№ 4 (2025)

The political dilemma faced by leading European countries – between “transatlantic commitment” and the pursuit of Europe’s “strategic autonomy” is analyzed. Amid growing centrifugal tendencies within NATO and the formation of coalitions on security issues within the EU, a qualitatively new configuration is emerging within the “strategic triangle” of Russia–United States–Europe. This process is less of the establishment of a new security architecture and more of the search for institutional forms capable of adapting to the rapidly evolving nature of US–Russia relations and transatlantic cooperation. Against this backdrop, proposals for the creation of an alternative military configuration outside of NATO remain largely a political and symbolic tool for intra-EU mobilization rather than a practically feasible initiative. Particular attention is paid to the policies of key European actors – France, Germany, Finland, the Baltic States, and Poland – whose approaches to military development and relations with the United States are marked by increasing polarization.

The article continues the author’s series of publications devoted to the theory and history of national relations in the Soviet Union and Russia. The main types of ethnopolitical tensions during the Khrushchev thaw are described as preceding the emergence of nationalism as an organized political force in a significant part of the territory of the Soviet Union. Ethnopolitical unrest without signs of ideological nationalism is compared with the processes occurring in the centers of pronounced nationalist movements (in the Baltics and Western Ukraine). The causes and transformation of spontaneous ethnopolitical protests into politically formed nationalism are characterized, and the expansion of its geography after the Khrushchev thaw is noted.

The purpose of this study is to identify the lowest share of cash in money supply that ensures normal functioning of the national economy. The positions of Russian and foreign authors on the optimal share of cash in the economy were analyzed; trends in the structure of money supply have been identified over a period of more than thirty years of the country’s development; a sociological study, involving all economic regions, was conducted to examine the attitudes of different social and age groups toward cash and to evaluate its minimal share at 10–12% of money supply. By combining economic and sociological approaches to studying the role of cash, the research revealed not only quantitative patterns but also social practices associated with its use. It is emphasized that the share of cash is not only a financial indicator, but also a reflection of deeply rooted social habits. Cash continues to serve as a barometer of institutional trust, while its share reveals the depth of the divide between public and financial institutions.

In 2017–2024 the United States pursued a policy of “decoupling”, seeking to reduce the risks arising from close economic integration with China. There are signs of a decline in US imports from China, especially in electronics, and of a reduction in the outflow of US FDI into the Chinese economy. However, although the share of Chinese products on the American market decreased somewhat due to an increase in imports from other countries, China remained the most important supplier of high-tech goods to the United States and the most important sales market for U.S. companies. At the new stage of the bilateral trade war the situation may change drastically; new mutual restrictions could lead to a reorientation of trade and FDI flows to third countries.

The key thesis of Joseph Raz’s philosophical and legal theory on the authority of law and the arguments associated with it are critically examined. The need to consider this topic is due, on the one hand, to high significance of the legal scholar’s conclusions for one of the most relevant areas of legal thought – analytical jurisprudence, and on the other hand, to insufficient representation of works on this issue in domestic theory. The stated goal of forming a critical understanding of the theory of authority of law determines the definition of general context of Raz’s scientific work, the main provisions of his views on law and key problematic theses. As a result, it was established that the legal scholar’s theory contains two contradictory arguments: on the claim of law to authority provided by legitimate power, and the absence of general obligation to obey the law. Raz adheres to a strict attitude towards preserving the positivistic understanding of law and does not sufficiently integrate his own statements of the social determination of law into the concept of formal normativity. The established scientific reflection of the views of the legal scholar shows that the internal contradictions of the theory are due to its conceptual nature and the limited possibility of explaining the practical aspects of law associated with its moral acceptance by individuals within a single theory.

Promotion of the national system of values provides for political and legal justification of non-recognition of arbitrary gender reassignment. Russian legislation establishes an uncontested ban on it, providing for a limited number of exemptions from the general rule. But even within the proposed regulatory model, a whole range of issues requiring regulatory resolution remains relevant, first of all, from the point of view of harmonization of private and public interests. On the one hand, the legislative decision limits the legal exercising of the constitutional right for health protection and taking advantage of medical care in the event of diagnosis of transsexualism as an independent mental disorder requiring medical correction, and may lead to actual exclusion from the socio-legal space of people suffering from such pathology. On the other hand, the emphasis should be made on raising the younger generation and countering promotion of gender diversity and unreasonable (beyond medical indications) gender reassignment, that can be viewed as breaching the right for privacy under the liberal agenda. In this regard, legislation in the field under study should take into account the principle of personal identity, which, from the legal point of view, means, firstly, a differentiated approach to those suffering from mental disorder and those broadcasting non-pathological manifestations of gender perception disorder, and, secondly, elaborating legislation aimed at combating destructive cultural impulses that undermine the state educational policy.