The article deals with studying the processes of socio-political destabilization in the countries of West Africa, as well as factors contributing to the preservation and maintenance of stability in specific countries. The countries of West Africa and, in particular the Sahel region, in recent years can be considered as the epicenter for the spread of extremism and terrorism. For that instance the study was mainly focused on Ghana as a country showing the lowest rates of terrorist attacks and episodes of socio-political instability in recent years. At the same time, in other countries of West Africa, including those neighboring Ghana, quite high rates of instability are recorded. The authors conclude that in the case of Ghana, the key stabilizing factors are religious and ethnic tolerance and a general culture of peace among Ghanaians, efforts by the country’s leadership to develop interfaith tolerance and cooperation, a developed civil society, and an effectively working extensive media network. Moreover, Ghana’s resilience to the threats of violent extremism and terrorism can be attributed to a reasonably effective democratic administrative system and the country’s good governance record, a developed security sector with decades of international peacekeeping experience, and a strong traditional system of keeping the peace and stability.

The protests in the autumn of 2022 began after the death of the Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini, for which the opposition blamed the Islamic regime’s morality police. The initial demands for the abolition of the morality police very quickly gave way to radical demands for the elimination of the Islamic regime and the resignation ofthe Supreme Leader. The protests quickly spread to hundreds of cities and villages in all provinces of the country. Up to 2 million people took part in them. The protests were emphatically secular in nature, and the main slogan of the protesters was the slogan “Woman, life, freedom”. By and large, the mass protests in the autumn of 2022 proved to be the most intense, radical and bloody since the Islamic revolution, as the regime officials themselves admit. Despite the fact that the regime was able hold on, there are the risks of recurrence of similar mass actions in the coming years. If Iran manages to reach an agreement with the United States to lift sanctions, it will have a positive impact on economic development, but political reasons for discontent will remain. Therefore, Iran needs serious domestic political and economic reforms. The protest movement in Iran is in many ways similar to the mass protests in the Arab East during the Arab Spring, which indicates similar socio-political issues.

Russian research often talks about the fact that the actual level of Russian-Chinese trade and economic cooperation is lagging that declared. The same is said about Russian-Chinese border cooperation. Research often points to the poor development of logistics corridors, low investment activity, as well as the difficulty of implementing various strategies in the regional environment due to the mismatch of actors’ interests. Nevertheless, there are examples of industries in which trade and economic partnerships are developing steadily in the context of cross-border cooperation, creating positive externalities for the economy and Russian Far East industry. That refers to the Russian-Chinese fish trade. The article reviews of the current situation. The authors come to the conclusion that at the present stage, the Russian-Chinese fish trade is a steadily developing branch of cooperation between the two countries, the corresponding sectors of the national economies are both in a situation of high interdependence, and sometimes compete each other in world markets. Authors shows a number of institutional issues hindering the development of the industry, similar to those that affect the overall level of cross-border cooperation.

The article attempts to comprehensively analyze a new phase of transformation of Turkish foreign policy at the present stage, using Ankara’s policy towards Somalia as an example. By using a significant source base of materials in Turkish, including the program documents of the Turkish Foreign Ministry “Towards a foreign policy...”, as well as academic literature, the author defines a relatively new concept of “initiative and humanitarian” foreign policy of Turkey, identifiestools and assessesthe effectiveness of the implementation of its “initiative” field on the example of Somalia, where Turkey managed to strengthen its influence in a short period of time and take one of the key positions among non-regional actors. The author comprehends Ankara’s experience of applying the “Turkish model” of the foreign policy cooperation and identifies the key lines for applying the model in an “initiative field” within the framework of promoting Turkish national interests in Somalia and on the African continent on the whole. The author concludes that the Turkish model of cooperation, as demonstrated by the example of Somalia, in the mid-term and long-term perspective may quite provide Turkey in the future with the necessary strategic advantages in comparison with other non-regional players due to the effectiveness in the organization of coordinated multi-vector and multi-level work of state structures and non-governmental organizations.

The article analyzes the views of the prominent Russian military commander M.D. Skobelev on the organization of Russia’s military campaign in India. The author shows that although such an operation was conceived as an auxiliary action to achieve Russia’s strategic goal – to capture the Bosphorus and Constantinople, but gradually M.D. Skobelev began to give it much more importance and came to the conclusion that it can challenge Great Britain’s dominance in the Hindustan subcontinent and put an end to its world domination. Skobelev assigned an important role to Afghanistan, whose ruler, Emir Shir Ali Khan, atthattime was extremely concerned by the influence ofthe government of British India on his country and was very friendly towards Russia.
Analyzing the plans of the White General, the author concludes that Skobelev had a clear strategic vision of the tasks and goals of the expedition, a clear definition of moves, an understanding of the need for combined strikes, etc., but at the same time, clearly underestimated the means required by the Russian army and the resources that the enemy will have in a potential theater of operations. The author proposes the reasons for such an underestimation and considers the factors that could favor Russian success and hinder it.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and Israel are very significant players in the Middle East region and influence the regional agenda. Officially, the countries have never had diplomatic relations, and Saudi Arabia denies Israel’s right to exist at all. The official reason for the refusal to establish contacts between the countries is the disagreement of the States on the settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which has the status of the protector of the entire Islamic world, systematically advocates the return of Israel to the 1967 borders, considering assistance to the Palestinians its sacred duty. However, the current realities of the regional political agenda have made their own adjustments to the irreconcilable position of the KSA, which suggests that Saudi-Israeli relations will soon warm up, not without the participation of the United States. Such a factor cannot but affect the state of affairs of the entire Middle East region, which gives extreme relevance to the topic under consideration. The authors investigate the evolution of the position of the Saudi authorities towards the Palestinian-Israeli confrontation, analyze informal bilateral contacts, as well as statements by officials on the issue. The contribution of the United States to the possible normalization of bilateral relations is analyzed, and a forecast for the short-term perspective is made.

In 1910, the Persian government appointed an American adviser, Morgan Schuster, head of the Treasury to reform the country’s financial system. Schuster’s actions endangered the position of some influential politicians in Persia from the very beginning and also antagonized Russia, which had significant interests in Persia. The contradictions between the American adviser and the Russian government were growing until in 1911 Russia presented an ultimatum to the Persian government, with a demand for the dismissal of Schuster. The Russian ultimatum led to a split among the former pro-constitutional forces and provided an opportunity for Shuster’s opponents to remove him and strengthen their position in the Majlis, which actively supported the American adviser. In the end, under pressure from Russia and with the support of the government and some top Persian politicians, the Persian government accepted the ultimatum, Shuster was forced to end his mission in Persia and the Majlis was dismissed by supporters of the ultimatum.

The paper provides a retrospective historical overview of forming and developing bilateral relations between Germany and Japan in the second half of the 19th century on the basis of documents and materials, previously largely not introduced into Russian scientific discourse. Taking as an example the commemorative events marking the 160th anniversary of the first diplomatic treaty, the relevance of the research subject which allows a clearer logic and features understanding of the modern dialogue between the two countries. The prerequisites and historical conditions for the interaction genesis as well as the contractual and factual basis of cooperation are studied. The article highlights the preparatory stage, negotiation process, practical results and strategic consequences of the expedition of Friedrich zu Eulenburg in 1859–1862 as well as the Treaty of Friendship, Trade and Navigation conclusion between Prussia and Japan, the contribution of Iwakura 1871–1873 mission in the political and cultural rapprochement between Japan and Germany, the role of Major Clemens Meckel in the modernization of the Japanese army, the assistance of lawyer Hermann Roesler in forming Japanese Meiji statehood, government institutions and legal framework. The influence of German military doctors on the development of Japanese military medicine is shown as well as the reflection of Japanese topics in German public life and art is illustrated.

The author analyzes the transformation of the electoral system and electoral legislation in the Arab Republic of Egypt after the events of the Arab Spring. The article reveals electoral preparation, process and results of the 2015 and 2020 parliamentary elections that took place under the new political circumstances resulting from the 2011–2013 revolutionary developments. It considers the relevant provisions of the 2014 Constitution, as well as the fundamental electoral laws and the amendments thereto, the political and the party landscape and the current parliament composition. The electoral system, which has a long history in Egypt, has undergone major changes in the last decade; in particular, the electoral legislation has been changed several times. It was due to the political development of this country that has been affected by revolutionary upheavals since 2011. Currently, a new electoral system is being formed, and the process, which is still far from completion, is taking place in difficult socio-economic conditions. Along with the search for new advanced electoral models, there is maintenance of historical continuity and traditions specific to the political life of Egypt.

Most of the today researchers define the art of shamail as “religious” or “Islamic” art. The paper proposes to analyze the relevance of the established definition in relation to shamail term in order to consider the term in a broaderframework, extending its geographical, cultural,religious and linguistic boundaries. Such a broader approach to defining the art of shamail, a shift away from presenting the Arabic-language and/or Arabic-graphic text on shamails as a text of exclusively religious character; consideration of shamails from regions outside the established borders (of modern Republic of Tatarstan) – all that will eventually make it possible to trace the evolution or degradation of the art of shamail, to pay more attention to shamail as a historical source, to raise new questions about the functions of shamail and its role (in the past and in the present) of the art in society of Muslims in Russia and Post-Soviet spaces. The paper offers previously unpublished samples of shamails for consideration: the Bukharian one from the Tyumen region (museum of Embaevo village), Tatars of Belarus (museum of Iv’e village, Grodno region) as well as the shamails of baptized Tatars – kryashens – published by their author on the Internet.

The article deals with the issues that were posed in Noha Mellor’s monograph “Voice of the Muslim Brotherhood**: Da’wa, discourse, and political Communication”. Despite the large amount of literature about the Muslim Brotherhood (MB or Brotherhood) knowledge about the organization is still quite limited. In particular, little information is available about their communication strategy. Research into that aspect of the organization’s activities explains why Egyptians continued to support the Brotherhood even in years of opposition and repression. “Voice of the Muslim Brotherhood**: Da’wa, discourse, and political communication” is a first analysis of the Brotherhood’s early media, tracing its media discourse from the late 1920s to the overthrow of Mohammed Morsi in 2013. The author considers the movement’s media strategy looking beyond publications in periodicals, works or biographies of prominent figures but also by studying the Brotherhood’s Internet products. It makes the research important not only for the history of modern Egypt but also the study of the Muslim Brotherhood**. Mellor provides a noteworthy analysis of how MB’s personal brand was shaped throughout decades. The study contributes to a broader understanding of the relationship between the secular and the religious in contemporary discourses.