Abstract: The article contains the critical analysis of the understanding of “soft power” in Russia as a state’s foreign policy instrument. The author notes that the strategic planning guidelines defining the fundamental principles, priorities, goals and tasks in the field of foreign policy and national security contain numerous references to the importance of “soft power” and emphasize the necessity of increasing Russia’s role in the global humanitarian space. However, the instrumental understanding contradicts the initial understanding of “soft power” as a way to legitimize a state’s foreign policy efforts and leads to refocusing from the evaluation of the effect of using humanitarian technologies to the evaluation of the humanitarian activity itself. In the author’s opinion, such approach hampers the appropriate usage of Russia’s resources of “soft power” for the purposes of its foreign policy, and sidetracks from the understanding that the efforts aimed at the cultivation of soft power are directed towards a state’s internal policy, whereas being only projected outwardly.   

Keywords: foreign policy, Russia, efficiency, soft power index, soft power, humanitarian technology, diplomacy, rating, government, civil society

Abstract: The research purpose of this article is to attempt to differentiate the concepts and theoretical backgrounds of economic sanctions and trade wars as popular instruments of economic coercion. In the authors’ opinion, such differentiation is critically important for the conceptualization of economic sanctions as a foreign policy instrument kindling the interest of both specialists in international relations and the global and regional international politics practitioners. From a practical perspective, the interest in analyzing this issue is determined by the fact that over the past century, economic sanctions have become one of the key instruments of achieving a state’s foreign policy goals. They are mostly used by developed countries with extensive economic and technological capabilities (e.g. U.S.), which are striving for abatements of their less powerful partners regarding foreign and domestic policy issues. Yet another argument in favour of studying economic sanctions, trade wars and other instruments of economic coercion in the context of the theory of international relations is the possibility to shed more light on the nature of power as the most significant concept of modern political science. A detailed analysis of theoretical discussions about the phenomenon of trade and economic wars compared with economic sanctions allows the authors to outline a set of fundamental differences between these phenomena in the context of modern economic diplomacy.   

Keywords: Theory of International Relations, Political Science, International Political Economy, economic diplomacy, sanction wars, economic wars, trade wars, economic sanctions, international conflicts, international security

Abstract: The subject of research is “the deal of the century” or the Middle East Peace Plan initiated by the U.S. “The deal of the century” is the U.S.’s attempt to model a hard approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict settlement. The American model, being externally inserted, in fact, validates the domination of Israel and mothballs a set of territorial, military, political and economic “problem fields” which carry the potential to escalate the conflict between Israel and the Arab world in the near term. The leading research method is case study based on which the authors prognosticate the possible scenarios of development of the situation. The scientific novelty of the research consists in the fact that the authors prognosticate the variants of the possible progression of events in Palestine from the logical and realistic viewpoints. The authors consider three scenarios. The first two suggest that Palestine would reject the proposed settlement plan. The third scenario is possible if certain political groups and persons of influence accept Donald Trump’s peace plan.   

Keywords: Palestinian National Authority, political scenario, USA, political situation, Israel, Palestine, Middle East peace plan, deal of the century, Palestinian-Israeli conflict, Mahmoud Abbas

Abstract: The authors consider the correlation between national, panhuman and universal values in the context of sustainable development of modern society with account for the peculiarities of the Republic of Belarus. The authors see into the main tendencies in philosophical and scientific studies connected with the sustainable development issue, analyze the correlation between the related concepts of “evolutionism” and “sustainable development” in modern philosophy and science. The article analyzes the correlation between different values in sustainable development of society and considers the implementation of these ideas in documents adopted in the Republic of Belarus. The research is based on general scientific methods: historical and comparative analysis, as well as the method of critical analysis.  The authors conclude that the transformation of the global economy into a stable ecosystem hasn’t been appropriately reflected in philosophical and axiological studies. There are moderate, specific and radical societal views on the values manifested in the fight for freedom and truth evolving into contradictions, ethno-religious and nationalist conflicts. In the Republic of Belarus, the conditions have been created for the accomplishment of goals of sustainable development of society with account for the national peculiarities of development that will help harmonize national, panhuman and universal values.   

Keywords: Republic of Belarus, global development, ecosystem, balance of interests, society, sustainable development, national values, development issues, evolutionism, universal values

Abstract: The subject of research in this article is the key aspects of a cyber confrontation within the 2013-2016 internal crisis in Ukraine (which is a research object) in the context of a large-scale information war which is a stable destructive tendency of Russia - EU and Russia - U.S. interaction in the historical retrospective. In the author’s opinion, it is crucial to consider the up-to-date cases and the cutting-edge technologies of information confrontation used in particular situations when studying the phenomenon of information wars. It is strategically important to study international problems and crises which haven’t been settled by the present moment. This article is an analysis and historiographical review of the works of Russian and foreign scholars on the subject of information confrontation in peak periods of the Ukrainian crisis. This attempt to study this issue is of a particular scientific interest determining its scientific novelty. The article represents the growth of influence exerted by information technologies on the modern political process which will inevitably cause a set of legal, social and technological transformations, and contains other conclusions based on the works studied.   

Keywords: Russian-American relations, Crimea, destructive processes, confrontation, cyber-attacks, information warfare, crisis, Ukraine, Russia-EU relations, Crimean referendum