The article presents the results of a study of Russian citizens’ perceptions of the country’s future in the context of a new political reality. The analysis focuses on regional differences in perceptions of Russia’s future and takes into account the influence of the socio-political context and the psychological state of society. The empirical evidence is drawn from two studies: the first covered 600 respondents from 37 Russian regions, while the second was an online survey involving more than 4,000 respondents from 42 regions. Four cases were selected for in-depth comparative analysis: the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR), Kursk Oblast, Moscow, and Chelyabinsk Oblast. The study assumes that citizens’ perceptions of the country’s future are influenced by object-related, subject-related, and spatial factors. The findings indicate notable regional differentiation in perceptions of Russia’s future. Respondents from Kursk Oblast and the LPR are more likely to associate their personal future with the future of the country. Respondents from the LPR and Kursk Oblast are more likely than others to regard science as the main driver of positive change in Russia’s future. Moscow residents hold more critical attitudes, whereas the strongest traditionalist views were recorded among respondents from Kursk Oblast.
The article studies the case of the Italian party Northern League and discovers the reasons for introducing primaries to elect a party leader. The relevance of the topic is due to the growing interest in democratizing intra-party processes, especially within personalist parties. The research question is as follows: what are the reasons that encourage political parties to reform the internal election procedure? The concept of primaries is understood as an inclusive procedure for intra-party election by party members, supporters, and/or voters rather than closed procedures controlled by the party elite. Three hypotheses are tested: (1) a party reform is a consequence of an electoral defeat; (2) a party reform is initiated after the change of party leader; (3) a reform is caused by a change in the balance of power between factions. The study applies congruence analysis. The author recognizes that the unsuccessful parliamentary elections in 2013 and the departure of the leader influenced the reform. However, the rise of a new faction (the «Maronians») seeking to control the party and prevent the former leader Umberto Bossi from returning to power turned out to be the decisive factor. The introduction of primaries became a mechanism to redistribute power within the party. The author concludes that the rise of a new dominant faction is the most convincing explanation for the party reform, compared to alternative hypotheses. The study contributes to a better understanding of the internal party transformations and the factors changing party’s organizational practices. The results are of practical use to analyze the processes within parties which have primaries but lack real internal competition. The findings are also helpful to understand the causes of party reforms and the conditions of intra-party democracy expansion.
The article examines the evolution of the R2P concept (Responsibility to Protect) in the context of contemporary UN peacekeeping practices and France’s policy in Africa over the past decade. Particular attention is paid to the extent to which recent developments within the UN including the presentation of A New Agenda for Peace and the adoption of the Pact for the Future as well as debates on peacekeeping operations, make it possible to speak of a crisis or transformation of the concept. The article considers the main dimensions of France’s cooperation with the UN in the field of peacekeeping, including the participation of French military personnel in peacekeeping operations, the financing of such operations, the training of peacekeeping contingents from Francophone countries, and the coordination of draft UN Security Council resolutions under the so-called penholder system on a number of African country files and peacekeeping operations on the continent. Based on an analysis of parliamentary hearings in France and statements by French representatives at the UN in 2023–2025, the article explores national approaches to participation in peacekeeping activities. It shows that, against the background of the end of Operation Barkhane (2014–2022) and the revision of France’s strategy in Africa, French political discourse has increasingly focused on the forms of interaction with African states and the future of France’s peacekeeping engagement. The article concludes that France intends to preserve a significant role in the UN peacekeeping system, primarily through mandate formation, political support for operations, financial participation and personnel training, while maintaining security partnerships with African states amid the reduction of its military presence on the continent.
The article describes the methodology and specific practical techniques for creating an automated system for monitoring the presence of the hero's image in the modern Russian media space. As a media category that requires recognition in the public consciousness, the hero acts as an intermediary in the transmission of ideas and values from the generating center (such as the government or the church) to the masses. In the eras preceding the dominance of the sign-symbolic hyperreality generated by mass media, the creation of the hero's image (heroization) was more "natural" (spontaneous), reflecting the personal response to the challenges of the time inspired by cultural traditions. However, in the context of the modern information society, and especially after the emergence of interactive forms of mass communication, the possibilities for constructing the image of a hero with predetermined parameters have expanded. Modern technologies of social engineering and media tools allow for the simulation of value systems with predetermined manipulative characteristics. The emotionally charged and mythologized traditional image of a hero is particularly vulnerable. The study's topology of the Russian media space, based on the audience reach of mass media, reflects the existing structure of media consumption. The analysis of the current state of theoretical and applied research in the field of forming ideas about "hero" and "heroic" allowed the authors to develop a research methodology and approach the construction of a research concept defined as "the image of a modern hero." The heroic content quantification mechanism proposed in the work allows for monitoring and evaluating how "heroic" content is presented in the mass media and social networks and how it is perceived by consumers. The noted methodology became the theoretical basis, and the quantification mechanism defined the technical specification, which was implemented as an automated heroic content monitoring system with a correspondingly trained neural network to solve the problem of classifying messages into classes related to various aspects of the heroic image.
