No 5 (2023)

The implementation of reforms in Saudi Arabia met with both support and resistance. A significant part of the youth, pro-government “liberals”, and those elites that rejected the former feudal pyramid system stood in favor of the reforms. Among the opponents were jihadist extremists, some of the members of the “dominant tribe” of the House of Saud, who were losing their power and income associated with the previous system of corruption, some part of the Wahhabi corporation, religious police, theologians, some part of the business that flourished due to state subsidies and the absence of taxes and control over expenditures and incomes. Among the opponents were also conservatives from the middle and lower strata, dissatisfied with the granting of greater rights to women.The regime’s international image was spoiled by the assassination of opposition leader Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.However, the firm course of the kingdom aimed at protecting, above all, the national interests of the country and the refusal to obey the dictates of the United States in matters of oil prices was highlighted by a demonstrative rapprochement with China and neutrality in the confrontation between Russia and the collective West. Saudi Arabia looked for and found its place in the changing world-system.

The military leadership of Myanmar being under conditions of international sanctions and having a difficult economic situation have to approach China. In the foreign policy of the PRC, Myanmar has also acquired a great geostrategic importance. Getting direct transport access to the Indian Ocean through Myanmar stimulates the export-oriented development of the south-western provinces of the PRC and also forms a safe energy corridor for the import of hydrocarbons bypassing the Malacca Strait. China is implementing many infrastructure projects in Myanmar as part of connecting Myanmar to the Belt and Road Initiative. China as a powerful economic actor is an important source of energy for modern technologies, helping to modernize Myanmar’s economy, creates jobs. At the same time, the growth of Chinese capital in the economy of Myanmar and the political influence of Beijing on the military also cause negative reactions at the grass-roots level. China retains its historical leverage over the Myanmar leadership in the form of ethnic armed organizations (EAO) and plays an important role in the process of national reconciliation in Myanmar. At the same time, the activities of various criminal structures in the Sino-Myanmar border area have a negative impact on the southwestern regions of China.

 On March 19–20, 2023 an International Parliament Conference “Russia – Africa” was held in Moscow. Members of parliaments of over 40 African countries as well as deputies of the State Duma, members of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation and representatives of the business and academic community participated in this conference. Within the Conference, several round tables were organized on March 19 where the most crucial issues were discussed on the inter-parliamentary cooperation in the field of science and education, the search of the joint solution on economic challenges, different security issues and the resistance to the Western neocolonialism. On March 20, the plenary session entitled “Russia – Africa in the Multipolar World” took place with the participation of Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia.The Conference not only identified major problems that impede the further sustainable social and economic growth of African countries but also proposed possible ways to solve them. Representatives of the business and academic community expressed their readiness to work together with their African partners to solve common tasks.  

The countries of North Africa, which are currently at different stages of social transit, have been undergoing significant, qualitative changes in recent decades, mainly in the 2000s.The evolution of the social image of the Arab States has become one of the most important consequences of the ongoing large-scale transformations in this region and, more broadly, in the globalized world. Geopolitical and geoeconomic parameters/features of the object of the study - the North African countries with their hundreds of tribes and clans predetermine significant differences in the nature and dynamics of transformation and development of selected states. This is due to significant differences in historical-cultural development, ethnic and confessional composition within a large group of countries, and their population. This group includes numerous states that differ in natural and geographic environment and have a rich historic background with its particular case in each country.Today there exists a rather mixed picture of positions that selected countries of the region hold in the “world ranking” of the level and dynamics of economic development, quality of human capital, scale of poverty, framework conditions for investment, demographic factor, urbanization, environmental protection, etc. All of this directly affects implementation of renovation/modernization concept - the key mega trend of social development of the region in recent decades. On the whole, for the past 50 years the shifts have been limited (but anyone could say that this is just the beginning).This article is devoted  mainly to the analysis of the factors influencing the formation of a new social image of the North African countries.

Review of the book: Bondarenko D.M. Post-Colonial Nations in the Historical and Cultural Context (Moscow, 2022. 400 p.) (In Russ.). ISBN 978-5-907498-42-6