizot’s concept of sovereignty and shows its relation to the intellectual and political environment of the Conservation epoch (1814–1830). By addressing to this topic, the author of the article has managed to restore a very important part of the political theory proposed by Guizot and to cast light on the philosophical sources of the French liberalism as well as to demonstrate the relation between this ideology and democracy. Thi has also allowed to understand the status of the problem of sovereignty in political practice.

Keywords: Sovereignty, Francois Guizot, political philosophy, government, society, state institution, democratization, monarchy, legitimization, liberal conservatism.

Abstract: Being the main representative of the orthodox School of Alexandria of the Vth century and one of the major exegetes of the patritistic period, St. Cyril, even though he did not think of himself as a philosopher in the classical meaning of the word, still touched upon many philosophical issues in his creativity. His approach to philosophical questions was systematic and quite clear. Considerable part of his exegetic writings was devoted to the interpretation and commentaries on the Old Testament and discovery of the Christological meaning there. St. Cyril’s views on human that are based on Paul the Apostle’s teaching about human are implicitly represented in his theological writings. The author of the present research article explicates these views by analyzing systematic moments in Cyril’s hermeneutics and studying the relation between his interpretations of Biblical human images as a particular picture of human nature. The logic of succession of these images shows that the sacrifi ce of the Divine Logos and His accepting human nature and the Way of the Cross for saving each person from eternal death create the central moment in all anthropology of St. Cyril of Alexandria. Noteworthy that St. Cyril’s ‘The Glaphyras’ do not only represent the hermeneutic method of mature School of Alexandria but also are an important resource in patristic anthropology. According to the author of the article, The Glaphyras are an important work that should be taken into account along with famous systematic treatises of St. Gregory of Nyssa and Nemesius of Emesa.

Keywords: St. Cyril of Alexandria, anthropology, hermeneutics, exegetics, Logos, Jesus Christ, Adam, human, the Glaphyras, the Old Testament.

Abstract: The article is devoted to a wide scope of Lev Gumilev’s works and provides the philosophical analysis and systematization of the main terms of the theory of ethnogenesis and passionarity. The author of the article underlines the great influence of Lev Gumilev’s innovative ideas on the system of views of the ideological philosophical school of Eurasianism as well as the definitions of the terms ‘ethnogenesis’ and ‘passionarity’. The author describes the methods used by Lev Gumilev to study the process of creation and disintegration of ethnic groups and the influence of these methods on the establishment and evolution of classical Eurasianism in the first quarter of the XXth century. According to the author, the problems of ethnos can be studied only at the confluence of the three branches of science, history, geography (landscape science) and biology (environmental studies and genetics). The author keeps to the comprehensive approach and objectivity principle. In his research he has also used the method of the comparative philosophical analysis. In the course of his research the author has used sources and literature according to the principles of the academic ethics. Within the framework of the theory of ethnogenesis, development of each ethnos is being viewed as an organic phenomenon and development of a living organism. Passionarity forms ethnos and changes in the number of passionarities growing with time change the age of ethnos, too, i.e. the ‘phase of ethnos’. Disregarding one’s ethnicity and cultural features there are moments when people easily maintain friendly ethnic relations and there are cases when different ethnoses are not willing to contact and even fight. Behavioral patterns may change depending on the phase of ethnogenesis. The cultural explosion is usually accompanied with the decaying passionarity. Ethnoses exist in the harmony with their native landscape. According to Gumilev, the deciding factor in determining a super-ethnos is neither the size or the power of ethnos but the degree of the inter-ethnic congeniality.

Keywords: Permanentism, ethnogenesis, super ethnos, passionarity, complementarity, symbiosis, xenia, chimera, Eurasianism, turan.