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There are various instances of local identity in modern Russia. However, vying with it, regional features of national identity must not contradict. At the same time, ethnic, confessional, symbolic, historical markers are being structured in local regional communities in a number of ways.

The main actors who are totally legitimate for building local identities in political discourse are regional political elites. By the identity politics of political actors, social space is structured and "typified", and own strategies are legitimized. "Leader - electorate" relationship still remains as the key factor which can be used to manipulate public opinion.

The article raises the issue of the current state of the political identity of the population of Volgograd Region. The results of the empirical analysis of the political identity structure are also presented. The authors conclude that the nature of the political identity of Volgograd Region population is determined mostly by its syntagmatic qualities being developed through the mismatch of ideological, electorate and personified levels of the political identity. Furthermore, key features of the political consciousness are inactivity and supineness of the people. Inhabitants prefer not to take part in policy decisions and take no responsibility.

The achievements and the problems on the way of seeking regional political identity originated from the peculiarities of the regional dynamics are also analyzed in the work. Despite the domination of the negative ideologemes in the regional political development, sense and images of historic victories of the country are still the main unifying forces for the separate ways of thinking of Volgograd population.

The article analyzes the processes of regional construction and their specific features in the Baltic Sea region. The article provides insights into main approaches to defining the notion of the Baltic Sea Region, its geography, rationales and preconditions of the Baltic Sea Region construction. The author makes conclusion that currently the construction process is being continued, and it involves a wide range of actors: NGOs, local and regional authorities, scientific organizations, higher education institutions, business structures, international organizations. All these actors use different tools and act in different spheres. Although there is no clear answer to the question "Who and how constructs the Baltic Sea Region?", it is concluded that the cooperation played a significant role in this process, for example, by determining the geography of the region and creating communication networks. Projects, in turn, become a widespread form of cooperation which are used by large Baltic interregional organizations, such as the Northern Dimension, Interregional programmes, the Council of the Baltic Sea States. International project activity of the described above actors, being the point of pooled resources application and also narratives on the regional issues, became one of the mechanisms of the region construction. The article proves that a wide variety of projects in various fields with the participation of different actors creates a picture of the Baltic Sea region building some of its features and providing common identity and responsibility ideas. (author's abstract)

This article considers the ideational and political contexts in which Project 5-100, the Russian excellence in higher education initiative emerged, as well as the specificities of its organisational and behavioural model. While Project 5-100 has been studied in the academic literature as regards its efficiency and how it affected the performance and inner workings of the participating universities, the question of how the project came about and the characteristic traits of its internal set-up still remain largely overlooked. The study focuses on the involvement of local and international players, arguing that their successful and organic cooperation influenced both the architecture and the implementation of the project. This paper contributes to the literature on policy networks by showing that transnational actors do not necessarily undermine or challenge state power and can on the contrary help governments implement systemic change. Inspired by the international experience of establishing world-class universities, Project 5-100 was conceived and lobbied by a small but influential group of visionaries pushing for change who – acting in a concerted and purposive manner – acquired a novel and powerful capacity to use international expertise for the development of a key national project, capable of deeply transforming the country's higher educational system.

The academic research in the area of service marketing generally assumes friendly or neutral context of the encounters between employees and customers while providing or consuming the product. Recently, however, scholars are witnessing a new notion, namely 'Dark Side of Marketing' (DSM) which entails an increasing stream of pertinent publications in the literature. DSM is a complex yet multifaceted notion and refers to adverse effects of marketing paradigm implementation for humans, businesses and environment. Deviant behavior is a notable phenomenon pertinent to the nature of DSM, as it is mostly examined in relevant studies in comparison with other DSM manifestations. Deviant behavior is also emphasized in DSM studies because of its definitely negative impact on customer satisfaction, loyalty, WOM and, ultimately, on business performance metrics. To date, there is no DSM studies completed in the context of the Russian service industry as literature witnesses although this research question bears an apparent relevance for local business. This paper is destined to bridge this gap by defining the deviant behavior antecedents and gauging their consequences for marketing actors at the servicescape. The research results are based on empirical study of data collected from n=133 sample and on the analysis with utilization of Structural Equitation Modeling (SEM) method.

Introduction: The paper deals with the conception of state social management in Russia after the reform of the system of local self-government in the second half of the 19th century and the practical activities of charitable organizations at the provincial and district levels. Methods: The research is based on the social legislation of the period under study, the works of Russian social policy researchers of the 19th - early 20th centuries, materials of statistical collections, periodicals. Analysis: The concept of charity and philanthropy, being developed during the period under study, involved the transformation of public-private philanthropy into public charity. Its main actors are the provincial and city authorities, which solve social problems in conjunction with private charitable institutions and are responsible for the state of social problems. The state reserved coordination and control functions. Within the framework of this concept, specific guidelines for charitable work were developed, including: its distribution to all demographic and social groups in need, a wide range of types of social assistance, and even distribution of charitable institutions throughout the country. However, in practice, innovation touched mainly metropolitan and provincial cities. Territorial and city medical, educational, social and rehabilitation institutions that had emerged in provinces, expanded the possibilities of providing assistance to the most vulnerable segments of the population. However, their distribution was still not even, rural settlements lost significantly. In uyezds, charities were few and could not help all socially disadvantaged groups of society. Results: The article shows that in the period under study, the concept of public philanthropy was not fully implemented.

The strategic position of the South Caucasus prompted the regional players, Russia, Iran and Turkey, to seek more significant influence on this territory. Israel is not a direct actor in the South Caucasus. Still, the region is of great strategic importance for the foreign policy doctrine of the Israeli state, whose interests only intensified as Iran's influence had expanded after the lifting of sanctions in 2016. This article focuses on the region's importance to Israel in its regional and national security. Based on this, the paper identifies and analyzes Israel's geopolitical priorities and interests in the South Caucasus. The primary attention is paid to the main directions of Israel's foreign policy, focused on protecting its vital interests. Since the creation of the Israeli state, the central foreign policy doctrines have been researched. The main aspects of Israel's relations and interests with the region's states (particularly the role of Iran) have been analyzed. Israel's foreign policy is primarily tied to its deeply rooted historical traditions and is based on the principles of realism. Israel's interests and policy in the Caucasus have three main aspects: strategic - a means of encircling Iran, medium-term - the energy supply zone, short-term - a market for the sale of high-tech weapons and ammunition. At the same time, these dimensions pose a challenge for the three traditional regional players - Russia, Turkey and Iran - who are very reluctant to admit extra-regional actors. The novelty of the article lies in consideration of Israel as a new geopolitical actor in the South Caucasus in the triangle of relations between regional and local states, as well as a zone for ensuring Israel's geo-security. The main provisions and conclusions of the article can be used in scientific and pedagogical activities in assessing the issues of regional and national security, foreign policy and geopolitics of the South Caucasus.