No 8 (2023)

The decline in the country’s GDP growth rates is determined by the structural imbalances of the transitional economy of China, the consequences of the geo-economic war unleashed by the United States, and the inevitable crisis of growth, accompanied by the risk of falling into the “middle-income trap”.At the initial stage, the sanctions pressure on China caused considerable concern, however, since May 2023, Beijing began to introduce effective countersanctions that can reverse the situation with the sanctions pressure and lead to its weakening.Another factor of concern about the situation in the country’s economy is related to the difficulties in further search for internal growth drivers. Since 2019, China has come close to high-income countries, but the PRC has not yet managed to overcome the milestone and stand on a par with “rich” states.The main conclusion of the study is that risks and threats are growing in the Chinese economy due to sanctions pressure and approaching the “middle-income trap”.

The article is devoted to the study of parliaments’ role in the state structure of African countries and their place in the system of powers’ separation. It is noted that, for historical reasons, the presidential rather than parliamentary form of government prevails in many countries.In the mass consciousness, the function of the president is still associated with the role of the leader. But the constitutions of African states have been changed compared to those that existed in the 1950–1980s. They have significantly expanded the powers of representative authorities. But they are not always and not fully implemented in practice.The personalization of power also weakens the prestige of legislative assemblies. There are also other causes hindering the development of parliamentarism, which are discussed in detail in this article. Along with such causes, the positive shifts towards the strengthening parliaments’ role on the continent are analyzed. The situation is improving, especially in South Africa, where the level of executive control is quite strong. Parliamentary sessions and budget voting are regularly held in most African countries.The analysis of new constitutional legislative and regulatory acts makes it possible to detect a formal increase in the powers of parliament in drafting laws.The paper examines the Pan-African Parliament’s activities in the structures of the African Union. The causes that prevent the Parliament from becoming a full-fledged legislative body are examined.Attention is paid to the prospects for strengthening Russian-African cooperation, which received a new impetus after the Second International Parliamentary Conference “Russia – Africa” held in Moscow in March 2023. This forum confirmed the political solidarity of African countries with Russia in the context of the formation of a just multipolar world. It outlined the vector of future inter-parliamentary cooperation between African countries and Russia.

For more than 6 decades of independent history, Malaysia has gone through a complex and abrupt path of economic development. A competent management system, quick response to external and internal changes and a planning economic strategy, based on interconnected medium- and long-term plans that were drawn up based on the real state of the economy, and a strategic vision of development, contributed to the modernization and industrialization of the economy and helped to overcome unstable periods, including the Asian economic crisis of 1997–1998, the global economic crisis of 2008, which supported the restructuring of the one-sided agrarian and raw material structure of Malaysian economy and enabled it to become one of the new industrial countries.Entering the XXI century, Malaysia continues to focus both on the world’s best practices and to consider its national socio-economic characteristics to further transform the economic system, the main goal of which is the transition to a knowledge-based economy. The implementation of the innovative scenario means the large-scale institutional transformations, the development of new approaches to industrial and technological cooperation, the creation of innovative infrastructure, and qualitatively new requirements for human capital. Under these conditions, the study of economic situation of this country helps not only to identify several qualitative characteristics of the economy, but also to better understand the direction of its transition to a new stage of development.