A new attempt to analyze the situation in the interaction of different countries gives another interpretation of the meaning of the behavior of states. The task is to arrange words containing their meaning and be prepared for situational analyzes. A new problem is the conduct of illusory analyzes and their relationship with the traditional ones, the difference between which lies in the online participation of participants and in comparison with their physical presence at the venue. The problem lies in identifying the difference and analyzing the merits and demerits of the both methods. Analysis is a quick, immediate analysis of the situation, theory is a way of reasoning with a stretch in time, ways of checking versions that can be confirmed and become a theory. But it might not be confirmed ‒ in this case, the analysis remains “postponed until new visits” by checking a similar situation. A careful selection prepares the analysis to be carried out given the security of states, depending on one scenario or another factors. Winter-spring 2020 witnessed the pandemic in the world, which heightened fears of the policies of the leading powers. This heightened the demand for situational analyzes ‒ virtual and real, raised the question of traditional preferences.

The author carries out a correlation analysis of positions of 145 countries in 16 comparative rating studies highly cited in social and political science and calculates the coefficient of their correlation with the positions of the Russian Federation. Additionally, the author compares the scores of 144 countries in the array of 16 ratings with the relevant indicators of the Russian Federation, which allowed to distinguish a group of countries showing maximum institutional identity with Russia, according to the compilers of the ratings. The author states that discovered correlations lack empirical evidence and convincing interpretation. At the same time, they are largely affected by political and ideological factors, as well as the effect of «image evaluation». The author concludes that the analyzed cross-country indices have considerable heuristic potential, but the patterns and correlations based solely on statistical analysis of their data, and, particularly, qualitative assessments, do not fully meet the criteria of obtaining new scientific knowledge and should be considered mainly as hypotheses that require additional causal substantiation and empirical verification. The article shows that mandatory hierarchy of representation inherent in the cross-country ratings creates the basis for their politicization and contradicts the contemporary reality that strives towards polymodality of the world order.

The article identifies and analyzes the essential provisions of Trotsky's concept regarding the Soviet bureaucracy. Its nature is determined by the connection with the genesis of Stalin's regime of personal power. The intellectual and philosophical tendencies of bureaucracy are a complex of procedures of thought and action, on which the regime of personal power is based as a modification of the enlightened monarchy, the Orthodox Church and the police state. Theories arising in these religious-political forms justify bureaucratic thinking. The history of European and Russian social thought can be studied as a process of selecting those theories that refute bureaucratic thought and practice and counteract the concentration of power in one hand. A historiographic concept is needed for which the value of the state and bureaucracy is not the main one.

According to the paper, Trotsky's views on the Soviet bureaucracy form an important link in the theory and practice of political resistance to the regime of personal power. The history of the USSR is the history of the struggle of the Soviet bureaucracy for its share in revenues and in power. The Stalinist ways of understanding the theory of Marx and the practice of Lenin are false and lead to the bureaucratization of the party and state. There is a similarity between the political practice of Stalin, the activities of the Orthodox Church, the police state, Italian fascism and German Nazism. Any theoretical works commissioned by the pinnacle of the bureaucracy contain the danger of reproducing all the features of the Stalinist way of thinking and acting.

The paper examines the role of maritime transport in the economic development of the African continent. It is shown that the modernization of seaports not only attracts potential investors, but also opens up new opportunities for African countries. Thanks to the creation of new innovative ports, new jobs are created, training programs appear, and the local population is more actively involved in new technologies. Foreign companies often offer a set of measures to reform the transport and logistics sstems of African countries, with the connection of all transport arteries for faster delivery of goods. There are a number of problems that hinder the implementation of ambitious logistics projects, but with the joint efforts of foreign representatives and local authorities, it is possible to gradually reform legislation, prepare transport solutions taking into account the specifics of each country, and improve the investment attractiveness of African countries. Projects implemented in North and West Africa reflect different approaches of the world's leading countries to foreign economic strategy. The main competitors in the fight for new projects in Africa are Western countries, on the one hand, and China, on the other. Sea transport is the oldest transport link in Africa, and many ports were built by the efforts of the colonial authorities. Some ports have a narrow commodity specialization, which hinders the development of sea traffic. New innovative ports are needed for successful trade operations in Africa. In some countries, the solution of transport and logistics problems was dictated by economic and industrial needs. For example, in Morocco, the construction of automobile factories (with the need for subsequent transportation of finished products) has prompted foreign companies to develop a plan for an innovative industrial city with a modern port. In general, in many countries, the process of modernizing transport and logistics systems is still in its infancy, but ports have become the starting point for new investment programs for systemic transformation in Africa.

In order to promote industrialization and improve the living standards of the population in the Sub-Saharan countries, large-scale investments in power infrastructure development are required. Two key and two secondary long-term objectives for the energy sector development can be distinguished. The first ones are to enable industrial development and to increase its competitiveness, as well as to promote socio-economic development by ensuring universal access to electricity and uninterrupted supply. The latter two are to increase financial sustainability of the energy sector and to meet environmental requirements. Due to lack of financial resources, necessary technologies and professional staff in the Sub-Saharan countries, external players play a crucial role in the power sector development. These external actors include traditional donors such as the World Bank, the EU, the US and the African Development Bank, and new players like China. The purpose of this study is to compare the strategies of key external players in the power sector of the Sub-Saharan countries. The analysis of strategies is carried out at the level of the conceptual framework of the foreign policies toward Africa in general and the power sector development strategies in particular, and at the level of their actual implementation by studying the methods used, priority areas, scale and features of projects. Based on the review, the author provides an assessment of whether the strategies of major external actors for the power sector development serve the vital interests of the Sub-Saharan countries. In conclusion, the author identifies two types of tentative conceptually distinct models, i.e. “equal partnership” and “donor ‒ recipient” strategies.

Contemporary history of the Middle East has seen at least four periods of active inter-state alliance formation – three of which led by the United States. The return of Russia to the Middle East has helped shape new alliances and coalitions. Unlike the American “philosophy” of alliance formation underpinned by the imperative for a comprehensive politicomilitary presence as well as prevention of, first, Soviet and then, Iranian regional expansion, the Russian model is oriented toward the players, cooperation with which could solve a current or a potential crisis at a specific time period. Coupled with consistent and pragmatic foreign policy course, it was nontrivial strategies for flexible alliance-formation that enabled Moscow to establish itself as one of the leading player in the turbulent region as well as a responsible global power. At the same time, the comparative analysis of the Russian campaign in Syria and Moscow’s relations with key states in the region shows that Russia has been exercising elements of at least three alliance-formation strategies.

The world media and international discussions at the highest level again are focusing on the Russian’s policy in theMiddle East. This is to a large extent the result of the successful operations of the Russian Aerospace Forces and the Navy inSyria. The article defines the conceptual fundamentals of the modern maritime policy ofRussiain theMiddle East. The authors analyze the main points of the new directions of Russian maritime strategy in the Mediterranean, which were formulated in the following documents: “Fundamentals of the State policy of the Russian Federation in the field of naval activities for the period until2030”, “Marine Doctrine of the Russian Federation” and “Agreement between the Russian Federation and the Syrian Arab Republic on the expansion of the territory of the logistics point of the Navy of the Russian Federation in the vicinity of the port of Tartus”. The participation of the Russian fleets in the military operations in Syria showed that the Russian Navy successfully overcame the systemic crisis and took up positions corresponding to the status of a great power.

Partisan-political ultranationalism was so far weak in post-Soviet Ukraine. Thethreemain political forces, VO “Svoboda”, “Right Sector” and “National Corps”, despite the increased public awareness and growing nationalist sentiments among the population of Ukraine, remained politically marginalized after the 2013-2014 Euromaidan. Neither the loss of Crimea nor the war in Donbass increased the electoral support of radical nationalist groups. However, in the context of Russia's ongoing “hybrid war” against Ukraine, far-right activists, sometimes associated with ultra-nationalist political parties, have gained more recognition in the Ukrainian public since 2014. The activities of anti-democratic non-governmental organizations and their periodic cooperation with the Ukrainian state require careful monitoring. This article provides an overview of the development of the right-wing radical political spectrum in Ukraine before and after the “Revolution of Dignity”.

The article studies the theoretical and practical aspects of the development ofTaiwan’s residents’ national identity. The analysis is based on the results of recent opinion polls which studied the trends in identity change of the Taiwanese people, their preferences and views on relations with mainlandChina. An attempt was made to establish a correlation between the changing identity, the wish of the majority of the population to maintain the status quo in relations with the PRC and the level of support of the political independence ofTaiwan. The article shows that the share of those inTaiwanwho identify as “Taiwanese” has been increasing over the last decades. At the same time, the belief thatTaiwanis an independent state has also been strengthening. The authors analyse the internal and external factors that influenced the dynamics of identity change and the attitudes towards the problems of the status ofTaiwanon the island over the last two years.

In order to promote industrialization and improve the living standards of the population in the Sub-Current article is dedicated to lobbying development in post-socialist EU member states from Central andEastern Europe. This is an important and at the same time insufficiently studied aspect of political systems in CEE. Models of lobbying inSloveniaandPolandthat are analyzed in the article, demonstrate that there is no single vector of lobbying development in postsocialist countries. It is shown that interaction between interest groups and decision makers is influenced by following factors: dynamics and state of interest group systems, mechanism of interaction between interest groups and decision makers, Europeanization of politics, and particularities of lobbying regulation. Author comes to several conclusions: 1) Both countries have inherited tradition of informal political relations, but there is difference between corporatist model in Slovenia that resulted in more stable interest group system and Polish neoliberal model that gave birth to more conflict driven interest group system; 2) Europeanization of politics had different impact on the state of lobbying on national level, fostering its development in Slovenian case and having little impact in Poland; 3) Although majority of lobbying is happening in the executive branch, parties are the main mediators between interest groups and decision making; 4) Neither of analyzed countries are ideal in terms of lobbying regulation. However,Sloveniadid progress further in comparison withPoland, using more transparent registration and reporting for lobbyists and officials and also regulating indirect forms of lobbying; at the same time most of lobbying takes places in shadows while regulation aimed only at professional consultants is not efficient enough.

This article refers to the topic of parliamentary elections inPoland. The authors maintain the hypothesis that more and less stable regional clusters of electoral behavior, which undergo some changes over time, exist inPoland. The study traces a pattern between the formation of regional clusters and a number of factors, such as their proximity to the borders of other states, ideological orientation of the party programs, the traditions of political culture that have developed in the regions and the division of regions into urban and rural. The study uses Moran’s index to describe the neighborhood effect. Local clusters of spatial association were calculated by means of local Moran’s index. Maps of cluster locations were constructed on the basis of the results of the 2007-2019 parliamentary elections. This allowed us to consider their spatial changes in perspective. The novelty of the work consists in use of the mathematical method of spatial autocorrelation in electoral study and consideration of the results both from the point of view of the percentage ratio and neighborhood index. It was concluded that some regional clusters remain stable throughout four electoral cycles, however, they undergo minor changes. Most of these clusters are located in rural areas. As a rule, cities are not included in stable clusters, they form separate centers, distinguished by the variety of the electoral preferences of citizens. The four analyzed electoral cycles show a tendency of reduction of the spatial dependence between the results of voting in constituencies and stability of regional clusters inPoland. 

Review of the book:Graz, J.-C. The Power of Standards. Hybrid Authority and the Globalization of Services.CambridgeUniversityPress, 2019. 268 p.

Book Review: Savin, Leonid. Ordo Pluriversalis. The End of Pax Americana and the Rise of Multipolarity. Black House Publishing Ltd, 2020

The world is in the midst of a systemic transition from unipolarity to multipolarity, which has prompted many experts to think deeply about the future of the international order. Leonid Savin, a leading figure of the International Eurasian Movement, is one such expert. His latest book, «Ordo Pluriversalis: The End Of Pax Americana And The Rise Of Multipolarity», covers a wide range of topics in arguing that the coming world order will be a post-liberal one characterized by civilizations acting similar to how nationstates presently do in the current order. Savin reveals how a rich diversity of social, political, religious, legal, and other systems have survived the brief period of American-led liberal unipolarity, which will lay the basis for the coming reorganization of international (or it should be said, intercivilizational) relations. Intriguingly, since one of the foundations of this worldview is that these various systems will become more prominent in the wake ofAmerica's decline, he also attempts to incorporate many social theories into the field of political science to account for the increasingly complex nature of inter-entity relations. Savin's work is therefore practical but also highly theoretical, though this review simplifies the gist of his ideas by focusing only on the most important ones which contribute to his conclusion of nation-state-like civilization-level actors becoming a subject in global affairs.