Abstract: Throughout the latest decades the Latin America is traditionally viewed as a region, where the “Leftist” influence is strong, and it is also reflected upon the Latin American Catholicism, which has formed its own theological tradition — “the liberation theology”. To what extent is one to discuss the “left turn” in the Latin America and what is the fortune of the “left” theological tradition in the subcontinental state? What is the position of the Catholic Church on this issue? The failure of the neo-liberal experiment in the Latin America in 1990s has ended in the socalled “left turn” in the subcontinent in the later period. The 1990s have became the time of a new turn of historical development of the Latin America, and it was based upon the attempt to acquire democratic values in the conditions of radical economic reforms. In fact by the start of the last decade of the XX century, all of the Latin American states were developing without dictators for the first time in its history, and the constitutional representative democracy regimes ruled in almost all of the Latin American states, except Cuba and Haiti (military dictators in the period between 1991 and 1994). The new democratic regimes were to an extent formal due to the specific features of the regional development as well as the political historical heritage (presidential republics, electoral apathy, lack of legal culture, etc.). The situation was made worse by the active neo-liberal reforms in economics, which lead to marginalization and poverty among a large portion of the population.

Keywords: international relations, foreign policy, Latin America, church, political instability, diplomacy, state, interests, values, cooperation.

Abstract: This article concerns a novel direction in the public diplomacy — digital diplomacy, which uses social networks, such as Twitter as its main instruments. The goal of this article is to analyze the capabilities of digital diplomacy and its influence upon the international relations. The author also attempted to find the place of digital diplomacy in public diplomacy as well as its role in the political life of the diplomats. In last several years the talks began in the diplomatic circles on the novel sphere in the public diplomacy — the digital diplomacy. Within the framework of the post-Westphalian system of international relation in the world dominated by the non-governmental organizations, and sensations are no longer the prerogative of the global establishment the need to use other types of media in addition to traditional ones grew considerably. Once the people gained an opportunity to be informed of global events 24/7, the political technologists of the international statehoods were challenged by the mass media. The global time zones and distances vanished and the information became accessible in any place in the world, and, more importantly, it has became decentralized, and it is hard to single out one or two main providers of information, while for any information resource it is easy to find an analog or an opposing source.

Keywords: international relations, foreign policy, digital diplomacy, soft power, social networks, Internet, twitter, interests, values, security.

Abstract: The article concerns theoretical and practical aspects of lobbying. The author defines place of lobbying in the Russian political life, analyzing the main means and technologies used for the communications between the interest groups and state government bodies. The discussion of lobbing has been wavelike in its intensity in the Russian scientific circles. It intensifies under the influence of government and experts, and after a short period of vivid discussion, then it dwindles. Some researchers and politicians find a corruption element in lobbying, on the opposite, others consider it to be means capable of considerably improving transparency of the relations between government and business. It is no accident that the development of the draft federal law on lobbying takes place within the framework of the Presidential initiative against corruption. The problem of institutionalization and legalization of lobbying in Russia is addressed from time to time by the government officials, researchers, leaders of the non-governmental organizations, however, till the current time, there is no state concept for the formation of lobbying institution in Russia, and there is no consolidated position of the expert community regarding place of this phenomenon in the Russian political life.

Keywords: politics, society, lobbying, interest groups, political system, political process, Russia, power, state, government.

Abstract: The asymmetry of the Russian federalism reflects itself in the process of managing the regional political processes, including those of introducing the institution of direct governor election. In particular, in there is a number of Republics in the Northern Caucasus, where there were no governor elections (the Republic of Dagestan), or the elections took place, but their results destabilized the situation in the region (the Karachay-Cherkess Republic). That is why introduction of the direct governor elections model, which was typical for the rest of the constituent subjects of the Russian Federation, might undermine the stability in the region. Introduction of the direct governor elections also should take place with due regard to the existing cultural and national peculiarities of these Republics. As one of the instruments for the improvement of the procedure of the direct governor elections, the author offers to introduce the quotas for the small-numbered peoples. The national quotas were previously used in Dagestan. However, this measure does not guarantee that a candidate representing the small-numbered people may be elected to be the head of the Republic.

Keywords: international relations, politics, Russia, elections, political stability, political regime, state, nation, Northern Caucasus, security.

Abstract: The history of Russia includes varying experience in the sphere of social relations, and at certain period they gained some features of civil society institutions. Today formation of a civil society is a topical issue, since in the XXI century the state is inclined towards democratic conflict-resolution principles. In order to cast light upon the relations between the civil society and government bodies, it is necessary to establish its nature, to understand in which conditions a civil society is possible in the Russian Federation, and in the Chechen Republic in particular. Having systematized and generalized possible definitions of civil society, one may characterize it as a society, where cultural, legal, political and economic relations are developed, actors and institutions of the civil society interact with the state, and they are not dependent on it. Civil society forms developed legal relations, which are rooted in government. This is an ever ongoing process of improvement, and it has no final stage. The civil society may only exist in a rule-of-law state. Here Russia has to face some difficulties, since the rule-of-law state can hardly be found in the conditions of unemployment, corruption, polarized society, selfishness in many spheres of society and underdeveloped political culture.

Keywords: politics, civil society, Russia, the Chechen Republic, political stability, political regime, state, interests, values, society.

Abstract: The article contains comparative analysis of the classifications of forms of government and their elements in the political science. The authors studies viability of application of the Western political science instruments for the identification of processes and institutions in the post-Soviet political landscape. The readers are provided with the in-depth theoretical description of presidentialism, parliamentarism, semi-presidentialism based upon the generalization and analysis of a large number of foreign sources, and the author also provides analysis of positive and negative features of each of these forms of government. The article contains description of practical experience of implementation of forms of government in the newly independent states formed after the break-up of the Soviet Union. Taking examples of Azerbaijan, Geogia, Kazakhstan, Moldova and Russia the author analyzes the regional specificities of government modernization. Most attention is paid to the Russian Federation, the author discusses historic and cultural prerequisites of the current form of government. The author also studies the issue of the degree of involvement of the citizens of the newly independent states in solving the political problems in their countries.

Keywords: international relations, foreign policy, Russia, the CIS, political regimes, diplomacy, post-Soviet, interests, values, security.

Abstract: The object of study in this article includes the drug trafficking problems in the Latin American states and their possible solutions by legalizing narcotic drugs. The author describes a troublesome situation, which has formed in this region lately, leading to the growing crime and violence, as well as corruption and infiltration of narcotic cartels into the state structures. The author evaluates the experience of legalizing drugs in the European states, its positive and negative consequence s. The author used analytical and comparative study methods, as well as scholarly literature in this field. Currently the problem of drug trafficking is topical to the global community as a whole, as well as to the American continent. Having analyzed the experience of the European states, the author makes a conclusion that legalizing drugs is one of the possible solutions, which would change the current situation and lower the crime level in the Latin American region.

Keywords: Latin America, drug trafficking, corruption, violence, legalization, marijuana, cannabis, drugs, crime, threat.

Abstract: The article concerns specific features of the modern local conflicts, which are less and less alike to the traditional wars among the states. One of the causes of modern local conflicts may be found in cheaper prices for weapons and “privatization”, when the main participants are private firms or people’s militia. In the latest decades the wars started changing their traditional forms. The classical model of war of national states, which was a defining one in the XX century, becomes historically outdated. The states lost their monopoly for waging war, and many nonstate actors came into this field, including local chiefs, partisan groups or private firms, specializing in waging war and renting soldiers, or even performing military operations. International terrorist networks capable of mobilizing a large number of their followers also start playing an important role. Many of these new actors have war as their main business on a permanent basis.

Keywords: international relations, foreign policy, USA, soft power, political instability, diplomacy, state, interests, security, conflict.

Abstract: The article concerns the main causes for the formation, development and resolution of modern conflicts. The author studies the historical fundamentals of the main currently existing conflict resolution theories, and provides comparative analysis. The conflicts form an inalienable component of the relations among the people. They take place in the relations of individuals, families, and social groups, states, and associations of states. This fact may be challenged only by absolute idealists, and still they would be speaking of relations without conflicts as an ideal, which may sometimes be achieved. In reality the conflicts among the people have always been, are and will be, and one may only speak of getting them into the “civilized framework”, and this term has been understood differently at the various stages of civilization development. The renowned British statesman W. Churchill wrote in his memoirs that he considered that the First World War should last a long while, and at that time he deemed necessary in 1919 to destroy all of the German cities with several thousand of planes, and to poison the populations of these cities by deadly poisonous gases. One could give many examples, when the representatives of “civilized nations’ discussed possibility of using the methods of war, which were long ago recognized as barbarian in the relevant decisions of the League of Nations and the UN.

Keywords: international relations, foreign policy, civilization, conflict, state, global order, interests, values, security, cooperation.

Abstract: This article is devoted to the studies of the genesis of the phenomenon and definition of the information war. Information war is to a considerable degree a publicist term, which was formed by the concepts of post-industrial (information) society (era) by Daniel Bell, Alvin Toffler, Manuel Castells, etc., and on the other hand due to reflection of objective matters in journalism, such as formation of the information sphere, new types of mass media, faster spread of information and greater influence of information on the other spheres of social life. At the same time, the term “information war” reflects at least two key tendencies: firstly, it is projection of the tension from the military (force) sphere to the information sphere, and, secondly, it is realization of an advantage in an information sphere in the force dimension of a conflict. The term “information war” is taken from the Western military-related discourse. It was introduced by Thomas P. Rona in 1976 in his report for the Boeing company, which was entitled: “Weapon System and Information War”. In this report he stated that information infrastructure becomes one of the most important and most vulnerable sectors of American economy.

Keywords: international relations, foreign policy, the USA, soft power, conflicts, diplomacy, state, interests, security, information war.

Abstract: After the nuclear parity was achieved between the USA and the USSR, it became clear that the large-scale wars with the use of large armies and mass use of heavy armored vehicles, aviation and infantry among the large states became almost impossible, which made both the USA and the USSR search for other means for an armed confrontation. Partly, such a confrontation in a bipolar world was expressed in a chain of local conflicts, where if one of the superpowers supported one of the parties, it was very likely that the other superpower would support the other party to the local conflict. Development of electronics and science allowed to form the systems of precision kill weapon systems and “clever” arms, and their impact at the current stage of its development was comparable to the weapons of mass destruction, which allowed to wage conflicts faster, while made them more complicated and much more costly. However, at the time of the First and Second World Ware there appeared an idea that the victory in a war is achieved not so much in destruction of armies of the opposing party, but rather through influencing the population of the opposing party in order to bring it into such a position, when the people are so demoralized and tired by the war, that it is impossible to continue the war.

Keywords: international relations, foreign policy, the USA, geopolitics, conflicts, diplomacy, state, information war, security, values.

Abstract: The idea of global management in the Modern Age appeared in both philosophical thought and political practice time to time. In the XX century the idea of the new world order has appeared due to the ending of the First World War, when the problem of post-War political structure of the world was faced by all. The references to the new world order reappeared after the end of the cold war. And for the first time Mikhail Gorbachev started to speak of the new world order, later this term was used by the American politicians in regard to the conference in Malta, and finally, the new global order perspective was actively discussed after the speech of George Bush in Congress on September 11, 1990 regarding the Gulf War. The term had its own meaning in each of these situations. After the break-up of the Soviet Union the concept of the new world order loses its popularity. Instead of it there came concepts of end of history, global unipolarity, and civilization conflict. In the second half of the XX century global management is implemented via the system of international regimes and institutions. In the globalizing world the principles of international relations, which were typical for the Westphalian system have to be seriously reconsidered and reformatted. The forming global law presupposes that the state has certain obligations no matter whether it recognizes them or not. Russia has to find adequate responses to the challenges of the modern situation. It should take an active part in the formation of international regimes and institutions and use its influence in order to form favorable conditions for its modernization and development.

Keywords: Westphalian system, globalization, the UN, the world order, the post-Westphalian system, George Bush, Mikhail Gorbachev, global management, international organizations, international relations.

Abstract: The article concerns prerequisites for the metropolises becoming subjects of political processes at various levels. The author uncovers the main tendencies in the transformation of the political role of the large cities throughout their historic development. The global development tendencies of the latest decades include on the one hand the growth of the number of cities, and on the other hand growing number of their populations. Now more and more people around the globe live in large and ever-growing cities, and population concentration in such cities is growing as well. In a number of largest metropolitan cities of the world the population amounts to 15 000 000 people, and there is several dozens of cities where there are 5 000 000 to 10 000 000 residents. And there are hundreds if not thousands of millionaire cities. Moreover, in some areas with highly concentrated population the groups of cities and towns merge, and the differences between the city and town population, their cultures, lifestyles, psychology and everyday life are erased.

Keywords: international relations, politics, Russia, society, metropolis, diplomacy, state, interests, values, security.

Abstract: The article concerns the reaction of the US society to the crisis moments in the international relations in 1938–1939. The author analyzes the evaluations of the German aggression in Europe by the US leaders and by the press. The American society in 1920–1930s had two tendencies in respect to the threat of war: “isolationists’ on one hand, and “internationalists’ on the other hand. In this situation the President of the USA F. D. Roosevelt, who paid much attention to the European and Middle Eastern affairs. The first large European crisis of 1938 was due to occupation of Austria, which had a considerable impact on the American society. The formation of the evaluation of Fascist threat was influenced by the mass media and the opinions of the leading politicians, among whom the position of the personnel of the Department of State was the most prominent. The Secretary of State Cordell Hall stated before the March crisis of 1938 that Germany became a domineering force in the continental Europe, and taking this factor into account (the Secretary of State was addressing the Ambassador of Germany H. H. Dieckhoff) it is necessary to establish the further way — either to militarization and conflicts, or to sustaining the existing order in Europe.

Keywords: international relations, politics, the USA, Germany, conflicts, society, threat, war, interests, values.

Abstract: This article contains theoretical analysis of Soviet and post-Soviet economic systems. The author attempted to prove that the Soviet capitalism model was obviously Ricardo-like in character, while the post-Soviet model of authoritarian state capitalism has obvious Marxist features. Within the Ricardo paradigm (with all of the other conditions even) not only salaries and profits move in opposite directions. Each of the parts of the article includes tables and then explanations to them. Following Adam Smith, David Ricardo, who lived at the time of industrial revolution in England, considered that the only goal of any production is consumption, and it concerns the producing class of the capitalist society — the hired workers. It does not mean that the main motive of the Ricardo capitalism is well-being of the working class, which produces riches and capital, rather, it is riches and capital themselves, belonging to capitalists, who make decisions on their use, movement and transition into other forms. According to Ricardo, the higher living (consumption) standard of all of the classes in a capitalist society may be achieved only in the far away future by maximizing profits of the capital owners, and current lowering of the salary of the working class.

Keywords: international relations, politics, capitalism, Ricardo, Marx, economics, history, state, social structure, class.

Abstract: The war required a temporary departure from the forms of recruiting workforce for public works used in time of peace. The methods of peaceful times (contracts with collective farms and enterprises) could not guarantee the necessary number of workers in the conditions of war. In order to guarantee sustainable production growth and strengthening of the military economy, it was necessary to use the forms of involving labor resources in accordance with the wartime conditions. A serious form of workforce mobilization was the formation of the construction battalions and work strings out of the persons obligated for military service but who were temporarily or permanently unfit to be drafted to the army. Workforce mobilization for agricultural purposes was organized by the mobilization departments of the Council of People’s Commissars of the Union and Autonomous Republics, regional and district departments. In some autonomous republics, regions and districts there were commissions for the organized recruitment of workforce and also the divisions for the economic placement of evacuated persons. It turned out that different divisions implemented the same function. It complicated the reporting, distribution and rational use of labor resources. Mobilization of the workforce was aimed at the maximal and most efficient use of the cadres, their redistribution in favor of military production and heavy industry, introduction of obligatory overtime work at the factories and cancellation of vacations (both basic and additional), mobilization and allocation of workers and officials for permanent work in the military and cooperating industry for the entire period of war; mobilization of the city and village population capable of doing work and not already involved in social production in order to do work in the spheres of industry, construction and transportation; general work obligation, allowing to involve all of the population capable of doing work into providing for the military need; allocation of necessary cadres: qualified workers, specialists, and officials in the most crucial industrial spheres providing for the military through reservation, that is, through freeing them from drafting to the army; mass education of new workers, their advanced training at the place of work, and at schools and colleges for worker reserve; teaching specialists at the higher education institutions; organization of work and payment with the due regard for the specific wartime conditions — support and development of creative initiative, competitions for more productive work, working time economy and achieving the goals with less workers.

Keywords: international relations, politics, labor resources, the Great Patriotic War, the USSR, mobilization, legislation, the Soviet people, the persons obligated for military service, labor front.

Abstract: The article presents our position of cultural and historic battle type and the brief results of comparative analysis of battle behavior of Russians and Germans in the battles of the Great Patriotic War — near Moscow, in Stalingrad and Kursk salient. These battles were chosen purposefully since they were key factors for the development of both the Great Patriotic War and the 2nd World War. It should be noted that among the polyethnical contingent of the Red Army we focused our attention on the cultural and psychological stereotypes of the Russian army staff, who were 60 to 85 per cent (on different estimations) among the participants of these battles, and in accordance with the goals of this material. The specific features of Russian and German conscience were often analyzed in science. However, the battle qualities of Russian and Germany military men in the wars of the last century were rarely compared. Currently the methodological fundamental of the comparative military studies are actively developing based upon the theory and methodology of psychological and historical disciplines, ethnological, philological and cultural analysis. The studies of these problems open the novel possibilities for the addressing the methods of cultural and social anthropology, religion studies, military social studies, and war philosophy.

Keywords: international relations, politics, Russia, Germany, behavior, cultural and historic type, the Great Patriotic War, the 2nd World War, values, conflict.

Abstract: Formation of the Japanese language and the Japanese ethnos at a certain stage of social and cultural development of which there appeared a need for writing system, are two closely related problems. The Japanese studies traditionally used a hypothesis according to which the Japanese ethnos was formed due to the interaction of the Austronesian (Malay and Polynesian) aboriginal tribes for whom the “bell culture” was typical and the incoming Altai tribes, for whom the “sword culture” was typical during the first centuries A.C. in the Japanese isles. Accordingly, the Altai language superstratum overlapped with the Austronesian substratum, and the superstratum won during the hybridization. The influence of substratum was shown in the lexical and phonetic elements of the new language, which was also reflected in the law of open syllables, which was not typical for the language of the incomers, and the considerable limitation of the well-developed agglutination system, absence of the consonant conjunction at the start of the word, non-distinguishing the phonemes [R/L], and grammatically it showed itself in lack of numeral changes in counting suffixes and abundance of polite words.

Keywords: international relations, politics, Japan, ethnogenesis, language, culture, society, Indo-European peoples, security, values.