Vol 25, No 4 (2023): New Reversals in the Theory and Methodology of Political Science

The editorial board presents an issue dedicated to the consideration of topical subjects and variants of methodological approaches in modern political science. The editorial review examines the global trends of turbulence and nonlinearity of development, which pose new largescale tasks for political theory to comprehend new political processes and phenomena. To a great extent, they are associated with the assertion of a “post-non-classical” type of rationality, which requires a revision of established practices, methodologies and research methods. Yet, in conditions of chaos and uncertainty, the potential of political theory remains largely underestimated against the background of a passion for commenting on current politics.

The author analyzes the development of the political and philosophical concept of republic as a common cause in the conditions of transformation of the value system of Western society. The main problem of the research is the reason why the existence of the republic in the conditions of modern ideological and theoretical foundations of the society of individual consumerism faces the impossibility of achieving the common good as the goal-setting of a common cause. The study traces the ontology of the republic in the political thought of ancient philosophers, medieval thinkers and modern representatives of Western political theory. The central role, in this sense, is played by Christianity, which for many centuries has been a systematic representation of the essence of the common good. In the conditions of modern Western society, it has ceased to be a transcendent system of values, giving way to relativistic concepts that are unable to act as a foundation for social harmony. The author comes to the conclusion that the modern era has led to the deprivation of the republic of goal-setting, replacing the collective essence of society with the individual egoism of a citizen, while postmodernism, rejecting any form of collective self-identification of a person, deprives him of the opportunity to act as a citizen.

The research is devoted to the consideration of some new methodological trends in the constructivism of the “third generation” of scientists. Its representatives, while remaining committed to the basic postulates of constructivism, at the same time turned their main attention to issues related to the theory of communication to framing as one of the ways of constructing reality and saturating it with certain meanings. Based on Martin Buber’s theory of dialogue, constructivists draw attention to the dangers of universalism in the study of politics as a prerequisite and even a manifestation of the ideological fixation of certain concepts, positions, and theses. Meanwhile, the formation of a community as “we” presupposes a pluralism of approaches and recognition of different points of view, and at the same time “cleaning” the information space of many frames that allow, through the manipulation of “fakes,” stereotypes and false stories, to form an idea of reality that significantly distorts it and even modifying.

A stable idea in the doctrine of the typologies of a political regime indicates that their uniqueness is characterized by a set of appropriate methods and means of exercising political power, a system of social organization of interaction between power and society and other institutions of the state. The model of the political regime formed in the state is consistent, first of all, with political processes, including those occurring with the participation of citizens, social groups and society as a whole. The National Strategy for the Development of Artificial Intelligence in Russia, approved in 2019, among the principles for the development of these technologies, enshrined the priority of protecting the rights and freedoms of citizens, as well as security. Management decisions made by artificial intelligence have expanded the possible areas of their use, including public administration. This study examines the degree of introduction of artificial intelligence technology, which has been developing in recent years, into political regimes in various states. An assessment is made of the work of artificial intelligence, which is forming a new “cyber-physical” society, in which the political needs and freedoms of citizens are realized with the support of digital technologies. Approaches are proposed for assessing the work of artificial intelligence, which contributes to the international and regional integration of countries with different political systems, as well as influencing changes in the qualitative characteristics of political processes as a whole or its individual elements. The study was based on an integrated approach to assessing artificial intelligence used in the regulatory sphere. Dogmatic approaches to factors influencing the formation of a political system in the context of technological progress are being rethought.

The study examines whether it is relevant to use constructivist research instruments in order to study the sanctions and the so-called countersanctions that were imposed on Russia and then by Russia after the events in Crimea in 2014 and February 24. I develop the arguments that were presented in the work “Sanctions in IR: Understanding, Defining, Studying” in an attempt to assess the explanatory capabilities of the three leading paradigms in IR. The question posed is: do realism, liberalism and constructivism coherently and consistently explain the nature of the fast-growing scope of sanctions that tend to be implemented without the UN Security Council’s approval? The third way (constructivist one) seems to be efficient since there are difficulties with studying sanctions from the perception of the overwhelming rationality. To be concrete, I test the concept of self-fulfilling prophecy that obtained proponents in psychology and the theory of decision-making as well but hasn’t been actively promoted in IR studies. Nevertheless, it seems to be useful to explain the sustainability of sanction’s regime, which - paradoxically - from the first glance brings no profit but harm to each party involved. Moreover, it corelates with realist scholars’ perception of IR nature (particularly, security dilemma). Finally, four basic and one extra preconditions for self-fulfilling scenarios in the international arena are outlined, applicable not just to the “sanction’s” field, but also to the current principles of cross-state interactions.

Significant changes in U.S. foreign policy, which were first declared during the election campaign and then began to be consistently implemented by Donald Trump and his administration, were in many ways a break with the established and successive foreign policy strategy, which has made this case the subject of numerous analyses and studies. This study attempts to examine the influence of interest groups on U.S. foreign policy under D. Trump through the prism of several approaches - interest group theory, network approach, cognitive analysis (using cognitive mapping methodology). As a result of the conducted research, practical results in the form of cognitive maps were obtained, and the limitations of the used methodology within the framework of the analysis of this case study were revealed.

Based on the vast empirical material of India’s diaspora policy, which is understudied in the Russian academic field, the authors of the research enrich the scope of works dealing with the analysis of diasporas as non-state actors in the world politics. The study analyzes the institutionalization of India’s diaspora policy between 1999 and 2015, particularly the amendments to the citizenship legislation and electoral legislation, the establishment and reforms of specialized ministries, governmental structures and funds, introducing special celebration days. The study is based on neo-institutional analysis and reveals the sequence of actions of Indian governments that lead to the transformation of informal norms for the implementation of diaspora policies. Authors argue that shaping such infrastructure aimed at reviving the ties between emigrants and their country of origin, as well as involving emigrants into building a nation-state might be perceived as “long-distance nationalism”. Having analyzed the economic dimension of India’s diaspora policy, particularly the economic liberalization measures aimed at stimulating diaspora investment inflow, bilateral agreements on expatriates’ economic condition as well as emitting diaspora obligations the authors conclude that not only has India provided its diaspora with the access to funding households’ consumption and sporadic local projects, but also it has let the diaspora ensure the country’s macroeconomic stability, which is uncharacteristic of relations between diasporas and their countries of origin. The study also elaborates on the directions in which India’s diaspora policy has changed since N. Modi came to power. The authors come to the conclusion that since then diaspora policy has been losing its autonomy and has been reduced to accomplishing separate foreign and investment policy tasks. Thus, a major trend in India’s diaspora policy is the transition from “long-distance nationalism” practices to economic nationalism that implies a direct link between affiliation with a diaspora community and contribution to the development of the country of origin.

Patriotic issues have been becoming now the focus of socio-political discussions and management practices. Multilayered challenges and determinants of world political development actualize the interrelation of internal and external tasks corresponding to ensuring national security, identity formation and achieving national consolidation. Patriotic education is gaining fundamental importance as one of the main directions on this path. Its constitution as an autonomous sphere of state policy implies the need to improve the previously established mechanisms and regulatory framework. Additional opportunities and tools are also available in the sphere of integration cooperation between the Russian Federation and its closest ally, the Republic of Belarus. The basis is a set of pro-integration factors that stimulate the humanitarian dimension. The institutionalization of the patriotic education policy is considered as a dynamic process of formalization and ordering of the corresponding expectations and intentions, clothed in the norms of national law and integration institutions. The normative and organizational elements characterizing its state and potential within the Union State are analyzed. The incompleteness of legislative institutionalization in the domestic dimension and the absence of specific integration regulations in this area are emphasized, which follows, among other things, from the institutional design peculiarities of the participating countries and the amorphous model of Russian - Belarusian integration, which does not have clear conceptual parameters and methodological foundations. The creation of a union system of patriotic education largely depends on the improvement of the overall integration system, including by deepening its institutionalization and the introduction of integration law.

The rapidly changing geopolitical situation has dictated the need for a conceptual design of the humanitarian policy of the Russian Federation abroad as a direction of foreign policy that is gaining priorities. The formation of an objective perception of Russia in the world involves systematic interaction with foreign audiences through digital infrastructure. Numerous digital platforms, being created by foreign tech giants, with their own rules and standards, compete with states, influence public opinion and public discourse. The “Russian language” of one of the largest segments of the digital space is ambivalent: in other words, it does not always mean a complimentary attitude towards Russia and Russian culture. Based on the available and collected data of Internet statistics, an assessment is made of the role of Russian-language digital resources as an opportunity to achieve the goals of Russia’s foreign humanitarian policy. On the example of the RuWiki, the Russian-language section of the Wikipedia online encyclopedia, it is shown how social media can be used in an ideological and value confrontation. In a comparative vein, Russian initiatives in the creation and promotion of national digital platforms are described on the example of encyclopedic portals - “Knowledge” based on the Great Russian Encyclopedia and Runiversalis. The main directions of humanitarian policy in the digital space are outlined, considering the geopolitical context. It is concluded that the development of domestic digital infrastructure will create a common semantic field for gravitation towards Russia, the Russian language and culture, regardless of the geopolitical situation. It is suggested that the formation of a more pronounced Russian-speaking segment of the global network reflects the idea of a multipolar world defended by Russia.