The article is devoted to the analysis of information technologies, information intelligence as a challenge to the development of humankind. The purpose of the work is to reveal and describe the relationship between information and communication and social transformations in the world. The task of this article is to analyse the challenges and threats that humanity will face the global introduction of artificial intelligence. We revealed that the seemingly gradual introduction of artificial and intelligence produces actions that are reversed by those that are attributed to it and they have negative consequences for the development of humankind. The authors substantiated the actual need to rethink the role of education and enlightenment as a basic resource in minimising the negative impact on humans of modern information and communication technologies.

The article establishes the relationship of the Crimea with the reforms in Russia carried out by the ruling elite from the X century to the present time. The author presents the unfair and illegal decision of the state authority of the USSR and the Union republics on the transfer of the Crimean area from RSFSR to the Ukrainian SSR. Further, the author shows the reasons for the phenomenal results of the referendum on the reunification of Crimea with Russia and summarised some results of reforms in 2014-2019. The author formulates proposals on what the Russian ruling elite should do to modernise the country - to build an effective state, to create a powerful economy, to form a strong civil society. The prospects of Russia in the construction of a new world order are determined.

In the article, we considered the main instruments of state influence on the economy, such as economic reforms, strategic planning, infrastructure development, government regulation from the standpoint of the system theory of state influence on the economy. These tools form a certain systemic unity, realise different approaches to the system understanding of the economy, and their list is exhaustive. We determined the logical sequence of their application ensuring sustainable development of the economy of the country. We described the experience of using the system theory of state influence on the economy on the example of an analysis of the economic transformations of China and Russia.

China decided to move from a planned to a market economy in 1992, after 14 years of reform and openness. Unlike other countries, China carried out a special market economic transformation. Defending the socialist path under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC), which is the only ruling party, China began to create a socialist market economy. Through the mechanisms of the market economy, China has achieved great success in modernisation. A special form of state government in China is called the “Chinese model". The current conditions of development in China confirm that this model still has a great prospect and power potential.

The article looks at the role of Italian aristocracy families in developing capitalism in Europe and their connection with banks in XIV-XX centuries. Italian aristocracy has founded several important banks. The article emphases the history of less known families of the financiers (Altieri, Balbi, Bardi, Borghese, Borromeo, Gondi, Giustiniani, Doria, Chigi, Corsini, Massimo, Natoli, Odescalchi, Pallavicini, Pazzi, Pacelli, Rospigliosi, Simonetti, Strozzi, Torlonia, Frescobaldi and others). Some of these families keep important roles in the world of finance. The information contained in the article shows that Max Weber’s ideas about connection beginning of capitalism and Protestantism are wrong. The Catholic aristocracy created and developed banks before capitalism. The information given in the article shows the close relative connections between mentioned families of financiers. The author also showed the link between Italian aristocracy families and Vatican policy.

The article analyses the social problems associated with the real state of the quality of medical care in Russia. Even though the Russian health care system is taking measures to improve the quality of medical care provided to the population, the socio-economic reforms carried out in the country require achieving a real effect from the measures implemented to ensure the growth of the quality of medical care in the health care system of the country. Currently, the Russian health care system does not study the opinion of the population about the responsiveness of the national health care system to the expectations of the population in improving the quality and accessibility of medical care. The authors identified the need for improving the legal acts of the Russian Federation in terms of regulation of legal regulation of ensuring a healthy lifestyle, ensuring the availability of quality medical care for the population, responsiveness of the Russian health care system to the expectations of the population. Dynamic changes in the state in these areas should be controlled by monitoring using a single officially adopted a method of measuring the opinion of the Russian population on the quality of medical care in the country’s health care system. The authors propose some practical recommendations to improve the quality of medical care of the Russian population.

Election of the President of the Russian Federation held 18 March 2018, showed an increase in electoral activity among the younger generation of voters. This circumstance prompts to reconsider the existing ideas about the expressed absenteeism of the Russian youth, the absence of the formed pattern of behaviour of electoral participation and the general rejection of politics. The author examines the socio-political and technological factors that influenced the increase in the electoral participation of Russian youth.

The article presents an analysis of the views of the leading political parties on the social policy of the state. The object of the study is the policy documents of political parties that participated in the elections to the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation in 2016. In 1990, the USSR abolished the monopoly position in the state of the ruling Communist party of the Soviet Union. It was the basis for the revival of the multi-party system. Now in Russia, there is already a considerable experience of party construction. Almost thirty years of practice in the development of the national multi-party system needs a comprehensive scientific analysis. Political parties are the leading institution of the democratic political system. To further improve the party system, it is necessary to systematise, identify strengths and weaknesses, identify problems and prospects for development, generalise, study and multiply the best practices of party building. The article analyses the views of the leading political parties on the social policy of the state. The object of the study is the policy documents of political parties that took part in the elections to the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation in 2016. The analysis shows significant differentiation, both in the objectives and in the methods of implementing social policy. For most parties, social issues are a priority. About the problem of the social welfare of citizens, the author proposes the differentiation of parties into five groups.

The subject of this article is the analysis of the current state of interethnic relations in the Southern and North Caucasus Federal districts. A preliminary analysis revealed some unresolved conflicts with historical, political, economic and, in part, civilizational foundations. The implementation of the state national policy and the process of integration of ethnocultural diversity of the peoples of Russia within the framework of the Russian nation contributed to the reduction of conflict tension in these regions. However, due to the powerful influence, including foreign actors, some territories can in the future become not only hotbeds of tension, but also an open confrontation of the peoples inhabiting them. The state policy in the South of the Russian Federation takes into account aspects of the complex multicultural and multi-confessional mosaic of the region. First of all, it is aimed at countering the trends of extremism and radicalism. This study is devoted to the identification of the most problematic regions in the South of Russia.

The successful introduction of an organisational and managerial mechanism in the form of a “school-university" model makes a significant contribution to the success of the implementation of vocational guidance projects. The contemporary education system of Russia includes theformation and organisation of the schoolchild’s vocational orientation, albeit at a difficult stage of development. It is due both to the transformational processes in education and the influence of numerous economic, social and other factors. Under market conditions, one of the topical issues for education authorities is the formation of an organisational mechanism for vocational guidance, aimed at ensuring the effective functioning of the vocational guidance system. The purpose of our study is to clarify the explanation of the working of the organisational and managerial mechanism of vocational guidance in the early stages of human life and training. The object of research was the process of vocational guidance of senior pupils of a general education school. The subject of the research was methodological approaches to the management of the vocational guidance process in the “school-university" model. In the study, we used general scientific methods of scientific continuity, comparisons, observation, dialectical logic, epistemological, logical analysis and modelling. As a result of a theoretical study, we determined the essence of the schoolchild’s vocational orientation and identified the need to create a mechanism for managing it in the context of the implementation of innovative approaches in vocational guidance. The organisational and managerial mechanism for professional orientation we presented in the form of a set of blocks. They include the main elements of the management system and the necessary links between these elements. We also outlined the guidelines for improving the management mechanism and the development of a vocational guidance system based on the project approach.

This paper investigates the possibility of construction of the complex theoretical model to analyse the processes of integration and distancing of the centre and regions. This model should cover a full range of factors of interaction such as political institutions, ontological views, economic aspect, etc. There is the assumption that ontological representations and symbolic factors are the central determinants mediated the emergence, consolidation and subsequent reproduction of specific political practices. Based on this, it is necessary to use a neo-institutional approach and discourse analysis. The general objective of this paper is to examine the possibility of constructing such model based on the combination of the “Center-periphery” theory advanced by E. Shils and W. Eisenstadt and the concept of “Zomia” offered by J. Scott. The paper analyses the key provisions of these theories, the potential advantages of their combination. The author proposed to use the new model about the abolition of the Tribal Areas under Federal Administration in Pakistan and its integration into the general political space of the state. Based on the results of the study, the author concluded the analytical potential of this model and possible directions of its development.

This article is dedicated to the analysis of the correlation between the level of implementation of digital technologies and the efficiency of the budget and political management in Russian central regions. The methodological basis of the study is a comparative analysis of the main socio-economic indicators. To maintain compliance with the comparability criteria, we based the choice of regions on their location within one Federal district (historical and cultural proximity) and proximity to socio-economic well-being (similarity of the development stage). The authors chose Kaluga, Lipetsk, Tula and Yaroslavl regions as the representatives. We identified the factors contributing to the unequal development of the digitalisation process. We interpret it as the result of differences of three indicators “digitalisation - financial management - political decision making” in these regions. As a result of a comparative analysis of the four economically developed Central regions of Russia in terms of the level of digitalisation of management, budget and management efficiency, we derived two fundamental theses. First, the full attraction of investments in the regional economy and the adoption of competent management decisions in today conditions are directly related to the introduction of digital technologies in the management system. Secondly, on the contrary, the introduction of digital technologies depends on the interest of regional authorities in their application and the amount of funding for digitalisation programs.