Abstract: The article is devoted to the analysis of the process of destruction of political regimes in modern states (both authoritarian and democratic), and the role of technologies in color revolutions. The issues of destruction of political regimes and the problems of color revolutions are becoming more complicated and urgent nowadays. It is conditioned not only by the fact that the events in Ukraine, considered in detail, repeat the scenario of color revolutions in Northern Africa and the Middle East known as the Arab Spring, and particularly the revolution in Egypt which shows the absence of coincidence of these events. The reason is the fact that the traditional instruments of destruction, known to the world community, are being substituted by the new generation of more delicate instruments combining the use of force with the special modern technologies of manipulative control over the mass consciousness and mass behavior. The methodology of the research is based on the system, structural-functional, and comparative political approaches, the methods of analysis synthesis, induction, deduction, and observation. 

Keywords: international conflicts, democracy, state, hybrid war, geopolitics, the USA, society, politics, color revolutions, security

Abstract: Nowadays an essential gap between formal democratic institutions and cultural, historical, and value traditions historically peculiar to certain countries/societies can be observed. The phenomenon of democracies conforming to the formal, procedural attributes, but giving rise to doubt in their democratic essence, produced new concepts describing the existing changes which are generally called “democracies with adjectives”. At present this discourse covers more than 60 countries, and the most extensive discussion takes place around the countries of Latin America. The author uses the system, structural-functional and comparative-political approaches, the methods of induction, deduction, analysis, synthesis, observation, modeling, and expert assessments. The article explains the concept of “democracies with adjectives”, describes the problem field of this concept, and the main phases of its establishment, outlines the problem spheres influenced by the democracy discourse, shows the countries involved in this discourse and the strategies of the authors of the concept. 

Keywords: international relations, foreign policy, "democracies with adjectives", political regime , regional allocation, democratization, Latin America, interests, values, security

Abstract: The article considers the concept of unilateral sanctions and the history of their use in international relations and American foreign policy. Unilateral sanctions serve as one of the key instruments of coercive diplomacy in international relations. Generally, the USA use this method against the actors not accepting their policy. Therefore such sanctions are aimed at persuasion of the states, integrated in the world economy but not willing to accept American rules. The USA use sanctions in order to achieve their political goals. American government usually uses normative concepts and rhetoric for imposition of economic restrictions.  The use of words like “violator” has become a part of the country’s rhetoric against its rivals in global politics, though a thorough study of international legislation shows that America commits more violations of international law than any other country. After the end of the Cold War and during the presidency of Barack Obama the USA have regularly used unilateral sanctions against Russia, Iran, Venezuela, etc. The article considers legitimacy and illegitimacy of such sanctions in accordance with the theory of legislative prohibition and reveals the most important consequences of these sanctions for international relations and the economies of different states. 

Keywords: illegal sanctions, theory of legislative prohibition, international policy, the USA, the Russian Federation, unilateral sanctions, economic pressure, world politics, international law, intenrational conflicts

Abstract: The modern geopolitical order of the world is characterized by an extreme instability. Its main peculiarity is that geopolitical borders, delimiting modern states and nations, exist now not so much within geographical boundaries of watersheds (mountain ranges) and coastlines, as in the minds of people who have learned to divide the society into "the same" and "the others" on the basis of belonging to certain national interests, values, ideological concepts, doctrines, and patterns of political behavior which can be followed by both continental and island states. The methodology of the research is based on the system, structural-functional, and comparative political approaches, the methods of analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction, and observation.Symbols serving as markers are used to consolidate these boundaries in the minds of the population, marking "the same" and separating them from “the others.” Often these markers are of a primitive character, such as flowers (roses in Georgia, tulips in Kyrgyzstan, cornflowers in Belarus, cactuses in Mexico, and jasmine in Tunisia) in the hands of the participants of the color revolutions in the CIS, orange rags in Ukraine, or white ribbons in Russia, dates in Tunisia and Egypt, etc. 

Keywords: international conflicts, democracy, state, hybrid war, geopolitics, the USA, society, politics, color revolutions, security

Abstract: The research focuses on the integration processes in Northeastern Asia and their sources; the role of relations between North and South Korea in the development of integration processes in Northeastern Asia. The author raises the issue of policies of the leaders of South and North Korea and the changes in the development of relations between them. The author studies the drawbacks of policies of the presidents of the Republic of Korea on the issue of unification and the policy of the president Park Geun-hye. The article studies the perspective of a further development of inter-Korean relations and the main directions of the current presidents’ policies. The theoretical grounds and the methodology of the research are based on the system and dialectical approaches to the analysis of the situation on the Korean Peninsula and integration processes in Northeastern Asia. The author uses the following methods of research: logical, comparative and civilizational analysis, the problem-chronological and the comparative-historical methods. The novelty of the research lies in the study of the reasons of appearance and the essence of integration processes in Northeastern Asia, the analysis of restrictive and favorable factors of these processes. The author offers his own concept of the role of inter-Korean relations for the solution of Korean problems: denuclearization and reunification. The author carries out a trial analysis of foreign policies of the current presidents of the Republic of Korea and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. 

Keywords: intagration processes, Northeastern Asia, denuclearization, the Republic of Korea, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Park Geun-hye, inter-Korean relations, policy, the Korean Peninsula, security

Abstract: International cooperation and foreign-economic activity are essential parts of countries’ economic policy. The article considers the interrelation between investment activity and the frontier location of Russian regions. This process is diverse for different frontier zones characterized by a stronger or weaker investment attractiveness and activity. The object of the research includes the regions sorted out by the authors according to their typological characteristics and grouped in particular frontier zones. The subject of the research is the investment activity of the regions from different zones. The urgency of the research is conditioned by the complexity of socio-economic development in many frontier regions, particularly belonging to Kazakhstan and Caucasian frontier areas, and by the necessity to stir up investment activity in backward regions. The authors use the methods of grouping and comparative analysis. According to typology and location the authors sort out different frontier zones and carry out vertical and horizontal analysis of statistical data related to basic capital investments. The results of the analysis are presented in graphic charts. The authors attempt to characterize investment processes in the regions from the aspect of their geopolitically and economically advantageous frontier position. The novelty of the research lies in the original approach to the comparison of the regions according to their investment activity from the standpoint of groups of regions united in typological zones, rather than separate regions.  The revealed zonal differences allow the authors to conclude that investment activity is influenced not so much by the factor of frontier location, as by the access to natural resources, first of all in fuel and energy sector, and the possibility of access to large product markets in the conditions of a developed transport-logistic infrastructure and a capacious internal consumer market. 

Keywords: frontier location, Russian regions, foreign-economic activity, frontier zones, frontier location factor, attraction of investments, investment activity, zonal differences, regional infrastructure, product market capacity

Abstract: The period of the 1990s was a turning point for the Organization of American States (OAS): on the one hand the international organization assumed a continental character having formally united all the 35 independent countries of the Western hemisphere, and on the other hand, the change of the foundations of international relations in the result of the collapse of the bipolar system meant an inevitable transformation of the fundamental principles of the OAS activities. Democracy promotion, resulting from the processes of democratization of the 1980s, started to develop; a fundamental revision of different security approaches started on the basis of rejection of an idea of combating the Communist threat; the need to create a new scenario of regional development in general became evident. The main purpose of the article is to provide an analysis of the main institutional and functional transformation of the OAS in the 1990s. The emphasis is made on the contradictions the member-states faced in their search for the models of multilateral cooperation within the framework of the oldest regional organization of the Western Hemisphere. The authors propose the idea that the transformations of the OAS in the period of the 1990s resulted from the joint search for new models of regional development, however the deep Inter-American controversies did not allow the OAS to fully overcome the negative legacy of the previous decades and to update the mechanisms of interaction, providing them with the maximum efficiency. Inability to cope with the existing controversies limited the achievements of the OAS in the period under consideration. Nevertheless, the 1990s laid the principal directions of the OAS development in the beginning of the XXI century. 

Keywords: Inter-American System, Inter-American relations, democratization, regional integration, Latin America, the USA, the end of Cold War, the OAS, regional security, Summits of the Americas

Abstract: The concept of “separatism” is widely interpreted in modern political and legal practice. This concept implies: the raising of claims for the parts of state territories self-determination and their subsequent separation and independence (secessionism); the use of illegal methods (power) of management for the expansion of autonomous, federal, confederal rights. In some cases the separatist movement may operate in neighboring countries, supporting the unification with the neighboring country or its part (irredentism). Separatist movements create political parties, usually of nationalistic or military (terrorist) character and, if possible, a kind of “government in exile.” The methodology of the research is based on the system, structural and functional, comparative political approaches, the methods of analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction, and observation. Separatist movements today are spreading around the world. Currently, they are a global ethno-political problem. Separatism is aimed at separation of a certain area from the multi-national state and creation of an independent nation-state.

Keywords: interests, democracy, color revolutions, hybrid war, comparative separatism, separatism, society, politics, political stability, security