The purpose of the presented study was to identify the effect of using the e-mind maps strategy at the academic achievement level in learning Arabic vocabulary skills among six-grade primary male students in Iben Al-Atheer School for Intermediate Education in Kuwait in the 2017/2018 school year. The sample of the study consisted of 60 male students, equally divided into two groups, experimental and control ones. The result of the study indicated that there were statistically significant differences between the mean scores of the experimental group and the control one in the post achievement level test scale in favor of the experimental group. The effect size of using mind maps was high. There were statistically significant differences between the mean scores of the experimental and control group scores in the post achievement test of the Arabic vocabulary learning in favor of the experimental group. The study concludes with recommendations for future mind-mapping in other contexts.

Post­Marxist perspective perceived consumption primarily as an instrument of alienation. Cultural studies offered a different view. Focusing on using and reconstructing (both symbolic and physical) of goods, they argued that consumption may be a mechanism of authentic expression, a way of articulating consumer’s personal meanings. Cultural studies also demonstrated that consumers, through the process of consumption, can actively manifest their resistance to the market (or any imposed ideology). The paper traces the development of reflection on consumption within cultural studies, deriving from the work of Stuart Hall and Michel De Certeau, through the writings on subcultural and popcultural (in the sense of John Fiske) consumption, to contemporary subversive activities. It reveals the broad application of the notion of consumption for the purpose of describing contemporary social reality. The text discusses the concept of tactics and strategy, incorporation, as well as various forms of subversion. The author illustrates these concepts with observed examples or cases obtained from desk research. The paper examines the opposition potential of consumption, considers the cultural and social changes resulting from certain styles of consumption. It also poses the question of the status of consumer in today’s market. It offers different ways of interpreting the above problems present in the area of cultural studies.

Przedmiotem mojego zainteresowania jest przedstawienie najważniejszych uwarunkowań polityczno-ekonomicznych relacji pomiędzy Federacją Rosyjską a Koreą Północną. Głównym celem niniejszej pracy jest opisanie obecnego stanu rzeczy we wzajemnych kontaktach oraz próba odpowiedzi na pytanie, czy w najbliższym czasie Rosja będzie odgrywała istotną rolę w wydarzeniach, mających miejsce obecnie na Półwyspie Koreańskim. Na wstępie zamierzam odnieść się do historii relacji obu krajów, datowanej na okres powstania komunistycznego państwa w Azji i zainstalowania przez Moskwę przywódcy kraju, Kim Ir Sena, który z czasem zdecydował się na ogłoszenie doktryny samodzielności (Dżucze) i uniezależnienie się od sowieckiego protektora. Ponadto odnoszę się do zagadnień związanych z upadkiem ZSRR i znacznym ograniczeniem wzajemnych stosunków w czasie prezydentury Borysa Jelcyna. Następnie chciałbym opisać najważniejsze wydarzenia w kontaktach Rosja–KRLD za rządów Władimira Putina aż do chwili obecnej, skupiając się na założeniach polityki Moskwy wobec Dalekiego Wschodu oraz kryzysie nuklearnym i dążeniach reżimu w Pjongjangu do uznania go przez społeczność międzynarodową jako państwo atomowe. Dodatkowo poruszę kwestie ekonomiczne we wzajemnych relacjach, próbując odpowiedzieć na pytanie, czy w najbliższym czasie należy się spodziewać zwiększonej kooperacji gospodarczej Moskwy i Pjongjangu w dobie stopniowego przeorientowania polityki zagranicznej Kim Dzong Una na inne kraje Azji oprócz Chin. W podsumowaniu uwypuklam perspektywy na przyszłość i postaram się stwierdzić, czy obecne relacje obu krajów przypominają formę „ograniczonej współpracy”, czy w rzeczywistości mają charakter strategicznego partnerstwa.

The Belt and Road Initiative as a challenge for American interests in the Asia-Pacific region

The Asia-Pacific region occupies a key place in the international strategy of the United States. It was not without a reason that George W. Bush spoke about the “Pacific Century”, Barack H. Obama announced a strategic “pivot to Asia”, while Donald Trump went on a 12-day journey through East Asia. In particular, as the power of the People’s Republic of China increased, its importance gained a whole new dimension. At present, the USA and the PRC are conducting a sophisticated game on the “big Asia and Pacific chessboard”. China aspires to be an equal partner for economically and politically weakened United States. Assertively and unobtrusively, primarily with the use of diplomatic and economic instruments, China strengthens its international position. One of the manifestations of the expansion of Chinese influence in the world is growing and constant commitment to promoting the Belt and Road Initiative, which has become the most important symbol of the political ambition of President Xi Jinping. The article entitled “The Belt and Road Initiative as a challenge for American interests in the Asia-Pacific region” is an attempt at interdisciplinary consideration about the changing position of the Asia-Pacific region in foreign policy and US security strategy, as well as the consequences of the promoted BRI initiative for American interests. The basic research goal is to present, compare and explain the position of the administration of President Barack Obama and President Donald Trump against the Chinese concept of Belt and Road based on their adopted strategic documents, speeches and ongoing media discourse. The authors will consider how the United States reacted to the announcement by the President of the PRC of the Belt and Road initiative in 2013? Why and to what extent do the US counteract the Chinese concept of BRI?

The article is devoted to the state regulation of the processes of modeling of the development of the coal industry of Ukraine in the context of structural transformations of the national economy. An important task of modern science of public administration is to provide systematic methods of substantiation of public administration decisions to determine the vector of development of society as a whole and individual sectors of the national economy, which actualizes the formation of a model of justification of coal industry development strategy. It is proved that the effectiveness of the organizational mechanism of state regulation is ensured through a transparent system of control over changes in the technical and economic parameters of the coal industry of Ukraine. The author proposes the formation of an appropriate tool for programming effective change within a certain cyclical nature of the industry. Systematized information on strategies relevant to planning of the development of the coal industry and the mining sector as a whole. Analytically interpreted information of the optimal plan by the method of dynamic programming using recurrent Bellman equations is presented. The optimal plan of tactical actions at formation of strategy of development of the coal industry in a cycle of a mining and industrial complex is defined. The comparison of the optimal plan with possible alternative actions of the management staffof the coal industry is carried out. The perspective plan of tactical actions through priority use of projects of the maximum profitability at formation of strategy of development of the coal industry in a cycle of a mining and industrial complex is presented. The plan of tactical actions through priority support of projects of preservation of a current condition at formation of strategy of development of the coal industry in a cycle of a mining and industrial complex is presented. The optimal plan of tactical actions in forming the strategy of coal industry development in the cycle of mining complex with good initial state of resource potential, with probable highest level of initial state of resource potential, with unsatisfactory initial state of resource potential is presented. It is proved that the current critical state of the resource base of coal mining provokes the emergence of natural irrational behavior in Ukraine, when the crisis focuses only on economic benefits without proper management of resource potential, which emphasizes the importance of public administration in resource management in crisis development programs of the coal industry. The developed methodology provides the best solution to the two-criteria problem of public administration of the coal industry: the implementation of public administration functions, including economic, and providing conditions for sustainable efficient resource use.

The article is devoted to the study of the place, role and regulatory framework of economic security, identifying it as a key component in the national security system of Ukraine. The theoretical and methodological approaches to defining the categories of “economic security” and “national security” have been examined in this article. Objects and subjects of economic security of the state have been defined; the basic threats to economic security have been allocated. The purposes of the economic security system and the measures that must be provided to achieve it have been formed. It has been noted that the national security today is an important attribute of foreign, domestic and military policy of the state. A special place in the system of acts dealing with the ensuring of economic security the program constituent documents have, namely: strategies, concepts, doctrines that constitute a system of officially accepted views in the state, as they are constituent. Indicators of economic security have been identified, which are the most important indicators of the business situation in the economy and the effectiveness of the economic policy of the state. The national economic interests which are necessary to be considered at decision-making on maintenance of economic safety have been listed. 106 Valeriy Hnatenko Ensuring of the economic security is achieved through the development and implementation of a set of measures aimed to neutralize threats to economic security. The article outlines the main directions of the state policy in the field of economic security of the country. It has been concluded that the problem that had developed in the economy of Ukraine requires the development and implementation of economic security strategies for the short and long term, is actual as never before, and needs further researches.

The Constitution - the Basic Law is the foundation of the organization in a given country. It defines the general principles of the functioning of internal relations, the competences of its most important elements, and the fundamental rights and freedoms of a person and a citizen2. And the strategy can be perceived as the general outlines of the actions of competent leaders determining the far-reaching aim. It is characterized by a long-term strategic perspective, combining the set of with the strive for solutions that are beneficial not only for themselves, their surroundings, and supporters but also for the paradigm of the common good. Societies during, or immediately after the conflict, seek stabilization. That can be ensured by actions based on a strategy that takes into account the fundamental principles of internal relations. Combining those two paradigms, the Constitution, taking into account the rights of minorities, guaranteeing civil liberties and human rights, may be the basic factor of the strategy of the competent leader, aiming to post-conflict stabilization.

Celem artykułu jest określenie specyfiki problemu imigracji zarobkowej do Polski do 2020 roku. Autorzy poświęcą uwagę aspektowi budowania strategii integracji imigrantów zarobkowych. Weryfikacji poddana zostanie hipoteza, mówiąca o tym, że specyfika imigracji zarobkowej do Polski sprzyja adaptacji imigrantów do społeczeństwa przyjmującego. W tekście dokonano charakterystyki tej specyfiki. Adaptacja imigrantów w Polsce nie jest jedyną właściwą drogą ich integracji. Optymalny model integracji powinien być pochodną przynajmniej trzech czynników: 1) przyjęcia przez władze państwa właściwego, wariantowego modelu integracji społecznej, popartego konsekwentną polityką migracyjną, 2) postawy, jaką przyjmują imigranci wobec praktyk, norm, wartości i wzorów kulturowych społeczeństwa przyjmującego oraz 3) postawy społeczeństwa przyjmującego wobec obcych.

The article examines the development process of the national level security strategies in the United States. It explains the basic theory of the strategy-making, as well as the primary processes and relations among the major security enterprises. The author focuses on the 2017–2018 timeframe due to the significant changes in the U.S. legislative system and exceptional personalities involved in the strategy-making process. However, the article delivers a military perspective on strategy development. Still, it does not exclude general information on the U.S. political arena, legal framework, scope of the documents, or historical facts. These data facilitate a more comprehensive understanding of the complex political-military relations during the strategy-making process. The primary purpose of the article is to analyze coherent, layered strategic planning process during President Donald Trump administration (2017–2020) and draw significant conclusions, which other countries might implement in their planning system.

The article's objective is to analyze the main assumptions of India's strategy in the Indo-Pacific region and define the role of the US in it. The time frame of the article is determined by the assumption of power in India in 2014 by the Indian People's Party (Bharatiya Janata Party, BJP), led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as well as the opening of a new stage of the US-led Indo-Pacific rebalancing strategy, which followed China's initiation in 2013 of its Belt and Road Initiative (previously known as the One Belt One Road project). The article seeks to answer the following main research question: What role has India attributed to the United States in its Indo-Pacific strategy since 2014? It hypothesizes that the United States has assumed an increasingly significant role in India's regional strategy over the past seven years, but not to the extent of a formal alliance, only approaching at best the status of a strategic partnership. The theoretical framework used to analyze the case study of the US role in India's regional strategy is the category of institutional balancing and the assumptions of neoclassical realism. The choice of such research tools was determined by their explanatory value. Moreover, both models complement each other. Bearing the above in mind, the following structure of the article was adopted. The first part presents the general assumption of the analysis and the theoretical framework. The second discusses the evolution of India's approach to the US from 2014 to 2021, indicating the reasons for its change and reconstructing the role of the US in the Indian regional strategy, especially after 2020. The third part draws on the theoretical framework adopted in the article, i.e., the assumptions of institutional balancing and neoclassical realism, to offer conclusions that answer the main research questions.

Development strategies of cities with poviat rights

The article presents the results of research on development strategies of cities with poviat rights. The reason for undertaking the research was the addition of provisions on such development plans to the Act on Self-Government in 2020, and its aim was to determine, in quantitative terms, what number of cities have such plans and whether their adoption is related to the size and number of citizens of the cities. The research was also qualitative in scope and concerned the form and content of development strategies, with the aim of identifying their most important features.

On the issue of the political discourse translation methodology

The article is focused upon the challenges of the political discourse translation methodology. The overview of the key works in the field of theory and practice of translation has allowed to distinguish the correlation between the stylistic peculiarities and translation strategy, tactics and operations. It has been outlined that challenges for adequate political discourse translation are evoked by genre discrepancy, the issue of the rendering such peculiar vocabulary items as realia, nationally colored phraseological unities and fusions, as well as proverbs and sayings. The objective of the research is seen as the search of efficient methods and techniques aimed at optimizing the quality of political discourse translation in the paradigm of the communicative and functional approach. The urgency of the study is proved by the growing demand for the qualified political discourse translation both on the external international and internal domestic policy levels. The criterion of the trustworthiness and political tolerance is especially upto-date in the view of the recent political situation in the world in general and in Ukraine in particular. The role of the qualified political discourse translation for the political future of Ukraine can’t be overestimated. The mission of translators and their duty is to perform adequate, faithful and qualified translation of all sort of political speeches, disputes, negotiations and agendas from Ukrainian into English and other foreign languages to give the world the idea of the essence of both social and political life in the country. The power of speech and language means is sometimes stronger than the power of weapon. The findings of the research may be of great value for future translators training and self-education. The perspective is seen in working out the methodology of publicist and scientific discourses translation in the aspect of the globalization of Ukrainian culture and science international distribution.

The article discusses selected theoretical and practical problems of the ongoing Russian Ukrainian war since 2014 from the perspective of Carl von Clausewitz’s political theory of war. It argues, first, that defining the first phase of the conflict as “hybrid war” on theoretical grounds is an unnecessary exercise that obscures the methodologically important difference between war and peace. Second, despite technological innovations, the concepts of “fog of war” and “friction” remain relevant. Third, the current phase of the conflict shows that the spontaneous and grassroots involvement of citizens in the war was a transitional phenomenon that became subordinated to central command structures. It also shows that from the perspective of Clausewitz’s theory, Russia’s strategic failure in the first part of the second phase of the conflict is completely understandable.

The Reform of the Chinese State Security System

With Xi Jinping’s assumption of power in China, large-scale reforms of the entire state system have begun in this country, especially those related to broadly understood security. The aim is to improve the functioning of the Chinese state in the 21st century and ensure its position as a world leader. It is also important that in the reform of the national security system, the Chinese state leadership paid attention not only to this system’s basic elements, i.e., the army and the police, but also to the rule of law and social and environmental security. Such a broad approach to the issue of national security proves strategic thinking as well as understanding and considering the processes taking place in the contemporary world.

EU TRADE AGREEMENTS WITH INDO-PACIFIC PARTNERS IN THE LIGHT OF THE PROVISIONS OF THE EU STRATEGY FOR COOPERATION IN THE REGION

The article contains considerations on the regional trade agreements (RTAs) negotiated and concluded by the EU with its Indo-Pacific partners. The agreements were characterized in the context of the provisions of the strategy adopted in 2021 for this region, the aim of which is to increase the EU’s involvement in the Indo-Pacific, also by strengthening and deepening trade relations through RTAs. The analysis presented in the study showed that, in view of the huge potential and growing importance of this area in the global economy, these relations are of key importance for the EU’s economic interests, and the trade agreements negotiated, concluded and enforced constitute an important tool for implementing the Indo-Pacific strategy and pave the way towards strengthening the position of the EU there.