No 2 (2012)

Culture has a great impact on Sino-Russian relations. There are many important similarities and differences between Chinese and Russian cultures. The cultures of the two countries both appreciate collectivity disregarding individuality. Compared with Russian culture Chinese culture is more secular, reasonable and peaceful. Therefore China is devoted to domestic affairs rather than to foreign expansion, and its foreign policy has defensive nature rather than aggressive. China is more conservative and less bellicose, thus during the reforms China has been seeking stability and was moving more prudently and cautiously. All of those cultural factors in the aggregate will influence the future development of Sino-Russian relations. Although the Sino-Russian relations have been developing smoothly during last decades, there exist some uncertainty and unpredictability in its long-term development.

The article is dedicated to analysis of the Russian Federation's attitude toward the main trends in current European security system's development. The main goal of the article is to demonstrate the significance of the Russian Federation's initiatives on the formation of equal and undivided collective security system which would correspond with the new global transformations.

The given article is devoted to processes and results of rethinking by the French society of the collaboration regime that dominated in France during the Second World War. The heritage of the given period has had strong influence on post-war development of France and also on its position in post-war world. The author examines a course and specificity of overcoming the past in a context of historical events.

The definition and estimation of political qualification of the ruling groups and long-term prognosis of their activities is a paramount task of strategical analysis. The ruling groups have their own interests and strategical manipulations with them (both successful and poor) constitute the important part of their game behavior, which effectiveness in defined periods is more or less computational. The game behavior of the ruling groups by-turn depends on the characteristics of strategic culture. This link is evident under their comparative analysis.

This article examines the current problems of modernity associated with the implementation of the policies of multiculturalism, criticizes various points of view of that phenomenon in political life. The author shows that the problem of multiculturalism is inseparably linked with the interpretation of the idea of a global culture, which is not a superstructure of national cultures, but is a kind of a new sort of social rhizome.

The article is dedicated to several key aspects of political communication in the light of the common processes of integration, informatization and globalization. The main political challenges of the rising communication environment are considered in this article. Some features of the so-called Internetization of the society and the influence of the new media in different countries are in the limelight of discussions as well. Within various theoretical and conceptual frameworks the issues of the decline of the state, emergence of new political actors and necessity of realization of multi-polar communication policy are studied.