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This article explores the issues of information warfare during the Russian aggression in Ukraine. The information warfare against Ukraine involves a wide range of methods and techniques aimed at destabilising society, introducing appropriate changes in the public consciousness and legitimising aggression. The purpose of this article is to analyse the main narratives of Russian ideological doctrine and propaganda in the context of their significance for Ukraine. The work focuses on three main aspects: (1) the ideas of the Eurasian doctrine; (2) the main postulates of neo-Eurasianism; and (3) the narratives of modern Russian propaganda that are being promoted in relation to Ukraine. The study shows that there is a link between the Eurasian doctrine of the first half of the 20th century, neo-Eurasianism and modern propaganda that determines the changes taking place in Russian narratives.

The analysis of the distribution of political conflicts indicates that an important trend in the modern world is the spread of political violence, especially in the cultural and civilizational lines of faults. Manifestations of this process are the growing number of interconfession, inter-ethnic and secession conflicts, and the intensification of radical Islamist extremist groups.Key words: political violence, political conflict, interfaith conflict, civilizational fault, terrorism, Islamism, limitrophe. ; Аналіз динаміки розповсюдження політичних конфліктів свідчить про те, що важливою тенденцією сучасного світу є поширення політичного насилля, особливо за лініями культурно-цивілізаційних розломів. Проявами цього процесу є зростання кількості міжконфесійних, міжетнічних та сецесійних конфліктів, ак-тивізація радикально-екстремістських ісламістських угруповань.Ключові слова: політичне насилля, політичний конфлікт, міжконфесійний конфлікт, цивілізаційний розлом, тероризм, ісламізм, лімітроф.

According to the well-known concept of consequential waves of terrorism, proposed by American researcher David C. Rapoport, since 1979, the world has encountered a wave of religious terrorism. Religiously motivated terrorists are the most dangerous and cruel terrorists who continue to lead the world. All four terrorist groups responsible for 55 per cent of total deaths in 2019 are jihadists (Global Terrorism Index 2020). The Taliban, Boko Haram, ISIL, and Al-Shabaab all fight for the establishment of their own quasi-state entities within the borders of existent sovereign states. This political objective associates the jihadists with another ideological movement – separatist-terrorists – in Rapoport's model. Despite apparent distinctions in ideological foundations and political agendas, these two movements are similar in their struggle for self-determination within the borders of sovereign states. In this article, we use data from the Global Terrorism Database to compare how these two ideological movements with similar political objectives influence each other in the area of terrorist activity. Having analysed and reviewed information about 3,617 terrorist organisations that committed at least one terrorist attack from 1970 to 2018, we check how jihadist and separatist-terrorist activities were interrelated and how this interrelation manifested itself in different countries.

The article studies the current changes taking place in the civil society sector of Eastern European countries under the impact of intensifying radical action on the political environment. One of the key areas of progress of modern states is a further development of democratic values, which depends largely on the activity of the civil society sector. In this regard, the aim of the study was to examine the main problems and areas of change in the development of the civil society sector during the period of intensification of political radicalism in some Eastern European democracies. Methodologically, they used the empirical results of a survey of citizens of Eastern European countries to determine areas of development and key issues of civil society. In conclusion, a comparative analysis of the level of development of the civil sector and the degree of radicalization in Eastern European countries revealed the correlation between the development of civil society and radical policy frameworks.

Modern political transformations involve free choice of ideology, ability to communicate with society and maintenance of their political preferences. Political struggle often leads to radical action and political extremism. The aim of this study involved an analysis of political extremism that occurs in modern democracies, and identification of the main factors underlying the development of political extremism. The determinants of the political stability/extremism are analysed based on the algorithm of hierarchical clustering. It is proved that 26 European countries studied in the work can be grouped into four clusters, which are characterised by the number of parties of extremist ideology in the national parliaments of European countries; Elite Quality Index (EQx); the Freedom in the World Index; Political Stability and Absence of Violence Index, which is part of The Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI). It is revealed that today ideological trends of authoritarian populism, conservatism and extremism are spreading in European countries. Cluster analysis has shown that the political extremism is influenced by the level of quality of national elites, the development of fundamental rights and freedoms, the political stability, and the absence of violence. Further research should focus on econometric simulation of factors shaping political extremism through economic development indicators.