Scientific section. Politology

The main problem tackled in this research deals with information technologies as the instrument of boosting national interests of Russia. The author comes to the conclusion that the information society shows the other side and the subject deals with not only mutual interests in the name of world development, but modification of the international relations on the base of the modern information technologies.

The article deals with the main functional characteristics of game technologies for the formation of political culture of Russian youth. The paper analyzes the use of game models in the activities of youth organizations on the example of the Youth branch of The Russian society of political scientists of the Saratov region.

The paper examines events that not only changed the energy and geopolitical picture of the Middle East, but also led to the fact that Russia became the unconditional beneficiary of all these changes. The causes and factors of the appearance of Russia in this region as one of the key political players in the modern world are considered. The focus of the study is the energy and the foreign policy context behind it of Russian actions in the Middle East. The author offers a new research perspective – to consider in close connection the politization of energy projects and regional egoisms.

There are many approaches to analyzing global politics within modern scholarship including ideal theoretical models of analysis and empirical approaches. Nevertheless, theoretical and empirical approaches do not allow scholars to interpret some political changes in modern world. Modern politics is in need of a new analytical approach that would combine civilization theory and project approach. The analysis of the value bases of large-scale political projects made us conclude that they are mainly of civilizational character.

The article is about the images of Russia’s future presented within scholarly and public discourses in post-Soviet Russia. Based on the analysis of certain projects and scholarly publications, the author concludes that formation of positive image of Russia’s future within public conscience is a matter of competitiveness of the variant promoted by ruling party and ideological variant of the “left” future. Current fragmentation of the “left” segment of party system does not allow relying on its victory on the nearest elections.

The article considers traditional and normative bases of providing the balance between the state’s political functionality and civil society in post-soviet Russia. Exemplified by one of the most important articles of the Russian Constitution, possibility of different interpretation of the social state’s functionality and civil society potential for public problem solving in contemporary Russia is shown.

The article is the first part of the study aiming at specifying expediency of using the “scholarly research value” criterion while assessing political science dissertations and other papers. The author analyzes reasons why this criterion is of high interest among Russian scholars and experts nowadays. Key problems of filling the notions “value” and “evaluation” with the meaning corresponding to actual goals of political science dissertations, monographs, and articles’ analysis are pinpointed.

The main features of using political ideologies in post-Soviet Russia as well as value-based convergence of different parties are considered in the article. The author concludes that value markers, which previously served as tools to identify and draw the lines between various party ideologies, have lost their initial meanings. The reason is that by using information and communication technologies modern parties base themselves upon converged “universal human values”.

In this article, the author assesses the problems of institutionalizing the relations between political parties and Russian regional legislative assemblies. The author highlights the contradictions in the norms and political approaches that should expand party opportunities in the parliamentary activity of the Russian regions. A conclusion was made that there is excessive influence of regional actors on the admission of parties to legislative activity.

Based on analysis of official party documents, public statements, and publications of various leaders of the liberal of Russian party system, the author considers and assesses their views and arguments on the issue of Crimea within domestic and foreign policy of contemporary Russia. The author concludes that in spite of some nuances in liberal politicians’ stances on this problematics, they all agree that Russian government should officially denunciate the act of reunification of Crimea and Russia and delegate the problem of the peninsula’s status to international community.