A technological leapfrogging is a discrete stage in the development of a country or industry, representing the replacement of the previous technology with a fundamentally new one. The concept of technological leapfrogging has been developing since the mid 1980s, but still there is no generally accepted definition. The interest in the conditions and structure of technological leaps grew when it became clear that lagging countries and industries could develop rapidly by continuous imitation and innovation, jumping over obsolete technologies and avoiding investment in previous technological generations.
The article relies on theoretical studies of leapfrogging and international experience in the development of information and communication technologies (ICT) for analysis of the conditions necessary for technological leaps. The ICT play a recognized role in economic growth and social development. Today, the catching-up countries have ambitious plans for ICT development, including next-generation fixed communications networks, 5G standard, e-commerce services and e-government.
Based on the analysis of global experience, we define conditions for a successful technological leapfrogging in Russia and discuss the potential for its implementation. In the conditions of sanctions, it is important not just to reverse-engineer, but to make a technological leap in order to ensure technological self-sufficiency. Russia has partially created conditions for 5G technological leapfrogging by accumulating adaptation potential in terms of technology, equipment and personnel; developing science-industry cooperation; and creating conditions for favorable socio-technological climate.

The processes of cross-border regionalization (including within certain marine areas) are accompanied by further complication of the socio-economic space structure, the multi-velocity dynamics of its components, as well as the effects of polarization and concentration. This context significantly increases the theoretical and applied significance of the center-peripheral analysis, initiating a permanent adjustment of its tools, taking into account the specifics of the formation and functioning of the center-peripheral structures in the marine cross-border regions that outline the Russian border. The article focuses on the identification of the marine component of the center-peripheral stratification of spatial socio-economic dynamics, as well as the substantiation of specific factors, manifestations and effects of the center-periphery dichotomy in the marine cross-border regions of Russia. Priority attention is paid to identifying the common and specific features in the center-peripheral structuring of the Baltic region, the Caspian region, and the Black Sea region. A significant dependence of the center-peripheral architecture (and the place of the Russian coastal territories in it) on the maturity of the cross-border region, the degree of heterogeneity of its morphostructure, as well as the parameters of maritime activity has been established. An assessment is made of the impact on the center-peripheral positioning of innovation dynamics (including the development of the innovation economy sector, the diffusion of advanced production technologies, the digitalization of the economy and society, the generation of scientific knowledge, etc.), as well as geopolitical, ethnocultural and geohistorical determinants. It is shown that the incorporation of a particular coastal territory into cross-border relations objectively raises its status in the national center-periphery hierarchy, without eliminating problematic situations and risks associated with potentially possible (and multidimensionally manifested in the conditions of the Russian maritime border) peripherization.

As the rising powers exhibit determination to challenge the United States’ hegemony, the problem of legitimizing dominance in international politics becomes increasingly significant. At the same time, the mainstream currents of IR theory (neorealism, neoliberal institutionalism, social constructivism, neo-Marxism) examine this topic either on the “unit” level (actions and properties of the separate states) or on the level of “structure” (material, social, or ideological), serving to ensure reproduction of political inequity. This situation produces substantial methodological complications with respect to shaping comprehensive understanding of the legitimizing tools of international dominance. Seeking to overcome this duality, the author engages theoretical insights of the English school to explore the United States’ legitimation strategies, whereby Washington has sought to ensure recognition of its privileged standing within the existing international society. The author focuses on the hegemonic roles of the United States – “leader”, “enforcer”, “security guarantor”, and “prosperity guarantor” – to expose the tools, ensuring connection between Washington’s policies and “primary goals” of the international society. Application of this approach allows to engage in the investigation important variables of both “unitary” (actions and ideas of the hegemonic state) and “structural” levels (role prescriptions and collective goals of the community of states) and, thus, to shape more integrative vision of the mechanisms of legitimizing the United States’ post-Cold War hegemony. The author concludes that the role practices of legitimacy, pursued by
the U.S., ensure reproduction of power relations, and contain the source of tension, undermining the “American hegemony” under conditions of growing rivalry with the rising powers.

The urgency of the issues of the world order management is associated with the escalation of regional conflicts, global challenges of our time, the increasing influence of non-state actors in the international field and the increasing instability of the system as a whole. In the face of opposition to Western hegemony, competition for resources and influence in the region and in the world is increasing. The system of international relations is undergoing changes and in the conditions of this transformation, the actors of the “periphery” and “center” are reconfiguring – the era of the Western-centric world is passing away. The new conditions of the system dictate new rules of the game – imposing one’s will by intimidation and military-economic methods has become ineffective and meets resistance, and therefore individual countries have begun to fight hegemonism. The term that most clearly reflects modern relations on the world stage can be called “leadership”. This phenomenon is considered in the article through the “center–periphery” paradigm, global and regional leadership is distinguished by the examples of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Turkey. The foreign policy course of the two countries, their main priorities and motivation are being analyzed, two leadership models are being compared based on the selected parameters. The prospect of Russia becoming one of the centers of the future world order is being outlined, and the possibility of Turkey to stay in the position of a regional leader and expand its zones of influence is being explored. In order to preserve and retain their already established positions, it is necessary to adhere to a multi-vector policy that corresponds to national interests. Ideas on the development and structure of the new world order and the ability to take responsibility for the processes taking place on the world stage are an integral part of strengthening the positions of the two countries.

The article studies the issues of interaction between the constituent entities of the Russian Federation and international organizations, the importance of this type of international cooperation for the socio-economic development of the regions and for the implementation of the Russian foreign policy. The possibilities of participation of the constituent entities in the promotion of national interests on the world stage in the context of increasing external pressure on Russia are considered. The analysis of the issues of political and legal regulation of international and foreign economic relations of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation is given, including the questions of participation in the activities of international organizations. The article introduces a classification of formats for the interaction of regions with international organizations and characterizes the features of their implementation, the transformation of the international activity of the regions is demonstrated, according to the evolution of the foreign policy priorities of the state. To evaluate the performance of models of cooperation with integration institutions of various types, the experience of the Republic of Tatarstan is being studied. The importance for socio-economic development and improving the quality of life of the population by participation of the regions in the activities of international organizations as part of the Russian representation in them, or building relationships with international associations at the level of regions and local authorities, as well as holding events under the auspices of international organizations is confirmed. Alternatives for involving the constituent unities in the implementation of essential areas of Russian foreign policy are proposed. The positive role of the regions in maintaining contacts between Russia and a number of leading international organizations is also discovered, along with the search for new low-politicized formats of cooperation, such as partnerships with international associations and structures at the level of local authorities. The potential of the regions appears highly-demanded in the implementation of Russia’s consistent policy to form a multipolar world order.

The paper considers the regional differences in growing up trends of the modern Russian youth. The key factors following the growing up process of the post-Soviet generations including millennials and Z are identified. The author underlines that the growing up models in the 21st century are affected by certain social, cultural and economic specifics of the regions. Russia with its major regional variety has glocal – common Europeanandlocal–growinguptrends. Capital and big city residents are characterized by the growing up model similar in composition manner to the European one (although dynamics of life events referring to the “adult” status transition still differ) and the growing up process itself is destandardized becoming more complex, late and extending in time. The social research findings including the one conducted by the author hereby identify the following growing up trends of modern Russian youth (primarily urban): postponing the starting demographic milestones (separation from parents, gaining financial independence, first employment, marriage, birth of the first child), intention towards higher professional education, including interest in continuous educational trends. At the same time, young people in some Russian regions (first of all those not belonging to the European part of Russia like the North Caucasus or peripheral / rural areas of Siberia) are characterized by more traditional models of transition to adult life. Besides, the author considers the social and structural forming conditions (primary capital of social origin, other individual and social recourses) of the post-Soviet young people and their connection to the common-world growing up trends.

The article analyzes the place and role of the Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) in the development of international cooperation and scientific and technological potential of China. The English-language resources of the CNKI are disclosed. The importance of the English version of the CNKI website as a tool for promoting CNKI in the international arena is shown. With the help of the google trends web statistics service, the information needs of foreign users of the Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure are studied. The most promising options and scenarios for cooperation between the Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure and the Russian academic and scientific community are presented. It is explained why the primary task is to pay for full-text access to journals on social sciences and humanities in Chinese. It is suggested that the experience of CNKI may be useful for the formation of a similar national knowledge infrastructure in Russia itself, and integrating the entire Russian-speaking scientific and information space in the world. The role of the Institute of Scientific Information for Social Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences in promoting Russian scientific results abroad and expanding access to foreign resources is shown.

This article studies the dynamics of geopolitical imagination of Inner Asian borders. This concept originated in the 19th century as a synonym for Central Asia. However, the new international order and the cold War in mid-20th century changed its meaning. The article is an attempt to analyze changes of Inner Asian borders in the Oriental discourse over the past 70 years. The article contemplates key definitions of the region that appeared in 20th century in response to changes in the political situation. Information on the main research institutes studying this territory has been systematized. The focus was not only on the very borders of the region yet also on regional ascriptive political attributes. The study has revealed the special role of the cultural and civilizational factor in the formation of the geopolitical imagination and, accordingly, ideas on the region. As a result, optimal consistent criteria were identified. We propose our own logical definition of Inner Asia based on these criteria. This frontier region comprises Mongolia, the Chinese regions: the Inner Mongolia, the Tibetan Autonomous Region, the territory of Dongbei (historical Manchuria), as well as the Russian regions: the Republic of Altai, the Republic of Buryatia, the territory of the Buryat Ust-Ordynsky District within the Irkutsk Region, the Zabaykalsky Krai and the Republic of Tyva. This approach to understanding Inner Asia makes it a large-scale frontier space, where many economic and cultural exchanges between Russia, Mongolia and China take place.

Over the past few years the US-China rivalry has been the main reason for the key events in the Asia-Pacific region. Now this strategic confrontation is taking new forms. Various alliances and coalitions led by the United States are being created. This article analyzes the QUAD and AUKUS alliances and their impact on the balance of power in the region. Every action causes a reaction. China began to deepen relations with allied states after the creation of AUKUS and concluded a military agreement with the Solomon Islands. The ASEAN countries try to avoid being drawn into the confrontation between the US and China and attempt to diversify their foreign policy. For example, the first ever Russia-Indonesia naval exercises took place in December, 2021. Due to the aggravation of Russia’s relations with the Western countries, the Asian vector of foreign policy is currently of particular importance for Russia. It is obvious that the geostrategic and economic confrontation between China and the anti-Chinese coalition under the auspices of the United States is increasing rapidly. There is a good reason to believe that the political situation in the Asia-Pacific region will become more intense and less predictable in the coming years.

Subregional cooperation of the countries of the European Union acquires special significance in the context of the formation of a new European reality. The emergence of new threats to security, difficulties in the internal processes of the EU stimulate individual states of the united Europe to group themselves into small associations to protect their own interests, which may not be a priority for Brussels. The article examines some of the subregional groups that exist within the EU: Benelux, the Nordic Council, the Visegrad Group, the Baltic Assembly, the Central European Initiative, the Weimar Triangle and the Slavkov interaction (Austerlitz format). The authors attempted to typologize subregional associations according to the principle of membership of Western European or Eastern European countries, including states of the former socialist camp. Such an ordering of the aggregate and a comparative analysis of subregional groups made it possible to study the degree of influence of this or that association on the processes in the European Union, as well as to trace new trends in integration processes. In the course of the study, the authors made a conclusion about the growing role of sub-regional groupings in the European space. At the same time, an increase in the number of small groups of states may indicate the intensification of localization processes in the EU policy, which will undoubtedly create difficulties for the development of integration processes and the implementation of a common European policy, which is advocated by Brussels and the leading states of the European Union.

The article reveals the features of the intra-urban areas social differentiation on the example of immigrants’ (and / or foreigners) settlement pattern in cities that can be called “new” immigration centers. The cities such as Madrid, Berlin, Rome, Lisbon and Moscow, for various reasons shown in the article, have begun to face an increase in immigrant flows over the past thirty years. These cities are the research objects, and its main goal is to find the features of the immigrants’ settlement and reveal how it affects social differentiation. It turned out that Madrid and Rome are united by a relatively new increase in the number of immigrants over the past 30 years. In Berlin, the situation is complicated by its long history of dividing the city into West Berlin and East Berlin, which, even after German reunification, affects the city’s social differentiation. Madrid and Rome have been the leaders in the growth of migration since the 1990s. However, the influx of immigrants to Madrid has been influenced by geopolitical events, so there has been a decline in immigration growth since 2008. Since 2016, the influx of immigrants to Madrid has been on the rise again. Lisbon is characterized by a separate settlement of labor immigrants from former colonial countries and wealthier immigrants from the European Union. In general, Lisbon, Madrid and Rome are similar in the post-industrial city features, that is the southern Europe cities’ characteristics. In Moscow, due to the statistics lack, it is difficult to consider the peculiarities of the immigrants settlement pattern. There are no ethnic ghettos in Moscow yet, because the migration history is not so long. Perhaps the main social tension is made by internal migrants, whose urbanization level and socio-ethnic and cultural characteristics are fundamentally different from those in Moscow.

The modern system of international relations is currently in a stage of dynamic transformation. The changes that are taking place in it affect not only the global level, but also the interaction between states at the regional level. In the article the influence of the world order on the processes in the field of security, which is one of the many areas of cooperation and confrontation between the center powers, both regional and global, is being analyzed. The analysis has shown a high level of conflict potential in the Middle East region, long-term and versatile contradictions among the key cross-regional powers (Egypt, Israel, Iran, Turkey and Saudi Arabia), as well as the need to build a security system in the region that could later be integrated into the world architecture. As a result, it is concluded that the inclusive security architecture being formed by Russia in the Middle East, taking into account the preservation of opportunities for equal dialogue of interested parties, could become an effective structure for maintaining peace and stability at the regional level, as well as the basis for a new world order, in the context of the global security architecture, in which the center powers of the world scale will be involved.

For more than 30 years (1990–2021), Chad was ruled by Idriss Deby, one of the most prominent African leaders, who came to power at the head of an armed insurgent group and established a rigidly authoritarian, de facto military regime, but with the elements of electoral democracy expressed in the holding of presidential and parliamentary elections. As in other African countries (Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia, South Sudan, Sierra Leone, etc.), where former rebels became heads of states and governments, ministers and parliamentarians, in Chad under I. Deby there was an atmosphere of permanent political instability amid the constant expansion of powers of law enforcement agencies.
Until the late 2000s, Chad was essentially a repressive state with an underdeveloped economy, entirely dependent on financial assistance and military-political support of the West. Its army was split into competing factions and was characterized by a lack of professionalism. The situation began to change in the 2010s owing to an increase in oil revenues, which allowed to implement a reform of the armed forces. As a result, Chad’s army became a powerful military force in Central Africa, the Sahara-Sahel zone, and the Lake Chad basin, where the country played an important role in weakening the Islamist group Boko Haram.
The paper examines the military-political situation in Chad during the rule of Idriss Deby and, after his death in April 2021, the rule of his son and successor Mahamat Deby. The authors establish the continuity of the two regimes in terms of, firstly, the militarization of the socio-political life and, secondly, the methods of resolving the collision between the government and the opposition.