The competition of Western states and Russia for influence in the area of Central Asia has a long history. Located in the centre of the continent, the Central Asian region is a kind of link between China and the countries of Southeast Asia, Afghanistan, the Middle East and a number of Islamic countries in the south, the Caucasus, Turkey, Europe and Russia – to the west and north. The beginning of the current development of the geopolitical situation in Central Asia falls on time of disintegration of the Soviet Union and emergence of independent republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. The presented article describes the geopolitical situation of the region.

To 1654 Ukrainians were creating one country with Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, but at the same time they were feeling as a second class citizens. For this reason in XVII century with the help of neighbouring Tsardom of Russia they’ve started the uprising and detached themselves from Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth without creating new country. Instead according to the council of Pereyaslav from 1654 they choosed to be under rule of the Tsardom of Russia. After the mentioned council Republic of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth become weakend to the benefit of Tsardom of Russia. From this moment on Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth have been in decline to the point when in XVIII century they lost their independance. After the First World War when Poland regained freedom under Józef Piłsudski an attempt was made to create an Alliance of independent countries lead by Poland as reaction to the Russian imperialism. The alliance called “Intermarium” included: Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Belaruse as well as Finland and Romania. To make the idea succesful Ukraine needed to be created but the idea failed to succeed. Instead independent Ukraine was created after the dissolution of Soviet Union even so Ukraine was still under immense influence of Russia. In 2014 Russia annexed during the war with Ukraine part of it – Autonomous Republic of Crimea. Till then Russia is trying to detach eastern provinces Ukraine. It is obvious that diplomatic relations between Russia and Ukraine became frozen. For this reason Poland and Ukraine may have opportunity to ally with other countries from region to stand against russian imperialism.

2014 was a breakthrough year. Ukraine’s crisis of 2013–2014, February 2014 revolution which removed Viktor Yanukovych and his government, annexation of Crimea by Russia, war in Donbas caused changes in the geopolitical map of the world. The crisis had many effects both domestic and international. Author argues that the crisis is a part of the wider changes on the geopolitical map of the world. The main effect of the crisis is that Ukraine was transformed into shatterbelt – regions that are both deeply divided internally and caught up in the competition between Great Powers.

The peculiarities of foreign models of the welfare state caused by modernization processes have been elucidated. The modern political concept of welfare state models has been created. The main tendencies in the development of the welfare state under the circumstances of modern globalization challenges have been defined. The parameters of the long-range national welfare state model have been traced on the basis of the analysis of the Ukrainian welfare state formation processes.

This article presents tests of information democracy process model. Its basic forms were defined as – direct, semi-direct, open source democracy. Following subjects were analyzed: electronic voting, on-line election, on-line referendum, electronic parliament and other process models of information democracy. The paper presents the opportunities and benefits to the citizens in the sphere of information, including the management process and the political system.

The aim of the work is to investigate the cultural heritage of Turkic-speaking people. The key questions of the article: What are the history and theory of the Old Turkic script? What influence does the old ancient heritage provide on modern spiritual process?

The article deals with the fate of Polish cultural heritages in Eastern Borderlands from the establishment of Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic in December 1922, to its collapse in December 1991. The first part of the article ends at 1945 (end ofSecond World War). Under international law in relation to Soviet Russia and Ukraine the issues of repatriation and revindication – after the war in 1920 – was normalized by 11 Article of the Treaty of Riga (18 March 1921) with executive instructions. Lithuanian Metrica, however, did not return to Warsaw, but remained in Moscow, while the Polish side received a summary of the Metrics Lithuania (made in the years 1747–1750 in the royal Office) held by the former Chief of Staff Library in Leningrad.

On September 17, 1939 Soviet invasion completely surprised Polish authorities, evacuation plans did not provide for such an eventuality. Ukrainian SSR authorities took control not only of museums, archives and libraries in the areas occupied by the Red Army, but also have taken over the Polish heritage evacuated to the area before and during the war with the Third Reich. Quite often Polonica

were destroyed or put to scrap paper.

The German occupation in the Eastern Borderlands of the Second Republic lasted from 22 June 1941 until the summer of 1944. At that time – in fear of the approaching Red Army – the German occupation authorities started the evacuation of Polish cultural goods to Krakow and Silesia. Along with the Red Army returned the Soviet authorities. In Lvov organizational state of archives, libraries and museums of 1941 was restored. Many Poles were released from positions in these institutions, and the newly appointed directors were reluctant to refer to anything associated with Poland. In the years 1944–1945 all cultural goods in areas beyond the Bug River – after numerous robberies carried out by the Red Army – went to the central or regional USSR archives or museums.

Polish preparations for the restitution of cultural property continued throughout the war. Office of Cultural Losses Revindication was formed in the Ministry of Congress Works of Polish government in exile. It was directed by Charles Estreicher Jr. (1906–1984), who managed to get to France and, at the beginning of 1940, formed the nucleus of the Office of Cultural Losses Revindication under the Ministry of Information and Documentation. It gathered information from archivists, museum curators and librarians from the occupied country and transferred them to the Central Institute of Art and Design at the National Gallery in London – formed by Polish initiative in 1941. In the spring of 1944 Poland was the only country that had prepared the materials and developed methods in the field of revindication. In 1945 in Warsaw Office of War Revindication and Compensation was established in the Ministries of Education and of Culture and the Arts, with Karol Estreicher Jr. as their expert.

The article reflects some analysis about the role of Safavi sect in the socio-political life of Azerbaijan. It should be mentioned that, the innovation brought by Safavis and their practical activities along with the role they played in socio-political life of Azerbaijan, had become main factor for its future development. Because of sect activity the centralized state was established, the feudal disorder was raised, the new opportunities were created for more comprehensive development. Th rising of Azerbaijani (Turkish) language to state level in the middle ages was exactly connected with their name. Since XV century, the Safavi sect which formed new form of culture in this area brought Shia ideology to state policy and thus could make its positive contribution to socio-political relations of the region.

The main theme in the Polish science and fiction literature, which in the postwar era evolved primarily in exile (in the works of Józef Mackiewicz and other authors whose interest was concentrated on Second World War times), are issues related to the lack of understanding and reconciliation between the Polish resistance movement, the history of the Home Army and the guerrilla groups of various nationalities (Belarusian, Lithuanian, Ukrainian, Russian) in the Polish Eastern Borderlands occupied by the Nazis and national organizations and liberation movements of nations that sought their own solutions to national problems by means of collaboration with the occupants. Misunderstandings, war clashes among themselves caused fatal misfortune, irreparable damage to the lives of these people and for the common cause against the occupant. At first the Polish literature was dominated by the desire to find the culprits of this situation among neighbours, among others to prove the guilt of the Belarusians in what formed in Polish Eastern Borderland during the war and occupation, then the creation of the communist regime, when, supposedly, Belarusians willingly and on a mass scale served in the Soviet authorities “gosbezopasnosti” and in the ranks of the Polish Department of Security (UB). Such a drive in the works of writers and scientific studies of recent decades is changing to a more objective approach and indepth analysis of the dramatic situation in which were nations of Eastern Europe, deceived by their own leaders, blinded by false illusions, pulled into a fratricidal war. In Polish literature, whose attention is paid to the situation of the Belarusian minority in post-war “People’s Poland” – situation in many aspects hard and unlawful – new intonations of repentance and reconciliation can be heard much louder. Evidence of this poetic light Belarus-Dobrorus image can be.

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