Russian system of local government

Local democracy and local government are popular terms and they are playing as the most important dimensions in the viability of any modern democracy. Alexis Tocqueville, who wrote a major book about democracy, considered local government as the mainstay of local democracy. He also saw local democracy as a school of political education and a safety valve of democracy for the entire nation. Most of the European countries have attempted to incorporate these concepts into their political and development process. In article author analyses the role of local government in Russian political system. Objective of the article is to identify and characterize the main stages of development of local self-government in Russia.

School education in the Russian Federation in the face of terrorist threats

The Russian Federation is the target of religious and separatist terrorism. The threat of terrorism depends on the region in which it occurs. Using a method of analysing the content of programmes and recommendations for teaching subjects on security in Russian schools, it has been found that their content includes elements of anti-terrorist education. In addition, anti-terrorist education is very active in regions exposed to increased terrorism. In addition to practical skills, the introduction of educational elements and education of patriotic attitudes of schoolchildren is a specificity.

Gender aspects of training a specialist in international affairs

The article discusses the specificity of the influence of the gender factor on the education of students in the fields of international relations and international regional studies. The topicality of the research results mainly from the contemporary feminization of higher education, as well as the growing professional interest of women in international relations. The research and teaching activity of modern universities is extremely important in the context of the development of the “knowledge society”, for the effective functioning of which it is necessary to actively engage the intellectual capital of both men and women. Therefore, universities should not only become “factories of knowledge”, but also shape the gender culture of students. The problem of the gender characteristics of the scientific and educational community of universities is extremely important. The authors present the topic on the one hand on the basis of contemporary gender studies in the field of international relations, both Russian and Western scientists, and on the other – on the basis of the analysis of specific data on the feminization of study programs in the field of international subjects of Russian universities in the context of the perspectives of building gender parity in practice international relations and world politics.

Labor migration from Central Asia to Russia during the COVID-19 pandemic

Like most countries in the world, the Russian Federation has also been struggling with the coronavirus pandemic that causes the COVID-19 disease since the beginning of 2020. The pandemic has harmed many areas of life in Russia, including social, demographic and economic issues. The changes also affected the labor market, which to a large extent is shaped by economic migrants from Central Asia. The situation of the economic migrants themselves has also changed significantly. Many of them lost their jobs, especially in the first half of 2020. Due to sanitary restrictions and the closure of borders, the number of Central Asian residents who decided to leave for Russia has significantly decreased. Experts emphasize that economic migrants make a significant contribution to the development of the Russian economy and the economies of Central Asian countries. This article aims to present how the Covid-19 pandemic influenced the shape of economic migration from Central Asia to Russia in the context of changing employment conditions and the socio-economic situation, both in Russia and the countries of the region.

America’s unipolar balance of power created after the end of the Cold War is inevitably coming to an end. The dynamic economic growth of the People’s Republic of China, lasting uninterruptedly since the 1980s, the reconstruction of spheres of influence by the Russian Federation, the world war on terrorism with the accompanying costly wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, economic crises systematically weakening the economies of Western countries in 2001, 2007 and 2020, and the COVID-19 pandemic – these are just some of the many causes of geopolitical changes. Parallel to the weakening position of the United States, countries such as the Russian Federation are increasingly boldly challenging the current balance of power, provoking armed conflicts and destabilizing countries located in Central and Eastern Europe. The purpose of this article is to present the American Multi-Domain Operation concept as a response to the Russian concept of new generation warfare by which the country successfully led to the annexation of Crimea, the war in Donbas, and the political destabilization of Ukraine. The main research problem resulting from the assumed goal was to answer the following question: what is a Multi-Domain Operation and how do the United States intend to compete and win in the armed conflict taking place in Central and Eastern Europe with the Russian Federation? The following research methods were used to solve the research problems: the method of cause-effect and institutional-legal analysis, method of examining documents, and the method of analysis and criticism of literature. The monographic and comparative methods were also used. However, the main role was played by deductive reasoning which enables the identification of facts based on an in-depth analysis of source data. Taking into account the preliminary research, the author proposed the following research hypothesis: a Multi-Domain Operation is another American operational concept describing the security environment, and the Russian and American way of war. The USA will achieve victory in a possible armed conflict by locating and neutralizing the enemy’s anti-access – area denial capabilities, and then destroying its forces in the disputed area.

Consolidation of the political system as a source of Russian political behavior in the international environment

The contemporary Russian Federation is undergoing a process of democratic regression and a return to the socio-political authoritarianism, traditional to the Russian political system. The detachment of decision-making processes from the will of the citizens means that elites follow their own logic of action while remaining outside democratic control. Thus, all decisions are taken in the interests of the elites, most of whom come from the secret services and the military. The consolidation of the political regime, the regression of democracy in Russian conditions, promotes a return to great power thinking and thus encourages aggressive behaviour. In the article, the author points out that the aggression against Ukraine, undertaken in January 2022, was preceded by a long-term process of consolidation of the political system and elimination from its structure of any check and balance mechanisms allowing democratic control over political decision-making processes.