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In a radically changed world, geopolitical costs and errors as a result of underestimation or, conversely, overestimation of increasingly non-linear hybrid processes, conflicting trends and often spontaneous events acquire increased practical and political significance. Under these conditions, the focus of research attention could not but be on the recently published work of French researchers and international experts under the catchy and meaningful title "The world will never be the same". In the focus of the analysis is the updated context of modern crisis geopolitics. The conceptual and analytical basis of the text is formed by extensive introductory and at the same time generalizing sections that systematize two dozen chapters on a variety of international topics and problems. They were written by the co-leaders of the team of authors, well-known French international political researchers Bertrand Bady and Dominique Vidal. A new approach is put at the forefront, which is not predetermined in advance, but is created on the basis of life practice as a result and under the influence of historical surprises, unforeseen and even previously unimaginable events. An attempt was made to consider the problems of the future world order through the prism of great-power contradictions, the confrontation of various value orientations and development models with an emphasis on the competition of democracies and autocracies. On the example of the United States, the concept of world domination is rethought. The book reflects new features of the expert-analytical work of French international researchers. The authors are aware that the confrontational severity of the crisis situation in Ukraine and its internationalization in a variety of hybridized forms have sharply "shaken" the more or less established balance of power not only in the European region, but throughout the global space. In general, they agree that optimistic options for a new world order are at stake. In separate sections of the book, the chaos of world politics and international relations is linked to the overstrain of the US hyperpower, which is approaching a critical point.

This paper presents a quantitative empirical study of the impact of the EU enlargements in 1995 and 2004 on the speed of the decision-making process (legislative process). The research is based on two methods: interrupted time series analysis and survival analysis (Cox model). The use of these methods increases the validity of the present study. The empirical data consists of the EU secondary law directives and regulations. The methodology and research design allow to distinguish between the impact of enlargement and the impact of changes of the institutional parameters of the decision-making process. The findings demonstrate that the legislative process significantly accelerated at the time of the 2004 enlargement. Most likely this was because 1) the preferences of the new member states were generally within the range of preferences of the old members and a new axis of conflict (Western versus Eastern member states) emerged only in a limited number of EU areas of activity; 2) the Council adopted new Rules of Procedure immediately before the entry of new members, which significantly increased the effectiveness of the Council. As for the 1995 enlargement, due to the low reliability of estimations, it can only be cautiously concluded that it did not have a visible slowing effect on the decision-making process. The conclusion that the 2004 enlargement did not entail a slowdown of the EU legislative process is of fundamental importance for understanding the specifics of the functioning of the EU.

The article focuses on the two concepts that have become increasingly common in the official discourse of the EU in recent years - "strategic sovereignty" and "strategic autonomy". Top public officials, politicians and bodies of the European Union and of member states refer to each of these terms, depending on the circumstances or the established tradition of using the concept in a particular area of the EU's policy. However, there is still no clear understanding in the academic and expert community of how they relate at the semantic level - in other words, whether these terms are interchangeable with regard to their meaning, adjacent ones or they differ radically from each other. The author uses the morphological analysis of ideology by M. Freeden with the special emphasis on the process of decontestation as a theoretical and methodological framework of the study in order to compare these two concepts and discover their semantic content. The empirical evidence of the article includes speeches of EU's top public officials, politicians, as well as key documents of the EU during the period of active dissemination of concepts in the discourse of Brussels. The analysis reveals that the two concepts occupy related semantic positions, but they are not completely synonymous. It is difficult to predict the further evolution of the concepts within the EU's semantic system, but they have already taken an important place in the foreign policy discourse of Brussels that will inevitably affect all the EU counterparties, including Russia.

The authors examine the social grounds for the formation of a positive image of Russia in the public opinion of Italy. The purpose of the study is to measure how the attitude of the Italians towards Russia has changed after 2022. The research is based on a secondary analysis of the representative results of sociological surveys of EU citizens and also on the authors' analysis of political public discourse, where the source was the Italian media and the statements of political actors. The stability of the positive image of Russia in Italian public opinion is determined by the stable economic, political and cultural ties between Italy and Russia. The results of the discourse analysis of an extensive database of documents - election programs, materials from the leading social and political media in Italy and statements by Italian politicians - demonstrated a high level of interest of members of the Italian political elite in maintaining stable relations with Russia in various fields. They are representatives of the Italian populist parties among opinion makers and leaders, who influence the formation of a positive image of Russia. The attitude towards the Russian Federation in Italian public opinion has remained positive for a long period of time. The special military operation has significantly changed the perception of Russia, but the Italians still remain its sympathizers compared to citizens of other EU countries.

The article analyses the collective monograph "Latin America: political landscape against the backdrop of turbulence", published at the Institute of Latin America of the Russian Academy of Sciences, edited by Doctor of Political Sciences Z.V. Ivanovsky. The monograph attempts to answer the questions, what path of development the countries of Latin America will take and how they will build their relations with the outside world in the new geopolitical reality. The answers are of great importance for predicting the nature of future relations between the countries of Latin America and the European Union. The author gives an assessment of the alignment of political forces in the face of new challenges both in individual countries and in the region as a whole. Particular emphasis is placed on the results of the latest election campaigns that are shaping a new political landscape in Latin America. The author notes that there are chances for solving deep social problems in Latin America, overcoming interstate contradictions and intensifying integration processes.

The article examines the evolution of multilateralism on the examples of its unfriendly variety in political sphere. The study focuses not on the relations between the West and non-West, but on the situation inside the former. The examples of unfriendly multilateral structures are AUKUS and the Partners in the Blue Pacific. They are aimed not only at containing China but also at limiting the strategic penetration of Germany and France in the Indo-Pacific region. Concentrating on these examples, the article explores the key reason for the tendency, using the concept of the world-system theory for Euro-Atlantic community and the "collective" West. The core of Anglo-Saxon countries led by the USA and the UK has been strongly concerned of the growing strategic autonomy of the semi-periphery. Its key elements are France and Germany. The study demonstrates the differences between leadership styles, hard and soft hegemony in the US foreign policy as a reaction to the relations between the core and the semi-periphery. It also covers German approach to the EU strategic autonomy in conjunction with Europeanization of NATO and its activities in various fields. One of the conclusions is the absence of examples of unfriendly multilateralism toward the Western partners in policy of key semi-periphery actors.

The article considers the question of possible ways of transformation of the Russian monetary system in modern conditions. Currently, Russia is facing tough economic and political sanctions, which encourage it to introduce fundamental structural reforms in all areas of the economy. The situation in which our country finds itself requires an adequate response in order to preserve economic sovereignty. It is required to restructure the monetary system in such a way that the economy is focused on using mainly its own resources. Modern theories of money could be the theoretical foundation for the upcoming transformations. The study concentrates on the Modern monetary Theory (MMT) and its possible implementation in the Russian economy. The interest that has arisen in this non-orthodox theory is due to many reasons, but the main one is that the monetary institutions of the leading countries of the world can no longer implement the previous monetary policy in order to stimulate economic growth. Scientists evaluate this theory ambiguously, and many researchers believe that its main provisions are divorced from economic realities, contradictory and, therefore, not acceptable as instruments of macroeconomic policy. The author's stance is that the main provisions are applicable in the Russian economy. Mainly, the idea of the sovereignty of the national currency is understood as the possibility of issuing money without regard to global financial institutions such as the IMF and the size of gold and foreign exchange reserves. As a result, this theory requires a deeper study of the influence of monetary emission on economic processes.

The article provides a comprehensive statistical assessment of the level of gender differentiation in Russia and European countries. A consolidated rating of the level of gender differentiation has been developed, calculated as the sum of a country's ranks in three indices: gender inequality (GII), gender social norms (GSNI) and Women, Business and the Law (WBL). The countries have been ranked based on this rating. An in-depth analysis of the constituent elements of each index was made. The positions of the Russian Federation were compared with those of the European countries, leading in the ranking. The main sources of information for the calculations were the statistical data of the United Nations, the World Bank, and the demographic statistics of Rosstat. It has been established that the Russian Federation should strengthen legal protection in the field of gender. Measures have been proposed to help reduce gender inequality. They have been tested on the basis of a quantitative assessment of the forecast level of the Women, Business and Law index for the Russian Federation.

The article deals with the analysis of the arguments used by Italian intellectuals, Church hierarchies, clergy representatives, professors of Catholic universities to explain their attitude to the idea of meritocracy, its prospects and restrictions. The fight against corruption and undeserved privileges is particularly relevant in today's Italy with its traditions of clientelism, nepotism and family ties. At the center of the scientific dispute there are two "sites": the Catholic University of Milan "Sacro Cuore" and the newspaper of the Italian episcopate "Avvenire." During the public discussions, views in defense and against the "merit society" were expressed and argued. Advocates of meritocracy believe that this model will make Italy more modern and competitive, will allow to build a fairer society. Opponents, on the contrary, consider this concept an ideological justification for inequality and a "direct antithesis of democracy." In the future, this situation can cause increased social tension, frustration and deep social pessimism. Catholic thinkers presented the theological examination of "meritocracy". They explained that the Church's moral teaching considers the principle of "retributive" or rewarding justice as unjust and dangerous. The author comes to the conclusion that the polarity of opinions is explained by the conflict of ideological, religious and worldview attitudes of Italian intellectuals, who are not ready to hear the arguments of the opposing side. The stance of the clergy on meritocracy can be explained in the light of the Church's magisterium on the common good, rights and dignity of the person.

The article analyses the way the spatial effect is reflected in the ethnic voting in Latvia at the parliamentary elections of 2011, 2014 and 2018. The study reveals that the electoral support of both parties relying on Russian-speaking voters correlates with the share of Russians living in a municipality. However, in case of Social Democratic Party "Harmony" the correlation is higher than that of the Latvian Russian Union. The local indicators of spatial association display neighborhood clusters of high support of these parties in Latgale and those of low support in Kurzeme. The shape of these clusters does not change considerably from one electoral cycle to another. Municipalities with primarily non-Latvian population in Eastern Latgale close to the border with Russia and Belarus differ in their electoral behavior the most. Electoral zoning of Latvia by the method of spatially constrained hierarchical clustering based on the results of all parliamentary parties first and foremost indicates the cluster close to the border of Latvia with Russia and Belarus. Moreover, the cleavage in electoral behavior between these Latgalian municipalities and other Latvian regions appears to be the strongest not only in the Latvian context, but in comparison with electoral cleavages in eleven other countries bordering Russia.

The article analyses a new perspective to the religious factor in the public sphere on the example of religious education in public schools, suggested by the international Research Project Atlas of Religious or Belief Minorities Rights in the EU. The author underlines the high level of the theoretical, methodological and practical research of the Project Atlas. The article aims to outline the main trends, innovations and perspectives of the religious education in public schools, using the results and recommendations of the Project Atlas. To achieve this goal, the author examines 4 clusters: the diversity of models of the religious education, how R/B education is provided, the right to be exempted from the R/B instruction, manifestation of Religion/Belief at school: religious symbols, religious holidays, dietary requirements. It is revealed that the recommended approach to provide all minorities the right to teach their religions and beliefs in public schools creates new issues in the context of multiculturalism in terms of the legal status and practical curriculum. The author emphasises the benefits of the non-confessional model proposed by Culture and Religion Studies, within which cultural and religious diversity can be maintained and can flourish for the common good.

Arctic science diplomacy (ASD) is one of the innovative tools for promoting a positive image of the state and building strong international partnerships in the region. This study aims to identify common and distinctive features of Swedish, Finnish, Norwegian, Icelandic and Danish ASDs. The article analyses the motivation and main priorities of the Nordic ASD both at the national and regional levels. The state of the ASD infrastructure in each of the Nordic countries is also described. The Nordic states seek to coordinate their Arctic research and create joint structures for these purposes. Since Denmark, Finland and Sweden are the EU members, The Nordic countries are actively using the financial, organizational and intellectual resources of the EU to increase the effectiveness of their ASD. A common feature for all five Nordic countries is also the close attention they pay to ASD as part of their polar strategies. The Nordic countries focus on the ASD since they have much less economic, geopolitical and military resources than such "Arctic giants" than the United States, Canada and Russia. The article also indicates that with the start of the Russian special military operation in Ukraine, scientific cooperation between the Nordic countries and Russia has been significantly reduced on the initiative of these states. This has further complicated the situation in the Arctic region.

The author examines the peacekeeping practice in terms of new instruments of crisis response (special political and stabilization missions and operations) used by the UN, the EU and OAU. The study focuses on the problems connected with the extended use of the UN and EU's stabilization operations aimed at combating terrorism, assuring security in the crisis regions, as well as with the provision of assistance to the host countries. It is revealed that political and stabilization missions could become prospective instruments of crisis response due to their maximum adaptation to modern challenges of global and regional security and stability. High level of coordination among UN, EU and other regional organizations in planning and implementation of these operations is a necessary precondition for effectiveness of these missions and operations. Creation of a global platform for joint operative response to extraordinary and complex crisis situations comprising the UN, EU, OSCE G20 and other regional organizations could be a major step in this respect. The platform could be also used for the development of confidence-building measures providing a high degree of transparency in military activities of different states and regional organizations; for prevention of conflicts and reaching a diplomatic solution. Establishing regional platforms for regulation of local conflicts in the regions with a high probability of crisis situations like the Middle East, the Persian Gulf, Africa, Afghanistan and the Central Asia, the Far East could also contribute to global security and stability.

In November 2021 Italy and France signed the Quirinal Treaty for a Strengthened Bilateral Cooperation. The document suggested the emergence of the Rome - Paris - Berlin triangle following the Aachen Treaty concluded in 2019 between France and Germany. The Quirinal Treaty has a high significance for Italy. Firstly, it secures its place among the leaders of the EU. Secondly, the Treaty strengthens Rome's credibility, portraying Italy as a trustworthy country. Thirdly, the agreement lays the basis for regular bilateral interaction. In the absence of hard commitments fulfillment of the Treaty depends on domestic affairs and international agenda of the political leaders. The volatility of Italian politics may affect the integrity of the alliance. There has been a dramatic change of attitude to the Quirinal Treaty under the premiership of G. Meloni, which has a direct impact on its implementation. At the same time the Quirinal Treaty fails to resolve some serious differences between the two countries, including the Libyan case and the migration issue. Moreover, this bilateral agreement threatens to place Rome in a subordinate position. In the current political configuration France is at an advantage in light of concluded treaties with both Italy and Germany.