School of Political Affairs of MGIMO-University proves to be the oldest of all Russia’s political science schools, however at the same time it is very young — it celebrated only 15 years in the year of the 70th MGIMO anniversary. In contrast to many other universities, oriented towards training political science lecturers or practical political consultants, MGIMO has formed its own unique, “complete cycle” political science school which is both academic and practical and is expected to teach political scientists starting from the zero level up to the highest level of proficiency as lecturers and researchers, as well as applied analysts, consultants and practicians. The originality of MGIMO political science school allows its organizational analogue, School of Political Affairs, to offer applicants to acquire wide range of requested professions and specializations, concurrently providing them deeper practical as well as theoretical training. 

The article deals with theoretical problems associated with understanding of world politics as a network object. The author assumes that the transformation of world politics in a global, global network actualizes the study of the individual as its most ancient and constant actor, acting according to the «rules of the network». He sets out his understanding of the network approach to world politics and analysis of the subject-object relations arising in the course of development of the world political processes. A significant attention is paid to crowd facing the global arena and opportunities of manipulating them. Mastered means of access to global communication networks crowd gets the opportunity of «governance without government». This, according to the author, can’t turn him into a trendsetter in world politics. 

On the basis of forty five days field survey as well as extensive survey of literature regarding political culture and democratization process in Russia this paper makes positive case for Russian democratization process, simultaneously this paper is also of the view that the simplistic account of Russian culture can neither help to understand the kind of political culture present in Russia nor its impact on Russian democratization process in particular and prospect of democracy in Russia in general. 

The Middle East, the world’s only major source of low-cost oil, will remain at the core of the long-term prospects of the world oil market. The IEA went too far referring to the “shale hydrocarbon revolution born in the USA”. For the time being, the global energy landscape has not been turned upside down. It is China’s soaring energy consumption rather than the US’ rising production that will fundamentally shift the world energy order. Some analysts claim that the Sino-Russian relationship will truly shift global energy boundaries: pipelines are turning east. Global oil prices may fall if and when significant volumes of additional Iranian oil return to the market. A new petroleum frontier in the Eastern Mediterranean complicates the manifold conflicts, but opens up new chances for cooperation. There are huge opportunities created by the discovery of gas in the Eastern Mediterranean — not least for countries that are short of both money and energy. Developing these opportunities will require cooperation, and could be both a lucrative and politically rewarding confidence-building measure. 

Globalization remains the crucial trend of global development, and it is especially evident in economic sphere. Apart from it, political, informational and cultural globalizations are actively discussed. The rapid development of global market, initiated by the West, paradoxically, fostered redistribution of economic influence towards the non-Western countries and primarily to Asia. Therefore, the record of participation of BRICS states (China and India, primarily) in global processes is instructive. These two countries achieve significant developmental successes due to their integration in world economy without abandoning active participation of their government in regulation of economic and social activities. Analysis of the strategies adopted of other BRICS countries could appear quite useful for Russia. 

The article presents immigration models of Germany, France, Great Britain, the US and Canada. North-American states differ from the ‘classic-nationalist’ European states in that they have considered immigration an important factor in their development from the very beginning of their political existence. Although political culture in these countries (the US and Canada) was formed under certain influence, the idea of an ‘ethno-cultural core’ is foreign to them. One of the biggest problems of immigrant integration in Western countries is that immigrants insist on having cultural rights within the public sphere of the receiving country and expect to see them respected. The difference in political culture between immigrant countries of North America and ‘nation states’ of Europe determine the two ways cultural rights are institutionalized in those countries and consequently the exact type of integration problems the countries face. 

The rise of China is now one of the primary issues in IR literature. However, this development promotes also changes in the structure of the discipline itself, as it fosters self-reflection in the rapid expansion of the Chinese IR school. Moreover, the quest for Chinese theory of IR provokes other Asian countries to conceptualize their place in the world, in order not to be intellectually submerged by the rising neighbour. This theorizing is enlightened by the national traditions of thinking about international politics, largely overseen in the West. This trend promotes genuine liberalization of the discipline. 

The nature of “contemporary conflict” is itself problematical. No longer is conflict only the clash of military arms or even another form of violence. Conflict need not always be the result even of explicit antagonism, of “ancient hatreds.” It can nowadays be almost any situation of extreme tension that arises from human desperation within and between societies. Conflict is struggle — inner as well as outer. Its nature and shape can change, sometimes suddenly, owing to events. Dealing with “contemporary conflicts” today can require new structures, new measures and methods, and, for diplomats, additional knowledge and new skills. I shall suggest — after a brief listing of what enablers are doing in today’s world, and then a consideration what the notion of “enablement” is, and what its implications are — several ways in which diplomats themselves might need to be further enabled, with new resources and further training. 

This article attempts to systematize analytical information on the “Arab Spring” in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The author specifies causes of the public outcry, goals of the opposition groups along with the consequences of the “Arab Spring” for domestic politics.

The paper is intended to answer the question about the necessity to distinguish between various approaches to reconstruction of interdisciplinarity of regional studies within the scientific and educational fields. There is a problem of establishing of such an interdisciplinary links in teaching practice and in application of research results in training programs. Within the educational program it is possible to introduce a lot of various interdisciplinary fields, when different sciences may play a leading role to represent the context. It is shown that historical disciplines play an important role within regional studies. 

The appearance of Regions Science as an academic discipline is connected to the development of regional science as a scientific field. As a field of social science regional science is still on its way of becoming mature: it is yet to introduce its specific scientific method. At present even the very principles of world regional division are subject of a debate. It is this character of uncertainty that regional science has at this stage of development that poses most problems for teachers.