Author of the article has studied the situation with the USSR collapse in the aspect of analysing theoretical and methodological sources that were applied for these particular studies. There is a paradoxical mix of theoretical approaches from domestic regional political studies and concepts from typical international political studies. Noting a rather deep conceptual difference between the theories of domestic political regionalism and the theories of international relations the author shows that in the context of the USSR breakup, when domestic political relations between republics of the USSR were changed to international political relations between post-Soviet independent states, conceptual sources of those both sub-disciplines of political science reveal signs of theoretical and methodological convergence. In particular, the study of the text of the Sovietologist G. Zimon shows that it is possible to identify the conceptual similarity of the two mentioned sub-disciplines. Common approaches include multilevel consistency, when the object of research is considered as a system staying within a meta-system and including some sub-systems: the concepts of “vertical” and “horizontal” dimensions of political space; as well as concepts of “hard power” and “soft power”. The author concludes that the future elaboration on these aspects can give a roadmap toward a more complete politological theory of regional stratification of the political space in the modern society.

The article considers one of the key documents on the preparation of Soviet foreign policy propaganda for covering the American National Exhibition in Moscow in 1959 – a letter from the Head of the Department of Agitation and Propaganda of the Central Committee of the CPSU for the Union Republics, L.F. Ilyichev, sent to the Central Committee of the CPSU. The author introduces the previously unpublished full text of the archive document from the fund No. 5 of the Russian State Archive of Modern History, as well as later handwritten corrections with relevant comments and observations. The paper analyzes the goals and objectives of the document and also provides an overview of the degree of current studying the issue of covering the American Exhibition in Moscow in domestic and foreign historiography at the present stage. In this research, the author comes to the conclusion that the Department of Agitation and Propaganda played one of the main roles in the organization of the exhibition coverage. The article traces the mechanism of implementation of the decisions taken in the field of propaganda and interaction with the Soviet media on the example of this document. The author points out an intermediary role of Agitprop in this mechanism: all the decisions, agreed with the Central Committee of the CPSU are assigned in the form of tasks to central newspapers, the TASS news agency, radio and television. The main goal pursued by Agitprop was to minimize the propaganda effect in the media field from the American Exhibition in Sokolniki and to attempt weakening the interest of Soviet citizens in the event itself. The author also emphasizes the importance of corrections made to the document after typewriting, which meant reducing the sharp tone of the paper. In addition, the article remarks the role of a handwritten note on the organization of the Exhibition, made in the end of the document, as a form of reporting to the higher management for the events held at that time.

Slovakia is a young European state, the whole history of which is associated with the search and formation of its own identity. Having gained independence only in 1993, Slovakia pays great attention to the preservation and enhancement of the historical heritage, which it has to share with the Czech Republic, as well as other states of the region. The greatest attention in the system of national historical policy is given to the period of the 20th century, when, on the one hand, the foundations for the autonomous existence of the Slovak people were laid, but on the other, the Slovak people themselves had to confront the challenges of the totalitarian policy of nazism and communism. Therefore, the memory policy is being implemented at the state level, aimed, among other things, at the rehabilitation of persons who have suffered from totalitarianism. Despite the unambiguity of state policy, the situation in Slovak society is less certain, which is largely due to modern issues and challenges to which the state with its patriotic policy cannot give an unambiguous answer. Such correlation of state policy and public interests determines the relevance of the memory policy study in Slovakia. Within the framework of this article, the study proceeds through three main channels. First, it analyzes the political context and legislation that shapes the understanding of historical responsibility. Secondly, it analyzes the social climate and public opinion about the events of the past. Thirdly, there is an analysis of the educational aspect through which the perception of the past by the young generation should actually be formed. All the three channels are investigated through the author’s turning to the legislation of Slovakia, as well as modern scientific and statistical reports published by Slovak researchers, which increases the novelty of the study.

The article considers the history of the concept of the tributary mode of production in the Mexican historiography between the 1960s and the 1980s. This concept was elaborated by Ion Banu and Samir Amin as an alternative to the traditional “Asiatic mode of production”. It entered Mexican historiography in the late 1960s as a result of the spread of Neomarxist ideas. In the mid-1970s various scholars, including Alberto Ruz in the Maya studies and Roger Bartra and Pedro Carrasco in the Aztec studies, became interested in the concept of tributary mode of production to explain the socio-economic nature of Mesoamerican state. Analysis of the ideas of Alberto Ruz (1906– 1979) shows that his interest in tributary mode of production was the result of a search for new theoretical and methodological base and interpretation of the new materials. The problematics of the socio-economic characteristics of the Ancient Maya society became essential for Ruz in the last years of his life. His ideas could develop into an original theoretical model, which would become the basis for the consolidation of Mesoamerican studies in Mexico into a unified school. However, his death and the absence of a comparable figure among the next generation resulted in a denouement of the concept of tributary mode of production during the next decade.

The report considers two approaches in the interpretation of the events of the Soviet-Polish war of 1919–1921. These are the approaches of Polish historians and public figures Józef Piłsudski and Julian Marchlewski. Their view of the war is particularly important and interesting because they were active participants of the events of the war and represented various positions of the new independent Poland.
On the basis of comparative analysis of the biographies of Piłsudski and Marchlewski,their works and methodological approachesin understanding the historical process, the author traces the interconnection of those approaches with socio-political events, contemporaries of which were Polish researchers.
The difficult situation in Poland, that was divided and lost its independence in the 18th century, gave no peace to the Polish people. Regardless the origin, position in society and political views, many Poles sought independence and the revival of their state. On the world map, the independent state of Poland appeared in 1918, however, its emergence coincided with a difficult period, saturated with socio-political events. Heavy consequences of the First World War, a series of revolutions – all this had a huge impact on the mindset of Poles. They sought for new landmarks and new meanings, which sometimes contradicted each other, leading to misunderstandings, civil strife and aggressive foreign policy.

The article is devoted to the development of the modern foreign policy course of the Chinese leader Xi Jinping – Diplomacy of the Great Power with Chinese characteristics. The fifth generation of Chinese leaders made a concept shift in foreign policy of the People’s Republic of China. The author studies main and most remarkable Chinese diplomatic concepts investigated in the new era: concepts Diplomacy of the Great Power with Chinese characteristics, New type of great powers relations, One Belt One Road initiative, Community of shared future for mankind. The purpose of our study is to understand, to comprehend which of the key concepts under study, which is the financial support for the practical implementation of infrastructure projects; how Chinese political leadership implements them for global governance and promoting their interests in Eurasia, Latin America, Africa, and others continents. The leading approach to the study of the issue is determined by the ideology of “Non-West”, or non-Western theories of international relations, the National Chinese School in particular. The comparative method allows establishing the general and specific in the main theories of Chinese foreign policy from the beginning of the 21st century till up to the present. The article identifies and defines the basic features and differences in the content of those theories. As an example, the issue of the content of the term New type of relationship in the modern Chinese foreign policy discourse is considered.
It becomes obvious that Xi Jinping, by realizing the diplomacy of the great power and calling his people to the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation (中华民族伟大复兴), expands its influence throughout the world. That is not just a foreign policy discourse. China is becoming more active in building a dialogue with its closest neighbors in Asia, as well as establishing new institutions as an alternative to the Western-led global architecture, to assert its ascendancy and political, economic, cultural power.

The article considers the changes in the discourse of the Russian authorities about the Soviet political past over the past three decades. The specificity of this discourse is highlighted in relation to three periods – the 1990s, 2000s, 2010s, which are also conditionally personified as “Yeltsin’s”, “Putin’s 1 and Medvedev’s” and “Putin’s 2” decades. At the same time, the discourse itself is viewed as a means of legitimizing the political regime of the corresponding period. In the “Yeltsin’s” period, the intense negative characteristics of the Soviet past serve to legitimize the reformist regime aimed at moving away from the Soviet model and focusing on other principles (economic and political freedoms, the rule of law, cooperation with the West). In the next decade, the “Soviet” is no longer unambiguously negatively interpreted by the authorities and is pushed into the area of historical narrative, where they are trying to find a place for it in the legitimizing discourse about “our great past”. A feature of that historical narrative is its “collage” (superficial and arbitrary “gluing” of heterogeneous fragments of the past). Since the beginning of the 2010s (during the third and fourth presidential terms of Putin), the authoritative discourse about the Soviet past serves to legitimize the authoritarian tendencies of the political regime. It stigmatizes the ideological character of the Soviet system, and contrasts “ideology” with “national identity,” which, among other things, is attributed to the properties of state loyalism. In current politics, it opens the way for the reproduction of Soviet ideological practices, discursively recoded in the spirit of “state identity”.

The article is devoted to the review of the relationship between power and religion in Libya. The article describes the process of transformation of Islam under the influence of the official regime of Muammar Gaddafi in Libya into the forms of political Islam and Islamism. The relations of the official regime of the Jamahiriya with religious groups at different stages of the development of the state are defined.

The article analyzes the evolution and structure of the institutional component of state-religious relations in modern Ukraine. The article shows the prerequisites for the formation of the Government Agency for Religious Affairs in Ukraine, which are related to the specifics of the work of the Council for Religious Affairs under the Council of Ministers of the Ukrainian SSR. The article analyzes the features of the functioning of the Government Agency for Religious Affairs as a separate institution, as well as in the lower format of a department in the structure of a specialized ministry. The article shows the dependence of the status of the Government Agency for Religious Affairs and its functional powers on the priorities in the sphere of religious policy of the Presidents of Ukraine and the stages of aggravation of inter-confessional contradictions. Special attention is paid to the analysis of the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience, formed in 2019. The article analyzes the goals, objectives, service and regulatory functions and powers of that Service, and the prospects for its depoliticizing. It is concluded that the model of state-confessional relations in Ukraine is still not formed and is going through another stage of returning to the format of the existence of a specialized institution in charge of the religious sphere, which will not be free from the influence of political factors.

The article considers the development of Russian-language school education in independent Latvia from 1992 to 2020, as well as the process of reforming the system by official authorities. At the time of declaration of independence and withdrawal from the USSR, a bilingual education system which was formed in Latvia, made it possible to get education at all levels (from kindergarten to technical school and university) in both Latvian and Russian languages. The rise to power in the 1990s of nationalist politicians and the perception of the Soviet period as a period of“occupation”, made it impossible to keep the Russianspeaking school unchanged. The transformations were not long in coming – already in 1995 amendments to the law on the primary school and gymnasium were adopted, proclaiming the need to introduce several subjects teaching in the Latvian language in schools for national minorities. The largest reforms were carried out in 2004, when high school link in Russian-language schools (grades 10–12) was required to study in a 60/40 ratio — at least 60% of subjects in Latvian and no more than 40% in Russian. The second set of reforms began to be implemented in 2017, when the high school (of national minorities) completely switched to the Latvian language of instruction, and the secondary school was only partly switched to the Latvian language. The Latvian authorities explain the need for these reforms by the desire to increase the level of knowledge ofthe state language among national minorities, primarily Russian-speaking.The reform continues and will be completed only in 2021. The article is the first attempt at understanding the reform of the Russian school of Latvia with taking into account the latest transformations. The work uses statistical data from public organizations and the Ministry of Education of Latvia, as well as sources in the Latvian language, which are introduced into scientific circulation for the first time.

The article considers the foreign policy of Oman and its instruments of “soft power”, which that country is using for successful realization of its national goals in the international relations. The author is analyzing special characteristics of Oman’s foreign policy, paying attention to the fact that the country in its foreign activity primary bases on “soft power” avoiding as possible the use of “hard power”. The history of the country was the cause such a choice and determined peaceful character of its foreign policy. The state is trying to conserve the friendly relations with its traditional foreign partners, refusing to participate in military operations against them or economic or diplomatic pressure on them. The author gives a lot of cases, which confirming that special feature of the foreign policy of the Sultanate.
The author is also considers so widely used resource of “soft power” of Oman as mediation. By mediating in resolving disputes or in helping to organize the negotiations between conflicting sides the Sultanate is trying to achieve regional stability.