This article is dedicated to the process of routinization of holidays. Theories qualify festivities as the place of non-everyday life. However, under modern circumstances the explicit demarcation of festivity and every day is blurring. The ideology of Marxism-Leninism and the special didactic character of soviet festivities led to their infiltration into everyday life already in the early Soviet Union. Considering the significant increase of festivity motives in the 1960s and 1970s as well as the coming up of different forms of festivities, we can date the routinization of soviet festivities to this period.

This article analyses studying the position of language in modern political processes. The author considers specifics of the study of language from the point of the tool and object of political power. The paper reveals the essential components that appear in the above aspects of the study, including language policy and planning, political discourse, precedent phenomena.

The article is dedicated to the historiographical analysis of Mesoamerican urbanism which was the center of researchers’ theoretical debate at the turn of XX-XXI centuries. The debate about the existence of a city in Mesoamerica turned in the 1990s into a search for the distinctive features of urban centers. Different criteria for distinction of the city from the rural hinterland were proposed as part of the structural and functional approaches. In general, proposed criteria were focusing on the presence of specific institutions and specific types of residents’ training. Low population density in Mesoamerica determined the agrarian nature of urbanism. Overall, a breakaway from universal definitions of the city and urbanism towards recognition of cities’ diversity was made during a quarter of a century of fruitful discussions. This diversion opened up a new perspective in the study of Mayan cities.

Attitude of “Young America” towards Narciso Lopez and filibuster expeditions to Cuba in the middle of the 19th century is analysed. The “Democratic Review” of 1851-1852, “La Verdad” a newspaper, and the most “Young Americans” decisively supported annexationist movement. “Young Democrats” maintained the expediency of military intervention in Cuba allegedly to aid national “liberation”, and the non-appliance of the Neutrality Act of 1818 to such cases. It would be a simplification to assert that all of them stood only for the spread of slavery. The filibusterism was often viewed in the context of European revolutions, in particular, of the Hungarian national movement, in the light of North American colonies of the Great Britain and Spanish colonies in Latin America wars for independence.

The article focuses on the role of the Middle East for the foreign policy of Russia and the Great Britain during the First World War. Special attention is given to the boundary delimitation of the two powers interests in the context of antagonism between Ottoman Empire and allied France. Evolution of the Middle East policy of Russia and England took place in a rapidly changing political situation in the region. Interaction of the Great Britain with leaders of the Arab liberation movement against Turkey, the ideas of Zionism, and the military successes of the British army largely shaped the political landscape in the Middle East. The study emphasizes the most important stages in that complicated geopolitical struggle.

German Anti-Hitler Resistance that was the highest expression of opposition sentiment in the Third Reich turned out to be between two poles - the East and the West, the Soviet Union and the USA. The actors of the German Resistance were in unordinary and contradictory relationship with the “Big Three” - the USSR, the US and the Great Britain. If the conservative opposition in general was oriented towards the West (the Great Britain and the USA), the German communists considered the USSR as their ideological and political reference point.

The article is devoted to the economical and internal political situation in Ukraine in 2014-2015. The author pays special attention to the relations between main Ukrainian political forces and oligarchs and their influence on the economical situation in the country.

The article is devoted to the study of post-soviet economic integration in the 1990th. Although different projects were proposed (Economic Union, Eurasian Union, Custom Union), none of them were successful. The author analyses both the Russian and Kazakh roles in these projects and the reasons of their failure, paying special attention to the influence, which Russia’s foreign policy planning made on the process of economic integration.

The article is devoted to Armenian-Russian military strategic partnership within the context of contemporary regional security. It describes the evolution of Armenian-Russian relationships after the collapse of the USSR. The particular attention is paid to the main factors which have transformed the allied relations between Armenia and Russia into military strategic partnership.

The article is devoted to the educational policy of Turkey, which is an important component of its foreign policy strategy in Kyrgyzstan and throughout Central Asia. The aim of this activity is the creation of a positive image of Turkey and consistent lobbying of its interests, which is carried out through the creation of joint scientific and educational centers. Kyrgyzstan is the country with dominated Turkic-speaking population and generally shares common religious and cultural values with Turkey, what includes it in the sphere of influence of Turkish foreign policy in the post-Soviet space.

The article is devoted to the analysis of the concept of “soft power” in the US foreign policy during the presidentship of Barack Obama. The author considers main theoretical concepts in the study of foreign policy strategies. Particular attention is paid to the concept of “soft power” and to the reflection of this strategy in the US official discourse.