No 4 (2024)

Methodological dimensions in the study of institutional transformations in international relations are discussed, allowing to better explain the relationship between discourse, institutions and behavior of states on the world stage. The concept of international society, borrowed from the English school, serves as the basis for the research. In agreement with the theory of organization by A. Bogdanov, international society is treated as an assemblage, consistently interacting with its evolving sociocultural environment. The two components of this combination do not constitute any rigid dichotomy (of material and ideal or of objective and subjective). An original analytical scheme of their relationship is offered, implying the idea of “naturalization” being undergone by institutions as collective representations in the process of constructing international reality. The scheme allows us to distinguish more clearly between factors such as culture or ideology, on the one hand, and the international context of the struggle for the preservation/change of sociocultural norms embodied in institutionalized rules, i.e. social reality, on the other hand. Particular attention is paid to the political significance of the norms of international law. The process of their “naturalization” is illustrated by two cases from international legal practice. They confirm, in particular, the considerable role of the so-called swing states (South Africa, Indonesia) in the current shifts in the international order.

Modern international relations science is faced with theoretical and methodological fragmentation, determined by ontological contradictions between theories. Systems theory has the research potential to explain dynamic international political processes. However, in the practice of its application in social sciences, researchers have encountered numerous difficulties and contradictions. The hypothesis is that the tektology of Alexander Bogdanov overcomes these difficulties and allows to consider social systems in dynamics and at different levels. System theories in the social sciences are analyzed, their basic contradictions are identified. The basic concepts of tektology are described, its methodology is applied to the study of modern international relations. It is concluded that tektology provides extensive research tools for the study of international relations, allows to identify the most general patterns of development of this part of the social space, and can become the basis for long-term forecasting of international political processes.

Recently, the issue of the nature of civil society in Russia has been actively discussed in domestic discourse. Moreover, positions in this debate have become a marker for certain segments of social thought. An attempt is made towards understanding the essence of this concept by analyzing the trends of macro-social changes in the West and their impact on the conceptualization of the concept of civil society. A significant trend in this conceptualization is the exaggeration of the political functions of civil society, on the one hand, and the elimination of its moral and ethical influence on the nature of social development, on the other.

The features of the modern social system, which has several names (new capitalism, post-capitalism, humanistic capitalism) are examined. The tendencies of humanization and humanitarization of society, their consequences are discussed. The focus is on the question of how and for what reasons the axiological dominants of modern society change. Manipulation of meanings acts as a means of overcoming existential emptiness. Human life in the capitalist paradigm has led to the alienation of labor, which has as its consequence a feeling of meaningless existence. Capitalist stratification of society has created conditions for the total acquisition of benefits by a certain social stratum. The gap in the well-being of different groups of the population has caused a feeling of existential emptiness in both the higher and lower social strata. The limitless acquisition of benefits on the one hand, makes it meaningless for the owner, on the other hand, the activity of acquiring benefits by the exploited stratum is meaningless. This led to the desire of the elites to transform the system of their own consumption and create new meanings of life and work for the working class. The increasing humanization and humanitarization of modern society allowed it to acquire a new meaning – development, which as a value and goal of life for the average person has become a discovery of the modern theory and practice of manipulation. Development can, and now should continue indefinitely, it is difficult to evaluate it in terms of the results, since it is a process. If previously the average person had quite specific goals to achieve (a certain level of career/financial well-being, recognition, power, independence) now development is hard to estimate by the criterion of result since it is a process.

The study aims to project the theory of constitutionalization onto the methods of legal regulation of party legal relations. Formal-logical and systemic approaches have acquired fundamental importance, which allow to analyze the impact of legislation in Russia on political parties. The impact of legal methods on complex legal institutions is assessed within the framework of institutional theory. Thanks to the identified theoretical and legal features, it was possible to establish the dependence of the constitutionalization of the object of party legal relations on the methods of legal regulation. It is shown that in the case of prevalence of the imperative approach, a wide range of legal relations and various defects of law become the object of state intervention in party activities. The mixed method of legal regulation allows achieving fragmented state participation in the construction of party relations, which enhances the complexity of the legal institution of political parties.

Post-Soviet socio-economic transformations combined with prevailing depopulation trends have brought the problem of shrinkage (residential and economic) of the active Russian space to the forefront of the national agenda. Now, in the context of the transition to a new world order, this problem requires systematic reflection and consideration, including within the framework of federal spatial development strategy. The history of said phenomena is analyzed. The main factors, as well as trends and areas of shrinkage of the active space in Russia are identified. Specific directions for curbing this trend and minimizing its negativity are shown and justified. The stable correlation between socio-economic “desertification” of vast peripheral territories and economic, technological and socio-cultural changes is demonstrated. The Soviet experience (in relation to the Non-Chernozem region) of the reconstruction of the network of rural settlements is comprehended (including critically), its lessons are discussed in relation to modern realities. It is proposed to take into account the phenomenon of shrinkage of the active space in the new Spatial Development Strategy of Russia, including shifting monitoring and regulatory accents to the municipal level.

The concept of language regime emerged in political science in the late 1980s. Due to the rise of ethnic conflicts and migration many European states faced, new challenges to language diversity management emerged while at international level a discussion about linguistic rights started. All these trends once again highlighted the political importance of language issues and an urgent need to investigate them by bringing together the approaches from different fields of science. Many researchers have made a significant contribution to interdisciplinary language policy studies over the last 20 years by applying methods from political science, sociolinguistics, law and economics. However, such a wide range of approaches has inevitably led to methodological problems, mostly concerned with different interpretations of notions that are grounded in more than one research field, e.g. ideology. As for language regimes, the debate lies in the separate use of this term that should not be considered equivalent to language policy regime or language policy. The article discusses the key approaches to language regimes in both political science and sociolinguistics and justifies the separate use of this notion for language policy research.