No 7 (2024)

In the last 2–3 decades due to a series of pragmatic reforms and export-oriented industrialization, carried out by a number of Asian developing countries (DCs), these countries have managed to significantly displace advanced economies (AEs) in the markets of finished industrial goods, and, on the whole, noticeably surpass the latter in terms of growth rates not only of labor productivity, but also total factor productivity. However, the AEs still outstrip many times not only less successful, but also successful DCs in terms of productivity level, which, according to the model calculated by the author, is determined by the much higher quality of their institutions and management, educational levels of the population and technologies used than in developing countries. In order to maintain their leadership in productivity dynamics, DCs, which are experiencing powerful deterring pressure from Western countries, must, while continuing the struggle to establish a more equitable multipolar world order, intensify the implementation of inclusive reforms that contribute to improving the quality of their institutions, accelerated growth of human capital, and the formation of an effective, technologically more complex and organizationally more advanced economy, based both on the internal market and active inclusion in world economic relations.

The article attempts to analyze current problems associated with the disproportion of agricultural exports to African countries from various regions of Russia. The need to develop new methods and routes for transporting agricultural products and increasing the production of agricultural products in the regions of Russia is emphasized. The possibilities of spatial development of the country’s agro-industrial production are identified. It has been established that against the backdrop of a small share (about 3%) of African countries in Russian exports (low base effect) and the current geopolitical situation, we can expect a greater extent of the realization of the export-import potential of relations between Russia and African countries. This is confirmed by a more than double increase in the volume of exports of Russian agricultural products to African countries over the past decade. It was determined that this growth has occurred against the background of a decrease in the level of spatial diversification: firstly, the main (99%) part of the products is exported to Africa from the Southern, Central and Northwestern Federal Districts of Russia; secondly, while in 2021 the share of the four leading African countries in the structure of “recipients” of Russian agricultural products was 63.8%, a year later it was already 81.8%. Each of them increased its share at the expense of other African countries: thus, there was an increase in the targeting of Russian agricultural exports primarily to the countries of North Africa. It is assumed that one of the possible spatial solutions for increasing exports to African countries could be the further development of the North – South transport corridor, as well as railway routes from Siberia with a focus on ports of the Pacific and Indian Oceans.

In this century, China has shown outstanding results in achieving economic growth. In a short period of time, the country has evolved from a world factory producing simple consumer goods into a leading exporter of high-tech final goods, technologies, equipment, and components for production. Since 2012, China has been maintaining a policy of strengthening national economic growth based on domestic sources, the country is actively expanding its influence through large-scale initiatives such as the Belt and Road Initiative, Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), BRICS+, thus not abandoning plans to expand trade and economic cooperation and increasing its political influence. In this regard, this study is focused on understanding the Chinese model of building trade and economic cooperation, which does not often appear in the scientific literature in contrast to the issues of the specificity of China’s economic growth model. For this purpose, the article systematizes the mechanisms of developing trade and economic relations of the People’s Republic of China, such as tariff policy, strategies, trade and economic unions, special free trade zones, the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative, foreign investments, institutes of foreign financing of Chinese projects.

This article is aimed at studying the inclusion of women in the processes of political participation using the example of the Arab Spring protests. New information technologies and, in particular, social media allowed women to participate in the Arab Spring demonstrations as organizers, activists and journalists. Due to the fact that men in the region in question tend to dominate the traditional media space, cyber activism has allowed women to express themselves both within a specific country and on an international scale. The author comes to the conclusion that the inclusion of women in protest mobilization is reasonable to consider in the context of general demographic trends in the countries under consideration. In this case, we are talking primarily about the phenomenon of youth bulges in some Arab countries, a noticeable proportion of unmarried men, which may be one of the causes of increased destabilization in Arab countries, as well as the intensive spread of Internet communication tools which became the hallmark of the Arab Spring cohort.

The article analyses the political participation of Iraqi Christian communities. In the context of the research, one explores the linguistic, historical and confessional factors that influenced the formation of Assyrian, Chaldean and Assyro-Chaldean political movements in the territory of Modern post-Ba’athist Iraq. In addition, the paper also investigates their connections with co-religionists from neighboring countries and distant diasporas. One may identify three main consolidating forces that protect the interests of the Assyrians, Chaldeans and other faiths: political parties, the Church and the militias. However, the research states that modern Iraqi Christian political parties fully reflect the situation within the national political system after the overthrow of the Baathist government by the US-led international coalition. There are complete imbalance of actions, inability to reach consensus and further fragmentation of the main forces capable of exerting political will into even smaller structural units.

In the contemporary Indian society, not only professional historians and politicians but also artists significantly influence the representations of certain historical processes. Through their efforts, past events gain alternative meanings and interpretations. Emergency (1975–1977) – a painful and controversial period in the history of independent India – has been sharing the same fate. The article examines interpretations of the ambiguous events of the 1970s and the response of India’s leading political parties to them focusing on a new film, Emergency (directed by Kangana Ranaut), whose release date has been repeatedly postponed in India since autumn 2023. For the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) the legacy of the Emergency remains a powerful tool of social and cultural influence on the Indian society. Rethinking the Emergency in fiction and cinematography has long been under the onslaught of the populist rhetoric of the currently dominant BJP and the opposition parties. Today, the Emergency narrative offers an option for not only describing the past through the new lens, but also for interacting with India’s present and reflecting on the country’s future.