Nº 6 (2025)

This article analyzes the long and, in many ways, unique reign of the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan (LDP), which has held power, with only a few interruptions, for nearly seven decades since its founding in 1955. It examines the institutional, social, and economic mechanisms that have enabled the party to maintain its leading position in the country's political system. These include the LDP's ability to adapt to changing conditions, skillfully combining traditional values with pragmatic approaches to governance, as well as its effective interaction with the bureaucracy, big business, and regional elites. It examines how the party's internal organization, the presence of stable factions, and the distribution of resources within it ensure stability and controllability of political processes. It also emphasizes that such dominance does not guarantee perpetual power: demographic changes, an aging society, declining trust among young people in traditional parties, and intensifying political competition create new risks. The article concludes that the LDP's future development will largely depend on its readiness for internal transformation and openness to new ideas. Rethinking traditional governance approaches, implementing structural reforms, and strengthening government transparency measures can not only renew the political system but also strengthen public trust. Amid growing international instability and technological change, the LDP must find a balance between maintaining continuity and adapting. The success of these efforts will determine whether the party can maintain its leading position, ensuring sustainable development and political modernization in Japan in the 21st century.

Mongolia is a landlocked country in the center of Asia, sandwiched between Russia and China. Its geographical location makes it dependent on its neighbors in many ways. Therefore, Mongolia faces a particularly acute challenge, compared to other small states, of maintaining a balance in relations with neighboring powers and third countries without compromising its sovereignty or limiting its economic development. The paper presents the results of an analysis of the practical implementation of Mongolia's multi-vector foreign economic policy. It is emphasized that in the early 1990s, Mongolia was forced to seek assistance from Western countries, which became its key development partners. The mining boom of the 2000s, along with rapid economic growth, led to dependence on mineral exports to China and the strengthening of foreign companies as major investors. Mongolia's decision to maintain control over key sectors of the economy caused a collapse in the inflow of foreign investment. Together with the attraction of loans on the international debt market in the context of falling world prices for minerals, this led to the 2016 crisis. Nevertheless, key partners helped Mongolia avoid default on its sovereign debt. Moreover, the recession during the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent economic recovery confirmed that Mongolia has no alternative to a policy of multi-vector foreign economic cooperation, in which China remains the main sales market, and Western partners are key creditors. In relations with Russia, Mongolia seeks to eliminate dependence on imported Russian oil products, conclude a free trade agreement and participate in plans to build transit infrastructure to China.

The relevance of the article is connected with growing significance of the BRICS+ in the world economy and a need to study directions which show ways to integrating into the global system based on a new model of manufacturing and cooperation. Main suggestions of the article rely on fundamental works by Russian and foreign researchers as well as time-relevant statistics. The article introduces a notion of symbiosis of individual competitive advantages of the BRICS+ making up a full set of unique resources, cadres, technology and competence to produce finished products based on the strategy of cost minimization and common good maximization. Theoretical significance of the paper is about deepening knowledge in the emerging direction of research of a new paradigm of globalization under the leadership of the BRICS+. Practical significance of the research’s results lies in the proposed approaches to use the strengths of the new paradigm of globalization under BRICS+ leadership which before could be gained during active globalization of the world America-centered economy. Due to the obsolescence of widely accepted rules of international exchange, the article puts a stress on looking for compromising solutions in conditions of hostile protectionism and deglobalization. The article concludes by saying that the universal direction of development in the modern world economy is in the field of a new paradigm and a model of business which help any country of the world irrespective of the level of wellbeing contribute an individual competence in the common set of tools of the BRICS+ and make use of equally approachable collective advantage thanks to their harmonic symbiosis to maximize the positive effect of solving national problem.