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In the article the authors analyze the change of French principles of participation in international conflicts after the new edition of White Book in 2013. Each White Book presents the aims and perspectives of the French defense policy development. The first one was published in 1972 during the Cold War and the next one in 1994 after the collapse of the Soviet Union when the major role in conflicts resolution was taken by UNO. The 21st century brings new challenges and threats as well as new methods of conflicts resolution taking into account their new nature and development. In the article we analyze new principles of conflicts resolution elaborated by Francois Holland, the book was published in 2013. The core principles of the previous Book (elaborated by N. Sarkozy) included the activation of the French role on the world arena and reduction of the military forces. But now taking into account that the majority of crises are international and involve different parties and countries, France focuses on collaboration with the other countries especially with the members of NATO. As an example the authors investigate policy of the French government in the operations in Mali and Libya where France plays the leading role. Both conflicts are not resolved and are going to become permanent. So, as it takes more forces and expenses, the French government tries to bring in more countries-allies to settle the issue.

This article is dedicated to the studying of the Madrid Peace Conference significance in the context of the Arab-Israeli conflict settlement. The end of the Cold War at the beginning of the 1990s had a huge impact on the system of international relations and the Arab-Israeli conflict as well. The US an the USSR both worked together to gather Israelis an Arabs in one place for the purpose of negotiating. Thus they took part in the Madrid Peace Conference 1991. From the beginning Israeli position was more strong than Arabs one mainly because of the American bias in favor of Israel. Meanwhile, the USSR was on the edge of collapse and couldn't organize a comprehensive support for Arabs as Soviets did it before. Furthermore, each sides tried to lead the process of negotiations in their favor because both the Arabs and the Israelis expected different results of this conference. In the end, all participants were fed up with pointless discussions. Multilateral track of negotiations brought nothing. The same went with bilateral tracks. To sum it up, the «Madrid formula» of negotiations didn't fulfill the expectations. But at the same time, it prepared the base of further secret negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians in Oslo. Thus broking psychological barriers between these two sides was the main goal of the Madrid Peace Conference 1991.

Статья состоит из четырех частей. В первой части анализируется мандат СММ и его ограничения, а также некоторые дебаты о возможных расширениях или альтернативах Миссии. Во второй части освещаются специфический характер и последующие вызовы СММ по сравнению с другими миссиями ОБСЕ. В третьей части обсуждается вопрос об эффективности деятельности Миссии с разграничением позитивных и критических оценок наблюдателей с течением времени. В четвертой и последней части приводится краткий анализ влияниятрех основных участников конфликта - Российской Федерации, Украины и представителей двух донбасских де-факто образований (т. н. "ДНР" и "ЛНР") - на деятельность СММ. В заключении мы извлекаем некоторые предварительные уроки для будущего подобного рода миссий

This article presents the analysis of the US involvement in the process of providing indirect military and other kinds of support to the Afghan mujahedeens. The author also presents a brief overview of the main methods and means of US military aid to the Afghan rebels in the 1980s, as well as a detailed consideration of the process of providing such assistance. The author identifies three stages in the process of interaction between the US administration and the US intelligence agencies, on the one hand, and the Afghan insurgency, on the other hand: the first stage (1978-1979) refers to introduction of a limited contingent of Soviet troops in Afghanistan, where the US assistance to Afghan rebels was extremely cautious and measured; the second stage (1980) is marked by a considerable build-up of military assistance to Mujahedeens, but the United States sought to conceal their participation in this process; and during the third stage (since the election of Ronald Reagan up to the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan), the assistance to Mujahedeens increased in several times, and the US stopped hiding this fact. The author briefly discusses the role and place of such countries slong with the US as Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan and so on in the structure of rendering support to the Afghan Mujahideens. The author also studies the US role in Afghanistan's transformation into a "nest" for cultivating Islamic extremists.

This article makes a study of the actions of different groups of civilians during the Battle of Khasan Lake. The research was carried out on the basis of the data from the Archive of Primorsky Krai and National Institute for Defense Studies of Ministry of Defense (Japan). This article analyses the difference in the attitude and involvement of the civilians and armies of both Japan and the USSR. The citizens of the Soviet Union provided tremendous assistance to the Red Army. In particular, collective farmers, workers, women helped to carry ammunition, provided care, supplied the Red Army with food. The ethnic Koreans, the Manchus, the Japanese, the white emigrants from Russia formed a multi-national state in Manchukuo on the Japanese territories. None of them strived to help Japanese army except white emigrants. However, the others supported the Japanese only in words but not in deeds, for example, the ethnic Koreans escaped from a place of hostilities. The behaviour of the civilians of the USSR and Manchukuo makes it clear that in the eyes of the inhabitants of the Russian Far East this conflict was perceived as a Patriotic War, whereas the civilian population of the Japanese territories did not feel involvement in this conflict. The difference in perception and action of civilians in the Japanese territories and the USSR is studied in this article.

The article is devoted to the events that took place on the Crimean peninsula during the Eastern War (1853-1856) beyond the main battle fields. The author describes overall picture of what was happening in the Crimean cities on the background of heroic defense of Sevastopol, names cities which experienced invasion and tells about the consequences of their occupation. The article mainly focuses on Simferopol and Bakhchisaray as the front-line cities that played a significant role in defense of Sevastopol and experienced all the consequences of military actions on the Crimean peninsula. The author names the famous participants of the Crimean War whose lives were closely connected with those cities, and tells about historical monuments related to the events of those years. The aforementioned participants include the famous writers L. N. Tolstoy and N. V. Berg, who spent significant amount of time in those cities during the war. Another personality that draws the author's close attention is N.I. Pirogov, a surgeon whose professional activity on the peninsula at that time was tightly connected with Simferopol. The article also tells about active participants of military operations – generals P.A. Vrevskiy and P.V. Veimarn who lost their lives during the battle at the Chornaya river and were buried in Bakhchisaray. The author believes that knowledge of events that were happening on the entire territory of the Crimean peninsula substantially improves our understanding of the scale of the Crimean War, reveals the drama of the War and its impact on nations, cities and individuals – whether well-known to us or not – and provides additional material for patriotic education. The article describes in detail the work on preservation of memorials of the Crimean War and promotes the attitude of care towards the monuments located all over the Crimean peninsula.

The article examines the stages of the national liberation struggle of the peoples of South- Eastern Europe against the Ottoman Empire. The Russian Empire supported the Christian population and helped the southern Slavs and the Greeks to get free from the Ottoman dependency. But Emperor Nicholas I opposed the revolution. The 1850s were marked by the strained political and economic relations between Russia, Turkey, Britain, France and other European States. The Bulgarian and the Greek bourgeoisie had moved from enlightment activity to the political one. Bulgarians, Serbs, Moldovans, Greeks joined the volunteers and defended national interests with the weapon in hands. During the Crimean war the Russian command created military units on the territory of the Danubian principalities. Volunteers fought on the Danube, in Moldavia and Wallachia, and the Crimea. They protected the borders, defended the bastions of Sevastopol. The subject of the research is the organization of volunteer groups, national and social composition of the groups. The role of volunteers was of an exclusive political significance. The number of volunteers in the ranks of Russian troops was insignificant. But the volunteers were guides of Russian policy in the Turkish lands. They represented the fighting core.

It is impossible to imagine a modern world without conflicts. Struggle occurs every day between people for the possession of any good. Conflicts occur in different social strata and between people of different ages and different sexes. But what is conflict? And why are they constantly, even when we do not notice it? How to resolve the conflict in your favor or at least without losses?

In the article the main methodological approaches to the problem of interaction of institutes of the state and civil society in the context of ensuring national security of Russia are analyzed. Two main alternative concepts (liberal and etatist) to which the Russian researchers adhere are allocated. Supporters of liberal approach suppose that domination of the interests of civil society and ensuring equal cooperation with government institutions at the solution of problems of ensuring national security is necessary. Adherents of the etatist concept defend an unconditional priority of government bodies in this sphere. The authors provide the conceptual analysis of estimates by domestic researchers of the main activities of associations of the citizens connected with the counteraction to threats of national security. In the article positive impact of institutes of civil society on political and social and economic processes in Russia is noted, their assistance in development of the state institutes of the state and the potential of constructive interaction with federal and regional authorities on ensuring national security is estimated. The detailed analysis of the politological concept according to which more active participation of public organizations and socially responsible citizens in ensuring national security is necessary, is carried out. Their influence on development of a security system has to become more and more considerable because of social and economic problems which are objectively demanding participation of civil society in their decision-making. It is connected also with the need of modernization breakthrough, not possible without civil initiatives. In the article the conclusion that the Russian researchers attach great value to interaction of institutes of the state and civil society in ensuring national security of the Russian Federation is drawn, conceptually proving the need of their joint activity for this direction, and noting that this potential is still not fully realized.

The ecological notion of resilience has been adopted by different Western theoretical approaches in a wide range of scientific fields from economics to political studies. Canadian ecologist С. Holling defines resilience as a measure of the persistence of systems and of their ability to absorb change and disturbance (dynamic part) and still maintain the same relationships between populations or state variable (static part). The aim of this article is to identify the role of the dynamic dimension in strengthening resilience of British society during the period between the two London terrorist attacks of 2005 and 2017. Methods: The methodology of the paper is based on the discourse analysis of the key British documents on public security and the Internet publications immediately after the tragedy. Considering the theoretical aspect, the author distinguishes 'the bouncing back' approach (emphasizing static dimension), 'complexity' (dynamic) and 'adaptive cycles' being a middle ground. Analysis: Analysis of the key British security documents has shown that the government policy on strengthening resilience failed as it was characterized by an excessive predominance of the static element over the dynamic one. However, during the crisis, the London society managed to respond through specific set of adaptation measures such as grassroots self-organization through social networks, strategies of normalization and the phenomenon of habituation. Results: Results of this paper can be summarized in the following points: D. Chandler's concept of 'complexity' has the significant potential for understanding the effectiveness of counterterrorism strategies and ensuring public security. Russia, also facing the threat of international terrorism, should take into account the negative experience of British colleagues and avoid underestimating the preventive dimension of strengthening resilience.

The Azerbaijan-Russia borderline mainly goes by the Caucasian mountain range and close to the Samur riverbed. Main border posts are situated close to the Caspian seashore while the locals living in the Upper Dagestan area have difficulties with crossing borderline. The locals are represented by the so called "divided peoples" whose living area was divided with the state border after 1991. The former inner borders ignored ethnic areas but now they became the lines crossing the ethnic groups of Legins, Avars, Tzakhurs and Rutuls. Certainly, those peoples are interested in specific rules for crossing the border. At the same time, their areas have not got the equipped border offices and they have to spend a lot of time and money for travelling to the neighboring districts via Baku or Vladikavkaz. Such problems arouse the radical demands among locals. The Lezgin movement for an independent Lezgistan is the most famous among them. Its supporters were involved in a terrorist attack in Baku in 1990-s and now they collect files about any problems connected with border issues, including the results of a demarcation process. They attract attention to the facts of all assignments made by Russian representatives. The activity of other ethnic groups was comparatively lower and they could make an agreement with local authorities about division of powers. Obviously, any solution about development of the border infrastructure may stabilize the separatism activity in the area.

The author determines the key challenges and threats to cross-border security at Azerbaijan-Russia borderline on the basis of analysis of Federal and regional media, declarations made by representatives of the local and borderline authorities, as well as online activities of national movements. The author reveals the infrastructure factors of ensuring cross-border activity, social and economic conditions of borderline districts development. The suggestion is made on the need to develop infrastructure borderline objects for complex development of the crossborder area that will allow preventing separatism.

Since 1990s, the number of states conflicts decreased and they started saying that the classical wars disappeared but at the same time, the number of internal conflicts increased dramatically. The end of colonial regime in Africa didn't bring peace to the region - the new wave of internal conflicts and civil wars overwhelmed the region. In the given article the authors analyze political and complicated socio-economic situation in the Tropical Africa, describe the conflicts in this zone, their typology, results and factors. The authors attempt to analyze internal and external causes of conflicts in the studied region, taking into account all elements of each conflict and their interdependence. The subject of the article is the conflict as the social element presenting the important part of international reality. It is noted that the crisis in the region influences every part of economic, social, and political spheres, so the solution is not possible without structural changes. In this connection, conflicts are the logical results of regional crisis as well as uncertain activity of international society. This situation provokes the large wave of migrants from the region and inside it. The countries the Tropical Africa can't guarantee any suitable level of life for the citizens, and the situation can't be resolved without active role of international community.

The last 300 years the subject of opposition of Russia and Europe is periodically staticized. If before contradictions between the leading European actors were considered through a domination prism on the continent, then in the 21st century the problem of effective development and safety which can't be reliably provided without attraction to this process of all significant political players comes out on top. Historical opposition of Russia and Europe in new century began to gain turbulent character which is characterized by lack of opredelennost and regularities. Attempt of Russian political government during the initial Post-Soviet stage to approach the West and to become his part I haven't found support among leaders of the Western world who didn't see the equal partner in Russia, ignoring her at the solution of questions of world politics. Despite the taken steps on rapprochement, in general not an udalost to overcome mistrust which began to increase in process of rapprochement of the countries of the former Soviet Union with the countries of NATO and the European Union.

The article explores the issue on the perception of the concept "national security" areas, models and methods of its maintenance by the population. The author uses materials of the sociological survey conducted by the Laboratory of problems of increasing the efficiency of state and municipal management of the South-Russian Institute of Management - branch of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration. The survey was carried out with the participation of leading experts in various aspects of national security, representing 27 Russian higher educational institutions and research centers in Moscow, Astrakhan, Barnaul, Belgorod, Dushanbe, Krasnodar, Nizhny Novgorod, Omsk, Pyatigorsk, Rostov-on-Don, Saint Petersburg, Syktyvkar, Sochi, Ufa. It is noted that as a priority political governance model that implements the basic concept of national security, respondents identified a democratic model. Most respondents believe that a unified security model in the Russian regions is ineffective, and such model should be developed taking into account the specificity of each subject. The study showed that the public's attention to the issue of national security is not sustainable, as determined by situational factors. It is proved that the motives of anxiety formed in the Russian public mind are not sustainable, and situational. Respondents see the economic cooperation more effective incentive to maintain national interests than by force. Estimation of the population of the priority issues of security shows that most respondents appreciate the organization of work to ensure the safety and anti-terrorism security in the sphere of national relations. The findings give grounds to assert that the focus of public attention to the problem of national security does not yet occupy the leading positions. To a greater extent, respondents focused on the issues of public safety, reducing threats and risks in their daily lives. Apparently, despite the external and internal attempts by certain forces to escalate the symptoms of military threats, economic and political instability, the state authorities have managed to maintain a stable situation on the ground and to instill confidence in the stability of the government itself. However, assessments of respondents showing pain points (as discussed above), on which the regional and federal authorities and the public should focus their attention. This should avoid focusing on minor topics objects, eliminate switching public attention on themes and subjects that do not require a real public outcry and do not carry the real threats to the individual, society and state. Thus, the problem of improving the state policy in the sphere of security exists objectively, and its resolution should be ensured not only by the professional power sector, deputies and representatives of the executive power, but also qualified experts from civil society and scientific environment. (author's abstract)