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This article addresses the current confrontation between the United States and China in the context of the history of international relations and civilization expansions. The work demonstrates how most attempts to analyze the essence of this important phenomenon in modern world politics are based on too narrow a view: both from the standpoint of world history and the entire system of modern international relations. The author introduces the concepts of "Westernism" and "Westernist period" in order to describe the modern world. These terms are reminiscent of "Hellenism" and "Hellenistic period", which the period of the global spread of Western civilizational models. Using world history as an example, the author examines characteristic features of such periods and concludes that the wide geographical spread of the cultural forms of any civilization and the civilizational unity caused by it historically did not lead to complete political unity. As a rule, this spread ended in a period of fragmentation, which in the sense of international relations can be called multipolarity. The author infers that the current Sino-US conflict is neither purely civilizational nor geopolitical, but it demonstrates that civilizationally united westernized world enters a period of political fragmentation. This is how one should understand the process, which in the modern foreign policy language is called the transition from unipolarity to multipolarity.

The process of transforming international relations goes on under the influence of globalization mechanisms together with the development of integration processes. The establishment of more complex and at the same time simple mechanisms of cooperation in the system of international relations between its actors is the result of a change in the methods of introducing cases. Moving away from the classical principles of cooperation-diplomatic contacts, alliances, the world ceases to be a bipolar system of world device, thanks to the process of globalization, a multipolar world structure is being built with the new actors inherent in the globalization process, gives an example of multinational corporations and NGOs. Under the influence of globalization, the usual tools of international politics are being modified, since within the framework of the new system of transnational interaction, national states are forced to adapt to a changing, interconnected and interdependent world in which there is no longer a clear division between external and internal affairs. State power is forced to transform, transferring to a larger extent part of its functions to supranational structures, sharing its administrative functions with these structures and creating new models of world political governance. The Northern Forum acts as an organization uniting the regions of the subjects for solving common problems in the Arctic region.

The article explores characteristics of the international relations bipolar system, changes occurred after its collapse and the future of post-bipolar world, focusing on the role of non-Western actors in it. On one hand, the bipolar system provided stability of international relations, but on the other – lead to competition between the U.S. and the USSR for the influence on the third countries, which sometimes resulted in armed conflicts in the third states. The collapse of the Soviet Union convinced the West both in the universality of its development model and the necessity to spread it all over the world. Now it is clear that the "democratism" ideology failed politically and culturally. The Western model has neither become a panacea for eliminating disparities between countries on different stages of development, nor the only example of successful and strong governance. New power centers, such as Russia, China, India and Brazil, have been successfully developing after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Their influence has been growing along with that of the West, and even though they did not necessarily directly confront it, they never shared all its values, yet never actively imposed their positions on the rest of the world. Regional powers (Nigeria, Venezuela, etc.) are also playing a more significant role in the emerging system, although sometimes they may join the alliances with more powerful countries to achieve their goals (as Vietnam does with the U.S. in its conflict with China). Russia's reluctance to follow the West in its development created the first serious alternative to the existing unipolar world model and its values, so naturally and widely accepted by the Western actors. Whereas China with its rapid economic development is also posing a challenge to the ideology of "democratism" proving that the economic welfare is achievable outside the Western political model. As for Russia, its role in the modern world is still not defined. The Russian Federation wants to become an independent power unit and a center of the Eurasian integration. However, it is not clear whether it has resources of all kinds to implement this idea, – moreover, its economic dependence on the West is still too strong to insist on further confrontation. Instead, Russia (as well as its partners in the Eurasian Economic Union) could use Eurasian integration platforms to act as an "ambassador" of Asia in Europe and that of Europe in Asia. Acknowledgements. The article has been supported by the grant of the Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs, National Research University Higher School of Economics in 2016.

The article analyses the process of Sino-Russian rapprochement which has significantly intensified since the worsening of Russia's relations with the West in 2014. This process is studied as a part of the emerging of Greater Eurasia in place of Greater Europe which was envisioned in late 1980s. The states of Greater Eurasia, will not be tied by alliance relations, as are the United States and its European satellites. Some of them may turn to different centers of power; however, on the whole, they will form a unity, brought together by core interests. Precisely, this kind of democratic unity of Greater Europe could not be established by the United States and its allies. Attempting to subordinate every state to their dictates, they have united allies from most of Eastern Europe but lost Russia and Central Asia, and are increasingly antagonizing China and India, forcing them to draw closer to each other even in spite of significant contradictions. Only the future will tell who will succeed and who will not.

Introduction.

Much has been said recently in Russia about the need to intensify diplomacy. At the same time, there have been some negative trends in government activity. Adapted from the source document.

In January 2012, Russian President V.V. Putin repeated the famous remark by Chancellor of the Russian Empire A.M. Gorchakov (1856-1882) in the title of his pre-election article, "Russia Is Concentrating: The Challenges We Must Address." Noting the difficult situation the country has found itself in as a result of "the deep recession that followed the collapse of the totalitarian model of socialism and the disintegration of the Soviet Union," as well as in connection with the crisis related developments in the world economy, the author observed: "Russia is not a country that shies away from challenges. Russia is concentrating, mustering its strength and responding to any challenges in a fitting manner. It overcomes trials and always wins... It only depends on us how we respond to the present challenges and how we use our chance to strengthen ourselves and our position in the fast changing world." The use of A.M. Gorchakov's remarks here is certainly not an accident. Russia's situation today is complicated. Its aggregate power and influence in the world have significantly weakened compared to both the tsarist and Soviet days as its size and resources have contracted considerably. Soviet and post-Soviet experiments have failed to ensure an effective development of the country's economic potential. Nevertheless, it remains one of the world's largest states both by its resources and development potential. However, as in the mid-19th century, two conditions are needed to realize that potential: effective reforms and time. It is not an accident that V.V. Putin's article was devoted not only to foreign policy but also to the country's situation as a whole. Adapted from the source document.

The author discusses the relationships between the demographic processes taking place in the leading countries of the world, particularly the United States, Russia, India, countries in North-East Asia, and the prospects of the evolution of their domestic and foreign policies. The principal features of the great powers' evolution are picked out, including steadily ageing of the population, slowing down of economic growth and even its absolute reduction. In the author's view, in the future this will reduce the material possibilities and socio-psychological inclination of aging states to pursue power politics. This may contribute to the creation of preconditions for a "demographic peace".

Argues that the good relations between the People's Republic of China & Russia have recently stagnated. Areas of agreement include a shared view of the future multi-polarity of the world; anti-separatism; & the need for economic cooperation & constructive relationships with the West. However, there is disagreement over nuclear weapons reduction, Korean unification, & free trade. In addition, Russia competes with China as a consumer of foreign investments. Ways to overcome economic problems, especially those related to the current financial crisis, are discussed. Attention is given to positive changes in attitudes toward Russia that took place after "The Year of Russia" in China. Differences between past Russian & Chinese history & geography texts are pointed out, along with the impact of Russia's decreased influence alongside China's increase in geopolitical power. Emphasis is placed on the need for Russia to balance China's growing influence in Eastern Asia by developing relations with other partners like Japan & South Korea. Additional measures needed to improve Russian-Chinese relations are discussed. Adapted from the source document.