The purpose of the paper is to introduce the legal theory of N.M. Korkunov and the influence of his ideas on sociological jurisprudence in the USA and in Western Europe. As an example of such an influence of N.M. Korkunov’s ideas, one can single out the works of the American scientist Nathan Roscoe Pound. Taking into account the differences between the realities of Russian and American societies of that period, Nathan Roscoe Pound adapted his theory to the specifics of the growing hyper-individualism of American culture.

It is worth highlighting the turn to the ideas of the scientist in the post Soviet period, not only from American and Western European, but also from Russian researchers who consider the legal theory of N.M. Korkunov through the prism of ideas of liberalism and legal positivism. Arguing that the growing popularity of Korkunov’s ideas testifies both to the originality for their time and relevance for modern context, the author thus emphasizes Korkunov’s significant contribution to the development of world sociological jurisprudence. 

Insufficient attention has been paid to both Bulgaria’s participation in World War I and the formation of its image in Russian propaganda and socio-political discourse in historical science. The question of how Bulgaria was perceived in Russia in 1917–1918 was not raised in historiography at all, since the researchers focused on studying other, more significant events and processes for the history of Russia that took place during that period. So, the article attempts to fill in this historiographical gap. It is established that the attitude towards Bulgaria changed twice – after the February and October revolutions. After the February Revolution, the perception of Bulgaria became more delicate: newspapers focused on Bulgarian deserters and prisoners, while the reports of Bulgarian crimes in Serbia faded into the background. The Bolsheviks interpreted the reasons for Bulgaria’s participation in the war on the side of the Central Powers in the paradigm of the imperialist war theory, considering the fate of that country in the context of the expected world revolution. 

The article attempts to clarify the circumstances under which the “scientific method” invented by the American philosopher John Dewey was indirectly borrowed by the Chinese historian Gu Jiegang. Realizing what stands behind the “method” as presented by the Chinese scholar Hu Shi, who was a student of John Dewey, Gu Jiegang considered it suitable to be applied in the historical researches and incorporated into the foundation of his own hypothesis and approach. Michel Espagne’s theory of cultural transfer serves as the theoretical and methodological framework of the study. An analysis of the original method and the circumstances of its creation suggests Dewey’s own assumption of its universal applicability, not limited to scientific research. With Hu Shi’s direct references to the “scientific method,” his own presentation in Chinese is not identical to the original – a similar observation applies to Gu Jiegang’s interpretation, who refers exclusively to the Chinese scholar’s. In conclusion, the article argues that the “scientific method” had an indirect influence on historical research in Republican China. Moreover, use of references to the concepts of Western and more famous colleagues was rather intended to provide scientists with reputable support for their own approaches. 

The article considers an issue that has been actively discussed in science for the past 100 years. At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, there was a group of “people of the legal order” (legalists), consisting mainly of lawyers. They were part of the conservative-liberal movement in the late empire. Contemporaries had some idea of conservative liberals and their varieties, although their activities were not specifically studied. At the beginning of the 20th century, there were many terms denoting right-wing liberals: liberal conservatives, conservative liberals, “people of the legal order”, “center”, progressives, etc. After 1917, the history of legalism was gradually being erased from the memory of Russian emigrants and foreign researchers. As a result, researchers narrowed the field of liberalism, throwing out from it certain groups. Only in the 1980s, did foreign scientists begin a systematic study of conservative liberalism.

 The political picture of Russia, getting more complicated with time, quickly resulted in the shades of mass social movements becoming more visible. Nevertheless, at that time, it was only the foundation built by the scholars for future research that would help to better discover the history of liberalism in Russia. 

This article analyzes the development of Habsburg studies in Russia in the 1990s – 2000s. Along with a description of leading research centers (the Institute of General History of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Slavic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Department of the History of Southern and Western Slavs of the Faculty of History at Moscow State University, the Russian State University for the Humanities, and North Caucasus Federal University, among others) that are developing the history of Austria-Hungary and Russian-Austrian-Slavic relations, it also presents a complex picture of the transformation of ideological approaches; the conceptual dichotomy of “national/imperial”; interpretations of the model of a multi-component and multinational state; and the influence of foreign research practices on the methodology used by Russian scholars.

 Particular attention is given to an interdisciplinary approach based on a synthesis of historical, sociological, cultural, and anthropological methods for analyzing the phenomenon of the Habsburg Monarchy in the 19th and early 20th centuries. This approach allows for the study of the history of the empire and its peoples not only in geopolitical contexts but also at the level of collective identity models, the values of various social groups, economic interests, and pragmatic decisions. 

The article analyzes the basic characteristics of modern Finnish school education, which are the result of a purposeful state policy in the sphere.

The main principle of the Finnish welfare state is the principle of equality, the intention to prevent social-class and socio-cultural divisions in society, and to harmonize relations between different social groups as much as possible. Finland’s public policy in the field of education is based on the deeply ingrained belief, both in the country’s legal system and in the public consciousness, that every citizen of the country has an equal right to education. Finland’s rise to the highest level of education was the result of a number of political decisions that were deliberately made, thought out and sustained over a very long period of time, as well as factors inherent in the culture and history of the country.

The use of Hofstede’s methodology of cultural change makes it possible to substantiate the conclusion that the key to the success of school education in this country lies in its compliance with the value orientations, culture and traditions of Finnish society. Accordingly, when using its main components in other social systems, it is necessary to adapt them to the political and cultural characteristics of the respective country. 

Fabius Pictor was the first Roman to write the history of his City. He came from one of the most distinguished noble families, which traced its origins back to the beginning of Rome. The article deals with one of the episodes of Pictor’s biography – his visit to Delphi in 216 B.C. after the defeat of the Romans at Cannae. The answerto the question of why the Senate entrusted this mission to Fabius Pictor lies in the outstanding position in the Senate of his cousin Quintus Fabius Maximus (Cunctator). Holding a leading position in the military-political and religious spheres of life in the Roman Republic, he convinced the Senate of the reliability of his relative’s candidacy to carry out the highly sensitive task. Fabius Pictor was a convenient figure: he was guided by his ancestors diplomatic and religious experience, but at the same time was unknown outside Rome unlike his kinsman and contemporary – Verucius Cunctator. Pictor’s visit to Delphi was not an official diplomatic mission; the Senate just charged him with a private assignment. At the same time, acquaintance with the cult of Apollo at Delphi influenced the historian’s conception of the distant past of Rome, which he reflected in his work. Since then the canonic version of the earliest Roman history with the rule of seven kings takes the beginning. 

The article considers Franciscan diet in the convents of medieval England. The analysis of hagiographic literature, rules and constitutions of the Franciscan Order, along with the sources of the royal Chancery, makes it possible to understand the friars’ diet and the role of food in shaping views on the ideal evangelical poverty. The author highlights the issue of including meat in the Franciscan diet. Meat abstention was intrinsic to the life of humility and poverty. At the same time, according to the Rule of the Order, St. Francis and the friars were to live largely on alms, and they could thus eat and drink whatever is placed before them. Living on alms or just an occasion to get food from somewhere was one of the most important distinguishing marks of the early Franciscan movement. However, as the Order grew, food began to be supplied to the Franciscan convents not only through alms, but also through the economic activity of the friars. The extensive economic production in the convents of the Order is represented in the inventories of the Franciscan houses, which were compiled at their Dissolution in the 16th century. According to the inventories, the Franciscans did not engage in livestock breeding for meat production. Probably it was due to the location of the convents in the urban space and the unresolved issue of including meat in the diet of the friars. 

The article considers alternatives to Marxist ideology within the German social-democratic movement, emphasizing that even before Marxism was being shaped in Germany, there were proposals for a distinct version of socialist emancipation, linked to the emergence of German or “true socialism”. Its leader, M. Hess, stood for the preservation of property in its anthropological interpretation and opposed the idea of socialist revolution. Further development of German social democracy led him to align more closely with Marx. In the late 19th century, E. Bernstein considered Marxism a utopia. His publication “The Preconditions of Socialism and the Tasks of Social Democracy” created a significant resonance within both German and global social democracy. In “The Preconditions”, in which he addressed practical issues of labor movement and allowed admitted that the proletariat’s rejection of seizing political power in the course of class struggle while elevating the role of tradition in the societal development. Bernstein’s position provoked a storm of criticism from K. Marx’s, F. Engels’, A. Bebel’s and K. Kautsky’s supporters, who accused him of misunderstanding the materialist conception of history and Marx’s dialectics. The liberal establishment, represented by F. Naumann, responded to Bernstein favorably, believing that his critique of Marxism would contribute to the affirmation of the national ideal. Both Hess and Bernstein played an important role in the development of German social democracy by offering an alternative to Marxism while addressing the challenges of their era. 

The article analyses transformation of the believers attitude in the late Protestant communities of the BSSR to the Soviet government in 1917–1939. The author identifies three periods different in their strategy of building relations between evangelical believers and the Soviet government (1917–1926, late 1920s – early 1930s and the second half of the 1930s). At the first stage, the Belarusian communities adopted a strategy of normalizing religious activity under the existing political and legal conditions. They were determined to operate within the legal framework. In the second half of the 1920s, as the heads of the central communities are forced to recognize compulsory military service, ban on religious education for children, administrative restrictions on communities’ activities, Belarusian communities’ attitude to the Soviet government changes towards greater mistrust. Active anti-religious policy in the BSSR from the beginning of the 1930s, repressions against believers resulted in the transformation of the attitude of Belorussian EvangelicalBaptists and Adventists to the Soviet power changing it from neutrality to rejection. The developed strategy of the late Belorussian Protestant communities’ attitude to the Soviet power in the 1930s was based on the principle of their demonstrative apolitical nature and distancing from any political activity. At the last, Belarusian communities adopt the strategy of self-preservation, using illegal forms of religious activity. 

The article examines the history of the emergence and establishment of the Orthodox confession in Guatemala, which is traditionally Catholic country of Latin America. This extremely interesting process began in the 1980s and unexpectedly gained particular dynamics in the region, spreading even to neighboring countries such as Mexico and El Salvador. Since the 1870s, a special political situation had developed inside Guatemala, resulting in a significant reduction of the influence of the Roman Catholic Church on society and changing of the whole religious situation in the country. However, for more than a century in Guatemala existed a rather numerous ethnic Arab Diaspora whose representatives had Orthodox roots. They were not united into a community and formally belonged to various Middle Eastern patriarchates that were not represented in Guatemala until the 1980s. The situation changed significantly thanks to Inés Ayau García, who independently came to Orthodoxy while being a Roman Catholic nun, then built the Monastery of the Life-Giving Trinity, and officially registered the first Orthodox church of the Patriarchate of Antioch. The materials analyzed in the article were collected during field research conducted in Guatemala from 2013 to 2024, this topic is considered for the first time in global historiography. 

The article considers the process of creating the Music Department of the People’s Commissariat of Education of the RSFSR in 1918–1920, as well as its main directions and results of activity. The author of the article highlights the lack of administrative experience and the leadership style of the head of A.S. Lurie, the Department head, as one of the most significant concerns in the establishment of a new organizational structure.

Within the period under review the organizational structure of the Music Department became much more complicated and, above all, due to the servicing and technical staff, there was a sharp increase in the number of Department employees at the beginning of 1919.

One of the most important activities of the Music Department was aimed at building a music education system in the country. Other significant areas of activity for the Music Department during that period included establishing accounting and control over musical instruments, music publishing houses and note-printeries, factories and workshops for the production of musical ware, extracurricular and educational work in the field of introducing citizens of the Soviet Republic to the achievements of music.

However, the overall results of the activities of the Music Department of the People’s Commissariat of Education of the RSFSR, as well as the report of the commission of the Workers’ and Peasants’ Inspection on its activities for the specified period, indicate the low efficiency of its work. Under the conditions of the Civil War, devastation, and half-starved urban life, the Music Department failed to become an authoritative cultural and musical center that guides musical life of the Soviet Republic and fulfill its tasks.

This article considers foreign trips of Soviet students as an instrument of cultural diplomacy of the USSR in the period between the two World Wars sorting out the difficulties in their organization and highlighting their role in promoting Soviet foreign policy interests. The materials of the State Archive of the Russian Federation (GARF) form the basis of the present paper: messages and reports of the employees from the All-Union Society for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries (VOKS). While studying the archival sources it was revealed that students of Soviet higher educational institutions in the 1920s had the opportunity to travel abroad for scientific and educational purposes –mastering and utilizing advanced foreign technical expertise with a focus on training of specialists in different industries of the economic life of the USSR. Some of the students were members of international organizations which united both Soviet and European youth. The trips were strictly regulated. VOKS carried out their organization through the network of its representatives, who provided those who travelled abroad with visas. Special attention has targeted to the ideological training of students, because they were entrusted with the propagandist functions. The implementation of travels directly depended on the diplomatic and interstate relations of the USSR with other countries. 

In 2011, the Russian State University for the Humanities hosted the first All-Russian scientific conference “The Future of Our Past”. The event was organized by the Department of History and Theory of Historical Science. Fourteen years have passed since then, and the conference has become traditional and is held annually. The article explores the topics of the conference, the participants of which discussed and are still discussing the most relevant areas of historical knowledge and its state today. It presents an overview of ten past conferences including their topics and challenges. In different years, “The Future of Our Past” conferences were devoted to updating historical knowledge, teaching history, searching new approaches to studying the past, that includes the history of empires and revolutions, the history of everyday life, the history of memory, the history of science and intellectual history. The article demonstrates the evolution of the conference, which with time has come a long way from a small expert community to a large-scale scientific forum. The article is intended to fellow historians who search new platforms for scientific discussion, to students and young researchers who have just begun their path in science, as well as to everyone interested in the history of RSUH.