No 2 (2012)

The authors analyze the organizational structure of the U.S. scientific community, examining the V. Bush report Science: the Endless Frontier (1945) as its conceptual basis, which remains the cornerstone of the American science policy. The authors point out decentralization as the key trait of this structure, which reveals itself in the absence of a unitary centre with a mission to formulate and implement science policy and high level of dissemination of self-government practices supported by a wide range of government agencies. This configuration determines the special position, occupied by the universities as universal research establishments possessing flexibility in cooperation with state agencies and private sector.

The article provides the information on American «soft power» that promotes U.S. national interests worldwide. There is an analysis of the evolution of «national interest» and new forms of U.S. influence on the world order. According to the authors' opinion, the importance of «soft power» issues in foreign policy strategies of the countries will be growing further due to overwhelming interdependence.

The article focuses on analyses of establishing and specific activities of cross-border regional unions, which become typical for the European Union. Contemporary cooperation on the basis of such units is becoming normal and widespread practice as for the states of the European Union and neighboring states as well, Russia for example.

The article is devoted to the Arctic in the historical retrospective, as well as the discovering of the potential to improve the relationship between modern Russia and the USA on the example of joint exploration of the Arctic shelf. This theme is particularly relevant in the present period of development of Russian-American relations and the modernization of Russia's economy.

The article focuses on analyses of the Italian cultural policy and its influence on country's image abroad. The author examines the peculiarities of Italian cultural policy, which determine the image of the country in Russia and other European states.

The article focuses on analyses of preconditions for development of international relations between UAE and African countries including geographical location of the UAE, naval and ship building skills of the Persian gulf Arabs, participation of both Eastern Africa and Persian Gulf in the Indian ocean trade as well as influence on its development of external factors such as Islamic expansion and colonial policies of Britain and Portugal.