Summary of the online international roundtable discussion “Russia, China, Europe, Eurasia and the USA: COVID-2019 and after – What Our Future May Be?” taken place on April, 11, 2020 via Zoom as an online conference*. The topics discussed are: perception of China in different countries, Russian-Chinese partnership, and its Role, US / China / Russia’s changing international role after COVID-19, SARSCov-2019/COVOD-2019; COVID-19 and its consequences for international order; China, Europe and the USA political economy models and COVID-19.

The conference was organized in the frameworks of the online academic events series of the Centre for Comprehensive Chinese Studies and Regional Projects, MGIMO University: “The World-Eurasia-China Agenda and Regional Problematique. OnLine Discussions”.

The article is devoted to the theoretical interpretation of the concept of “tension” as a necessary prerequisite for its operationalization and transformation into a tool for applied comparative analysis. The increase of tensions in different regions and types of government, within and between countries is a refl ection of the profound changes that the modern world is undergoing. At the same time, the number of attempts at serious scientifi c understanding and conceptualization, as well as operationalization and measurement, remains extremely limited. The fi rst part of the article presents a brief review of previous studies on the phenomenon of “tension” in the context of world politics and international relations. The second part is devoted to a conceptual analysis of the phenomenon of “tension” as a special dynamic state that is present not only in competition (war) relations, but also in cooperation (peace) relations, and which, therefore, is a more common type of interstate interactions.

Throughout the past decades the international relations studies were mostly dedicated to the analysis of the superpower’s and great power’s role in the world order. Less powerful states, namely small and middle powers, were widely considered as objects that are not able to have an impact on the international political processes. Nevertheless, with the collapse of the bipolar system, new approaches have emerged and were applied to the analysis of the existing balance of power in the international relations. One of them is widely known as the concept of middle powers. The conceptual understanding of middle power’s foreign policy behavior has become signifi cantly more complicated in comparison with the bipolar period. On the other hand, there is still no clear defi nition of the term ‘middle power’. In light of this lack of a clear defi nition, various authors use different methods to identify middle powers. Researchers usually defi ne middle powers based on such criteria as large population, natural recourses, economic strength, military force, political stability, its formal recognition by other actors in international relations as a signifi cant international actor, and its active involvement in solving regional and international issues.

The aim of this article is to review the concept of middle powers, its historical perspective and key theoretical approaches namely positional, behavioral and constructivist. Based on the analysis of these three approaches the article argues that a holistic understanding of the middle power concept is possible only based on a comprehensive approach. The article also addresses historic periods of concept’s development and provides a distinction between emerging and traditional middle powers. The concept of middle powers and its popularity indicates the gradual formation of a new world order where the international momentum is determined not only by great powers but also by not less powerful small and middle powers.

The author conducts a comparative analysis of authoritarian liberalism’s concepts in contemporary political theory. The article deals with the main directions of interpretation of authoritarian liberalism in the framework of methodological approaches and conceptual models of neoliberalism, ordoliberalism, John Rawls' theory of political liberalism, Jan-Werner Mueller's “restrained democracy”, Jürgen Habermas' “legitimation crisis”, Colin Crouch's “post-democracy”, Michael Wilkinson's “de-democratization”, Crawford Macpherson's “participatory democracy”, Wolfgang Streeck's “democratic capitalism crisis”, Giandomenico Majone's «crypto-federalism». The basic analytical concept is the idea of   authoritarian economic liberalism, fi rst proposed by H. Heller and K. Polanyi. For the purpose of methodological refl ection, an analytical review of methods and concepts based on modern political and constitutional theory and used in the study of the institutional specifi cs of authoritarian liberalism has been carried out. Authoritarian liberalism is conceptualized as the neoliberal ideology and practice of de-democratization and restriction of democracy, which results in regionalization of protest against the supranational regime of liberal democracy and political integration in Europe. If authoritarian liberalism focuses on economic liberalism, then authoritarian ways of implementing policies are subject to the interests of private property: authoritarianism strengthens economic liberalism, which, in turn, reinforces the EU's “authoritarian transformation”. In the context of the Euro-crisis, authoritarian liberalism restricts traditional forms of representative democracy, political struggle, and the legitimation of power, contributing to the reanimation of ethnic nationalism. In contemporary Europe, right-wing euroskeptics are gaining popularity. The authoritarian-liberal restriction of social democracy can lead not only to the strengthening of capitalism, but also to the revival of the reactionary forms of «new nationalism» and authoritarian illiberalism. The EU is developing today in the “neo-colonial paradigm” in accordance with the relations between the core and the periphery between creditor countries and debtor countries. Transnational solidarity suppressed by authoritarian liberalism can become a democratically legitimate tool for resolving a fundamental confl ict between market capitalism and representative democracy

The article explores the resource capabilities and strategies the traditional and rising powers use to bring food, energy and military-political security to the world most fragile states. There is a certain complementarity in the relations between both the mentioned actors in international relations, since the negative externalities forming in and around fragile states require resources that could be provided and effectively provided by the world most powerful countries. The assumption that the key characteristic of a power (center) is a capability to translate outside military-political security allowed to the authors to categorize the USA, EU and, with certain restrictions, Japan as traditional centers of power; while Russia, China, Brazil, Turkey, and, to a lesser extent, India and Korea as rising ones. In terms of quantitative parameters, the United States, the EU, India and Russia have the resources to ensure food security, while Russia is the only major power that has a net surplus in energy foreign trade. Russia's comprehensive resource capability in the context of “broad” security supports its leadership status in its efforts to stabilize and maintain the world order. Considering the behavioral and not resource aspect, the strategies of global and middle powers in the world most fragile states, with the exception for the EU and Turkey, correspond to their resource capabilities. Both deliver mineral fuels as well as Turkey supplies crops to fragile countries having overall defi cit of such commodities. This may indicate that these centers of power as well as Russia implement the “donor” strategies conceptualized in the literature for the rising powers of the modern world order.

The article examines contemporary political relations between Russia and Ukraine and Belarus from the perspective of analyzing relations between the former imperial center and the periphery. The theoretical and methodological framework of the article consists of studies dealing with the post-imperial political development of the periphery its relation with the former imperial center and political processes in the post-Soviet area. Of signifi cance were the studies on the politics of memory to solve the problems posed in the article.

The paper raises and considers the question to what extent the relations between Russia and the former Soviet states as post-imperial in the general context of the collapse of empires are reasonable characterized. It presents the analysis of the Russian integration policy in the post-Soviet area from the perspective of building relations in the postimperial period, its results in regarding to Ukraine and Belarus. The modern Russian policy toward to Ukraine and Belarus is considered, its analysis is carried out, including the economic and fi nancial component of the relationship between Russia and these states. Particular attention is paid to the factor of cultural and historical proximity and the Russian policy of memory in toward to these post-Soviet countries, it also analyzed the reasons for its limited effectiveness in terms of national identity development of the of Ukrainian and Belarusian societies are analyzed.

The reported conclusions give characteristic of the political relations between Russia and Ukraine and Belarus as post-imperial in the context of the continuation of the acquisition of political and national-cultural independence by these states, the processes that began in the Soviet period. Such development leads to a decrease in the infl uence of Russia, while economic factors have limited effectiveness for its preservation. Moscow's positions are increasingly being replaced by the infl uence of centers of power external to the post-Soviet space.

The results of the study may be used for refi ning Russian policy in the post-Soviet area. 

The rapidly globalizing socio-political, state-legal and fi nancial-economic development of national societies and states creates threats to ensure their national security. The crisis in international relations, which has deepened in recent decades, has given rise to new forms and methods of the infl uence of the international community and the countries of the core of the world capitalist system on states that are opposed to the planned expansion of the dominant Western interpretations of the social structure. One of the effectively used areas of infl uence on the state in order to undermine its national security are inter-ethnic, inter-religious and interracial relations. The results of such an impact on states with the goal of undermining its national security are: the growth and escalation of interethnic, interfaith and interracial confl icts; the emergence of centrifugal trends in public administration; cultivation in society of fascist, Nazi, xenophobic, extremist ideological teachings; the implementation of large-scale internal migration of the population, undermining the stability of its economic development. Ensuring effective strategic planning of the national security policy in the Russian Federation requires the development and implementation of its new promising areas. As one of the promising areas of strategic planning of the national security policy in the Russian Federation at the regional level (using the example of the Republic of Buryatia), inter-ethnic harmony is provided. Under the interethnic consent in this study, using the positive experience of its provision in the Republic of Buryatia, the authors propose to designate the kind of interethnic tolerance inherent in some zones of long-term and good-neighborly interethnic contacts, characterized by the absolute predominance of non-confl ict, complementary interactions between ethnic groups and their representatives over other forms of such interaction, as well as the general positive context of interethnic interaction. Its provision will require the implementation of a system of comprehensive measures at the federal and regional level, the purpose of which will be to create favorable conditions for the development of the country as a whole, as well as of the individual peoples inhabiting it, in the atmosphere of good-neighborly relations, positive interethnic, intercultural and inter-religious dialogue.

The author analyzes the points of view of Russian authors on the history of privatization in Russia, and they are compared with the opinion of foreign researchers. Herewith, the understanding of politicianscontemporaries of the “privatization era” is compared with scientifi c opinion. The attitude towards privatization of the two political leaders M. Gorbachev and B. Yeltsin is shown. Criteria of inclusion of works to the historiographical review are defi ned – it is presence in them judgments on a questions: whether reforms of the fi rst half of 1990s were direct logical continuation of Perestroika? or did Yeltsin's team, which came to power, change the strategy of domestic policy including privatization in the spirit of revolutionary traditions? The author characterizes the conditions under which there was a process of understanding reforms in Russia, and concludes: there are many similarities between the domestic neoliberal assessment of privatization and the opinions of foreign researchers, but there are also differences. The value of the comparative method in the foreign literature on privatization is revealed as well the conceptions “of inevitability of privatization” and “of destruction of the socialist system”, common in Russian historiography, are compared. The novelty of the problem statement lies in the fact that the research experience of Russian and foreign authors is presented both at the conceptual level and in line with the Far Eastern regionalism. The main aspects of the privatization study on the Far East materials are revealed.

 The purpose of the present research is to explore nature and degree of the subjectivity of the constellation of stereotypes, myths united by the “dashing nineties” cliché that surround the period of 1990s of the Russian history.

The first part of the article is devoted to the literature review on the ontology of social “mythologization” of historical events. It reveals that subjective interpretation of the past (“construction of history”) is signifi cant as a tool for legitimizing the present, primarily the political. In addition, review reveals a number of persistent historical narratives, associated with the 1990s , that have been circulating in Russian political discourse.

The methodological basis of the work are in-depth interviews with people who held positions in Russian offi cial bodies throughout the 1990s . Informants disclosed that life diffi culties that the majority of citizens had faced during the 1990s , coupled with the usage of the negative ideological stamp of “dashing 90s” by the contemporary Russian political regime are the main causes of mythologization. In turn, respondents pointed out that each particular mythology mentioned are the simplifi ed derivatives of the reception of events by ordinary people suffering from a fl awed and incomplete understanding of what was happening.

In conclusion, it is inferred that the presence of a quasi-offi cial state position that reinforce the philistine view of the 1990s imposes certain restrictions on the scope and intensity of public discussion about the role of the 1990s in the history of the Russian state, which defi nitely hinders the demythologization of this period in the mass consciousness. 

The Arctic is not the traditional priority of the French foreign policy, but in recent decades the Arctic has become a fi rm part of country’s national interests. Political experience gained in the Antarctic region gives France grounds to consider itself as a “polar nation” and claim the status of an “Arctic actor”. The key message of the national Arctic strategy “The Great Challenge of the Arctic: national roadmap for the Arctic” of 2016 is an identifi cation of forms of the collaborative governance, that can be appealing for the international community. The closest partner for France in this direction is the European Union. Scenarios of Arctic governance, proposed by non-regional players, are often unacceptable for most Members of the Arctic Council.

Presently, it is challenging for France to fi nd new forms of cooperation in the region: France is not among the primary partners for the Arctic states, except for the activities of transnational corporations. Efforts to turn the “subarctic” archipelago Saint-Pierre et Miquelon into a springboard for France’s possible expansion in the Arctic is an unlikely event. Environmental topics play a crucial role in French politics in the circumpolar region. The global nature of environmental issues, especially climate change, is emphasised both in offi cial documents and in statements of the highest authorities of the Fifth Republic. In the near future, under Emmanuel Macron’s leadership, France intends to become a world leader in the fi ght against global warming. In addition, France's new polar ambassador Ségolène Royal has a vast experience in solving environmental problems and enjoys considerable authority in this fi eld. 

RETRACTED ARTICLE

This essay is dedicated to the study of «stability» ideas, existing in the political sphere, as one of the key points of offi cial power discourse. The existing usage of “stability” concept is compared with the scientifi c notions expressed in domestic and foreign research literature.

The author makes a conclusion that the discrepancy between the meaning of «stability» in the two abovementioned spheres and identifi es reasons for such a semantic divergence: the concernment of the political establishment in blurred concepts convenient for power rhetoric (1), defects of the political language (2) paralysis of civic participation, incl. on the part of the academic community, capable to criticize the manipulative exercises of power institutions based on concepts elaborated in Social Sciences (3). 

In the present article, the problem of public authoruty’s realization by means of bureaucracy was investigated. The task of searching for ways of debureaucratization of public authority (restrictions of negative manifestations, areas of work and functions of bureaucracy) might be accomplished with a historical and comparative methodology. The research helped to identify the presence of comparable elements of public authority and bureaucracy; to explain their comparable similarities and differences in a “vertical plane” – the phenomena of different time periods in indication the general tendencies of progress and causality were analyzed. The problem of public authority’s realization by means of bureaucracy was specifi ed according the materials of the researches of governance in ancient societies, early states, governmental machinery of bourgeois democracies. A special attention was given to an alternative Soviet power model that in practice had led to establishing a command and control system with a ruling “class” of nomenclature in our country. The general characteristics of public authority and bureaucracy in a post-Soviet society were identifi ed. The research found that the transformation of public authority in the new phase of global social and economic development might mean its functional involvement in the international system of national resources' exhausting according to the interest of increasingly internationalizing elites. It was agreed that bureaucracy and institutes of direct and representative democracy, self-governance and control of civil society over the government are direct competitors. Nevertheless, post-industrial society provides new opportunities for debureaucratization. Therefore, the active and volitional actions of political groups as entire segments of society that are aimed at the struggle for the constitutional guarantees for rights to get information, a real access to education and a meaningful democracy, as a connected consequence represent a diffi cult, but necessary way to debureaucratization of public authority.

Ethnic confl icts are a challenge to the state as it impacts the foreign policy as well as the domestic politics of a nation. The region of North Caucasus has been the most unstable region among the Republics of the Russian Federation. The present article will analyse the causes of the rising tensions among the ethnic groups and the role of Russia in solving the problems in the region. It will further explain the drawbacks of the Russian authorities and will recommend policies which could bring a positive change in the confl ict. The use of force would not be able to bring any change in the region rather it would be more fruitful if efforts are made to address the causes for the ethnic violence.

It is a national conflict. The region of the North Caucasus has been the most unstable region among the Republics of the Russian Federation. It is a list of trends in the region. It will further clarify the situation. It would be a little bit more than a lot of fruit.