Abstract: The author of the article studies the definition of political activity and describes the features and criteria of political activity. The author states that the definition of political activity is usually replaced with the definition 'political behavior'. The author proves that there is a close connetion between political power and political authority, in particular, provision about political power being the method of political activity. The author also suggests that we should analyze the definition of 'political participation'. At the end of the article the author concludes that the features and criteria of political activity include, firstly, the ability to use political power and secondly, the target of political activity achieved through the decision making process. Noteworthy that the 'ability to use politial power' is underlied as the main feature and criteria of political activity. The author offers the defintion of political activity as the form of social activity that uses political power and serves to make governing decisions. Based on that definition of political activity the author formulates the principle of political development. 

Keywords: politics, political activity, political power, political life, political development, political behavior, political participation, civic activity, democratic activity

Abstract: The article tells about the difference between deliberative democracy model of electoral and liberal democracy, and its proximity to the representative democracy and participatory democracy. We consider the origin of concepts "deliberative democracy" and "deliberative politics", their semantic, semantic and epistemologichesie shades. In this case, the author describes the deliberative model of democracy even as an institutionalized dialogue between the government and society, the state and civil society. The role and value of deliberative process, the exchange of ideas, views, opinions, including dialogue in the formulation and adoption of a reasoned and balanced political solution. This procedure allows to legitimize this discourse-communicative process. Provides views of deliberative politics by different authors, with a focus on political philosophy S.Benhabib that deliberative process links to the procedure of legitimizing decisions. In conclusion, we consider the problem of the relevance of deliberative democracy for Russia.

Keywords: dialogue, discourse, deliberative democracy, state institution, civil society, public policy, legitimacy, government, institutionalization

Abstract: The article is devoted to the problems of transformation of international political actorship due to globalization processes and global political orientation towards sustainable development. The author of the article considers that global political processes are political manifestations of natural global evolution processes, which take place at the mega-level, which to a great extent predefines the main tendencies of development of structure and system of goals of the global political actors. However, the overview of modern political reality shows that international cooperation due to the sustainable development strategy faces significant difficulties at the stage of transition from the simple managerism to the real pragmatic policy, the need for which is now better recognized by the global community.  The dominating state-centric approach reproduces the political model of non-sustainable development, which is characterized by archaic prerequisites of political realism, spontaneous formation of system, and growing threats to global security. The efforts towards the formation of sustainable future presuppose a complex approach to the activities in the three key spheres: economics, social sphere and environment.  Speaking of actorship, it means general target-setting and following uniform sustainable development principles in addition to technical interaction of specialized actors (which is also quite important). That is why, it is so important to form united institutional platforms for the interaction of a large number of actors being involved into one global project.  The convergence of the sustainable development concept and the global security issues are capable of forming the nucleus which shall serve as a basis for the real changes in the elements of national security principle, while so far it rather serves as an obstacle in the way of sustainable development cooperation and is an anachronism.

Keywords: sustainable development, global politics, globalization, political actor, global security, international regime, environmental policy

Abstract: It is well-known that initially the economic growth of the United States of America was caused by the development of mass production when corporations were built according to the 'pyramid' principle. Back in those times all the decisions were made at the vertex of the pyramid. The base of the pyramid consisted of workers who were not expected to demonstrate any intellectual efforts and therefore they did not need any special professional skills to perform their functions.  Quite naturally that the situation has changed with time and workers had to perform more intelligent functions. However, the gap between the need for skilled workers and availability of such workers kept growing. Due to that wages of low-skilled workers kept going down and the level of unemployment kept going up.  Technological changes, restructuring and decline in production accompanied with the growing global competition led to serious changes in the USA economy. 

Keywords: higher education, law, quality, America, standards, professional development

Abstract: The author of the article describes forms and methods of the anti-religious campaign carried out by the Soviet Russia in the late 1920s. Special attention is being paid to the legislative base regulating the relation between the Soviet state and religious unions. The author describes the role of Komsomol and the Union of theh League of Militant Atheists as the most radical participants of anti-religious activity. Youth is viewed both as an object and subject of state policy in the sphere of religion. The author also demonstrates the influence of political campaigns on the nature of relations between church and the government, in particular, the close interconnection between the processes of the forced collectivization that started in 1929 and the second 'attack of heavens'. According to the author, such denial of the right to religious freedom created the denial of right at it is. That caused some kind of 'dual faith': people could speak as they were required but think different. 

Keywords: the league of atheists, infidelity, atheism, Komsomol, youth, law, history, collectivization, anti-bell campaign, purge

Abstract: Involvement of citizens into the election process was an important part of the political development of Russia in the early XX century. Politicization of the Russian society of that period was an essential condition and one of the ways to create the democratic culture in Russia as well as to form the politial self-identification of citizens and their political awareness. The author of the article views the process of politicization of the Russian society in terms of the relations between the government and society. She also studies the process of formation of the democratic culture from the point of view of involvement of average citizens into the sphere of political life. The author uses observations of contemporaries and participants of that process, in particular, letters of the governors addressed to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Aanlysis of such sources and evidence requires a special focus on the histroical background and comparison with other documentary sources of that pariod. Even though the governors' letters do not fully reflect the realities of social and political evironment in Russia of the early XX century, these letters represent the views of the witnesses and therefore can be quite interesting and useful for a historian who is trying to understand and explain the motives of Russian electors at the starting point of formation of the democratic society in our country. 

Keywords: history of politics, State Duma, democratic culture, parliamentarism, politicization, election process