Suchergebnisse

The likely terrorist capacity of the Muslim community in Germany is examined in relation to the ethnic and religious diversity of this community. Domestic policy measures taken by state structures to prevent and combat Islamic terrorism are shown and their effectiveness is investigated. Due to its domestic politics, Germany too late realized the necessity of integrating the Muslim diaspora into national life and close monitoring of the activities of Islamic organizations present in the country. At the beginning of the new millennium, when the danger of Islamic terrorism became apparent in the West, there was a strong Muslim diaspora in Germany, ethnically diverse, practicing different trends in Islam, functioning in parallel to the life of the state and vulnerable to radicalization. Aware of the need to integrate Muslims, German government entered into a dialogue with Muslim organizations and alliances that displayed interest in it. At the same time, Islamic organizations which were incapable of or not interested in domestic political integration were politically and legally marginalized. The government's course towards radical Islamic associations was significantly tightened during the 2015–2017 immigration crisis, when the country accepted large contingents of Mus-lim refugees and when German citizens became victims of terrorist attacks. There is now a (mostly) well-coordinated, structured fight against Islamism, which includes both preventive and repressive measures and involves all levels of society, ranging from state authorities to civil society organizations.

France is currently going through a rather difficult period of reforms carried out by President Emmanuel Macron in order to bring the economy out of prolonged stagnation and restore the country's «greatness» in the world. Macron's reform initiatives, based on monetarist recipes and the concept of supply-side economics, are considered in the context of the global trend towards economic liberalization that began in the 1970 s and included most developed and developing countries. Until now, changes in France have been slow, with a great lag from other European countries and accompanied by mass protests of the population, because they run counter to the principles of the post-war dirigiste socio-economic model. France went through a long period of liberalization and retreat of the state, and the French model of the market economy has acquired a kind of hybrid character: it is no longer a dirigiste, but also neither a liberal model of the classical (Anglo-Saxon) type. The President set a task to bring the neoliberal transformation of the French socio-economic model to its logical end by reforming institutions that do not meet modern challenges. The article analyzes the most important reforms that were carried out by French presidents before E. Macron, in order to reduce the public sector, change labor law and collective bargaining procedures, reduce social expenditures of the state, etc. The role of E. Macron in neoliberal reforms during the presidency of F. Hollandeis shown. Particular attention is paid to the tasks and content of E. Macron's landmark reforms, including the reform of labor legislation, tax reform, the reform of the state monopoly in the field of railway transport, and the incomplete pension reform. The President has surpassed his predecessors in terms of the scale and significance of neoliberal reforms. This is unquestionably major breakthrough in neoliberal transformation, which will have an impact on the further development of the country's economy.

The article examines specifics of integration of the Chinese diaspora into French society. The author identifies several Chinese communities, differing by the place of origin, such as «Indo-Chinese community» (from Southern Vietnam), «Wenzhou» (county in Zhejiang province), «Dongbei» (from the region of the same name of the PRC). The study reveals the influence of «push» («exodus» from Vietnam) and «pull» to the country of immigration («Wenzhou» and «Dongbei» communities) factors. The paper investigates social heterogeneity of the diaspora, from the «artisan proletariat» and small merchants to wholesalers and financiers. The author analyzes common features originating in cultural identity. The importance of ethno-cultural characteristics in the integration of the Chinese and their success (as a «model minority») is emphasized. The paper discusses the nature of anti-Chinese sentiments in French society (ressentiment). Using the case study of the Chinese diaspora, the author raises the question of the possibility of multicultural integration in contemporary France.

The police, the Bundeswehr and the intelligence services of the FRG have been recently drawn into a series of high-profile scandals provoked by right-wing extremism and growing xenophobic attitudes among the ranks of the armed forces and law enforcement officers. The article is an attempt to analyze the reasons for the spread of right-wing extremism in the power structures of Germany, its main forms and the level of the threat it poses to society and government. As for the far-right-wing potential, the State Office for the Protection of the Constitution puts the estimate at about 1,400 representatives. Although this number seems to be less than 1% of the country's total number of law-enforcement authorities, don't let it confuse you. Even a small group of right-wing extremists who possess weapons, are specially trained and have access to classified information can become a big problem for the government. Moreover, consideration must be given to the clearly growing rates of nationalist and xenophobic attitudes. According to the author, there are various reasons for the situation, with the main of them being the shifts in public sentiment, as well as the specifics of the activities of the police and the army. The European migrant crisis of 2015 and the following societal divisions influenced the attitudes of the country's security agencies, which did not approve the policy of Chancellor Angela Merkel. Additionally, constantly operating in criminal districts of large cities, mainly populated by Turks and Arabs, the police developed a negative attitude to all representatives of the migrant community. Furthermore, we should not forget that security agencies and the army are quite conservative by nature, and the crisis of state institutions inevitably pushes some «men of arms» to the far-right-wing camp, which promises to restore order. The article concludes with some recommendations on right-wing extremism prevention in the law enforcement system (spe-cial agencies performance improvement, adoption of education policy, etc.).

In the second half of the 2010 s, the scale of the threat of international terrorism faced by the EU and NATO member states increased significantly. This not only led to a large geographical expansion of the area of anti-terrorist struggle, but also initiated an active search for more effective specialized tactics. The article illustrates this process by the case of Germany, taking into account its growing activity on the world stage. Germany has taken part in the missions in the Mediterranean Sea deployed to prevent the arrival of fighters mimicking refugees into the EU. The paper pays special attention to German participation in anti-terrorist struggle in the countries of Middle East, Central Asia, and Sahel that have been trying to clear their territories of radical illegal armed groups. Germany has not been involved in the first phase of the fight against terrorist groups, during the ini-tial military defeat, but later actively participated in the implementation of anti-terrorist prevention measures. The author indicates the factors that determine Germany's readiness to use its military potential in the struggle with terrorist structures in a particular country. The article also stresses the de jure non-combat nature of the use of the Bundeswehr and explores the features and also «bottlenecks» in the use of its military contingents and the deployment of its military training missions. The task of the latter is to ensure that local security forces accept the main burden in the fight against illegal armed groups on their territory, while at the same time the FRG controls the training of se-curity forces (first of all army) and the use of troops. The author compares the schemes for the use of military training missions of the Bundeswehr in Mali, Somalia and Iraq. The main conclusion is that Germany is developing an anti-terrorist tactics which include the targeted use of special operations forces in order to reach the «point of no return» in the defeat of the militants.

На нынешнем этапе актуальна тема влияния СМИ на этнополитику. Исследователи показывают: многонациональному государству, каким является Казахстан, приходится учитывать, что СМИ сегодня часто становятся главным источником информации для населения. Иначе деструктивные оппозиционные силы, обостряя существующие межнациональные конфликты, могут привести к распаду государства.

Since the era of Cold War the dialogue with France has been too important for FRG in its efforts to strengthen its influence both in the Euro-Atlantic community and in the world. That is why the article has the goal to explore the relations between these two European powers in the security sphere from the second half of the 2010 s until the beginning of the 2020 s. The paper tries to determine the degree of institutionalization of interstate relations and the role of bilateral negotiating platforms in the creating of common position on international problems. It is also important to show the dynamics of negotiating process on the highest level. The author also examines the key articles of the Aachen Treaty (2019). In this regard the paper analyses early efforts of Emmanuel Macron to confirm French leadership in bilateral tandem. The article considers the features of German-French tactics to minimize negative impact of Brexit on the EU. Another aspect is the tandem actions aimed at weakening of negative effects of the steps of Trump`s administration over the system of international security. In this regard it`s important to show German-French contribution in the development of PESCO and also to analyse what problems and perspectives two powers may face on their way to the creation of common European army. Another interesting aspect is the features of common approach to the resolution of the armed conflicts in Ukraine and Syria, keeping JCPOA. The article also covers the «bottlenecks» and features of German diplomatic and military assistance to France in Mali. The situation shows the growing mutual interest for the deepening of cooperation in the Sahel G5 (also Burkina-Faso, Mauretania, Niger, Tchad). The author concludes about the prospects of German leadership in the tandem and its importance for both powers in the long-term.

The articles explores internal and external factors explaining the emergencе of the islamist terrorism on the French soil as well as the modalities of the French authorities' fight with it. In connection with the fact that most terrorists were born and grew up in France, special attention is paid to the problem of the Muslim community, the largest in Europe. An objective contradiction is noted between the desire of the majority of Muslims to preserve religious traditions and de facto atheistic French society. Coupled with the problems of poverty and social exclusion, this creates favorable conditions for the activities of Islamic fundamentalists, including militant, who seek to radicalize Muslim youth and promote the idea of jihad. The attempts of the authorities to oppose them with «French Islam», which would be compatible with the liberal «republican values» and the secular State, are showed. Measures to prevent radicalization of young Muslims are considered. At the same time, the article analyzes the efforts of the authorities to prevent terrorist attacks with the help of security structures, by tightening control over citizens, mobilizing local governments, forming a «culture of security» throughout the whole society. The fight of France against jihadism outside of its borders, namely in the Sahel region in Africa, is touched upon.

Beginning with an overview of the threats of terrorism in Europe and the USA, the author offers a survey of factors that have been identified as influencing the practices of counterterrorism or law enforcement agencies. Massive counterterrorism operations in Syria and Iraq as well as effectiveness of the counterterrorism authorities curbed large-scale attacks of jihadists in both Western Europe and the United States. But with one of the Islamic State's key goals being the formation of a new society, rather than simply military victories, the dissemination of its brand and ideology via mainstream social media becomes critical to achieving ISIS' strategic goals. A surge in the Muslim population with subsequent high Muslim unemployment has been shown to be a predisposing factor for radicalization of the part of Muslim diasporas and its recruitment into the global jihad. The EU-members and the United States need to work more closely on disrupting jihadists' social media, travel, recruitment and logistics, countering terrorist finance, protecting potential targets. The importance of sharing information is specifically underlined. But the polarisation of society, discrimination and other psychological and sociological factors can reinforce people's vulnerability to radical discourse. Thus, counter-terrorism should not be purely repressive: integration and iclusion would contribute to prevention efforts, assuming that a more cohesive and inclusive society can help prevent the spread of extremist ideologies leading to terrorism.

Since the early 1990 s, Germany has been playing an active role in shaping so-called the post-Yugoslavian space, using a diversified political, diplomatic and military tools. Demonstration of Germany's abilities in the Balkans contributed to the fact that the country gradually regained its role as a regional power and began to move towards the position of a full-fledged global player. The article focuses on the dynamics and results of the development of bilateral contacts between the FRG and the Balkan regional actors in the political and military field in the 2010 s. In this regard, the practical significance of increasing the number of Balkan countries in NATO and launching the Conference on the Western Balkans is analyzed. The roles of Slovenia and Croatia as focal regional partners of Germany are revealed. The author compares FRG's approaches to the settlement of armed conflicts in Bosnia and Herzegovina and in Kosovo and shows the difficulties faced by German diplomacy in bringing these countries closer to the Euro-Atlantic community. In this context, the position of the FRG in the settlement of the «Macedonian issue» is examined and the growing understanding by the German leadership of the importance of a significant improvement in relations with Serbia for strengthening the strategic positions of Germany in the Balkans is revealed. The author describes the mediating and coordinating role of Germany in establishing unofficial contacts between official Belgrade and Kosovo and emphasizes the importance of the «negotiation link» between Chancellor A. Merkel and President A. Vučić. It is noted that Germany demonstrates the readiness to accept the tactics of multi-speed rapprochement of the states of the post-Yugoslavian space with the EU and NATO. The article concludes that, at the present, the main tactical task of the FRG in the post-Yugoslavian space is to ensure the integration of all states in the region into the Euro-Atlantic community.

The article analyzes some aspects of Romania's foreign policy in the Balkan region. It is noted that the same fact that country belongs to the Balkans causes ambiguous interpretations on the part of Romanian politicians and experts, many of whom believe that Romania cannot be attributed to this region either geographically or politically. At the same time, culturally and historically, according to a certain part of historians and sociologists, Romania nevertheless carries the features of the so-called «Balkanism», due to the common Ottoman past with the Balkan Peninsula. These features are also relevant for the current socio-political situation, which is shown in the article with specific examples. In addition, criticism of the very term «Balkanism» from the side of Romanian analysts is presented. The author also examines Romania's relations with the countries of the Western Balkans, primarily with Serbia. The points of contact of the positions of these countries are noted, which are largely due to the desire of Serbia to resolve the Kosovo problem in its favor, relying on the support of Romania - one of the five EU countries that did not recognize the independence of Kosovo. Romania, using this situation, is trying to strengthen its position, seeking regional leadership. The author comes to the conclusion that, although the Western Balkan countries directly or indirectly aspire to Euro-Atlantic structures, some of them (primarily Serbia) maintain and develop friendly relations with Russia, which complicates their interaction with Romania, orthodoxly adhering to the NATO and European Union policies and having a very difficult relationship with Russia.

Since joining the current stage of globalization, France has changed considerably. Shifts occurred in all spheres of society, but they were not synchronous. The most dynamic area – the economy-was the fastest to «react» to France's entry into the global economy. In the social sphere, the changes were slower than in the economy, but they were very profound: they affected the working class, employees, and the middle classes, which were numerically reduced and fragmented. In the mid-1990 s, France's foreign policy began to adapt to the new world order that emerged as a result of the collapse of the USSR. This forced the French political class to reconsider its foreign policy attitudes and «to make lower its ambitions». By the second decade of the twenty-first century, the political landscape of the country had changed: traditional parties had collapsed, and radical populist parties and movements («Unconquered France» of J.-L. Melenchon and «National Union» of M. Le Pen) had become stronger on the left and right flanks. Against the background of these large-scale changes, social protest movements have emerged and intensified in France; the split between society and the elites has acquired unprecedented proportions. To these trends and phenomena, the coronavirus pandemic has been added, which poses a huge number of problems for the country's authorities to solve.

The article analyses the place of the Soviet past issues in the interparty discussion in contemporary Russia. The methodology of the study is based on the cleavage theory and the issue dimensions theory which consider confrontation as the engine of the political life. The lists of issues and most active participants are formed on the base of issue salience and issue ownership criteria. Factor analysis of party positions on these issues revealed two divisions: 'Communists vs Anticommunists' and 'Liberals vs Statists'. Factor loadings of these divisions are compared with parties' factor loadings in political dimensions on a wider range of issues: three main ones (systemic, authoritarian-democratic, socioeconomic) and seven additional – in three issues domains: domestic policy, social and economic policy, systemic domain (international relations + worldviews). It is detected that the 'Communists vs Anticommunists' division correlates well with the main socioeconomic dimension and its subtype 'Communists vs Liberals', but most strongly – with a sub-dimension 'Soviet traditionalists vs Progressives' from the systemic domain. The 'Liberals vs Statists' division appeared to correlate closely with the main authoritarian-democratic dimension, but much more – with the subtype 'Liberals vs Loyalists' from the domestic policy issue domain. It is concluded that the divisions on the issues of the Soviet past easily fit into the picture of political dimensions and even get lost in it. Comparison of divisions over the Soviet past with electoral cleavages shows that these issues are not very important for the mass mind. High correlation coefficients are devalued by high p-levels, indicating that there is a typical "third factor" effect in the case.

The review deals with prominent aspects of the interaction between the SCO Member States in the field of politics, economics, science and education. Special importance is attached to digitalization, youth projects, scientific and educational cooperation of universities and the activities of international information and scientific centres that have an impact on the integration processes in the Eurasian area.

The article examines the current state of affairs in Belarus and Serbia - two countries that previously were parts of the socialist federal states, but currently belong to the regions of Eastern Europe and the Balkans/South-Eastern Europe, respectively. The first part of the article is devoted to Belarusian-Serbian relations. Political cooperation is developing at the presidential, governmental and parliamentary levels, and interaction is also carried out at the level of various departments, regions and cities. For Serbia, the support from Belarus on the international scene is important, in particular, in the issue of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Serbia. The second part of the article is devoted to Serbia's relations with the EU and the countries of the Adriatic Euroregion. On December 22, 2009 Serbia applied for EU membership. Despite the significant progress in the negotiations, Serbia has not yet become one of the EU member states. The third part of the article analyzes relations between Belarus and its neighbors, as well as cooperation with the EU. The European Union is the second most important market for Belarusian exports (after Russia). The main trading partners of Belarus among European countries, based on the indicators of bilateral trade in 2019, are Germany, Poland, Great Britain, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Italy, Turkey, Latvia, France, Belgium, and the Czech Republic. The article concludes on the state and prospects of Belarusian-Serbian relations, cooperation of Belarus and Serbia with the EU and neighboring countries, and gives a description of the political systems and foreign policy of Belarus and Serbia.