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The process of globalization has turned international economy into an arena of direct and indirect conflict of interests of various actors. It has also provided states with a new tool for their foreign policy activity — economic diplomacy. The paper focuses on the economic diplomacy of the People's Republic of China, which not only has become the second important center of the world economy, but is starting to realize its increased capabilities, demonstrating ambitions of a new leader in international relations. The first section outlines the main features of the PRC's economic diplomacy. The second section focuses on the key areas and specific mechanisms of the so-called incentive economic diplomacy. In this regard, the author emphasizes two trends: on the one hand, China aims at effectively integrating into existing international formats and institutions of global economic governance, but, on the other hand, it shows willingness to take the lead and initiate its own ambitious projects. The Silk Road Fund and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) as well as the mega-project 'The Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-century Maritime Silk Road' are the most striking examples of the latter trend. Incentive economic diplomacy also serves as an important tool for strengthening the soft-power potential of the PRC in the international arena, especially in developing countries. At the same time, the author stresses that in recent years the PRC resorts more actively to the use of offensive forms of economic diplomacy, such as sanctions. This trend is examined in the third section of the paper. The international crisis provoked by SARS-CoV-2 pandemic became a moment of truth and a stress test for the new foreign policy system of the PRC. The fourth section analyses new challenges faced by China's economic diplomacy in the context of the pandemic. These challenges have both an objective (the need for quick national economic recovery) and subjective dimensions. The latter implies the wholescale information war as the PRC and the countries of the collective West led by the United States started playing blame game. The author notes that, under these circumstances the PRC's 'COVID-19 diplomacy' becomes more aggressive, which negatively affects the already tarnished national image. However, the author concludes, that although the current Chinese economic diplomacy generates rather negative sentiments in both developed and developing countries, it is exactly economic diplomacy that could, if properly used, help the PRC to establish itself as a leading actor in the new bipolar world order.

The subject of the study is the changes taking place in the legislation on property protection in Eastern European states due to the influence of pilot judgments. Special attention is paid to the relevant principles of property rights established by the case-law of the ECtHR

This study presents the analysis of the tax system in the Republic of Bulgaria since the country's accession to the European Union has influenced its development and further economic integration into the global community. The research goal is to analyze the tax policy of the Republic of Bulgaria as a factor in the destructive state development as its taxation needs improvement in terms of tax collection, information security, and data transfer, along with the inefficient structure of direct and indirect taxes. As the hypothesis of the research, the authors considered promising approaches to overcoming the destructive nature of Bulgaria's state system by developing an effective mechanism of tax policy and improving the tax system in line with the modern conditions

The deflnition of minorities under international law has always invoked intense debates. In the discourse on the criteria for defining minorities, one of the main arguments has been that such a deflnition is not necessary, after all the UN managed to establish the principle of self-determination of peoples without adopting an official deflnition of the term "peoples" . However, it does not fully reflect the complex nature of the minority question in multi-ethnic Africa. While discussing the criteria for deflning minorities at the international level, the author highlights the complexities involved in determining who minorities are in African states and points out why these criteria may not suit the dynamics on minority matters

The article raises the issue about the nature of the relationship between the supreme power and society of the early Russian state

The article raises the issue about the nature of the relationship between the supreme power and society of the early Russian state. The authors of the article show that this unwritten contract, which was well understood by both parties, who participated in it, functioned well in Russia during the 16th - 17th centuries, and its existence refutes convincingly the Herberstein's passage, who failed to understand the Russian political realities of the early Modern Age

Indigenous peoples have always strived for recognition of the right to their ancestral lands, resources, protection of their language, customs and traditions, all of which in combination constitute their (cultural) identity. This strife for recognition of their cultural rights, even if misinterpreted by some, is justifiable given that indigenous peoples' very survival depend on their cultural ties to lands, customs, traditions etc., passed down from generation to generation