Abstract: The research subject is the peculiarities of modern political-military relations in the South Caucasus in the context of the Iran-Russia-Turkey Triangle. The author considers political-military relations in the region through the prism of national interests of regional actors, such as Russia, Turkey, and Iran; analyzes military and technical cooperation in the South Caucasus based on the example of Armenia and Azerbaijan; studies military expenditure of the countries of the region and military budgets of Armenia and Azerbaijan, which are one of the hotbeds of tension and conflicts of interests of Russia, Turkey and Iran. The scientific novelty of the research consists in the systematization of ideas about the modern state of political-military relations in the South Caucasus in terms of the regional actors’ influence on the regional security system. Based on the documents, facts and research works, the author formulates a conclusion about the condition and the prospects of development of modern political-military relations in the South Caucasus in the context of the Iran-Russia-Turkey Triangle. The success of Turkey in terms of strengthening its positions in the South Caucasus against the background of rising competition in the region is undoubtable. Turkey has managed not only to position itself as a strong regional actor, which is able to indirectly influence regional disputes settlement, but also to promote the military triumph of Azerbaijan, its key ally in the region. It will result in further extension of export of Turkish weapons to Azerbaijan, and deeper cooperation between these two countries in other spheres. It concerns Russia and Iran, which are interested in maintaining the balance of powers in the region.  

Keywords: Military-technical cooperations, Military-political relations, South Caucasus, Iran, Turkey, Russia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Nagorno-Karabakh

Abstract: The article considers a topical modern phenomenon of international relations - the role of private military firms and their connection with the national interests of states, which is the object of this research. The author attempts to trace back the process of establishment of the modern form of private military firms and extend the periodization of this process. The author considers and generalizes the works of outstanding Russian researchers and military experts. This interdisciplinary research is at the nexus of political science, law, history and economics. The author gives special attention to specific publicly available information about the largest and the most influential private military firms and their incomes and the most controversial operations. The author believes that most modern private military firms are state-originated, have emerged as a result of privatization of state functions, and serve as an example of government outsourcing. Based on the analysis of the works of leading military experts, the author develops a specific classification of the phenomenon of private military firms, the pros and cons of their use by states and trans-national corporations, and specifies the main services private military firms offer. Special attention is given to the issue of “sovereign interests” in the use of private military firms. The author supposes that the research also explains the problem of underdevelopment of international legal basis regulating the activities of private military firms.   

Keywords: globalization, outsourcing, privatization of state functions, history of mercenary activity, Montreux document, national interests, private military companies, periphery of international relations, geopolitics, private security companies

Abstract: The purpose of the research is the consideration of the problem of synthesis of racialism and geopolitics in the late 19th - the early 20th century and the substantiation of such a new concept in geopolitics as geopolitical racialism which hasn’t been used before neither in Russian nor in foreign science. To solve this task, the author applies the fundamental geopolitical dualism methods to the analysis of supremacist and imperialist mindset typical for scientific and sociopolitical life in Britain and the U.S. of the considered period, which became a core for the formation of Anglo-Saxon exceptionality, and formed the basis for the foreign policy of these states. The author arrives at the conclusion that until recently, Anglo-Saxonism was considered as a result of the Western elites’ fascination with the ideas of social Darwinism rather than as a geopolitical form of racism, since its analysis was mostly based on the peculiarities of “blood and descendance” of Anglo-Saxon peoples rather than on their “thalassocratic nature” or the influence of natural and climatic factors on their development. The differentiating feature of continental geopolitics was, vice versa, not only distancing from social Darwinism, but also the repudiation of the possibility of ultimate victory in the struggle between the West and the East. Theoretical and practical importance of the research consists in the fact that based on the analysis of the works of the Western authors of the late 19th - the early 20th centuries, both already known and left out in the cold, the author substantiates the definition and characteristics of geopolitical racism in its Anglo-Saxon variant, upholding the supremacy of maritime powers (thalassocracies) over land powers (tellurocracies) predefined by geographical factors, which in many aspects predetermined the development of the Western geopolitical mindset in contemporary history.

Keywords: geopolitical racism, continental geopolitics, Sea geopolitics, «sea power», social Darwinism, Anglo-Saxonism, Anglo-Saxon racism, geopolitical dualism, Anglo-Saxon race, imperialism

Abstract: The article studies the evolution of liberal world order within the framework of conventional directions of the U.S.’ foreign policy. The purpose of this work is to reveal the peculiarities of development of the U.S.’ foreign policy in terms of liberal world order. For this purpose, the U.S.’ foreign policy is considered through the prism of Walter Russel Mead’s “four schools of American foreign policy”. The author analyzes the development and transformation of liberalism in the context of using economic coercion in the U.S.’ foreign policy. The article also considers the topical problems of development of the liberal world order faced by the realist and liberal paradigms. Representatives of both groups realize the failure of the liberal world order, but offer different strategies of defining the U.S.’ foreign policy course. Representatives of the liberal paradigm believe that the liberal world order entered a phase of self-destruction because of accelerated integration of unequal states in a single system. Realists, in their turn, claim that transformations in the structure of the global system determine the functionality of the liberal world order. Specifically, the revisionist position of Russia and China is a reaction to the imposed principles, and serves as a basis for the transition to the multipolar system. Thus, conflicts of interest between the parties cause the use of measures of coercion.

Keywords: sanctions, China, Russia, realism, liberalism, US, foreign policy, liberal international order, economic coercion, trade wars

Abstract: The goal of the research is to study the fight against poverty in China in the context of Xi Jinping’s concept of Community of Common Destiny for Mankind after his coming to power in 2013. The tasks of the research are: 1) to demonstrate the process of fight against poverty in China within a doctrinal approach with the “fine control is the basis” theory, a new model of fighting against poverty with the Chinese specificity, and other political and economic tools; 2) to consider the institutional approach to the fight against poverty in China and at a global scale; 3) to study the Community of Common Destiny for Mankind concept as a global “drive” of the fight against poverty in the form of interaction with international institutions. The research subject is the political, economic, and social tools of the fight against poverty in China in 2013 - 2020. There is ample debate about eradication of poverty in China, Russia and other countries of the regional dimension, both in Russian and foreign scientific communities, aimed at studying its origins, approaches to its measurement, its socio-economic consequences, the process of the fight against poverty in the context of COVID-19 isolation period, etc. In this context, the author's special contribution to the research of this issue is the consideration of the problem of poverty in China and in the world within the concept “Community of Common Destiny for Mankind”. It hasn’t been studied sufficiently enough in Russia yet. The author arrives at the conclusion that the idea of the Community of Common Destiny for Mankind ensures an effective and positive result of solving the problem of the fight against poverty in various regions of China and in the world.  

Keywords: Xiaokang society, governmental measures, targeted alleviation, precise governance, China's policy, common development, poverty alleviation, poverty, Xi Jinping, China