In the context of the accelerating digital transformation of public authority, the digitalization of public administration is increasingly viewed not only as a managerial innovation but also as a factor influencing the nature of interaction between the state and society. However, in Russian political science research, digitalization is predominantly analyzed from the standpoint of administrative efficiency, while its impact on the foundations of political legitimacy remains insufficiently studied. This article aims to address this research gap. The purpose of the article is to identify and analyze the mechanisms through which the digitalization of public administration influences the transformation of political legitimacy in contemporary Russia. An additional purpose is to determine the political effects of digital governance practices within the system of public authority.The study is based on institutional and structural-functional approaches, as well as methods of political analysis, comparative analysis, and analysis of academic sources.The empirical base includes recent Russian scholarly publications, regulatory documents, and analytical materials on the digital transformation of public administration in the Russian Federation. The study substantiates that the digitalization of public administration contributes to the transformation of political legitimacy by shaping a service-oriented model of interaction between the authorities and society, modifying channels of political communication, and expanding instruments of managed transparency. It is shown that digital technologies simultaneously enhance trust in public institutions and generate new risks related to formalization and imitation of civic participation. The results obtained complement existing approaches to the analysis of political legitimacy by emphasizing digital governance practices as an independent political factor. Prospects for further research include the study of regional models of digitalization and the assessment of the long-term political effects of the digital state.

The article examines the role of state youth policy in ensuring the socio-political stability of the state, with an emphasis on the educational component in the digital age. It substantiates the strategic importance of working with young people as a source of innovative potential and, at the same time, a vulnerable group that is sensitive to the challenges of instability. An analysis of contemporary research is conducted, showing the evolution of youth policy from a measure of social support to a comprehensive mechanism for strengthening stability. Particular attention is paid to the educational component of state youth policy, its relationship with civic and patriotic education, as well as the political socialization of young people. Three main approaches to interpreting the relationship between education and youth policy are identified, and practical trends in the integration of educational work into education and youth policy systems are analyzed. It is noted that there is no common understanding of the boundaries and content of the educational component in Russian scientific discourse: the concepts of “political,” “civic,” and “patriotic” education are blurred, which makes it difficult to form a coherent theory and practice of educational policy. The conclusion is made about the need for a conceptual distinction between these categories and a clear institutional positioning of the educational component. This will increase the effectiveness of state youth policy as an instrument of political socialization, the formation of civic identity, and longterm socio-political stability in the context of the digital transformation of society.

Digital technology is becoming a new field for national soft power projection and geopolitical games. This article adopts a comparative research method to analyze the soft power effect of China’s digital Silk Road and India’s digital technology diplomacy in the Global South. China is characterized by the export of heavy assets such as infrastructure and industrial systems, and builds influence through the triple structure of “hard connectivity-soft connectivity-heart connectivity”; India is characterized by the diffusion of light assets such as digital public infrastructure and governance systems, and promotes governance experience through low-cost and open-source paths. The acceptance of China and India is closely related to the existing digital economic development conditions of the target countries. Different initial conditions, such as market maturity, regulatory framework, technology absorption capacity, etc., have guided differentiated cooperation needs, thus affecting their preferences in global digital development programs. Geopolitical preferences have become an important variable, and the “Global South” countries are increasingly adopting mixed strategies. In the future, China and India will present a dual trend of coexistence and competition in the “Global South”, and the strategic autonomy of the “Global South” countries will continue to shape the final direction of this digital competition.

The article examines the model of the development of the digital economy of the People’s Republic of China in the context of the formation of international rules of digital regulation and the transformation of the global economic space in the context of its increasing fragmentation. Based on official statistics, regional digital economy development indices, as well as modern foreign and Russian scientific research, it has been shown that by the mid‑2020s, China’s digital economy had become a systemforming element of the national reproduction process, comparable in scale and economic importance to traditional sectors. Special attention is paid to the structural and spatial characteristics of digital development, including regional differentiation, industry digitalization, infrastructural expansion (communication networks and computing power), the formation of the data market and the institutionalization of data as a factor of production. The thesis is substantiated that the Chinese model of the digital economy is based on a combination of an active role of the state, a high concentration of data in platform ecosystems and a regime of controlled, procedurally driven openness of cross-border information flows. It is shown that this model forms an alternative regulatory approach to digital commerce and data management, which differs from the liberal concept of free movement of data. The article reveals the importance of the Chinese model for Russia and the BRICS countries, primarily in the context of digital cooperation, reducing transaction costs and developing compatible regulatory solutions in the face of sanctions pressure and institutional heterogeneity. It is concluded that the key area of interaction is the formation of regulatory interoperability regimes and low-risk regulatory corridors that combine the expansion of digital exchange with the preservation of digital sovereignty and national security requirements. The hypothesis of the study is that the further evolution of the Chinese digital model will be accompanied by increased regulatory exports of digital standards through bilateral and multilateral cooperation formats. The practical significance of the work lies in the possibility of using the findings in the development of national digital development strategies and mechanisms of international digital regulation in a polycentric global economy.

The question of the state’s origins remains a matter of debate in political science. Traditional theories often overlook the evolutionary underpinnings of politics that emerged long before the Neolithic era. Integrating insights from anthropology, primatology, and archaeology enables a reevaluation of the genesis of political institutions, including the state itself. Objectives. This study refines the theory of violence as central to understanding the nature of the state, drawing on an evolutionary perspective and evidence of early forms of collective coercion among our ancestors. Methodology. The research employs standard methods of scholarly analysis, such as analysis, synthesis, and comparison, and presents original interpretations of archaeological and ethnographic data. The authors conduct an original analysis of protopolitical structures and extrapolate findings from studies on the emergence of proto-state organizational frameworks in Homo sapiens. Results. The study demonstrates that the earliest political institutions arose during the Late Pleistocene through the process of self-domestication, which was accompanied by a decline in reactive aggression and a rise in proactive aggression. War as institutionalized violence preceded the state and drove the formation of cooperative hierarchies. Conclusions. The authors argue that the first political institutions among our ancestors were capital punishment and warfare, both emerging in the Pleistocene. The state itself arose in the Neolithic as an evolutionary response to the need for managing collective violence and coordinating increasingly complex societies.

The article analyzes the results of a sociological study of the involvement of students and teachers in the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the educational process. The sociological study was conducted using an online survey of students and teachers at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation. The key objective of the study was to determine the level of involvement and the goals of using AI in the educational process. The study aimed to analyze the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of the use and goals of AI in the professional development of students. It was revealed that only 19% of students do not use AI in the educational process, while 22% use it constantly and 59% use it occasionally. The situation is slightly different among teachers, as only 10% use AI on a regular basis and 55% use it occasionally, while one in three does not use AI. The most popular task among students using AI is generating visual content (59%), while half of the respondents (46%) AI is used to prepare reports for seminars, and more than a third (37%) use neural networks to solve “creative” problems. Teachers mostly delegate the preparation of lessons to neural networks (71%), and a quarter of respondents (26%) integrate AI directly into classroom work during the execution of assignments. At the same time, there is a low level of use of AI by teachers for checking homework (12%). The article describes the advantages and prospects, as well as the risks and barriers of using AI in the educational process and professionalization of young people. The experts identify a problematic situation that arises from the contradiction between the changing digital reality and the conservatism of the institutional system of higher education, between the willingness and preparedness of teachers to implement AI and the fear of the new, as well as the lack of understanding of the positive effects and risks. The results of the study contribute to the scientific discourse and create the preconditions for further in-depth research on the integration of AI into the educational process and professionalization of young students.

This article examines the effectiveness of HR departments in government agencies and identifies challenges and shortcomings in the use of HR technologies. The article aims to analyze HR dysfunctions in government agencies and identify potential growth areas and development reserves. The research method was face-to-face semi-structured interviews with federal government employees (n = 9, January 2025, Moscow). The study identified the following dysfunctions: a lack of transparency and objectivity in competitive procedures for filling positions in government agencies, a lack of standards for recording the individual contribution of employees to the performance of structural subdivision tasks, the formal nature of performance appraisal procedures, and low potential for utilizing traditional personnel reserves. It is concluded that the identified dysfunctions result in decreased motivation and loyalty among civil servants, increased costs for their professional development, and disruptions in the professional identity and value structure of the civil service. Potential growth areas include the implementation of clear personnel planning and work standards for civil servants, enhancing the competencies of HR staff, and centralizing personnel management within government agencies. Potential for development lies in the valuemotivational sphere of civil servants, measures to increase the transparency of personnel procedures, expanding the potential for personnel reserves among rank-and-file public servants, and the active use of horizontal and vertical rotation tools.

The agitation and propaganda work of the Communist Party of China during the Agrarian Revolutionary War played a crucial role in the survival and development of the Chinese revolutionary cause. The novelty of this article lies in its analysis of the differentiated content tailored to different target groups and the revelation of the internal mechanisms of propaganda work. This research holds practical value for understanding the mass mobilization traditions of the Communist Party of China as well as for developing discursive strategies in the field of propaganda in modern states. The aim of this article is to clarify the specific content of the Communist Party of China’s agitation and propaganda activities targeting Red Army soldiers, civilians, and enemy soldiers during the Agrarian Revolutionary War, thereby deepening the understanding of the political mobilization art of the Communist Party of China. The study employs the method of historical document analysis, including the examination of party archives, works of leaders, etc., as well as comparative analysis to contrast the content and strategies of propaganda directed at different target groups. The research reveals that the propaganda work of the Communist Party of China formed a differentiated strategic system: propaganda and educational work among Red Army soldiers focused on systematic theoretical education, discipline building, and the cultivation of a sense of mission; agitation and propaganda work among civilians in revolutionary base areas and along the routes of the Long March linked land policy and ethnic policy to their immediate interests; agitation and propaganda work targeting Kuomintang soldiers primarily aimed at psychological demoralization, exposing internal contradictions, and promoting the idea of resisting Japan. Historical practice has proven that the vitality of propaganda work is always rooted in a people-oriented stance and the principle of relying on facts. The key to the success of the Communist Party of China’s agitation and propaganda activities during the Agrarian Revolutionary War lay in winning the trust and support of the masses. This not only laid the ideological and mass foundation for the ultimate victory of the Chinese revolution but also provided a historical paradigm for constructing discursive strategies in the field of propaganda in the new era for various countries.

In modern conditions there is a growing demand for Russia to reorient the directions of foreign policy and foreign economic cooperation in order to protect its interests in accordance with the “National Security Strategy of the Russian Federation”. The experts in the field of foreign policy note the trends of Russia and Africa turning towards the Global South. The article is devoted to the analysis of the current state of Russia-Zimbabwe relations and problematic aspects in the context of the transformation of the global world order. Using an integrated approach, the author identifies the key barriers preventing the full realization of the potential of bilateral cooperation. The attention is also paid to the problems of the neocolonial influence of Western powers on Zimbabwe, the role of sanctions pressure in limiting the sovereign development of this country and institutional challenges. The work reflects the legacy factor of the Soviet era when the USSR actively supported Zimbabwe’s struggle for independence which created the foundation for current ties. The author also analyzes the conceptual foundations of Russian policy in Southern Africa. The role of the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum multilateral platform in promoting the common interests of Russia and Zimbabwe is considered separately. It is noted that the deepening and expansion of bilateral cooperation between Russia and Zimbabwe is linked to the expansion and diversification of trade and economic cooperation and reaching a new level of trade and investment partnership. The author sees the problem in the lack of capitalized financial institutions capable of providing systemic, long-term government support to Russian businesses in Zimbabwe and throughout the African continent. At the same time the fact of institutional weakness of the Zimbabwean economy is being stated. It is concluded that the strengthening of RussiaZimbabwe relations not only meets the interests of both states but also contributes to the formation of a just multipolar world order. Zimbabwe sees Russia as a strong partner capable of promoting an agenda in international structures that meets the expectations of African countries and the entire Global South, as well as supporting the aspirations of these states to expand their representation in interstate organizations including the UN Security Council.

The rapid development of neural machine translation systems raises the question of their applicability to literary texts, especially poetry, which is characterised by a high degree of semantic compression and cultural conditioning. One of the most difficult poetic genres to translate is haiku, in which meaning is formed through conciseness, imagery, cultural markers, and the principles of understatement. The number of studies in the field of automated translation is growing, but comparative analysis of haiku translations performed by humans and artificial intelligence systems remains underdeveloped. Objectives. The aim of the research is to identify the characteristics and limitations of translations of Japanese haiku by artificial intelligence systems in comparison with translations by humans. Methods. The study was conducted in the form of a qualitative comparative analysis. The material consisted of seven haiku by Matsuo Basho, for which five translation options were considered: two performed by humans and three using modern neural machine translation systems. The analysis was conducted according to a number of criteria: preservation of the figurative structure, transmission of cultural realities, degree of explication of the original meaning, reproduction of poetic conciseness, and the presence of interpretative additions. Results. It was found that translations performed by artificial intelligence tend to emphasize semantic explanation and reduce the level of figurative ambiguity. In a number of cases, there is a loss of culturally specific elements and a shift in emphasis, which leads to a change in the aesthetic effect of the text. Translations performed by humans demonstrate greater variability in interpretation while preserving the genre and cultural characteristics of haiku. Conclusions. The results confirm that modern artificial intelligence systems are effective in conveying general content but have difficulty reproducing poetic ambiguity and cultural implicatures. Prospects for further research are linked to the expansion of the text corpus and the development of hybrid translation models that combine automated and expert approaches.

The purpose of the article is to identify the key models of memory politics in modern Brazil and analyze the mechanisms of their confrontation in the context of the polarization of the political process and the ongoing struggle for interpretation of the legacy of the military dictatorship of 1964–1985. The memory of the dictatorship has become a central element of political discourse, reflecting the confrontation between leftist forces and civil initiatives seeking to comprehend and work out the traumatic past through the tools of transitional justice (“transitional justice”), and right-wing mnemonic actors, including representatives of the military environment, appealing to the times of the junta order and interpreting trials against former military as a manifestation of political revanchism. The author focuses on the transformation of Brazilian memory policy: from attempts to institutionalize truth and justice under the presidency of D. Rousseff, for whom the creation of the National Truth Commission was an act of personal and political reconciliation with the past, to the dismantling of memorial initiatives under J. Bolsonaro and the ambivalent position of Lula da Silva in his third term, accompanied by ignoring the 60th anniversary of the military coup in 2024. Particular attention is paid to the demands of indigenous peoples for the establishment of a National Commission for the Establishment of Truth about Indigenous Peoples, reflecting the desire to include collective and territorial experiences in the framework of national memory. The research methodology is based on an interdisciplinary approach and includes an analysis of cultural trauma in line with the concept of J. Alexander, the study of mnemonic conflicts and commemorative practices. These approaches are used to analyze government and public interpretations of the legacy of the military dictatorship, as well as to identify competing memory models in modern Brazilian political discourse. The article emphasizes that universal models of transitional justice do not always take into account local contexts and ethnocultural features, such as the memory of indigenous communities, when faced with difficulties of national reconciliation. Analyzing the ideological landscape of memory, the author comes to the conclusion that modern Brazil exists within the framework of a clash of two models of memory.— “vertical elite-military”, aimed at protecting the institutional authority of the army and preserving the symbolic image of the defender of sovereignty in the Cold War from the Communists, and “horizontal-grassroots civil”, focused on public understanding of the difficult past, restoring historical justice to the victims of the repressed and affirming the principle of “never again” as the basis of modern Brazilian identity.

In the context of the post-sanctions transformation of the Russian market, the digital ecosystems of Yandex and Sberbank have become key centers for consolidating services, user data, and audience attention. The relevance of the study is due to the need for a comprehensive analysis of the mechanisms of ecosystem expansion, going beyond the traditional assessment of financial indicators and taking into account marketing, behavioral and institutional aspects. The aim is to identify and systematize the economic, communication, consumer and institutional mechanisms through which Russian IT ecosystems increase market power and ensure audience retention in the post-sanctions period. Methods the work is based on a multi-level empirical analysis: the study of the corporate reporting of Yandex and Sberbank for 2022–2025; case analysis of advertising campaigns of the largest ecosystem services for 2022–2024; interpretation of data from the author’s online survey of users of digital platforms (n=208, February-March 2026); comparative analysis of Russian and Chinese platform development models. The results show that Yandex is implementing a transformational expansion model in which transactional O2O services, logistics and subscription become an independent growth center (revenue in 2025 reached 1441.1 billion rubles, the share of non-core areas exceeded 47%). On the contrary, Sber is building a synergistic model, strengthening the traditional banking core through payment infrastructure, loyalty programs and AI services (the effect of the introduction of artificial intelligence in 2024 exceeded 400 billion rubles). Consumer loyalty in both ecosystems is based primarily on the convenience of a single account (71.2%), habit (73.1%) and an accumulated history of interaction, rather than on unconditional attachment to the brand, which forms the phenomenon of pragmatic multiecosystem. Institutional resources, including the revolving door effect, are a significant factor in competitive sustainability. The scientific novelty of the work consists in combining quantitative, marketing, institutional and comparative perspectives within the framework of a single explanatory model of ecosystem expansion. The results obtained can be used to predict the strategies of digital platforms in the context of a tightening regulatory environment.

Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Russian Empire Pyotr Arkadyevich Stolypin said: “Give the state 20 years of peace, internal and external, and you will not recognize today’s Russia.” To some, he was a “hangman,” to others, an outstanding reformer. Stolypin understood well that repression alone could not stop the revolutionary movement. His reforms were intended to reduce social tension within the country and channel people’s energy into creative outlets. This was the main goal of Stolypin’s agrarian reform. An integral part of the reforms was a resettlement policy aimed at developing the vast, resource-rich expanses of Siberia and the Far East. Unfortunately, Stolypin’s reforms were interrupted by a terrorist attack that took the life of the outstanding reformer. World War I, two revolutions, and the Civil War did not give Russia the peace so necessary for its development. However, Stolypin’s reforms remain a model to follow.

The article is devoted to a comprehensive analysis of cultural models of the apocalypse, which were formed in Soviet and American cinema during the Cold War and reveal the mechanisms of representation of nuclear confrontation as one of the key mythologies of late modernity, and the results of the study make it possible to clarify the patterns of functioning of visual narrative structures through which the cultures of the USSR and the USA articulated different strategies for understanding the global threat, based on different political, value and anthropological foundations. The paper reveals that the Soviet model of the apocalypse is characterized by an emphasis on moral and ethical responsibility, collective subjectivity, and the humanistic potential of culture, which is manifested in the dominance of motives for spiritual ordeal, cultural memory preservation, and critical reflection on scientific and technological progress, while the American model relies on individualistic and techno-futuristic patterns, representing the nuclear threat as a consequence. technological risk, political instability and existential vulnerability of the subject, placed in a space of total catastrophe. Based on the concept of cultural memory and reconstruction of the utopian imaginary, the paper concludes that the differences between the two models of the nuclear apocalypse are due not only to ideological factors, but also to the specific features of cultural codes that shaped ideas about human dignity, political responsibility and the limits of what is possible. The research materials show that cinema acted not only as a means of visualizing certain scenarios of the future, but also as a mechanism for forming collective ideas about a future in which the possibility of total destruction required continuous cultural interpretation, since at the level of mass consciousness nuclear war was interpreted as a metaphor for civilizational fragility and at the same time as a tool for self-identification of societies located on different sides of the global ideological conflict.

Over the past decade (2014–2024), the global environmental environment has faced significant challenges from the continued intensification of climate change, sea level rise, and biodiversity loss. Due to geopolitical and economic inequality, fragmented governance, and the COVID‑19 pandemic, global progress toward achieving the Sustainable Development Goals has slowed significantly, and academic attention to environmental protection has declined. This study uses a literature review and quantitative and historical research methods to examine the main changes in the global environmental environment over the past decade, the current state, and the pressures of the global environmental crisis. It also summarizes countries’ efforts in technological progress and policy innovation, and examines the evolution and challenges of global cooperation. Despite high levels of international consensus through mechanisms such as the Paris Agreement, and the promotion of green energy, the circular economy, environmental policy innovation, and technology adoption, global action continues to lag behind targets, leading to a governance dilemma characterized by the principle of “high consensus, low action.” The next decade is a critical period for achieving climate and environmental goals. It is urgent to translate commitments into concrete actions, strengthen global policy coordination and implement accountability mechanisms, and promote a global green transformation.