Scientific section. Politology

In this article, the author tries to conceptualize and analyze the educational factor in realizing the national interests of a state. The author applies the method of analytic eclecticism for education complex analysis in the frames of different theoretical concepts. In the system of national interests priorities the author offers to consider the system of education in the context of three interdependent factors: as an instrument of national security; as a main factor for social and economic development; as a mean of political influence (soft power).

This paper tries to explain evolution of theoretical views on development of the Russian regional elites as a influential actors of post-Soviet political process. The focus is on the local power minorities as the most important force shaping regional policy and identity in situation of crisis transformation of Russian society at 1990s. The author argues that the study of regional Russia by explanatory models from the bowels of the Western political theories does not contribute to understanding of real nature of post-Soviet transformation.

Based on public surveys results’ analysis, the main features of Russia’s youth disposition towards politics are considered in this article. The author describes the media component of the youth political culture within the context of the degree to which their media literacy is formed and suggests pessimistic and optimistic tendencies the phenomenon under consideration has.

The article deals with the issue of the role of ideological factor in the activity of the Russian United Democratic Party “YABLOKO” as a part of its positioning in the liberal segment of the party system in post-Soviet Russia, definition of the format and status of the party, substantiation of strategy and tactics regarding the current government, and main directions of domestic and foreign policy. We came to the conclusion that the main goal of G. A.

The article suggests an explanation of the phenomenon of stable loyalty of modern Russian electorate to the liberal idea of a multi-party system.Loyalty is in the consent of citizens with the leading role of parties in all electoral campaigns in the post-Soviet period.While most modern Russian parties do not meet the requirements of organization and functionality that follows from the theory of liberal-democratic politics, as well as from foreign experience of political involvement of parties.

The article deals with public diplomacy’s conflict-resolution potential in Central Asia. The author notes that in the existing research discourse public diplomacy is analyzed generally in the context of peace-time practice. The conflict-resolution potential of the given phenomenon often appears out of the sight of scientific works.

Key interpretations of social and public diplomacy within political and scholarly discourses are considered in this article. The inference is made that both notions (i.e. social and public diplomacy) are often used interchangeably in scholarship that, in its turn, leads to inexpedient confusion over subjective and attribute features of the term while attempting to encompass answers to two main questions: who conducts diplomacy and how is it conducted?

In article the public and political position of one of leaders of the “white» movement, the former AFSR (The Armed Forces of South Russia) commander General Anton Ivanovich Denikin is analyzed. Various parts of political process are considered (all-European and intra emigrant), the ideological and military confrontation related to it (which was monitored by A. I. Denikin) are analyzed.

In article scientific interpretations of the concept “social media” are considered, functions (communicative, relativistic) and tendencies of their development during a modern information era reveal. It is proved that social media give the chance of upholding of interests in public space to both ordinary citizens, and the opposition movements. The Russian network community actively carries out political dialogue by means of social media, forming a public discourse and new forms of mass communication. 

The main methods to counteract manipulative techniques used by mass media for political purposes are considered in this article. Among others, the author argues the necessity to compare information from different news sources, to check credibility of the facts conveyed by journalists, and to evaluate the extent to which a story is balanced.