Vol 10, No 4 (2023)

In the twentieth century, the Soviet Union went through a complex process of revolution, rise, crisis, reform and disintegration, which is strongly influenced by its national policy. Despite successful governance experience of the USSR, national problems, in particular ethnic contradictions, accompany the entire history of the Soviet Union and have become one of the most important factors in its collapse, which demonstrates serious shortcomings in the national policy of the USSR. All this means that rethinking the national policy of the Union state in order to learn lessons is of urgent importance both for modern Russia and for other multinational states.

Public-private partnership (PPP) is a financial instrument that allows attracting private investment in the development of social infrastructure and allocating budget funds more efficiently. The goals of this tool are to improve the quality of life of the population and raise the welfare of the country. Within the framework of the theory of a mixed economy, the state, through PPP, abandons inefficient forms of management, shifting the management of state property and various responsibilities to the private sector, which brings organizational experience and various innovations to production, invests its own funds in the development of the enterprise and minimizes the risks of entrepreneurial activity. The important aspect of exploring the opportunities that public-private partnership brings for the Russian Federation and private business is to consider the development of PPP over the past few years. Taking into account the stated fact, a small study was conducted, consisting in the analysis of the development of public-private partnership in Russia in the period from 2015 to 2023.

One of the pressing issues of the modern world is the problem of trust in government. The election process is a pivotal event in society’s life, influencing a country’s future. Decreased trust in authority, including elections, leads to vulnerability in the voting and result tallying process. Simultaneously, the rapid advancement of information technology, automation, and computerization affecting almost all spheres of life, among other things, has a widespread impact on the functioning of government institutions. One of the key tasks addressed by new technologies is increasing trust levels in society. Blockchain technology, or distributed ledgers, has revolutionized the world of information technology and found applications in various domains, including the organization of elections at different levels. The use of blockchain technology in the electoral process can help address the trust issue by ensuring transparency, reliability, and confidentiality in voting, while minimizing the possibility of result tampering. In a blockchain-based system, voting can occur anonymously without intermediaries and intermediate technologies. This article examines the problem of trust in government institutions, highlights issues in the electoral process, presents a description of the blockchain technology-based solution, and provides examples of existing systems used during the electoral process. It concludes that the implementation of blockchain technology in the electoral process will ensure a more transparent and secure voting process, significantly increasing trust in authority.

Currently, the main role of the state in the implementation of the state innovation policy is to create infrastructure for innovation and to finance new developments and fundamental research. In today’s world, the speed of change is increasing, and the role of the state becomes even more important, especially in times of crisis and economic restructuring. State innovation policy can accelerate the pace of development of individual industries, stimulate inter-industry cooperation, and help to remove barriers to innovation (legislative and infrastructural). This study is devoted to the formation of effective innovation policy in the conditions of economic restructuring associated with the economic crisis, heavy international political and economic environment. In order to analyze and make recommendations on innovation policy, such main innovation factors are analyzed as: financing, creation of infrastructure, customer or initiator of innovations, development of competencies, as well as creation of innovation culture. The role of the state in the above factors is paramount. The study analyzes the data presented for the last 5 years and provides forecasts for 2023.

The article examines the foreign policy strategies of the third President of the Republic of Cyprus, Georgios Vasiliou (1988-1993), through the prism of the anthropology of international relations. The main emphasis is on his attempts to resolve the Cyprus conflict and successfully integrate Cyprus into the EU. The analysis explores the interconnection of various factors in Cyprus’s foreign and domestic policies, which are related to the peculiarities of its political culture and internal party-political processes. The authors conclude that Vasiliou’s policy was largely shaped by the peculiarities of his personality, biography, education level, and overall political culture. The correctness of Cyprus’s European choice and Vasiliou’s leading role in this process is yet to be evaluated by future generations. It is this choice that allowed Cyprus to timely initiate the mechanisms of modernization, transforming it into a modern democratic and innovative state. The work incorporates littleknown biographical facts and materials from the Cyprian newspaper and personal interviews with the former president.