Abstract: Separatist movement are strengthening around the world today. They currently form a global ethnicpolitical problem. The main landmarks of separatism development are present in the second half of the XX century, when the anti-colonial and national liberation movements were rising. The separatist moods prevailed both in the third-world states, where the boundaries between the states were disputable, and in the developed states: the Great Britain, France, the USA. Separatism is aimed at separating a certain territory from a multi-national state and formation of an independent nation-state entity on this territory. The definition of “separatism” is currently interpreted rather broadly in political and legal practice. This term is understood as demands of self-determination of parts of state territory, their further secession and independence (secessionism), application of unlawful (forceful) methods in the fight for widening the scope of autonomous, federal, confederate rights. In some cases separatist movements (groups) may act in bordering states, calling for unity with the neighboring state or its part (irredentism). Separatist movements form political parties, which are usually nationalistic, armed (terrorist) formations and, where it is possible, “exiled governments”.

Keywords: administration, politics, separatism, secession, autonomism, irredentism, federalism, self-determination of the nation, international law.

Abstract: This article is devoted to the meeting of the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian colleague Petr Poroshenko, and the author provides results of the analysis of this meeting, the events which took place before it, the key statements after this meeting and evaluation of events after this meeting. It is noted that this meeting caused misunderstanding and the feeling of “surrendering Novorossia”, which is not quite true. It is proven by the latter developments of the situation within the framework of acute development of political conflict in Ukraine. Comparative and historical analysis of diplomatic practice allows one to draw some conclusions from the recent political events, and to make forecasts for the further development of the events in the international arena. As a result of the analysis the author makes a conclusion that the meeting in Normandy is a preliminarily planned act of the Russian leaders, and its aim is to show the international community that the Russian Federation is ready for the dialogue with the political forces in Ukraine, and to provide economic support for Ukraine. This maneuver is aimed at breaking through the monolith position of the USA and the EU on the Ukrainian problems and introduction of sanctions against Russia.

Keywords: international relations, foreign policy, administration, meeting in Normandy, Russia, Ukraine, Ukrainian crisis, interests, values, security

Abstract: In the early XXI century an important specificity of the foreign policy of the Federal Republic of Brazil became the formation of a new positive image of the state, which was aimed at lowering the influence of the USA on the Brazilian politics. Relations with Russia are among the important landmarks of the Brazilian foreign policy. Brazil aims to bring forwards the inter-regional integration as an important specificity of the state strategy development and international strategic partnership, thus, achieving a new quality of the status in the political arena. The study involves systemic, structural-functional, cultural-civilization, comparative historical, comparative political approaches, deduction, induction, observation, analysis, synthesis, analogy. As a result the author draws a conclusion that in the early XXI century there is strengthening of the position of Brazil in the world, which also was influenced by the changes in the information about it in the mass media. Starting with this period the state revised its economical (departure from neo-liberalism) and political (left turn) directions.

Keywords: management, trends, Brazil, the USA, Russia, Lula da Silva, BRICS, image, national strategy, branding.

Abstract: Taking into consideration the zemsky territorial reforms the article analyzes the results the municipal reform in the Russian Federation, which was started in 2003. The author shows the aims of the reform, which were not achieved, and the ways to overcome the problems within the strategy for the further development of the municipal self-government in the Russian Federation. The author draws attention to the federalization of the municipal reform and strengthening of the economical bases for all of the levels of the municipal administration system. Efficient local self-administration is among the most important institutions of modern society and states, guaranteeing its sustainability, integrity and manageability. 10 years ago the Federal Law N. 131 of the Russian Federation in initiate d a municipal reform, and in the last decade it became an integral part within the general trend of democratization of society and state, modernization of the economy of the state, social sphere, public 􀁊inances, etc. At the same time the reform experience shows that there are still considerable possibilities for strengthening the input of the municipal self-government into the achievement of priorities of social and economic development of the national economy. However, it requires relevant economic, legal and institutional prerequisites, which may be divided into six directions: federalization of the reform, re-institutionalization of the reform, specification of the competence of the municipal self-government, economic reform, socialization of the reform, de-formalization of the reform in the “capital” cities of the Russian Federation.

Keywords: management, politics, municipal self-government, federal statehood, municipal reform, local budgets, state, economics, taxes, trends.

Abstract: In XXI century Sweden is firmly aiming for strengthening its influence in the global arena, at the same time the state follows the foreign political course, which is aimed at the rapid integration with the European Union. In addition to resolving the issues of becoming closer to the EU, the foreign political course of Sweden is also aimed at resolving the global problems, and it is not limited only to support of the national interests of the state. For dealing with the global problems Sweden uses public diplomacy, which is channeled by the NGOs, foundations and representative offices. The largest organization in the Swedish public diplomacy is the Swedish Institute, which is responsible for the formation of the positive image of Sweden. Culture is among the most important factors of influence for the Swedish public diplomacy. Sweden, being a relatively small state, which has joined the European Union, influences the world via information-communication technologies, such as public diplomacy. The public diplomacy of Sweden is represented by various cultural centers, institutions, inter-governmental organizations, governmental and nongovernmental organizations, foundations, representative offices, agencies for the development of cultural connections and humanities connections.

Keywords: management, politics, trends, Sweden, public diplomacy, political regime, state, interests, values, information technologies.

Abstract: In the XXI century India is among the world powers, which is supported by its active foreign policy, and the relations with the USA are key to it. However, in spite of a number of important strategic contracts, there are serious foreign political contradictions between these states due to India’s membership in BRICS and widening of the scope of relations with other important geo-political centers, such as Russia, China, South Africa, etc. Such contradictions have caused a number of negative publications in the American mass media for the purpose of information and psychological influence upon India. The methodological basis for the study was formed by the systemic, structural-functional, comparative, cultural-civilization approaches, methods of induction, deduction, analysis, synthesis, observation, analogy, content analysis. Based upon the main results of the studies the author concludes that within the framework of the strategic plans the number one priority should be information management, which should be aimed at the development of the information-communication channels for the BRICS in order to achieve further cooperation among its members and promotion of positive reputation of its partners around the world. First of all, it is necessary to form and develop information blog portals among the BRICS Member States, its own mass media, which would connect the target audiences of these states, and there is also need to improve the work with the “new media”, which could be powerful means for neutralization of information threats from the opposition and competitors of this association.

Keywords: international relations, foreign politics, management, trends, India, BRICS, USA, mass media, security, information opposition.

Abstract: The author points out the key legal and political problems regarding formation of the state information policy in the special conditions, when foreign states and other subjects of information opposition use the arsenal of forces, means and methods of information-psychological warfare for the political purposes. In the current conditions the system of social information and psychological relations of the civil society is formed as a result of influence of the following factors: geo-political competition in the global information-psychological area, which is often formed as an information opposition, information-psychological aggression and information-psychological warfare; condition of the system of political relations in the society, contents and directions of external and internal political processes, information-psychological policy of the states involved in the information opposition; processes of economic, political, cultural, information-related globalization; politics of information neo-Colonialism, condition of the information-psychological security of states, their unions and coalitions. The study of the variety of information and psychological processes, which are caused by the above-mentioned factors, provides rather comprehensive characteristics of the situation within the system of social information and psychological relations in the modern society, and the system of factors itself may be used as the basis for the evaluation methods for the operative situation in the areas (objects) of information-psychological territory, serving as centers for the concentration of interests of the participants of the information opposition.

Keywords: management, politics, information warfare, psychological warfare, information weapons, state, interests, values, security, conflict.

Abstract: When regarding the current Russian reality, it is reasonable to perceive the regional policy through the prism of the formation and evolution of the federal relations. The main actors in the federal relations are the federal center and relatively in dependent (within the limits of the competence provided for them) subjects of the federation, which are constantly interacting among themselves, while being systems of political institutions and political interests. That is why, the relations between the center and the regions involve conflicts. It is almost always that the regions wish to enlarge their political autonomy, while the federal center prefers the limiting strategy. Within the framework of the federal model of territorial state structure there is a possibility for a comprehensive and systematized regional policy, which is defined by the sustainability and balance in the relations between the federal center and the constituent subjects of the federation. At the same time domination of the centralization and decentralization processes makes the choice of a specific regional development strategy topical. It may be selective within a centralized federal model, or it may be generally systemic within the framework of decentralization and high level of financial and political autonomy of the regions. Specific features of choice of strategy are discussed in this article.

Keywords: trends, management, Russia, federalism, federation, federal relations, region, federal center, regional policy, decentralization.

Abstract: The modern Russian political science and practice interpret the term “soft power” very widely. It is due to the fact that the “soft power” concept was taken from the Anglo-Saxon neo-liberal literature, interpreted into Russian by several authors at once, and they did not even try to synchronize these interpretation, thus each of them has put a different meaning into the term “soft power”, and these meanings differ from the classical neo-liberal works. Many Russian authors did not use an interpretation at all (since many people in the Russian Federation know English language), and based their understanding of the term “soft power” solely on their intuition. As a result many interpretations of this term appeared, and they are often rather far from the original, causing confusion in the studies of experience of applying soft power instruments in the foreign policy of the modern states.

Keywords: international relations, foreign policy, Russia, soft power, conflicts, diplomacy, state, interests, values, security.

Abstract: The authors provide analysis of deficit broadly understood as a modern social phenomenon, which is formed by the leading means and styles of human life and involvement of the people in the Internet and mobile communications, rather than just deficit in goods and services. It is shown that the connection between such a deficit and forms of government, as well as between a deficit and the attempts of a human being to understand what is going on. The authors compare cultural models of government and society in Russia and in the West. The authors discuss the concept of “conspiracy theory”, showing that coordination of actions of various social subjects is directed by meta-narratives and ability to reach agreement with the others, rather than by this theory. The article applies the methodology of comparative analysis, including cultural and historic analysis, as well as virtual internal dialog as a type of thinking experiment. As a result, it was shown that regular deficit in the modern culture is substituted with the new type of deficit, which basically “enslaves” a person, depriving a person of his freedom. It is also shown that the Internet and forms of mobile communications play an important role in it, and the forms of management and governance become more and more intricate, while being different in Russia and in the West.

Keywords: deficit, power, Internet, mobile communications, freedom, personality, subject, culture, society, modernity.