This paper explores the concept of necropolitics, developed by leading African political philosopher Achille Mbembe, within the context of decolonization and sovereignty in African states. The paper critically analyzes this concept through its relationship to the classical Hobbesian paradigm of sovereignty and the intellectual genealogy of the concept of biopolitics. The authors identify theoretical lacunae in the universalist model of the social contract, demonstrating its limitations in explaining the structures of violence and exclusion that emerged in the colonial and postcolonial eras. This theoretical reconstruction reveals the content of the concept of necropolitics, defined as a form of sovereign power based on racial hierarchization and the right to determine who lives and who dies. The paper analyzes its key components: the spatial organization of “death worlds,” the status of the “living dead,” the discursive practices of “little death,” and the aesthetic dimension of “brutality.” The main result of the study is the development of a theoretical and methodological framework for analysis, structured around six interrelated parameters (bonds of enmity, the world of death, the little death, racial hierarchization, the mortification of the collective body, and brutality). This methodological apparatus provides a toolkit for analyzing the structures of political violence and allows for a more nuanced understanding of the dynamics of political violence, moving beyond traditional Eurocentric approaches. The work contributes to the development of a postcolonial (or decolonial) perspective in political theory and offers a relevant analytical tool for rethinking the dichotomy of violence and security. The necropolitical framework of analysis has the potential to be applied both to the study of African political reality and to the assessment of processes in other regions of the world, consistent with A. Mbembe’s thesis on the “Africanization” of the modern world.
This article presents a comprehensive analysis of Russian state policy aimed at ensuring accessibility to culture for individuals with disabilities and limited health capabilities and their integration into the cultural life of society. Based on a detailed study of official reports from the Russian Ministry of Culture for 2022—2025, monitoring results from the Resource Educational and Methodological Center of the Russian State Specialized Academy of Arts, and federal statistical recods, the paper evaluates, the system of measures applied. The study focuses on the institutional mechanisms for coordinating state policy and the dynamics of infrastructural change in key types of cultural institutions — libraries, theaters, museums, and cultural and leisure facilities. The results of the federal projects “Accessible Environment” and “Cultural Environment” are analyzed in detail. The role of the “Pushkin Card” program as a tool for stimulating change is assessed. Regional practices for engaging cultural organizations in the rehabilitation and habilitation of individuals with disabilities are examined. Based on an analysis of data for the period 2022—2025, the measures taken are shown to be comprehensive and systemic. Their implementation has resulted in significant progress in creating physical, informational, and substantive accessibility to cultural goods for individuals with disabilities. This conclusion is supported by the sustained positive dynamics of key quantitative indicators over the four-year period.
The article is concerned with the application of the concept of international roles for small states occupying the bottom floor of the international hierarchy. As is known, traditionally small states are characterized by low status, essential lack of influence on international affairs and complete dependence on great powers. At the same time, taking into account the sheer size of the group, it is possible to identify a subgroup of small states that are able to effectively employ their available resources and play a comparable role with middle or even great powers in world politics. In order to identify significant international roles, a typology is proposed that takes into account the main spheres of international interaction and the type of reference object for which the state in question plays a significant role (global, regional or dyadic levels). Such systematization of significant roles allows comparing vastly different countries, for instance, those belonging to different classes of the international hierarchy, including small, medium and leading states. In addition, the axis of reference objects in the typology allows to reflect an important sociological component of a role, which distinguishes it from a function. Based on the proposed typology of significant international roles, the article goes on to analyze the transformation of the roles of small Middle Eastern monarchies – namely, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain in contemporary world politics, which constitute some of the most successful examples of small states that have achieved significant agency at the beginning of the 21st century.
