No 2 (2024)

The factors and parameters of modern geopolitical transformations are examined. Geopolitical transformations are determined as a complex set of economic, military, social, political-diplomatic, technological, demographic and other processes. Those processes are changing the centro-power structure of the world political system. The role of such global centers of power as the Russian Federation, China, the USA, as well as of a potential global player – India – is analyzed. The importance of the role of the military factor in modern geopolitics (including its nuclear dimension) is shown. Conclusions are drawn about the place and interests of Russia in the modern system of world politics, including in relation to internal socio-economic and socio-political development in the Russian Federation and the formation of social reality in Russia. The social changes that are taking place under the influence of geopolitical transformations, especially under the influence of the “hybrid war” waged against Russia by the “aggregate West”, are considered. It is emphasized that under these conditions Russian society became more consolidated; support has increased for the Russian Federation to follow its own path based on traditional Russian values.

The article shows how polemics of C.Wright Mills with T. Parsons and N. Wiener with G. Simondon allowed to identify the potential of applying the concepts of homeostasis and metastability to elaborating the philosophy of social governance. Particular attention is paid to the contribution of these concepts to better understanding the problems of governance at both societal and organizational levels. Both in the organizations and societies homeostatic self-regulation is often co-exising with metastable states which are fraught both by long-range stagnation and unexpected explosive changes. This factor seriously complicates forecasting changes in metastable states and increases the cost of error. The pioneering role of A.Bogdanov’s “Tektologia” which anticipated this conclusion is characterized. It is concluded that transfer of concepts of homeostasis and metastability into social sciences throws a bridge from philosophy of history to philosophy of social governance and contributes to their development.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the impact of digitalization on global economic growth and employment over the past 20–30 years. The waves of digitalization are highlighted, the dynamics and components of its material basis – the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) – are studied. Methods of mathematical statistics and common methods for analyzing time series, economic cycles and trends, structural shifts, regressions were used. Databases of such specialized agencies as UNCTAD, WTO, OECD, the US National Scientific Council, the Bureau of Economic Analysis USA, etc. are used as the main sources of digital and factual information. The main trends of the last 10–15 years have been calculated and justified: the exit of the ICС complex after the crisis of 2008–2009 to stationary growth trajectories; the beginning of the second wave of digitalization in 2015–2016, intensified by the COVID-19 pandemic; the advanced development of ICС services, etc.

An analysis of universal health coverage (UHC) of the Russian population compared to EU countries for the period 2019–2020 is provided. The concept of three-dimensional measurement of health care coverage proposed by R. Busse, J. Schreyögg and C. Gericke is used as basis of the research. Within the framework of this methodology, three indicators are applied that determine the level of UHC development: 1) coverage of the population eligible for publicly funded health services; coverage of medical services included in the program of state guarantees; and personal medical expenses of the population. Comparative analysis was applied using quantitative methods on the databases of Rosstat, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The following conclusions were made. Medical assistance in Russia and the EU countries covers almost the entire population. Coverage of medical services (what kind of care is provided by the state guarantees programs) differs significantly in Russia and many EU countries. In Russia much fewer services and medical supplies are covered, which does not meet the needs of the population in medical care. In particular, this applies to outpatient care, where only half (52%) of the services are paid under the state guarantee program. In EU countries, on average, the state pays 78% of outpatient care costs. The medication supply to outpatients also lags far behind the average EU standards. The main reason for this situation is related to the fact that Russia provided insufficient funds on healthcare over the past twenty years (3.5% of GDP and 4.6% at the beginning of the pandemic), relying heavily on household spending.

The actualization of the consciousness myth is realized through a mythological text. In modern society, media text can represent mythological text. The main criterion for identifying such media text as mythological reality is the repeated uncritical and categorical canonicity of subject-object relations in a special unformalized time and space as the only true one. In the practice of German-language media this can be found in an axiomatic and unreasoned exaltation of German cultural achievements, such as gender balance in linguistic practice, the absolutism of the ideals of Western democracies, representation of the German nation as a “victim of war,” etc. The individual – as well as the author of the media text – always unconsciously strives to bring his actualizations in line with the collective ones, and the collective, in turn, accepting and updating the individual as the general (reduplication), has a reverse influence on the individual, due to which the world perception of the individual and the collective tends to identity. The mythical in the German media text is found both in its structure and in the features of media speech.

Based on spatial approach and multilevel governance theory, the role and strategies of non-state actors in Germany involved in the integration of migrants at the local, national, regional and global levels are analyzed. The study concerns non-governmental organizations (NGOs), including non-governmental non-profit structures, foundations, migrant associations, trade unions, as well as the media and international intergovernmental organizations. It is shown that the German method of management in this area involves close cooperation between a wide range of such institutions and the state.