Political science. Cheat sheet: briefly, the most important

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Lecture notes, cheat sheets
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Political science. Cheat sheet: briefly, the most important

Lecture notes, cheat sheets

Directory / Lecture notes, cheat sheets

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Table of contents

Politics as a social phenomenon
Origin of politics
Policy structure and functions
Politics and morality
Goals and means of policy
The object and subject of political science
The structure of political science
Functions of political science
Political Traditions of the Ancient East
Political and legal tradition of antiquity
Political and legal tradition of the Middle Ages
Political and legal doctrine of the Renaissance and Reformation
Political and legal tradition of modern times
Political and legal tradition of the USA
Political and legal tradition of the Arab East
The main stages in the development of Western European political science
Political sciences in Russia and CIS countries
Features of the Russian political tradition
The main factors, stages and characteristics of the formation and development of Russian statehood
Typology of inclusion in Russia of various regions and peoples
Power and property in the national political tradition
Soviet model of society and political history of the XNUMXth century
Reforms and counter-reforms in the political history of Russia
The concept, origin and mechanisms for the exercise of power
Legitimacy of power
Typology, functions and organization of the political system
Institutional Foundations of Policy
Political relations and processes
Policy subjects (essential characteristics, typology, hierarchy)
Political interests
Types and forms of the state
Ways to achieve the rule of law
Political leadership and political style
Political culture, political ideologies, theory of political change
Political socialization of the individual
Political myths and utopias
The specifics of political socialization in modern Russia
Methods, concepts and conceptual apparatus of political sociology
Main schools and directions. Typology of political systems and regimes
Problems of diagnosing the political system
Problems of reforming the political system of Russian society
Modern political cultures (comparative analysis)
The modern concept of political modernization
Prospects for political modernization in Russia
Problems of political life in modern Russia
Sociological analysis of political life
Typology of contemporary political regimes
The main features and varieties of democratic regimes. The problem of the costs and limits of democracy
characteristics of authoritarian regimes. The Problem of Authoritarianism in Modern Russia
Political stratification and political modernization
Political ideologies of modern Russia
Political parties, elites and leadership
The mechanism of the formation of civil society in Russia
Modern trends in world politics
Relationship between domestic and foreign policy
International system
International interactions (conflicts and cooperation)
Methods of political analysis
Forecasting and modeling of the political process (specifics, technologies, tools)
political marketing
Political consulting, lobbying, negotiations
Campaign Technology
Types of electoral systems
Conflicts in public life
Typology of conflicts
Political conflicts and ways to resolve them
State policy, its essence and types
Public Policy Development Mechanisms
Political campaign
Theories of public administration
Theories of bureaucracy, universality of administrative management
The subject and method of political regional studies

1. POLITICS AS A PUBLIC PHENOMENON

As a special area of human activity, the purpose of which is to orient social development in a direction favorable to man by defining common goals and concerted actions, politics arose more than 25 years ago.

The definition of the concept of "politics" was first given in ancient Greece, where the word "polis" denoted the state, and politka was called state or public affairs, more precisely, the art of government.

At the modern scientific level, there are various approaches to understanding politics. First of all, this is a well-established idea of politics as the management of society. Quite common is the view of politics as the regulation of relations between various social strata, groups, state entities. There is also an understanding of politics as a sphere of struggle between various social groups and individuals for power.

It should be emphasized that the tangibility of politics as a social institution is due precisely to the presence of such a source of state power as power. The selection of the category of power as the determining one follows from the fact that the sphere of politics not only covers the state political system, but also goes beyond them.

As the diversity of interests grew and the forms of human activity became more complex, the content of politics was no longer limited to state-organized activities, but also penetrated into the sphere of interaction between individuals on the issue of realizing their private interests. According to M. Weber, politics covers all types of activities for independent leadership. The variety of approaches to explaining the meaning of politics makes it difficult to express its clear formulation. The specificity of politics is related to its ability to ensure the integrity of society, to coordinate various social interests, and to effectively regulate social interactions. The political world is also associated with power relations, the state structure. Therefore, when defining a policy, such key elements as activity, state and power should be interconnected. Without claiming to be an exhaustive interpretation, we note that politics is a field of activity associated with relations between social groups and various social forces, the goals of which are the conquest, retention and use of state power. This definition highlights the essential features of the policy. The fact that politics is a sphere of power relations serves to satisfy generally significant interests, the implementation of which is impossible outside of government.

2. ORIGIN OF POLICY

Politics has not always existed. Its appearance reflected the process of complication of social life, due to the development of human needs.

Thus, the primitive societies of antiquity did not know politics. The underdevelopment of material production corresponded to the paucity of needs, which amounted to the possibility of physical survival. Separate individuals were not yet capable of independent existence outside the clan, tribe - the leading forms of social integrity of that time. Interactions within these formations were based on natural, consanguineous ties and were regulated by the norms of community-collectivist morality, traditions, customs and beliefs.

The gradual separation of human society from nature destroyed the natural nature of the relationships within it. The process of gradual decomposition of the tribal organization weakened the dominance of the whole over the individual. The build-up of the material possibilities of ancient societies led to the exacerbation of social, ethnic, cultural and religious differentiation. Preserving the integrity of society in these conditions has become a serious social problem. And although kinship ties remained dominant in social life, political institutions had already appeared that could, through the use of coercion, provide generally binding forms of social interaction. The emergence of mechanisms of state power brought social power to a qualitatively new level of regulation of intergroup relations.

Power as a central attribute of statehood also initially did not have a political character. She came from the family. The power of the elders, commanders, priests was based on their authority (the strongest, smartest, most dexterous were chosen) and on the performance of certain functions (for example, religious ones). Then the power had a public character, since it regulated basically the coinciding interests and needs of the clan. The differentiation of society has led to the incompatibility of interests. Then, political forms were required to harmonize various interests and needs that materialized in a system of special institutions: the state, the army, ideologies, etc. The realization of interests in a socially heterogeneous society required the use of state power. Otherwise, the satisfaction of the needs of some groups could significantly change the social opportunities of others. Consequently, political power) is not any kind of power, but one that is formed consciously between those who influence and those who are influenced.

3. POLICY STRUCTURE AND ITS FUNCTIONS

Politics has a complex structure. Its most important elements are the objects of politics, the subjects of politics, political power, political processes, political ideas and concepts.

The objects of policy are continuously changing social problems, the solution of which requires an adequate response of the entire system of political institutions, the adoption of appropriate management decisions.

The subjects of politics are direct participants in political activity. First of all, these are individuals, social groups, layers, organizations directly or indirectly participating in the process of implementing state power or exercising influence on it. The subject of politics can be structurally organized and represent a social institution (political party, state, mass media, etc.).

Political power is the ability of certain political forces to influence society, develop and implement policies based on a balance of forces and interests, subordinating people to this.

Political processes - the interaction of various political forces, subjects of politics in solving political problems, their impact on policy objects. The nature of interaction (for example, consent or confrontation, political struggle or cooperation) depends on the maturity of the political culture of the subjects, the state of society.

Political ideas and concepts - theoretical understanding of the political development of society. Political theories explain the world of politics in all its manifestations, including the functioning of political institutions.

Concepts are called various kinds of abstractions created on the basis of generalization of individual observations, a set of individual facts. Concepts serve as the basis for creating theories.

The meaning and role of politics are determined by the functions that it performs in society. Politics in modern society performs a number of the most significant functions:

1) the function of ensuring the integrity and stability of society. Politics performs this function in line with its purpose: to formulate common goals, determine social guidelines, seek the necessary resources for their implementation;

2) the function of mobilization and provision of general activities;

3) managerial and regulatory function (politics manages social processes, regulates them);

4) the function of political socialization (politics includes the individual in social relations);

5) humanitarian function (the function is expressed in the creation of guarantees of the rights and freedoms of the individual, ensuring public order, civil peace and organization).

4. POLITICS AND MORALS

Morality (from Latin moralis - "moral") is a special form of social consciousness or a type of social relations, which are based on such humanistic ideals as goodness, justice, honesty, morality, spirituality.

In primitive tribes, morality was one of the main means of regulating social relations. But with the emergence of the state and political institutions in the management of society, the problem of the relationship between politics and morality arises.

What is common between politics and morality is that both morality and politics are designed to control people's behavior. However, management methods differ significantly. Morality is based primarily on beliefs, and the main criteria for evaluating an act are one's own conscience or the censure of others. Politics is based on force, on the use of coercive measures, and the criterion of action is the court.

Politics is a special way of regulating social relations, based on written laws and based on political power.

It is the attribute of power and the possibility of its application that distinguish politics from all other means of regulating social relations.

Politics and morality have different sources (reasons) for creating a governance structure.

Morality is based on the values, customs, and traditions existing in society, that is, it has a value-normative basis. Politics is based on the interests of various social groups of society, which are transformed into laws (norms). Politics, in fact, begins with the introduction of written laws into the management system of society. Legal norms give politics a certain logic of development, make it predictable, create a common legal field, and determine the limits of competence of subjects and participants in the political process.

Politics as a special kind of regulation of social life is necessary in order to agree on general rules and norms binding on all and to exercise control over their implementation. But in real life, politics can be used both for the common good of all members of society, and for protecting the interests of the ruling class to the detriment of other social strata.

An essential difference between politics and morality is also that moral requirements are permanent, universal and do not depend on a specific situation, while politics must take into account real conditions and act depending on the situation. In addition, moral requirements are very abstract and do not always lend themselves to precise criteria. The requirements of the policy are quite specific, they are dressed in the form of laws, for the violation of which there is a punishment.

5. OBJECTIVES AND MEANS OF THE POLICY

Of great importance in the implementation of policy is the ratio of goals and means.

The goal is a mental anticipation of the result, the achievement of which is aimed at the activity of people. The purpose of the individual, as a rule, is specific. The goals of society and the state are of a general nature, since they must meet the interests of a large number of people.

But in politics, along with general goals, there are also more specific or intermediate goals, for example, the creation of an effective system for managing society, the development and adoption of the necessary laws, etc.

In a democratically organized society, the main goals of politics are to harmonize the general and private interests of all members of society; maintenance of law and order in society and settlement of emerging conflicts; management of public affairs; assistance in the distribution of public resources; protecting members of society from outside threats.

But it happens that political power itself is the main goal for various political forces, and people in power use it as a means to retain power and achieve other selfish goals.

Means in politics are special tools, methods, resources with the help of which the intended political goals are achieved. Legislative acts, elections, mass demonstrations of citizens, an armed uprising, a military coup, mass repressions, armed forces, finance, ideology, demagoguery, bribery, blackmail, etc., can be used as means in politics.

In modern politics, the media are of great importance. They give politicians great opportunities to manipulate public consciousness and achieve their goals.

The problem of the correlation of ends and means in politics has been relevant at all times. Politicians often used the most brutal means to achieve their goals. Many politicians were guided by N. Machiavelli's postulate "The end justifies the means." But these are extremes.

On the whole, any political leader, political elite constantly faces the problem of choice: how to achieve the intended goals and at the same time not use immoral means. It is obvious that in each particular case it is necessary to proceed from the commensurability of ends and means and not to go to extremes. The main mechanisms that can limit the use of immoral means and methods in politics are effective control over the executive branch by legislative and judicial institutions, political and public organizations of civil society and the inevitability of punishment for committed political crimes.

6. OBJECT AND SUBJECT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE

The term "political science" is formed from a combination of two Greek words: politica - "polis" (city-state) and logos - "knowledge". Therefore, political science is etymologically defined as the science of politics.

In order to understand what political science is as a science, it is necessary to clearly establish the object and subject of political science study. The object of any science is a certain area of reality. The subject of science is the result of research activities.

The object of political science is the whole set of properties, connections and relations of social life, which are called political. In other words, the object of political science is the political sphere of public life, including:

1) the sphere of state-organized communications, interactions and relations;

2) the sphere of power relations as fundamental in political life;

3) the sphere of activity of political organizations and their ideological teachings. The fundamental objects of political science research are the state, power and power relations. Political science refers to the study of these problems as social phenomena that ensure the realization of the general interest.

It is customary to refer to the subject of science the result of research activities, in the course of which certain aspects and patterns of development and functioning of the object under study are singled out.

At the international colloquium of leading Western political scientists, held in 1948 at the initiative of UNESCO, the subject of political science included:

1) political theory (political theory and history of political ideas);

2) political institutions (constitution, central government, regional and local government, public administration, comparative analysis of political institutions);

3) parties, groups and public opinion (political parties, groups and associations, citizen participation in government, public opinion);

4) international relations (international politics, politics and international organizations, international law).

However, differences in understanding of what political science studies remain.

With all the differences in understanding the essence of political science, most researchers tend to consider it the subject of interaction regarding power. The most active participants in these interactions are the state, society and the individual. Consequently, political science can be defined as the science of the structure, distribution and exercise of power in society, realized through the interaction of the state, society and the individual.

7. STRUCTURE OF POLITICAL SCIENCE

Political science is a wide range of knowledge about politics, covering its various manifestations.

Being a single and integrated science of politics, political science includes a number of private disciplines that explore certain aspects of political reality. Among them are political philosophy, political sociology, political history, political psychology, political anthropology, political geography, etc.

Political philosophy explores the value worldview aspects of politics, political ideals, norms on the basis of which the political system functions, determines the meanings of the most important political phenomena: power, state, human rights; reveals patterns of development of political processes. Political philosophy is the highest, abstract level of policy analysis.

More specifically, the political sphere is studied in the theory of politics. The theory of politics is at the junction with a number of disciplines: theories of state and law, constitutional law, international law, etc. The theory of politics explores the origin and role of the state and law, the principles of their construction, the role of legal consciousness. The theory of politics also studies the problems of political power, its essence, features, and resources.

The theory of politics develops on the basis of a generalization of empirical material, concrete historical practice. Comparative political science plays a significant role in the creation of the theory of politics.

Closely related to the theory of politics is political history, which studies political ideas, theories, institutions, and events in their chronological order.

Between political science and sociology is political sociology, which plays a significant role in the system of political science disciplines. Political sociology explores the social profile of political phenomena. It studies the interests, the content of the consciousness of political participants, the political behavior of individuals and groups.

The subjective mechanisms of political interactions, connections and relations, the influence on them of the consciousness and subconsciousness of a person, his mind, will, emotions, beliefs, motivation, value orientations are studied by political psychology.

Political anthropology establishes a connection between politics and the sociobiological qualities of a person. The dependence of political processes on their spatial position, the conditionality of politics by economic, geographical, natural factors is studied by political geography.

Within the framework of political science, applied political science is also actively developing, which focuses on solving specific political problems.

8. FUNCTIONS OF POLITICAL SCIENCE

Political science performs a number of socially significant functions in society (from Latin functio - "departure", "activity"). The purpose of political science expressed in functions is as follows.

An adequate reflection of political reality, the disclosure of its inherent objective connections and patterns allow political science to perform a theoretical-cognitive (epistemological) function.

Its meaning is to reveal the nature of power relations, the state, the accumulation of knowledge about political phenomena and processes, the rationale for the effectiveness of the forms of development of society. Summarizing the world and national experience in creating political institutions, political science helps to find the optimal political course, to formulate scientifically based goals and means to achieve them.

Political science is not only limited to an adequate reflection of political reality, but also evaluates the political system, institutions and events. This expresses its axeological function.

Political science performs the function of rationalizing political life, political institutions and relations, political and administrative decisions, behavior, etc. This science acts as the theoretical basis for political construction, political reforms and reorganizations. It substantiates the need for the creation of some and the elimination of other political institutions, develops optimal models of government, a technology for relatively painless resolution of socio-political conflicts.

Political science is called upon to determine the conformity of programs, political courses, both with the trends of social progress and with the real possibilities and state of development of a particular society. This becomes possible within the scope of the diagnostic function.

Political science performs a prognostic function, within which the desired options for the development of political processes may appear. This allows you to determine in advance the effectiveness of decisions. The presence of a preliminary examination makes it possible to insure the society against negative consequences and ineffective actions.

As part of the function of political reflection, political science has the ability to develop the ability to rationally, critically evaluate political processes, and freely self-determine in political life.

Political science performs the function of political socialization, which allows a person to adequately navigate in a complex socio-political environment.

The assimilation of political knowledge by citizens allows political science to also perform a motivational and regulatory function, that is, to have a direct impact on their political behavior.

9. POLITICAL TRADITIONS OF THE ANCIENT EAST

The history of the formation of political views and doctrines goes back many centuries. Elements of political scientific significance for quite a long time took shape and developed within the framework of general philosophical, and then sociological theories.

There are several versions of the genesis and development of political science. According to one of them, political teachings appeared in the ancient states of the East: Egypt, China, Babylon, India, etc. But basically all these teachings were some kind of philosophical reflections on politics, and in the strict sense they cannot be identified with political science, so how these theories were mainly based on the idea of the sovereign and the supreme ruler as a person of divine origin. For example, in Egypt, the pharaoh was the divine ruler, he was perceived as an earthly god who was born from the union of the sun god and a mortal woman. Ordinary inhabitants of the Ancient East believed in the extraordinary possibilities of the gods - the direct arbiters of all earthly affairs.

In China, there was a slightly different opinion about the divinity of the emperor. The ancient Chinese believed that the emperor was only a conductor of the will of heaven.

The ancient Chinese thinker, philosopher, historian, statesman Confucius Kung Tzu (551-479 BC) believes that

that it is the power of the emperor that has a divine origin, and rejects the idea of a divine origin of the state, since the state came about due to the unification of many families. The state is a large family, where the power of the emperor, the "son of God", over his subjects is akin to the power of the elders over the younger, that is, the power of the father over the children. The philosopher also argued that the state is not a goal, but a kind of means of ensuring the good for people. The basis of the state is concern for people. Before teaching the people, it is necessary to provide them with housing, feed and create a cozy atmosphere of life. Such was the culture and ideology of Ancient China.

The political ideology of ancient India was based on the religious teachings of Brahmanism and Buddhism. The main idea of Brahminism is the transmigration of the human soul into the living world. If a person in a past life led a righteous lifestyle, then in the next his soul will be reincarnated as a person occupying a higher rank. And therefore, for the ancient Indians, the main thing was not the material world, but the immortal soul, which had to be perfected throughout life. Perhaps such views were due to the fact that initially Buddhism represented the views of the poor and beggars.

10. POLITICAL AND LEGAL TRADITION OF ANTIQUITY

In the era of antiquity, the beginning of scientific knowledge about politics was laid by such great philosophers as Plato and Aristotle.

Plato (427-347 BC) is an ancient Greek philosopher. He expressed his views in the so-called dialogues ("State", "Politician", "Laws", etc.). Politics for Plato is the doctrine of the state.

A supporter of the aristocracy, Plato dreamed of an ideal state ruled by wise philosophers, considering it the highest realization of the ideas of truth and goodness. He proposed a model of government. The citizens of such a state are warriors - its defenders, who have neither private property, nor wives, nor children, nor private interests that arouse mutual enmity. They should have everything in common. The ideal forms of state government are aristocratic and monarchical: the difference depends on who owns political ideas - a few or one. In reality, there are various deviations from the ideal of the state. Such is the timocracy, where not wisdom, but ambition reigns (rule similar to Spartan); an oligarchy growing out of a dying timocracy dominated by the rich; democracy - the rule of the poor, in which unlimited freedom reigns, tantamount to complete anarchy.

Plato outlined a number of principles of democratic government: this is the principle of elections by a majority of votes, the idea of assembly, the subordination of the state to the law, the idea of the need to regulate the public life of people by written rules of law, etc. He predicted the death of the state where the law has no force and is under anyone's authority. According to Plato, the law is the master of the rulers, and they are his slaves.

Aristotle (384-322 BC) is an ancient Greek philosopher whose political views cover the field of law, social and economic institutions. But the main task of his political theory is to find the perfect state system. This is what treatises are about! "Politics" and "Nico-Machian Ethics". The outstanding idea of Aristotle was the idea of the natural (regular) nature of the state. He saw the essence of the state in its general (rather than private) goal, considered the state the highest unity of society. In his work "Politics" Aristotle expressed a number of fundamental thoughts about democracy, in particular, about the social (public) basis of democracy (it is based on the predominance of the poor, that is, the majority); the middle class as a guarantor of the strength and stability of the form of government; election of rulers and suffrage. These and other ideas of Aristotle entered the treasury of world political thought.

11. POLITICAL AND LEGAL TRADITION OF THE MIDDLE AGES

The political and legal thought of the Middle Ages is associated with such names as Augustine the Blessed and Thomas Aquinas. The time of the Middle Ages is characterized by an increase in interest in religious concepts of public life. Political ideology was one of the branches of theology (theology), the main idea of which was the recognition of the superiority of the church over the state (since it is the church, according to theologians, that embodies the true divine principle). Accordingly, the leading political idea of the Middle Ages was the subordination of political power to the Church. The views of the people of the Middle Ages boiled down to the fact that the duty of a person to God is higher than the duty of a person to the state. All this subsequently led to a serious conflict between the church and state rulers.

Augustine the Blessed (354-430) - Christian theologian, one of the church fathers. His main work is "On the City of God". Augustine singled out 2 opposite types of human community: "earthly city", that is, statehood, which is based on self-love, brought to contempt for God, and "city of God" - spiritual community, based on love for God, brought to contempt to yourself. The state, according to Augustine, is based on violence, which is a consequence of the sinful depravity of man, and therefore worthy of contempt.

The "City of God" entirely consists of the righteous, God's chosen ones, who are spiritually united, but physically scattered among the unrighteous. Here they fight exclusively for material goods and earthly joys, oppressing the righteous. Augustine recognized church authority as the highest authority and at the same time advocated independence, that is, independence, of each of the branches of government and their non-interference in each other's affairs. Although they, from his point of view, could interact, that is, mutually support each other. Thus, according to Augustine, the ideal of the "earthly city" was the "Christian state", where everyone loves the common good, and God is considered the highest good.

Thomas Aquinas (1226-1274) - medieval Italian theologian and philosopher, systematizer of orthodox scholasticism. His works - "The sum of theology", "On the reign of sovereigns". Defining the law as a general rule for achieving the goal, he singled out 4 types of laws: eternal (divine natural), natural (human natural), human (human positive) and divine (divine positive). The main feature of state power, from his point of view, is the right to legislate.

12. POLITICAL AND LEGAL DOCTRINE OF THE AGE OF RENAISSANCE AND REFORMATION

The most significant events of the Middle Ages are the Renaissance and the Reformation. They are characterized by such common moments as the breakdown of feudal relations, the strengthening of the position of the bourgeois strata of society, a critical revision of religious teachings, and the secularization of public consciousness.

One of the first theorists of the new era and the founder of secular political science was Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527). In the works "Sovereign", "Discourses on the first decade of Titus Livius", he expressed original ideas that were of great importance for solving many political problems. His judgments are built into a certain concept, which explains the nature of the state, its essence, forms of government and ways of exercising power. It is no coincidence that N. Machiavelli is called the founder of the political science of modern times. His political teaching was based on the study of the activities of contemporary governments, the experience of the states of the ancient world. He argued that the study of the past makes it possible to foresee the future or determine the means and methods of action useful in the present.

The nature of man is the same in all states and among all peoples; interest is the most common cause of human actions that make up their relationships, history.

In order to manage people, you need to know the reasons for their actions, their aspirations and interests. The structure of the state and its activities should be based on the study of human nature, his psychology and inclinations.

N. Machiavelli considered the state as a kind of relationship between the government and subjects, based on the fear or love of people. The state is unshakable if the fear of the subjects does not develop into hatred, and love into contempt. The main idea of N. Machiavelli is the real ability of the government to command subjects.

The need to curb the negative qualities of people led, according to N. Machiavelli, the emergence of the state as a special apparatus or mechanism with which it would be possible to establish order and peace in society.

N. Machiavelli identifies 3 main forms of government: monarchy, aristocracy and popular government. Under a monarchy and aristocracy, power is exercised over the people by one person or group of persons. Under popular government, the people themselves exercise power.

In the works of N. Machiavelli, for the first time in the history of political thought, the state is interpreted as a kind of body with the help of which the forces ruling in society (monarch, a layer of aristocrats or people) solve the problems of society, maintain a certain order and rebuff external forces.

13. POLITICAL AND LEGAL TRADITION OF THE NEW TIME

The theoretical and methodological foundations of the views of modern thinkers were theories of natural law and the social contract.

The beginning of the development of these theories was laid by the Dutch legal scholar Hugo Grotius (1583-1645). Developing these theories in his works "The Free Sea" and "On the Law of War and Peace", he substantiates the appointment of a number of political institutions. These include civil power and the state.

Natural law, according to G. Grotius, is generated by human nature, the principles and norms of which are developed in the behavior and activities of people. The rules of this law are "the prescription of common sense". Therefore, natural law expresses justice itself. And the main thing is that property, political, legal, moral and other relations between people are regulated by natural law.

G. Grotius believed that the emergence of the state was carried out on the basis of an agreement. The state is a kind of association of free people on the basis of an agreement between them.

These theories were further developed in the writings of the philosopher Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679).

He wrote a number of works, the main of them - "Leviathan, or Matter, the form and power of the state, ecclesiastical and civil." He built his teaching on the study of the nature and passions of man. He believed that people are inherent in rivalry, distrust, love for glory. Therefore, when there is no power to keep people in fear, people are in a state of war of all against all.

However, the instinct of self-preservation inherent in man and the ability to think sensibly allow people to determine the conditions under which the troubles of the natural state can be avoided. These conditions are natural laws: the desire for peace, the renunciation of part of one's rights for the sake of peace and security, the observance of concluded treaties, etc. But natural laws must be backed up by the power of the state. That is why people make contracts with each other.

The same theories were considered by the English philosopher John Locke (1632-1704). Under the basic natural and inalienable rights of man, Locke understood the rights to life, liberty and property. For the sake of protecting these rights, people have united in a political or civil society. Such a society is a state with an apparatus. The Board is created to protect natural rights and freedoms. Citizens in such a state are not powerless. Here the state creates laws that meet the common good, and citizens undertake to pay duties to the state to ensure its existence. This is the essence of the social contract on the basis of which the state is established.

14. US POLITICAL AND LEGAL TRADITION

In the XVIII century. sharply aggravated contradictions between England-metropolis and its American colonies. Colonial America begins the struggle against England for its independence (1775-1783), during which a new state arises - the United States of America (1776).

As a reflection of this liberation struggle in American political thought, the bourgeois-democratic trend, represented by Thomas Paine (1737-1809) and Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), is taking shape.

The political ideals of T. Payne are a bourgeois-democratic republic, the sovereignty of the people, universal suffrage.

According to T. Payne, all people are born equal, have the same and inalienable natural rights (the right to happiness, freedom of conscience, speech). He considered the natural rights of a person to be the only source and basis of his civil rights arising from the need to live in society. The American educator makes a clear distinction between society and the state. The first is a defender, the second is a punisher. If people were guided in their lives by the principles of morality, or if the dictates of conscience were clear, definite, and unquestioningly carried out, then people would not need any legislator.

The best form of represented power, according to T. Payne, is the one that allows you to protect civil rights and security at the lowest cost and with the greatest benefit. Since all people are equal by nature, a republic corresponds most of all to human society.

The ideas of T. Payne played a big role in the preparation of the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution. The author of the draft Declaration is T. Jefferson.

He was an ardent supporter of the idea of popular sovereignty. His ideal was the free development of small-property labor farming in a democratic republic, which he considered a panacea for all social contradictions and disasters.

The government, according to T. Jefferson, is created by people to protect the natural rights of man, and the power of the government stems from the consent of the people to obey it. Consistently developing the idea of popular sovereignty, T. Jefferson concludes that due to such an origin of government power (created by the people) and such a condition for its existence (the consent of the people), the people have the right to change or destroy the existing form of government (the existing government), which is the duty and right of people the overthrow of the government, striving for despotism. Thus, he justifies the people's right to revolution. Therefore, the supreme power in the state should belong to the people themselves.

15. POLITICAL AND LEGAL TRADITION OF THE ARAB EAST

The Arab political tradition is an important part of the history of political thought in general. This tradition is associated with the process of education in Arabia in the XNUMXth century. statehood.

The Arab tradition, as well as the process of formation of the Arab statehood, are closely connected with the religious context. The main religious and political doctrine in this region was Islam, which played a big role in the consolidation of the Arab tribes.

Islam was officially approved in 622 AD. e., when Muhammad migrated from Medina to Mecca and the first Muslim community was formed - the ummah.

Islam during this period provided the highest social connection, acting as the core of the worldview and culture of the Arab people. Islam sanctified the order that existed in Arab society, headed by an indisputable authority - Allah.

The principles set forth in the Koran - the holy book of Muslims - contained a social-regulating principle. Particular attention was paid in Islam to the processes of strengthening power. This contributed to the formation of the Arab ethnos and a strong state, an active aggressive policy and the spread of the teachings of Islam over a vast territory.

Islam as a political doctrine upholds the following principles:

1) theocracy - the assertion of the superiority of spiritual power over secular;

2) substantiation of the need for social and political inequality;

3) God-established sovereignty of the ruler;

4) humility and humility.

During the formation of the state on the territory of Arabia - the Arab Caliphate (XII-XIII centuries) - Sharia took shape - the main legal normative code.

Its sources are:

1) The Koran is the main normative source of Islam;

2) Sunnah - a collection of narrations about the deeds of Muhammad;

3) fatwa - the conclusion of higher clerics on certain matters of public life. There are several currents in Islam that interpret political problems ambiguously.

Sunnism is an orthodox Islam whose adherents recognize the legitimacy of the Sunnah.

Shiism is a trend based on the belief that only his direct descendants can become the successors of Muhammad, other rulers are illegal.

Political ideas in the East were developed by such thinkers as:

1) Al-Farabi, who studied the problems of the competence of rulers, the mechanisms for exercising power in the Muslim community;

2) Ibn Sina, who was interested in many problems related to the implementation of power relations.

The impact of Islam in the East on social and political processes was especially strong. And at the present stage, Islam continues to be not only a religion, but also a way of life for Muslims.

16. THE MAIN STAGES OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF WESTERN EUROPEAN POLITICAL SCIENCE

The socio-political life of Western Europe passed under the sign of the further establishment of the bourgeois order.

The main direction of foreign political thought of the X1X century. becomes liberalism. Its basis is the protection of civil liberties: speech, conscience, press. Liberalism especially defended non-intervention of the state in economic life. In Western European countries with different levels of development of capitalist relations and political transformations, various forms of expression of the ideas of liberalism are taking shape.

German philosophy had a significant influence on the formation of political thought of that time, within the framework of which 2 German thinkers stand out - I. Kant and G. Hegel.

Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) - the founder of one of the largest trends in the modern theory of state and law. He initially outlined his socio-political views in a series of short articles, and then summarized them in the treatise Metaphysics of Morals.

The contribution of I. Kant to the development of political theory is that he formulated the basic ideas and principles of modern teachings about the rule of law. According to I. Kant, the state is a combination of many people who are subject to legal laws, and the most important feature of the state is the rule of law.

I. Kant reduces the activities of the state to the legal provision of individual freedom. The task of state power, the philosopher believed, does not include concern for the happiness of citizens. The ideal organization of the state for him was the system of separation and subordination of power.

The same principle was put by the thinker as the basis for distinguishing the forms of the state into republican and despotic. Republicanism is the state principle of separating power (government) from the legislature, and despotism is the principle of the autocratic use of state laws given by itself.

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831) in a number of his works outlined an integral system of socio-political and legal views. G. Hegel introduced the concept of civil society into political science, which is a whole system of material needs conditioned by the development of industry and trade. Civil society is ordered by the political power standing above it - the state. In the state, G. Hegel distinguishes between the objective and the subjective sides. From the subjective side, the state is an organization of public power. From the subjective side, the state is a spiritual community (organism), all members of which are imbued with the spirit of patriotism and the consciousness of national unity.

17. POLITICAL SCIENCES IN RUSSIA AND CIS COUNTRIES

The political thought of Russia also has its own history and contains many interesting and original ideas. Thanks to the intensive work of political thinkers, as well as the development of Russian universities, by the second half of the 1869th century. conditions arose for the formation of academic political science. The first Russian political works are considered to be the five-volume "History of Political Doctrines" by B.N. Chicherin, the publication of which began in 1901, as well as the "Essays on the Philosophy of Law" (1899) and "On the Representation of the People" (1872) written by him. ). A. I. Stronin's book "Politics as a Science" (XNUMX) left a noticeable mark on Russian political science. Political problems were further developed in the works of K. D. Kavelin, V. V. Ivanovsky, A. I. Vasilchikov and others.

All political sciences are divided into 2 groups: disciplines that directly study politics itself, and sciences that study its relationship with the rest of the world. The former include political philosophy, the doctrine of political institutions, the theory of international politics, political history, the latter - political sociology, political psychology, political geography, etc.

Let's consider the most important of them.

Political philosophy is a branch of knowledge that studies politics as a whole, its nature, significance for a person, the relationship between the individual, society and state power. Political philosophy develops the ideals and normative principles of the political structure of society, as well as the general categories of policy evaluation. Political philosophy serves as a methodological basis for political research, determines the meaning of various concepts, reveals universal principles and laws in the relationship between man, society and government.

The doctrine of political institutions is represented by theories of the political organization of society, state and law, political parties and other institutions. Within the framework of this doctrine there are many relatively independent disciplines. So, for example, the doctrine of the state and law, in addition to the general theory of the state, includes a whole range of legal disciplines.

The theory of international politics is a field of political research, the subject of which is international organizations and associations (UN, NATO, etc.), foreign policy activities of states. She also studies the problems of war and peace, the prevention and settlement of international conflicts, the formation of a new world order.

Political history studies the history of the development of political relations in human society. Without knowledge of history it is impossible to understand the present and foresee the future.

18. FEATURES OF THE RUSSIAN POLITICAL TRADITION

Russian political thought arose from the desire to comprehend the nature and specifics of the state, the features of the historical path of Russia and its constituent peoples. The founder of social and political thought in Russia is considered Metropolitan Hilarion (XI century) and his work "The Word of Law and Grace", the main idea of which is the beneficial entry of the Russian people into the family of Christian peoples, and the main goals are the praise of Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich, the reign of the mighty Kievan Rus, justification of the supremacy of the Kyiv prince over the other princes.

In the "Instructions" of Vladimir Monomakh (XII century), for the first time in Russian literature, the tasks of princely power were formed: the prince must seek peace in his principality, not allow the strong to offend the common man, strengthen the military might of the state, be true to the word given to his brothers (princes) , avoid conflicts. The ideas of the unity of the Russian land, strong princely power, the inadmissibility of enmity between princes run through such literary works of the XNUMXth-XNUMXth centuries as "The Tale of Igor's Campaign", "Daniil Zatochnik's Prayer", "Zadonshchina".

Later works are also devoted to the exaltation of Moscow sovereigns - "The Tale of the Florentine Cathedral", "Dedication of the Monomakh's Crown", "Tales of the Princes of Vladimir".

The most complete and vivid embodiment of the idea of the greatness of the Muscovite state and its high historical and divine destiny was formed at the beginning of the XNUMXth century. Pskov monk Philotheus theory "Moscow - the third Rome", according to which the history of mankind is the history of three great states, whose fate is determined by the will of God. The first (Rome) fell due to heresy, the second (Byzantium) entered into a Greek Catholic union and as a result was conquered by the Turks. "Third Rome" was supposed to be Moscow - the guardian of Orthodoxy. She was to carry out this mission until the end of the world. Accordingly, the Moscow sovereign was God's chosen and all-powerful.

In the XVIII century. The idea of unlimited autocratic power was developed by the priest Feofan Prokopovich (1681-1736). In his opinion, the people themselves, for their own good, conclude an agreement on the renunciation of all rights and freedoms, on the creation of a state and the empowerment of their ruler.

Russian political thought developed simultaneously with the development of statehood. In Russia there was no reformation that took place in Europe. There was also no transfer of political views on a person, his natural rights.

19. MAIN FACTORS, STAGES AND CHARACTERISTICS OF THE FORMATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE RUSSIAN STATEHOOD

At the turn of the XVII-XVIII centuries. Russian feudal society had already taken shape as an absolute monarchy. Thanks to the reforms of Peter I, a foundation was laid for overcoming the industrial, military and cultural backwardness of the country.

There are 3 currents of absolutist thought:

1) the statist views of Peter I and F. Prokopovich;

2) the noble concept of V. N. Tatishchev;

3) pre-bourgeois ideas of I. T. Pososhkov. Peter I in his activities proceeded from the concept of the unlimited nature of the power of an absolute monarch. His main duty is to look after the common good. The essence of the idea of the "common good" was that only monarchs know what exactly is necessary for their subjects and the country as a whole. The concept of enlightened absolutism was based on an arrogant and contemptuous attitude towards the people as a dark, unenlightened mass. Feofan Prokopovich, a supporter of Peter I, considered the basis of the state a social contract, through which the people renounce their will and transfer it to one person - the monarch.

The theoretical basis of the views of V. N. Tatishchev is the concept of natural law and the contractual origin of the state. He also believed that the state is a product of the natural development of mankind.

I. T. Pososhkov is a supporter of the totalitarian state regulation of production and labor in order to increase social wealth. I. T. Pososhkov proposes to clearly define the rights of each class and its obligations. He sees all the problems of the state in the imperfection of legislation, law, legal proceedings and management.

Second half of the XNUMXth century characterized by the strengthening of the capitalist structure in Russia while maintaining the feudal-class structure of society. This contributed to the aggravation of class contradictions.

In the middle of the XIX century. in Russia there were 2 political currents: Slavophiles and Westernizers. The Slavophiles (K. S. Aksakov, A. S. Khomyakov, and others) opposed Russia's rapprochement with Western Europe. The Slavophiles were supporters of autocracy, which personified the will of the people. Westerners, T. N. Ugonnovsky, K. D. Kavsrin, on the contrary, believed that Russia should learn from the West and follow the same historical path as the West.

In the second half of the XIX century. as a result of the reforms, the Russian bureaucracy split into 2 warring camps. One part remained true to the principles of the police state and the unlimited power of the king, the other supported the new principles of government through laws. To reconcile these two forces, on April 26, 1906, the Constitution of Russia was adopted. It is in it that the principle of separation of powers is implemented to a high degree.

20. TYPOLOGY OF INCLUDING DIFFERENT REGIONS AND PEOPLES INTO RUSSIA

Covering at the time of its emergence a small territory in the north-east of the Russian plain, the Russian state was constantly expanding. The unification of domestic lands took place in the process of struggle against the Mongol-Tatar domination.

As a result of the liberation struggle, many peoples of the North and the Volga region became part of the Russian state.

As a result of a stubborn struggle, the Astrakhan and Kazan khanates that remained after the collapse of the Golden Horde were annexed to Russia.

Then Siberia became the sphere of interests of the Muscovite state. In the first half of the XII century. Russia included the peoples who inhabited Eastern Siberia. Other Siberian territories became part of Russia later.

In the second half of the XVII century. Russia began a struggle with the Commonwealth, as well as with the Crimea and Turkey in support of the desire of the Belarusian lands and Right-Bank Ukraine to reunite with Russia.

In 1711 a Russian protectorate was established over Moldavia.

In the XIII century. Russia is stepping up its policy in the North Caucasus. During this period, Russia included Kabarda, Karachay-Cherkessia and Ossetia.

In the same century, the Kazakhs accepted Russian citizenship.

The struggle for the Baltic territories was difficult for Russia. As a result of the victories in the Northern War (1700-1721), Estonia, part of Latvia and Karelia came under Russian rule. Later, the Principality of Finland, which used to be part of Sweden, was annexed to Russia.

As a result of the divisions of Poland, Belarus, the Right-bank and Western Ukraine, most of Lithuania and Courland were ceded to Russia.

After the victory of the European powers over Napoleon, the Duchy of Warsaw (Kingdom of Poland) was transferred to Russia.

In the XIII century. as a result of wars with Turkey, Crimea and a number of other territories were ceded to Russia. In the XNUMXth century Eastern Armenia joined Russia. At the beginning of this century, most of the Azerbaijani khanates and Georgian principalities became part of Russia.

In the middle of the XIX century. began an active promotion of Russia in the Central Asian direction. The accession of Central Asia was completed in 1885.

Having completed its spatial self-determination, Russia has become a huge multinational state.

After the revolution of 1917, many peoples of Russia acquired their national statehood. In 1922, the USSR was formed - the state form of the new government. In 1936, he united 11 allied state formations. According to the Constitution of 1977, the USSR included 15 union republics. Now the Russian Federation includes 21 republics, 1 autonomous region and 10 autonomous districts.

21. POWER AND PROPERTY IN RUSSIAN POLITICAL TRADITION

How did the principle of power and property arise and develop in Russia?

First, a special, independent type of power was established in Russia - a fiefdom. The initial source of the prince's power was his personal patrimony. In its aisles, the prince was the absolute ruler, acting both as a ruler and as an owner. He owned land, rivers, as well as all the people living on the territory of the patrimony who could not claim the princely land. Consequently, the term "patrimony" denoted both property and authority (power) inherited from the father.

When the Moscow princes expanded their possessions, they organized political power in the image of their hereditary estates. The political structure of the vast country, in fact, was identical to the patrimonial state structure from which it emerged. The main thing was that state power was exercised in Russia for a long time as a continuation of the right to property. It is the own approach to the political regime that is the defining feature of Russian political life, arising from the identification of property rights and power.

The patrimonial type developed in Russia between the 1905th and XNUMXth centuries. The main thing on this path was the monarchy's rejection of the monopoly on land, securing it in private ownership of the nobles, the liberation of the peasants from serfdom, and the provision of rights and freedoms to the population. Under the influence of the XNUMX revolution, the government was forced to make political concessions and create a representative body of power.

From 1917 to 1991 there was a process of coalescence of political and economic power. All political power was concentrated in the hands of the Soviet leadership - the nomenklatura.

The power of the totalitarian regime was not limited only to political power - there was also state property, which arose on the basis of the expropriation of private property. Formally, it belonged to the workers, although they were alienated from it. Combining political and economic power, the totalitarian regime acquired an absolute and uncontrolled character. To break this dangerous connection, it was necessary:

1) separate power and property;

2) create a pluralistic economy, where the leading position was to be occupied by private property.

In 1991, privatization began in our country, the purpose of which was to destroy the principle of property power. To do this, denationalization of property was carried out, which led to the creation of a layer of independent owners capable of controlling the actions of the authorities.

22. SOVIET MODEL OF SOCIETY AND POLITICAL HISTORY OF THE XX CENTURY

The October Revolution of 1917 interrupted the development of many areas of national political thought that had become impossible under the dominance of Bolshevik ideology. Hundreds of scientists and cultural figures ended up in emigration, among them the largest Russian philosophers and political scientists: P. R. Struve, N. A. Berdyaev, I. A. Ilyin, S. N. Bulgakov, G. P. Fedotov and others.

A significant place in the political views that have become widespread in our country in the last century is occupied by Marxist ideas and concepts.

Russian Marxism borrowed a lot from its competitor, populism. It was from the populist movement that the first theoreticians of Russian Marxism, G. V. Plekhanov and P. B. Axelrod, came out, who tried to form a new party, the Black Redistribution. A distinctive feature of this party was the desire to prepare social reforms in order to rely on the support of the bourgeois elements of the city. Thus, the populist ideas about the unaffected rural world were called into question by the contradictions of the capitalist system.

Menshevism. During the first revolution in Russia (1905-1907). The Mensheviks put forward the thesis of the bourgeoisie as the driving force and hegemon of the revolution. Rejecting the idea of the leading role of the proletariat, which determined the position of the Bolsheviks, the Mensheviks opposed the bourgeoisie to the peasantry, believing that the participation of the peasantry in the revolution would complicate the possibility of its victory.

The Mensheviks proposed to solve the agrarian question on the terms of the municipalization of the land: to legalize private ownership of the allotments belonging to the peasants when the landlords' lands were transferred to local self-government bodies (municipalities). Such a solution to the agrarian question would, in the opinion of the Mensheviks, make it possible to strengthen the position of local self-government bodies and to resolve the issue of land outside the results of the revolution.

Leninism. V. I. Lenin, as a faithful student of K. Marx, strove for the development of Marxism in the new conditions and in relation to Russian reality. Based on the analysis of capitalism at the turn of the XIX-XX centuries. he singled out the stage of imperialism in it and drew a political conclusion: imperialism is the highest and last stage of capitalism, the eve of the socialist revolution.

Communist Party. Here the political struggle of the working class was identified with the working class itself. It was argued that the proletariat was called upon to carry out a historical mission - to build a classless society. He will be able to realize this task only by relying on the Communist Party, which is the vanguard of the working class.

The history of Russian political thought is also the history of Russia itself, of national political consciousness.

23. REFORMS AND COUNTER-REFORMS IN THE POLITICAL HISTORY OF RUSSIA

The theories of political change and political development are among the important ones in modern political science.

These concepts are interrelated and are considered together. But political change includes all evolutionary processes, as well as the emergence of new phenomena.

Among the possible political changes (revolutionary, progressive, regressive, etc.), the most traditional are reformation changes that affect only certain aspects of political life.

In its political development, Russia has repeatedly had to go through the processes of reforming the traditional way of life, bringing it closer to the modern state. In Russian reality, the reforms took place quite peacefully and, most importantly, were carried out in the form of fundamental reforms from above, under the leadership of the traditional elite, and not as a result of the deployment of extreme forms of mass activity. Although political reforms led to the emergence of new institutions to solve expanding social and political problems, they did not affect the existing political system. The reforms did not resolve many of the pressing problems of Russian reality and often remained unfinished, or were curtailed altogether or moved towards counter-reforms. Even many of the innovations of such a radical reformer as Peter I were artificial, since only the privileged part of society felt the beneficial effects of the activity of this autocrat, while the majority of society continued to live in a traditional patriarchal environment.

The implementation of reforms in the country was hampered by both internal and external factors. One of these factors was the activity of the radicals. For example, the unsuccessful performance of the Decembrists crossed out the possibility of further radical reform of the country. This predetermined the reactionary course of Nicholas I. The assassination of Alexander II by radical forces blocked the road to real parliamentarism for a long time. The regicide led to a sharp strengthening of the positions of the reactionary, conservative elements in the era of Alexander III.

In 1917, the political system, which was not capable of radical renewal, was replaced by another, socialist, which at that time was conceived as the most progressive of all existing social systems. At the end of the twentieth century. the socialist system was also forced to change, without mobilizing its internal resources, without taking into account the adaptive capabilities of the population to new needs and the environment being transformed. The process of moving forward, towards a more perfect political and economic state, is going on even now, not without difficulties and problems.

24. CONCEPT, ORIGIN AND MECHANISMS OF EXERCISE OF POWER

Power is one of the basic concepts of political science. And this is explained by the fact that the whole life of people is inextricably linked with power, which is the most powerful means of protecting human interests, implementing people's plans, resolving their contradictions and conflicts.

The phenomenon of power itself can be attributed to the more ancient qualities of a person: power relations originate from the very first, ancient stages of the development of human society.

Power is necessary primarily for the organization of social production, which is impossible without the subordination of all participants to a single will, to maintain the integrity and relative stability of society. All this naturally leads to the subordination of some people to others, which immediately determines the leaders and the led, those who rule and those who are subject. With the manifestation of power, a person meets in the family, and at enterprises, and in institutions, and in criminal organizations.

Political power is a determining influence based on the attitude of the domination of leadership with the aim of volitional influence on the activities and behavior of people using the methods of coercion, persuasion, interest. The concepts of political and state power coincide, but are not identical. This difference is as follows.

Firstly, all state power is political, but not all political power is state power. Under the conditions of the primitive communal system, political power (princes, elders) already existed, but there was still no state power, the implementation of which presupposes a special apparatus isolated from society. Consequently, political power arose before state power.

Secondly, the concept of political power is broader than the concept of state power. Political activity is carried out not only on a national scale, but also within the framework of other elements of the political system - parties, trade unions.

The mechanisms of power are social institutions and the apparatus of control, through which the domination of the subject over the object is ensured. This concept denotes a variety of ways and means of domination. Political power is provided by coercion in various forms, including direct physical violence, stimulation of communicative influence, cooperation, consent or, conversely, confrontational communication, informational influence (training, broadcasting of information), through the organization of socio-political movements, and finally, ideological and psychological influence. .

25. LEGITIMACY OF POWER

One of the main specific qualities of political power is its legitimacy. Political legitimacy (from Latin legalis - "legality") is the public recognition of power and its right to govern. It expresses the right of power to exist, its justification and justification, in particular in matters of the use of coercion or violence.

Legitimacy is expressed in the voluntary acceptance by society of a specific form of government, the power of a particular class. Consequently, the peculiarity of legitimate power lies in the fact that it is based on the mutual consent of the rulers and the ruled. Those who command know they are doing so legally, and those who obey see their claims as legitimate. At the same time, the principles that justify legitimacy may have their origins in ancient traditions, revolutionary charisma, or current legislation. But the main thing remains that they have a subordinating will, which is aimed at the stability of political power. It is the principle of legitimacy that determines the fact that the minority governs and the majority obeys.

The typology of legitimacy was developed by M. Weber. Historically, the first type of legitimacy is traditional power, the internal basis of which are norms and traditions. Such domination includes monarchies, the essential feature of which is the right to inherit the throne. Here it is immediately clear who has the right to power, and who is obliged to obey it. Traditional norms are regarded as inviolable, and disobedience to them leads to the application of sanctions provided by society.

The second type of legitimacy is rational-legal power. As its foundations, M. Weber calls the realm of law and the free will of citizens. Modern constitutional states belong to this type, where they are subject not to personalities, but to laws.

The third type of legitimacy is, according to M. Weber, a charismatic state. Charisma (from the Greek charisma - "divine gift") is an ability that distinguishes an individual from the rest, not so much acquired by him as bestowed by nature. Such personalities include the Emperor Napoleon, V. I. Lenin, I. V. Stalin, A. Hitler, who possess to some extent charismatic qualities. Such charismatic qualities include magical abilities, a prophetic gift, outstanding strength of mind and word. At the same time, it must be borne in mind that the image of a leader is created not only due to certain natural data, but is also formed among the masses by the purposeful work of the administrative apparatus and the media.

26. TYPOLOGY, FUNCTIONS AND ORGANIZATION OF THE POLITICAL SYSTEM

The meaning of the concept "system" is borrowed from the biology of L. von Bertalanffy and means the presence of a certain integrity of elements interacting with each other and with the external environment.

It means that:

1) elements of the system interact with each other;

2) the elements of the system are interconnected. The development of the system is determined by the change of elements, as well as other internal and external factors.

In the most general terms, the political system can be defined as one of the spheres of society's life associated with politics. It is politics and political relations that underlie the political system.

The generally accepted typology is based on the nature of the political regime, that is, on the totality of ways in which power is exercised, reflecting the state of democratic rights and freedoms, the political status of the individual. According to this criterion, political systems are divided into totalitarian, authoritarian and democratic. The differences between them are due to a different type of relationship between the political system and its external environment (civil society).

The democratic system is oriented towards responding to the demands of civil society.

The authoritarian political system is focused on taking into account a very limited range of public interests and requirements, these are mainly the interests of the most influential groups in society: financial oligarchs, landed aristocracy, the military, i.e. groups that can be dangerous from the point of view of the stability of power of the ruling elite.

Totalitarian political systems subjugate society with the help of unlimited power, exercise totalitarian control over all spheres of society.

Interacting with the external environment, the political system performs such functions as:

1) management of society. It consists in setting development goals, developing and implementing a political course, in controlling the activities of all elements of the system;

2) integration of various elements of the political system into a single whole;

3) regulation of political behavior, rule-making;

4) political communication, providing a connection between the elements of the political system, as well as between the system and the environment. In order to fulfill its functions, the political system must organize power and engage in the recruitment of the political elite, i.e., the selection and training of people for work in government, and also strive to ensure that citizens learn norms, patterns of behavior that are favorable for the functioning of the political system.

27. INSTITUTIONAL POLICY FRAMEWORK

One of the leading directions of modern political science is the multidimensional analysis of political institutions.

The term "institute" has many meanings (from the Latin institutum - "establishment, device"). Over time, it acquired two meanings - a narrow one (the name of scientific and educational institutions) and a broad, social one (a set of legal norms in a certain range of social relations).

The general management of social relations is carried out by the institution of the state, which implies a certain type of power and the presence of a management apparatus.

The importance of the state in the life of society is extremely high. It is its presence that allows people to coexist together on the same territory, it is the state that ensures the implementation of the jointly adopted regulations. The need to make decisions about how to regulate common interests led to the emergence of legislative institutions. Implementation of these decisions into practice is carried out by the institutions of executive power. The institutions of the judiciary interpret the application of general rules, regulate disputes. Institutions of coercion punish violators of generally accepted rules.

In the process of comprehending the essence of the state, several approaches have developed. Thus, the legal approach reduces the state to a system of law based on the sovereignty of public authority. The historical approach explores the state as the evolution of its organs and forms from epoch to epoch. The social approach understands the state as a type of social organization in the context of the whole society. The philosophical method of cognition of the state reflects the idea of this institution as a kind of fair order for the unification of citizens. Sufficiently branched is the political science understanding of the state.

For a long time, the institution of the state acted as the fundamental principle of political life. Political institutions were understood only as administrative institutions and legal norms.

Nowadays, such non-state institutions as political parties, interest groups (such as trade unions) and social movements (civil initiatives, feminist, green, etc.) also act as subjects of political influence.

These formations have common interests and collective goals, a certain organizational structure.

An important political institution is the institution of elections - the only way to express the sovereignty of the people at the national level. This institution provides for two types of systems for electing candidates to the highest authorities - majoritarian (majority system) and proportional.

28. POLITICAL RELATIONS AND PROCESSES

Political relations are connections and interactions between members of society regarding common interests, binding on all, state power as a tool for protecting and realizing the latter. Political relations between people are, of course, also social, social relations, like all relations in which people are with each other.

Nevertheless, they differ significantly from all other social relations in many ways. At the heart of the differences, of course, are the objects! relations: political power, mainly the institutions of state power associated with them political values. Participation or non-participation in politics, acceptance or non-acceptance by people of state values, confrontation or cooperation between members of society that arise in the course of political participation, political demands or support for the authorities, political expectations and claims - all this characterizes the attitude of people to state power.

The term "process" (from Latin processus - "interpretation") in explanatory dictionaries has 2 concepts, such as:

1) successive change of phenomena, states in the development of something;

2) a set of sequential actions to achieve some result. The indicated meanings of this concept reflect the essential aspects in the development of any social phenomena, including political ones. On the one hand, every social process is a successive change in the states of a certain part of social reality, and on the other hand, any change in the state of a social phenomenon is the result of a set of successive actions of social actors.

In political science, there are various interpretations of the political process. Some scholars identify the political process with politics in general (R. Dawes). The school of structural-functional analysis (T. Parsons, R. Merton) understands the political process as a form of functioning of political systems and their individual elements.

Within the framework of the conflict approach (R. Dahrendorf, L. Koser), the political process acts as a group rivalry for material resources and social statuses.

Finally, the behavioral theory (C. Merri-am, G. Lasswell) considers the political process as the behavioral aspects of the implementation by the subjects of their goals and interests, as an activity aimed at gaining and using power.

Thus, the political process can be defined as a consistent change in the state of socio-political reality, primarily by the political system of society.

29. POLICY SUBJECTS (ESSENTIAL CHARACTERISTICS, TYPOLOGY, HIERARCHY)

Political science considers not only the content of the activity of political institutions, such as the state, parties, organizations, but also explores the social conditions in which this institutional activity is carried out, its dependence on these conditions. In addition, the political life of society cannot be understood without taking into account the place and role of various social groups, classes, religious and professional groups, as well as individuals.

Thus, in politics, the object and subject are people. Depending on the level of democratization of society, to a greater or lesser extent, the subjects of power are at the same time objects: the subordinates influence politicians, control the activities of the latter. The subjects of politics are the masses, social groups, communities (nations), collectives directly involved in political activity.

The subject of politics is its active principle and consciously influences the development and implementation of political decisions. And therefore he is the bearer of consciousness and action in politics.

Typology of subjects of politics. Among the whole variety of political subjects, 3 types of subjects attract close attention of political scientists:

1) individual;

2) group;

3) institutional.

Policy actors at the individual level, in turn, can be divided into 3 types:

1) an ordinary citizen whose participation in politics is due to group interests;

2) a professional figure who performs administrative functions in the state;

3) a private individual acting independently of group goals and not performing any professional duties.

Groups as subjects! politicians are represented by various communities and collectives, social strata and classes, acting both at the regional and at the national and transnational levels. The actions of group and individual subjects of politics create a vast political field in which the activities of institutional subjects of politics, such as the state, political parties and movements, international organizations, etc., unfold.

The multidimensionality of political life is also expressed in the fact that it has not only a class, national, social group, but also a personal dimension, and the study of the relationship between the individual and the state, the individual and power is becoming increasingly important in political science. In modern political theory and practice, the individual is increasingly seen as the primary and main subject of politics.

30. POLITICAL INTERESTS

The category of "political interest" makes it possible to determine the direction of a social group or individual to win their proper positions in the system of political power.

Political interest is a predominantly objective phenomenon, since it is conditioned by characteristics of social groups independent of people's consciousness: their size, place in the system of social division of labor, habitat. However, the objectivity of political interest is not equivalent to its evidence. To turn into an actual motive for political activity, interest must be conscious. But there can be complications in this area of human subjectivity. Thus, political interest can be inadequately and misunderstood. Diversity and competition of political parties, movements, and their ideologies help to avoid such situations.

The role of political interests is that:

1) in them there is an awareness and expression of the political needs of society;

2) they determine the specific direction of the political activity of social groups and individuals;

3) awareness of political interests brings to life numerous political values, ideologies, theories, everyday views, moods, expectations.

Depending on the basis, political interests are divided into different types. So, if we single out subjects, carriers of interests, then we distinguish between personal, group, corporate, class and national political interests. If we keep in mind the degree of their manifestation, then spontaneous and conscious interests stand out. Depending on the sphere of action, domestic political, foreign political and global, or geopolitical, interests are distinguished.

The world of political interests is diverse. In essence, politics is a way of coordinating the interests of various social groups and individuals by various means.

In the dynamics of political interests, according to many researchers, there are 2 opposite trends:

1) consolidation, aggregation of political interests by leading political forces. This leads to the formation of stable and stable, as a rule, two-party political systems;

2) diversification of political interests, i.e., an increase in their diversity and, as a result, an increase in their points of intersection. Increasingly, people find themselves in situations where certain common interests in one area of life can coexist quite peacefully with differences in interests in other areas. People no longer consider themselves to belong to any particular social group and change their political orientation depending on which of the problems seems to them the most important.

31. TYPES AND FORMS OF THE STATE

The state is the main political institution integrating society. Using it, the government organizes, directs and controls the joint activities and relations of individuals, social groups and classes.

There are the following types of state: eastern despotism, policy, early feudal monarchy, absolutism.

Eastern despotism. This type of government is characteristic of the countries of the Ancient East (Egypt, India, China, etc.). Here the leading occupation was agriculture, and this led to the creation of a strong centralized authority, that is, a developed apparatus of coercion. From the Greek language, the term "despotism" is translated as "unlimited power." This is some form of autocratic power. The essence of eastern despotism was as follows: the ruler (king, emperor) was considered the sole owner of the land and exercised the highest judicial functions.

Policy. The cultural and historical type that is completely opposite to Eastern despotism is the ancient polis (in Greece, Rome). Here the main thing was not agriculture, but sea fishing. The policy grew out of the community, turned into an autocratic state, economically closed.

early feudal monarchy. Large feudal lords granted their lands to knights and vassals. The knights gave the land to the peasants. The peasants cultivated the land, took care of it, but paid rent for holding the land.

The early feudal monarchy was successively replaced by a period of feudal fragmentation and internecine wars, a centralized monarchy, and after that there was a transition to absolutism. Under absolutism, the king controls everything: legislation, finances, and the army, and also maintains a standing army. This type of monarchy is called absolute.

The form of the state is a way of organizing political power, a set of its external features.

The form of government is a way of territorial organization of the state. There are 3 forms of state: unitary, federal and confederal.

A unitary state is a politically homogeneous and indivisible organization. All administrative units operate on the basis of uniform norms and rules.

Federation as a form of government is a form of free association of individual states (subjects of the federation), each of which has a certain autonomy and has special relations with the central government.

A confederation is a permanent union of independent states that temporarily transfer part of their powers to allied bodies for the implementation of joint goals (in the field of defense, transport, communications).

32. WAYS OF ACHIEVING THE LEGAL STATE

The following measures can contribute to the creation and strengthening of the rule of law.

1. Improvement of the existing legislation by modification, codification, systematization. Work to improve legislation cannot be carried out all at once. The changing reality makes it necessary to constantly improve the current legislation by creating a wide range of new legislative acts that provide the legal basis for regulating the life of society.

Of no small importance for the formation of a sustainable desire of citizens to comply with laws are also their legitimacy, recognition by the whole society. The non-acceptance by society of certain laws and legal norms, for all their external necessity and usefulness, leads to their rejection by citizens, non-compliance, and ultimately nullifies attempts to create a rule of law state.

2. Strict implementation of existing legislation, creation of an effective mechanism for its compliance. It is necessary to achieve the inevitability of the onset of responsibility of any public entity for violating the law. The state must constantly improve the efficiency of law enforcement agencies, and for this - to strengthen their authority, to ensure their subordination only to the law.

The independence of judges plays a significant role in the creation of a rule of law state, to which, in particular, the legal norm on their irremovability is directed. Many countries face problems in this area.

3. Formation of a stable legal consciousness of citizens and officials, of the whole society. It is not enough to create reasonable laws, clearly formulate and prescribe various rights and obligations. A stable attitude and habit to legal discipline, to understanding the need to comply with the law as a guarantor and basis for the well-being of members of society, must be formed in society.

Citizens of a civilized country should know their rights and obligations, the current legal field, beyond which it is impossible to go. They should get into the habit of complying with the current legislation. The degree of respect for the law is indicated by the observance of legal norms by citizens and authorities.

Starting from early childhood, there is a need for permanent universal legal education on a national scale, the formation of respect for the law in public opinion. The modern development of society makes this problem quite solvable.

Nevertheless, the process of formation of the rule of law is historically very long. So far, in many countries, the rule of law exists as an ideal to which real legal practice should strive.

33. POLITICAL LEADERSHIP AND POLITICAL STYLE

Political power is built in the form of a pyramid. At its base - the ruling and ruling forces, under them - their political active part, the organized elite. The pyramid narrows down to the upper rungs of the political hierarchy (the highest governing bodies of the state) and is crowned by the head of state. At each level of power, that is, in any party, any body, there are pyramids, and pyramids of power that govern them, and everywhere there is a group that makes up the apparatus of power. Their leaders lead their subordinates. Hence the concept of "leader" (from the English leader "to lead") - this is the leader or the leader.

The leader is the leading authoritative member of the organization. Personal influence allows him to play a significant role in political and public life. The political leader is the most important element of the political elite.

In the structure of political leadership, 3 main components are usually distinguished: the personal qualities of the leader, the tools for exercising power, the situation in which the leader acts and whose influence he experiences. The combination of these 3 components largely determines the formation of a leader and the effectiveness of his activities.

Researchers combine the qualities of a leader into 3 groups: natural, moral and professional.

Among the natural qualities necessary for a leader are strength of character, determination, intuition, personality magnetism. The moral qualities include humanism, responsibility, honesty. Scientists consider analytical skills, the ability to quickly and accurately navigate the situation, competence, flexibility, and willingness to compromise as the professional qualities necessary for a leader.

The concept of "instruments of power" in relation to the phenomenon of leadership includes everything that a leader can rely on in achieving his goals. These are political parties, legislative bodies, courts, bureaucracy, mass media. Under certain circumstances, these tools can also be factors that oppose the leader in carrying out political tasks.

Finally, the 3rd component of political leadership is the situation it faces. The situation can be calm and crisis, favorable and unfavorable for the activity of the leader. In accordance with it, the methods of his actions must also change.

The interpretations of a political leader given here focus on both the objective and subjective essence of this complex and important phenomenon for society. The leader combines 2 aspects in his activity: subjective capabilities and abilities, without which it is impossible to ensure effective management of society.

34. POLITICAL CULTURE, POLITICAL IDEOLOGIES, THEORY OF POLITICAL CHANGE

Political culture has a significant influence on the formation of power relations and the functioning of the political system. It largely determines the nature and content of the political and civil life of society, the behavior of people in public life. Political culture promotes or, conversely, hinders changes in society, the way of life and the aspirations of its citizens. This is especially evident in periods of major changes in social development.

Political culture is a complex and diverse phenomenon. Often it is considered as a concept adequate to the political system, as a set of orientations towards political action, as political consciousness, as a subjective perception of history and politics, and at the same time as part of the subjective culture of a given society, etc.

In scientific literature, the concept of "political culture" is used in the broad and narrow sense of the word.

In a broad sense, political culture includes the spiritual culture of a particular country, which is associated with socio-political institutions and political processes, political traditions, ideas, concepts and beliefs about the relationship between various socio-political institutions, political relations in general. It includes certain orientations and attitudes of people regarding the existing system as a whole, its constituent institutions and important rules of the game, the principles of the relationship between an individual, society and the state.

Political culture in the narrow sense is only a system of political experience, knowledge, attitudes, attitudes, stereotypes, concepts, patterns of behavior and functioning of political subjects; maturity and competence of citizens in assessing political phenomena; form of political ethics, behavior; deeds and actions of people.

An important part of the political consciousness of society is the political ideology, which performs an ideological function in the sphere of power relations in society. Political ideology is guided by the totality of the ideological views of society in a certain era and plays the role of a form or structure of the political consciousness of society.

Ideology is closely related to politics. Moreover, they cannot exist without each other. In the process of their interaction, theoretical concepts and changes contribute to the rationale for political decisions and actions. Ideology substantiates the expediency of political decisions, and politics sets practical tasks for ideology that require ideological reflection.

35. POLITICAL SOCIALIZATION OF THE PERSON

The process of assimilation by individuals or their groups of values and norms of political culture inherent in a particular society and allowing them to effectively perform political roles and functions and thereby ensure the preservation of society and the political system itself is called political socialization.

The theory of political socialization was formed as an integral part of the general theory of socialization, which explains the relationship between the individual and society. Socialization (from Latin socialis - "public") is the process of reproduction of social experience by a person, allowing her to function as a full member of society.

The agents of political socialization play an important role in the political development of the individual. The direct agents of political socialization include political institutions and organizations (parties, movements), political elites and leaders, interest groups.

The agents of political socialization also include non-political factors: the family, peer groups, the education system, public organizations, and the media.

The process of political socialization is also influenced by socio-economic conditions, a person's lifestyle, national traditions, etc.

The process of political socialization differs in types:

1) the harmonic type is characterized not only by the individual's acceptance of the existing political order and power, but also by a respectful attitude towards the state, the political system as a whole. Here there is a harmony between the authorities and the individual, responsible implementation of the rules, norms and duties of the individual to the authorities, the authorities to the individual is assumed. In fact, this is an ideal type of socialization that ensures the conflict-free development of the political system and personality;

2) the pluralistic type implies tolerance towards the values and beliefs of other people whose norms of political behavior are recognized as equal;

3) the hegemonic type is characteristic of a closed society. Its essence is the installation of a sharply negative attitude of the individual towards any political systems and organizations, except for the one with which she identifies herself;

4) the conflict type is characterized by the struggle between different political groupings of society, which is based on different, but at the same time interrelated interests.

The primary and secondary stages of political socialization also differ. At the primary stage, the basic political identification of the individual, his political position, is formed. The secondary stage of political socialization continues throughout a person's conscious life.

36. POLITICAL MYTHS AND UTOPIAS

In the structure of political consciousness, political culture as a whole, such phenomena as political myths and utopias are distinguished. Although they are considered cultural anachronisms, they have not lost their functional usefulness.

Mythology is an irrational, mystifying way of explaining natural and social reality. This is an associative-figurative, sensual type of worldview, shaping its content with the help of metaphors and symbols. The mythological type of worldview arose in ancient times and was gradually supplanted by religious and scientific types of worldview. But mythological thinking has not disappeared without a trace: it continues to live in the mass political consciousness.

Myth is characterized by illogicality, indifference to contradictions, the cult of gods and heroes, etc. Similar features can be found in many modern ideas and doctrines. The ideas of national or racial exclusivity, the superiority of socialism, the infallibility of political leaders demonstrate a kinship with mythology. This form of consciousness is reproduced in politics because of its simplicity, logical unpretentiousness. Mythologized representations are found not only at the level of ordinary, but also theoretically organized consciousness.

The technology of creating modern political myths was revealed by E. Cassirer. He was the first to prove that the main difference between a political myth and a simple myth is its custom character. The political myth, therefore, serves a practical purpose. The objects of myth-making can be politicians, power structures and even symbols of the state. The main object of mythologization is the past of a particular society, which retains its relevance to the present. The most common mythological images include:

1) bright kingdom (image of the future);

2) the image of the enemy (used in the demonization of a hostile country);

3) God the Father (idealization of the leader). A rationalized form of myth are utopias - arbitrarily constructed images (ideals) of the desired social order. These images are called utopian because their practical implementation is impossible (the word "utopia" in literal translation means "a place that does not exist"). But utopia inspires and directs people to fight for changing the existing reality, hinders the process of dogmatization of thinking. However, the need for utopias should not be exaggerated either. In large quantities, utopias disorganize society, lead to a senseless waste of strength and energy.

Utopias should also be distinguished from realizable social projects.

37. SPECIFICITY OF POLITICAL SOCIALIZATION IN MODERN RUSSIA

Features of political socialization in modern Russia are primarily due to the transitional state of Russian society and its general instability.

The country constantly faces difficulties in all spheres of public life: economic, political, social and spiritual. Economic reforms are stalling. The dynamics of social stratification remains unfavorable. For many members of society, the situation of vacuum, associated with the loss of the meaning of life, the worthlessness of existence, has become an obvious reality. The number of drug addicts, alcoholics, criminals and suicides is increasing in the country. There is an alienation of many Russians from politics. The political psychology of many people is characterized by pessimism and negativism.

Under these conditions, political socialization in the country is carried out spontaneously and contradictorily. A person loses the value of political life and is in constant conflict with political reality.

The way out of this situation depends on success in the economy. Until production begins to work effectively, until wages are paid on time, until the well-being of the people improves, it is impossible to talk about the optimal model of political socialization.

The transition to such a model of socialization requires a commonality, or at least a coincidence of basic interests, and this cannot be achieved without eliminating the gap between wealth and poverty, which is huge in Russia. Only 1,5% of Russians own 65% of the country's national wealth. Most of the country's inhabitants in these conditions experience a feeling of uncertainty and fear of the future, while without the unity of society, without the harmonization of its interests, a conflict-free type of political socialization is impossible.

Until socio-economic problems are positively resolved in the country, people, including those at the initial stages of socialization, will perceive political values, power, and the state itself differently. In addition, the leading institutions of socialization themselves: the family, the school, the university, the army, are still in a state that is far from prosperous.

But today's critical time still gives everyone a chance to express themselves and thereby actually discover the quality and degree of their political socialization. In a critical era, old restrictions and prohibitions are lifted, conditions are created for a freer manifestation of one's political will. The successful development of the country as a whole depends on the degree of political socialization, on how much each citizen becomes a real subject of political activity.

38. METHODS, CONCEPTS AND CONCEPT APPARATUS OF POLITICAL SOCIOLOGY

Political sociology is the science of the interaction between politics and society, between the social order and political institutions and processes. It finds out the influence of the non-political part of society and the entire social system on politics, as well as its reverse impact on the environment. Political sociology focuses on social communities, groups and individuals acting in the political sphere. The problems of political sociology include the following: the specifics of political participation and electoral behavior, the legitimacy of political power, political decision-making processes, political regimes and their evolution, political stability and political crises, political culture and its impact on political life, features of political socialization, etc. d.

Political sociology as a science arose in the late XNUMXth and early XNUMXth centuries. G. Mosca, V. Pareto, M. Weber, P. Sorokin, R. Michels and others are considered its founders.

The conceptual apparatus of political sociology is made up of terms borrowed from sociology and political science. These include concepts such as political power, legitimacy, political regime, political culture, political behavior, political participation, electoral systems, political leadership, etc.

Political sociology uses methods used in other sociological studies. With the help of these methods, it is possible to reveal the relationship between politics and other spheres of public life, to determine the social orientation of decisions made by the state, to establish in the interests of which groups they are carried out. Let's look at these methods in more detail:

1) observation - a method of collecting primary empirical data, which consists in a deliberate, purposeful, systematic, direct perception and registration of political facts. It can be carried out in the form of an open statement of facts and in the form of participant observation (when the researcher is within the studied group for a certain time or is within the group being studied);

2) content analysis is a quantitative analysis of any kind of political information. It involves a purposeful study of certain documents and other direct information carriers. This method relies on the widespread use of computer technology;

3) a survey is an oral or written appeal of a researcher to a certain set of respondents with a question, the content of which represents the problem under study. A sociological survey is in the form of: interviews and questionnaires.

39. BASIC SCHOOLS AND DIRECTIONS. TYPOLOGY OF POLITICAL SYSTEMS AND REGIMES

Directions in modern political science are understood as communities of scientists who adhere to certain methodological orientations in research practice. Their formation was greatly influenced by the struggle between two trends in political science (positivist scientism and anti-scientism), as well as national traditions. Positivist scientism equated political science with the natural sciences and at the same time considered it as a practical discipline designed to solve political problems directly.

Supporters of anti-scientism attributed political science to the category of humanitarian disciplines that have a different subject and method of research from the natural sciences, and criticized the desire to turn political science into an exact nomothetic (law-revealing) science.

In political science, "methodological pluralism" is gradually being established, based on the principles of alternativeness and complementarity in the choice of strategy and methods of research activity, on the mobilization of the research potential accumulated in classical, non-classical and post-non-classical science.

Classical political science is based on the principle of sociologism, i.e. this model of political science orients the researcher to the study of the world of politics, where the individual personal principle in politics is derived from the social.

Non-classical political science is based on the principle of nominalism, which orients the researcher to the study of everyday political life of a person.

Post-non-classical science is a special kind of thinking in which the object and subject of cognition act as equal creators of reality.

The typology of political systems is diverse. Representatives of the Marxist trend single out bourgeois and socialist political systems. Proponents of class-neutral doctrines single out traditional, patriarchal, mixed and modern political systems.

The typologization of political systems based on the characteristics of the ruling regimes has become very widespread: totalitarian, authoritarian and democratic.

Totalitarianism is such a political regime, which is characterized by broad control by the state authorities over the individual and the whole society as a whole.

The authoritarian regime is based on blind obedience, concentrated in the hands of one person (monk, tyrant) or groups of people.

A democratic regime is characterized by the use of methods and means of power based on popular sovereignty and recognized to implement it.

40. PROBLEMS OF DIAGNOSTICS OF THE POLITICAL SYSTEM

To detect shortcomings in the work of the political system, it is necessary to diagnose it. Diagnostics of a political system is a special study with the aim of detecting and recognizing its shortcomings, i.e., violations of normal functioning, which is the process of collecting and analyzing information about its state, as well as comparing this information with a normative (theoretical) model.

To make a diagnosis, it is necessary to have a normative model of a political system, i.e. a theoretical idea of how an ideal model of a given type of political system should function, as well as a real idea (information model) of how a particular political system actually functions, in order to compare it with the normative model. Where these 2 models do not coincide, one must look for flaws (pathologies).

Social pathologies can relate to the structure and functions of society, its institutions, the means of ensuring the functioning, the technologies used, any aspects of the behavior and activities of people and social actors in society.

The most pronounced pathologies include the following shortcomings: 1) the political system may not be an integral system and may not realize its main purpose - to ensure the sustainable development of society;

2) in the actions of the subjects of the political system, there may be no coordination of actions related to the identification and solution of social problems;

3) the leaders of the subjects of the political system may lack problem thinking, capable of analyzing the origins, causes of social problems and factors influencing their solution, as well as due responsibility for the decisions made.

The last shortcomings include the following: there is no foresight (forecasting) of the emergence of problems, as a result of which preventive measures are not taken to avoid problem situations; problems are identified in a passive way, special measures to detect problems (for example, sociological surveys of the population) are carried out extremely rarely, as a result of which not all problems are recognized; when choosing priority problems, subjectivity prevails, as a result, many important problems remain unattended by management; the study of problems that have been noticed is carried out without sufficient use of scientific methods, as a result of which far from all factors influencing the problem situation are determined, scientific modeling of the problem and scientific programming of problem solving are not carried out; there is no analysis of the results of the implementation of the problem-solving program.

41. PROBLEMS OF REFORMING THE POLITICAL SYSTEM OF THE RUSSIAN SOCIETY

Reforming the political system is a complex political activity aimed at improving the current political system, which consists in restructuring its structure, institutions and modernizing its functions, methods and means of ensuring functioning. The goals of the reform are to increase the efficiency of the current political system, that is, to increase its ability to identify and solve social problems, and to ensure the sustainable development of society.

Reform proposals should be based on the results of political system diagnostics. The main task in this case is to turn the current political system into an effective and well-coordinated mechanism, therefore, all subjects of the political system must be aware of their involvement in this mechanism and act in concert. Such coherence is easier to achieve in relation to the state system and more difficult - in relation to the non-state (political parties, socio-political organizations and movements, the media).

The program for reforming the political system should include 2 sections:

1) measures to reform the state system;

2) measures relating to the interaction of the state with the subjects of non-state political infrastructure.

Among the priority measures for reforming the political system of the country may be preparatory and proper reform measures.

Preparatory measures include measures related to the scientific, methodological and staffing of reforms, including the development of a theory of social problems and methods of working with them; development of a methodology for diagnosing the political system; development of the theory and methods of socio-political design; training of specialists capable of professionally identifying and solving social problems.

Specific measures to increase the identification and solution of state problems are actually reformatory ones. Researchers suggest that it is expedient to create a structure called the think tank of the country, consisting of specially trained people (politicians, sociologists, lawyers, economists, diplomats, psychologists, system analysts) who would foresee, identify and prepare solutions to state problems. In addition to working with problems, the think tank of the country should ensure the implementation of the functions of managing social development, achieving sustainable development of society.

Think tanks can also be created in the subjects of the Federation, thereby improving the quality of political management not only in the center, but also in the regions.

42. MODERN POLITICAL CULTURES (COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS)

The political culture of each country includes specific values, orientations, traditions, norms, symbols, rituals that are focused on ensuring the stability of the political system. It should be taken into account that in political culture the core values are directly related to the legitimacy of political power. The state of the principle of legitimation, in turn, leads to the dominance of consensus and tolerance in the political culture.

If we take, for example, the political culture of the United States, then it is characterized by de-ideological orientations of citizens, low political activity, respect for the ruling elite, the use of legitimate forms of political participation, law-abidingness, patriotism, etc.

The features of the political culture of Germany are the law-abiding population, attention to the legal regulators of political behavior and compliance with procedures, the responsibility of elites for the performance of their duties, etc.

The most characteristic feature of France's political culture is its instability. This can be seen in several aspects.

First, the historical development of the country has given a number of successive successive different forms of government.

Secondly, over a 200-year period, France has changed 15 constitutional acts and electoral systems. Thirdly, the replacement of one political regime by another differed in a variety of ways (these are revolutions, coups d'état with the intervention of the army or on a parliamentary basis). And yet the political culture of France is quite resilient.

The specificity of the political culture of Russia is due to the Eurasian geopolitical position of the country, the concentration and centralization of power, which held together a conglomerate of regions and peoples into a single organism, the weakness of the mechanisms of self-government and self-organization, which dominated the collective forms of lifestyle.

The newest Russian political culture is characterized by a deep split in values and conflict. Internal duality, a combination of the properties of the individualistic political culture of the West and the collectivist culture of the East, is one of the most important features inherent in the political culture of Russia for many centuries.

The political culture of modern Russia is predominantly a subservient culture. It retains such traditional features as long-suffering, obedience to those in power, low self-discipline and self-organization, distrust of the state and weak respect for the law, individual rights, and national self-abasement.

43. MODERN CONCEPT OF POLITICAL MODERNIZATION

The political theory of modernization arose on the basis of the sociological concepts of O. Comte, G. Spencer, M. Weber, E. Durkheim and others. In its most general form, this theory boils down to the following:

1) social changes are unilinear, and therefore the less developed countries must follow the same path as the more developed ones;

2) changes are inevitable and irreversible;

3) they go through successive stages, none of which can be skipped.

In general, modernization is a process leading to the creation of social, economic and political systems that developed in Western Europe and North America between the XNUMXth and XNUMXth centuries. and then spread to other countries and continents. In other words, modernization is a transition from a traditional agrarian society to a modern industrial, and now post-industrial society.

Basic in the theory of modernization are the concepts of "traditional society" and "modern society". Traditional society is characterized by the dominance of the traditional type of social action. It is primarily an agrarian society and is characterized by a closed social structure that excludes any social mobility and the low individual status of most of its members. It is dominated by religious consciousness, and political power is authoritarian. The traditional society hardly accepts innovation and is stagnant in nature.

Modern society is based on the predominance of goal-oriented social action. Its technological base is industrial production, which implies the rapid development of science and technology. Most of its members live in cities, and the social structure is open, which provides ample opportunities for social mobility. In general, such a society has a powerful potential for self-development.

Modernization processes are divided into 2 main types, such as:

1) organic modernization carried out in the countries of Western Europe and North America, i.e., where the phenomenon of modern society was first formed. The transition to it is called organic, since it had the character of a natural historical process;

2) inorganic modernization took place in countries that embarked on the path of transition to a modern society later. Here, modernization was already secondary and, consequently, inorganic, catching up. Such a model of development is inherent in the countries of the third world, and it has become the main object of study of the theory of modernization. Under conditions of this type of modernization, a special role belongs to the political elite.

44. PROSPECTS FOR POLITICAL MODERNIZATION IN RUSSIA

The theory of modernization was formed in the process of describing the political fate of countries that received liberation from colonial dependence in the 1950s-1956s. and put into practice the question of the ways of their further transformation.

Speaking about the history of Russia in the context of the global progress of modernization, one can state the obvious features of its socio-economic development, which determined the belated nature of its modernization.

In Russia, the formation of free private property, especially land ownership, proceeded much more slowly than in the West. Landownership was conditional until abolished in the 1861th century. compulsory civil service, peasant land ownership remained communal until the Stolypin land reform. Finally, until 1860 the serfdom of the peasants remained. The spirit of communal collectivism prevailed among the peasantry. The main role was played by the government. The only social group that consciously strove for transformations based on the introduction of the institutions and practices of the advanced countries of Europe into it was the intelligentsia. The most notable modernizations are the Petrine and Catherine's reforms, the abolition of serfdom, the military, judicial, and zemstvo reforms of the 1870s and XNUMXs, and the Stolypin land reform.

Political modernization in modern Russia should be attributed to the type of reflected modernization, which was the result not of a long evolutionary development, but of accelerated reforms based on the use of the experience of Western countries in order to move from a totalitarian regime to a pluralistic democracy and a modern market economy. It began in the form of reforms carried out from above by the ruling elite.

In the course of the ongoing reforms, the modernization project, which determined its goal and objectives, is changing.

After August 1991, a new project of political modernization was formed - a transition to a market economy and liberal democracy, focused on using the experience of Western countries. Even today, however, the issue of Russia's political modernization can hardly be considered definitively resolved.

But it seems that the real dilemma of modern Russian modernization lies in the need, on the one hand, to establish in the country the institutions of democracy and market economy that are Western in origin, and, on the other hand, to avoid the extremes of general Westernization in the field of culture. In other words, the task of Russian reforms is to create a democratic society, an efficient market economy, while maintaining cultural identity.

45. PROBLEMS OF POLITICAL LIFE IN MODERN RUSSIA

The highest goals of the state, of the entire political life of a democratically organized society, are to satisfy the needs and aspirations of ordinary citizens, to ensure peace and prosperity.

Political life in Russia is still far from solving this problem. But world political practice does not know any other road on the way to an optimal society, which would not be based on the principles of morality, justice, and spiritual progress.

Russia will also have to embark on this path.

A key role in this movement should be played by the reform of the existing system of power. Within its framework, it is planned to provide a new human-centered development model. The current Constitution of the Russian Federation does not prevent such a course of events, in Art. 7 of which proclaims: "The Russian Federation is a social state whose policy is aimed at creating conditions that ensure a decent life and free development of a person."

But so far, these foundations of Russia's constitutional order are being implemented poorly. The country has yet to fill the socio-political and spiritual life of the broad sections of the population with real meaning.

Among the concepts that are in circulation in the country and offer their own version of solving social problems are the following:

1) liberal concept. Considers financial and economic stabilization as the main criterion for the successful development of society, and a free market economy as an optimal system;

2) the communist concept. The planned system of development is considered as optimal. Communists adhere to the idea of the inadmissibility of private ownership of land. In the political sphere, they are guided by socialist democracy;

3) the concept of convergent socialism. Considers the level and quality of people's lives as the main criterion for the effectiveness of political structures. It is the quality of life that should become the goal of the reform process and the social revival of Russia. The economic basis of society is a mixed, two-level, planned-market system of management. The most desirable would be the approval of such a system that could combine personal interests with collective ones, material resources with spiritual ones, principles of social justice with the norms of a market economy.

According to researchers, Russia is quite capable of solving this problem. It has the material, technical, financial and spiritual resources to provide the people with a decent standard of living.

46. SOCIOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF POLITICAL LIFE

The category "political life" is one of the large-scale categories used in modern political science. With its help, the task of a comprehensive and holistic assessment of political processes and systems, the functioning and development of institutions, parties and organizations, and the participation of individual citizens in politics is solved.

Sociology, which studies the sphere of politics, cannot but be interested in the specifics of the course of life processes in this sphere.

Using the concept of "political life", sociology singles out its political sphere from the entire public life of people and considers it along with other spheres of society's life (economic, spiritual).

With this approach, it becomes clear in which processes, structures, institutions the political form of people's activity is directly expressed, and which phenomena are only indirectly related to it, constituting the content of other spheres of public life.

Political life includes the state and party systems, the system of trade union organizations, as well as the totality of ideas and theories. Sociology is not only interested in the content of the activity of the main political institutions, it also explores the social conditions in which institutional activity is carried out, its dependence on these conditions. In particular, political life cannot be understood without taking into account the place and role of various social groups in it: ethnic communities, social classes, professional, regional and religious associations.

It is the specific interests of various social communities, as well as individuals, that give politics one character or another, determine its goals and methods of implementation.

The specificity of the political life of society is determined by the processes of relationships between large social groups, classes, nations, regions and countries and contributes to the optimization of these relations. A natural product of political life is an increase in the level of political relations, their orderliness and organization.

An individual person acts as the leading subject of political activity. Therefore, the study of the motives for people's participation in political activity, the nature of their political expectations becomes one of the main tasks of political sociology.

No less important is the social concept of politics, which explores the problems of interaction between various social groups in political life. The nature of these interactions may be different: there may be a clash of interests of various social groups or their coordination by reaching a consensus between them.

47. TYPOLOGY OF MODERN POLITICAL REGIMES

Modern political science distinguishes 2 types of political regimes: democratic and anti-democratic. Democratic regimes are divided into parliamentary and presidential, anti-democratic - into totalitarian and authoritarian.

Totalitarianism is a political regime in which the state seeks holistic, all-encompassing control over the life of the whole society as a whole and each individual individually. The term "totalitarianism" was introduced in 1922 by the leader of the Italian fascists B. Mussolini to characterize the regime he created. In 1956, political scientists K. Friedrich and Z. Brzezinski formulated the main features of a totalitarian regime:

1) the presence of an official ideology to which all aspects of the life of society are subordinated;

2) monopoly on the power of a single mass party, built on an oligarchic basis and headed by a charismatic leader;

3) a system of control over society, the media and the armed forces;

4) centralized economy. Authoritarianism is a type of regime, which is characterized by a monopoly on the power of any one party, group, person or institution. The essential features of authoritarianism are:

1) monopoly on the power of one group or person;

2) a complete or partial ban on the activities of the opposition;

3) a highly centralized power structure;

4) maintaining limited pluralism;

5) inheritance as the main way of recruiting the ruling elite;

6) the lack of the possibility of a non-violent change of power;

7) the use of power structures to retain power.

The difference between an authoritarian regime and a totalitarian regime is that not personal, but political human rights and freedoms are limited. In addition, the basis of the regime is not an ideology or a political party, but the army.

Democracy has the following features:

1) recognition of the people as a source of power;

2) the presence of elected state bodies;

3) the legal existence of the opposition;

4) declaration of political rights and freedoms of citizens;

5) building a state mechanism in accordance with the principle of separation of powers. Depending on how the legislative power is organized, parliamentary and presidential republics arise.

A parliamentary republic does not provide for a clear separation of powers. The government and its head are elected by parliamentarians. Parliament controls the work of the government and can dismiss it if it fails to cope with its functions.

The presidential republic implies a strict separation of powers. Both the head of state and the parliament are elected through national elections. The President appoints the ministers and oversees their activities.

48. MAIN FEATURES AND VARIETIES OF DEMOCRATIC REGIMES. THE PROBLEM OF THE COSTS AND LIMITS OF DEMOCRACY

The establishment of democracy and democratic social orders is now, in fact, the universal slogan of political parties and movements of any type. But at the same time, the understanding of democracy by each party or movement can vary significantly. This is due to the fact that the term "democracy" is very ambiguous. It is used to denote not only the form of government or political regime, but also the ideal of the political organization of society. Democracy characterizes certain procedures and technologies for the exercise of power, the type of political culture, and varieties of ideology.

The term "democracy" comes from the Greek words "demos" - "people" and "kratos" - "power" and is translated as "power of the people".

Democracy is an ideal type of social structure, it involves: the introduction of democracy at various levels of the social structure, the proclamation of liberal rights and freedoms of the individual as an invariable value for society, and the participation of the people in the political process. Democracy has a number of universal ways and mechanisms of political order organization. Such a political system offers:

1) ensuring the equal right of all citizens to participate in managing the affairs of society and the state;

2) systematic election of the main authorities;

3) the existence of mechanisms that ensure the relative advantage of the majority and respect for the rights of the minority;

4) the absolute priority of the legal mechanisms for the administration and change of power;

5) the professional nature of the rule of the elites;

6) public control over the adoption of major political decisions;

7) ideological pluralism and competition of opinions. In modern conditions, as a rule, a democratic political regime is based on using the possibilities of representative democracy. It involves the indirect inclusion of citizens in the decision-making process through their representatives elected to legislative or executive bodies of power, or various intermediary structures (parties, socio-political movements, pressure groups, etc.). These mechanisms essentially constitute the structure of democratic government.

Is democracy always the most efficient political regime? It is effective only when society has reached a certain and sufficiently high level of economic development, when the main elements of civil society have been formed, when society has a certain level of political culture with its tolerant (tolerant) attitude towards other points of view and worldview.

49. CHARACTERISTICS OF AUTHORITARY REGIMES. THE PROBLEM OF AUTHORITARISM IN MODERN RUSSIA

Authoritarianism in its main features occupies an intermediate position between totalitarianism and democracy. With the first it is brought together by reliance on violence, the unlimited nature of power, with the second - by the independence of economic, social and private life from the state.

Authoritarian means domineering. Such power is based on blind obedience, concentrated in the hands of one person (monarch, tyrant) or a group of people. Often it relies on the army, which interferes in political life in order to end a long-term political crisis that cannot be dealt with in a democratic, constructive way. Under this regime, the people are alienated from political power, which is not limited in any way and is not controlled by citizens. In fact, and sometimes even legally, the principle of separation of powers does not work, and political repressions are used. The political rights and freedoms of citizens are restricted or absent, serious legal opposition to political parties or public organizations is prohibited. The ruling party is state-owned. The existence of a number of political parties, trade unions and other public organizations is possible, but with one obligatory condition - control over them by the authorities. Here, relations between the authorities and society are built on the principle "everything is allowed except politics."

Despite some similarities with totalitarianism, the authoritarian regime has qualitative features.

First, despite the alienation of power from the masses, under authoritarianism there are (albeit in a truncated form) some elements of democracy: the electoral system, various political parties, etc.

Secondly, although to a limited extent, dissent and opposition are allowed, which is strictly punished under totalitarianism.

Thirdly, under an authoritarian regime, strict control is established only over politics, while a totalitarian regime claims universal control over all spheres of life.

Fourthly, in authoritarianism, demarcation and even polarization of social class forces and interests are allowed, while totalitarianism claims to express the interests of the entire people.

Fifth, the ideology of authoritarianism is conservative, while the ideology of totalitarian regimes is always revolutionary.

Historically, authoritarian regimes have long been the predominant form of political order that preceded democracy. In the history of Russia, an example of an authoritarian regime is the autocratic power of the pre-Soviet period. As history shows, authoritarian regimes, under the influence of internal or external factors, especially in the context of modern globalization, are transformed into democratic ones.

50. POLITICAL STRATIFICATION AND POLITICAL MODERNIZATION

The political life of a society is the result of not only the activity and interaction of political institutions, elites and leaders, but also the participation in it of various social groups into which this society is differentiated. In other words, understanding the peculiarities of the political process in a given country also implies an understanding of the peculiarities of its social stratification.

Social stratification is a hierarchical differentiation of a given set of people (population). It finds expression in the existence of higher and lower strata. Its basis and essence lies in the uneven distribution of rights and privileges, responsibilities and duties, population or the absence of social values, power and influence among the members of one or another spending.

Political stratification is a constant characteristic of any organized society. It was present in all societies that proclaimed the equality of people. This does not mean, however, that political stratification is qualitatively and quantitatively the same in all societies and at all times. Its specific forms are varied and numerous, but all this diversity can be reduced to 3 main forms:

1) economic stratification is expressed in economic inequality, in dividing people into haves and have-nots, poor and rich, etc.;

2) political - in the division into managers and managed;

3) professional - in the hierarchy of the main professional groups (interprofessional stratification) and within each professional class (intraprofessional stratification).

As for the theory of modernization, it reflects one of the stages of socio-political development: the transition from the so-called traditional society to the modern one. The first is characterized by the immobility of social structures, low social mobility, and the fact that the way of life is based on traditions. The economic base of such a society is predominantly an agrarian economy, its political system is based on traditional legitimacy and has, as a rule, the form of hereditary monarchies.

The second is characterized by high dynamics of socio-economic processes, the dominance of not traditions, but legal norms, its economic base is the industrial economy.

Modernization means a transition to a democratic system with such attributes as elected bodies of power, separation of legislative, executive and judicial powers, legislative guarantee of human rights, local self-government, autonomous civil society, etc.

51. POLITICAL IDEOLOGIES OF MODERN RUSSIA

World politics has developed many ideological systems. The main varieties of modern political ideology are liberalism, conservatism, communism, social democracy, each of which has its own origins, social base, etc.

In Russia, the ideology of liberalism began to spread from the end of the 1917th century, but until 1917 it did not acquire a sufficiently broad social base, it remained mainly the ideology of the intellectual elite, whose political representative at the beginning of the XNUMXth century. was the Party of Constitutional Democrats (People's Freedom). After XNUMX, liberalism was excluded from the political life of the country. At present, liberalism has remained the ideology of the political, economic and intellectual elite of Russian society, which does not have any broad social base.

The ideology of conservatism in modern Russia is professed by the so-called national-patriotic movement, which rejects both communism and Western democracy, putting forward as its goal the revival of Russia on organically inherent, traditionally established conditions: a strong unified state, Orthodoxy as the basis of spiritual life, loyalty national traditions of the Russian people.

The concept of "communism" is used to designate political doctrines that proclaim as their goal the creation of a society based on public property and social equality, where private property, the division into rich and poor, and exploitation have been eliminated. There are several forms of communist ideology:

1) Marxism (characteristic! sharp stratification of property, sharp social contradictions and conflicts);

2) Bolshevism (has a focus on the proletarian revolution);

3) Stalinism (advocating a return to the principles of a rigid centralized administrative-command economy).

Today, each of these ideologies exists to varying degrees in different organizations.

Social-democratic ideology is inherent in such principles as justice, equality, solidarity. In the economic sphere, social democracy focuses on a mixed economy, including private, state and public forms of ownership that compete with each other. In the political field, the concept of social democracy is based on pluralism, a multi-party system, free elections, human rights, and the rule of law. At present, despite the fact that there are a number of parties and movements in the country that consider themselves social democratic, social democracy has not become a truly mass ideology.

52. POLITICAL PARTIES, ELITES AND LEADERSHIP

The most important elements of the political system of society are political parties, which set as their main task the conquest and retention of political power, the implementation of direct and feedback links between society and the state.

Political parties are voluntary associations of citizens created for the purpose of participating in the political life of society by forming and expressing the political will of citizens, participating in elections and representing the interests of citizens in the legislative (representative) bodies of state power and representative bodies of local self-government. The party must meet the following requirements:

1) have a regional branch in more than half of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation;

2) contain at least 10 members;

3) locate their governing bodies and subdivision structures on the territory of the Russian Federation. Parties, being significant components

political systems of society, perform a number of important functions:

1) develop socio-economic and political strategies, program settings;

2) provide structuring of the political life of society (parties have a significant influence on the choice of voters);

3) form and maintain political consciousness at a certain level (aggravate and enliven political discussions in the country);

4) organize the ruling elite and the composition of the government;

5) ensure the stability of the functioning of the political system of society, the stability of relations between the ruling circles and the general population. The political elite is a relatively small social group that occupies a privileged position in the social hierarchy and has certain, primarily political and social, qualities, which allows them to take a direct part in the exercise of political (state) power.

The political elite is characterized by the following functions:

1) decision-making and control over their implementation;

2) formation and presentation (presentation) of group interests of various segments of the population;

3) its production of political values, which leads to the involvement of the population in political processes.

Leader - a person who is able to influence others in order to integrate joint activities to meet the interests that he represents.

Leadership is a kind of power, the specificity of which is the direction from top to bottom, as well as the fact that its carrier is not the majority, but one person or group of people.

Leader functions:

1) the integration of society, the unification of the masses;

2) finding and making political decisions;

3) interaction between government and society.

53. MECHANISM FOR THE FORMATION OF CIVIL SOCIETY IN RUSSIA

One of the strategic goals of the process of comprehensive reform of Russian society that began 10 years ago was the formation and development of civil society and the rule of law. In this sense, civil society is the very order and the very idea that largely determine the main path of Russia's development. This means finding one or another minimum of sociality, which would not fall under the total nationalization.

Civil society is a non-political society, legally protected from direct state interference.

The main functions of civil society are social and compensatory-regenerating (reproduction and education), solidary, communicative, direct life support, socialization, civil law and order, social protection and a guarantee against the arbitrariness of the authorities.

Recently, civil movements have experienced a real boom in Russia. There are more and more new professional, youth, environmental, cultural and other associations; however, their quantitative growth is experiencing qualitative growth. Some organizations appear as a response to momentary problems (for example, unions of deceived investors), others from the very beginning have an openly biased political character ("Women of Russia").

An indicator of the maturity of civil society is not only the presence of its own structure, but also the acquisition of a mass prominent character, and the core of civil relations is professional property relations (private property). The greater the number of people involved in these relations and are the owners, the stronger and more stable the civil society, the narrower the functional field of the state.

Based on the concept of civil society, parallel to its formation, the process of development of a legal democratic state should go on, when the individual and state power form different subjects of law.

The Russian state, burdened with authoritarian traits, can hardly be called legal and democratic. The fact is that, being in its essence an organic integrity, civil life in its own being can well do without constant regulatory pressure from above, since it is enough for citizens to learn only the general rules of the game, the basic laws and norms of the community. In Russia, however, all branches of state power inefficiently fulfill this role function, constantly changing the indicated rules of the game, or even not at all adopting laws that are so necessary for society.

54. MODERN TRENDS IN WORLD POLITICS

World politics is understood as the total political activity of the main subjects of international law, the integrated interest expressed in the activities of the UN and other legitimate bodies and institutions of the world community.

Structurally, world politics is represented by the foreign policy activities of nation states; political actions of regional interstate and public structures, groupings, unions and other associations of this kind; activities at the global level of the UN and other organizations and institutions authorized by states and peoples.

World politics, therefore, covers the entire spectrum of political relations that have developed between states and within the suprastate framework. Its main priorities are determined by the solution of problems on which the future of all mankind depends. First of all, these are the problems of war and peace, universal security, environmental protection, overcoming backwardness and poverty.

International organizations cover a variety of aspects of international relations. Examples of various international organizations include:

1) regional organizations such as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the European Economic Community (EEC, Common Market);

2) organizations of an economic nature, covering the sphere of finance, trade and others, for example, the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), the International Bank for Economic Cooperation (IBEC);

3) organizations in the field of individual sectors of the world economy, such as the International Energy Agency (IEA), the International Telecommunication Union (ITU);

4) professional organizations, such as the International Organization of Journalists (IOJ), the International Association of Sciences (IASN), the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL);

5) demographic organizations, such as the World Youth Association (WYA);

6) organizations in the field of culture and sports, such as the International Olympic Committee (IOC);

7) environmental organizations, such as Greenpeace and others.

By its nature and goals, world politics is a special kind of politics that basically proposes the creation and maintenance of a stable international environment in which the interests of all participants could be realized.

Consequently, the goal and purpose of world politics is the unification of people, regardless of nationality, state or social class. And it is precisely for this that world politics proposes the creation of an international security system that would exclude the outbreak of wars and create favorable conditions for the development of all-round cooperation between countries and peoples.

55. CORRELATION OF DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN POLICY

Economic, social, political, spiritual and cultural aspects are clearly distinguished in international relations. International relations, like foreign policy, are a direct continuation of domestic policy. Domestic and foreign policy are closely linked with the economic structure, social and state system of society. The main goals are to ensure favorable international conditions for the realization of the interests of any state, national security; preventing a new war.

Foreign policy differs from domestic primarily in that it has a larger territorial scope, since the implementation of foreign policy requires the interaction of at least two countries.

Another difference in foreign policy is that there are many states in the world with their own state and political structures, and all of them often do not coincide in their interests, goals and objectives. This necessitates harmonization, alignment of all these interests and tasks, regardless of their state differences. At the same time, foreign policy transforms, changes and, to some extent, adjusts domestic policy to foreign policy.

As a result, foreign and domestic policies solve the same problem of ensuring and strengthening the existing system of social relations in a given country.

The relationship between foreign and domestic policy is best considered on the example of the functions of the state. The functions of the state, depending on the sphere of public life in which they are carried out, are divided into internal and external.

Internal functions include:

1) the function of protecting the rights and freedoms of man and citizen, ensuring law and order;

2) economic function;

3) the function of taxation;

4) the function of social protection;

5) ecological function;

6) cultural function.

External functions include:

1) the function of the country's defense (maintaining the level of public security, protecting sovereignty and territorial integrity);

2) the function of maintaining world order (war prevention, settlement of interethnic and interstate conflicts);

3) the function of cooperation with other countries (the activities of the state to establish and develop economic, political, cultural and other relations).

Both domestic and foreign policy activities of the state will be effective and fruitful only when it is based on international legal acts with obligatory consideration of the national, socio-economic, cultural and other characteristics of all peoples that are part of the world community.

56. INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM

Between the participants in international relations at a particular stage of development, a certain nature of interactions develops. These interactions acquire a special structure, which is usually called the international system.

According to the American scientist M. Kaplan, the international system should be understood as options for the alignment of forces based on a certain set of participating organizations, states, or a group of states. In accordance with this definition, he distinguishes 6 types of international systems:

1) the balance of power system. In this system, only nation-states with broad military and economic capabilities are the main factors. Each state entering the system seeks to ensure its security by obtaining greater opportunities in the system. Therefore, they form alliances and enter into wars among themselves. The emerging coalitions are most often directed against states that claim to dominate or have advantages that can give them a dominant position;

2) free bipolar system. It is made up of various types of states: individual states, blocs of states, bloc leaders, bloc members, non-aligned countries, and universal organizations. Unions are created on the basis of permanent common interests. The stability of such a system increases if the leaders of the blocs have nuclear weapons. An important role in this system is played by the mediation activity of non-aligned countries and universal organizations;

3) rigid bipolar system. In this system, the role of non-aligned states is abolished, the role of the universal organization is atrophied;

4) universal system. This system may arise if a number of political powers were transferred to a universal organization;

5) hierarchical system. This system is a modification of the universal system. It may arise as a result of a change in the scale of an international organization or the establishment of the sole authority of any one state;

6) veto system. This is a system of states or blocs of states, in which each state has a significant stockpile of atomic weapons. They seek to ensure that the likelihood of war does not increase, but at the same time tension remains, which gives rise to relative instability.

During the Cold War, the real international system developed between a rigid and free bipolar model. The confrontation between the US and the USSR set the tone for international interactions.

The collapse of the USSR - one of the superpowers - destroyed the former international system. The new system has not yet taken shape.

57. INTERNATIONAL INTERACTIONS (CONFLICTS AND COOPERATION)

The central problem in international interactions is the problem of international conflicts.

An international conflict is understood as a direct or indirect clash of interests of two or more parties (states, groups of states) based on the contradictions of an objective or subjective nature existing between them.

By their origin, these contradictions can be territorial, national, religious, economic, military-strategic, scientific and technical, etc. But in general, the conflict always takes a political form, since contradictions are recognized and resolved by states with their inherent internal, external and military politics. The development of conflict situations can be influenced not only by objective contradictions, but also by subjective factors (for example, the foreign policy of the states themselves and even personal relationships between the leaders of states).

An extreme form of international conflict is an armed clash. This form represents the greatest danger to the survival of mankind.

In a bipolar world, the possibility of conflicts was quite high. Therefore, the focus of attention of the opposing superpowers (USA and USSR) was the problem of building up armed power, which led to the overmilitarization of both sides. In such conditions, international political crises became very dangerous, which brought the warring parties close to an armed clash. For example, the Caribbean crisis of 1962, called the missile crisis, could well lead to a global thermonuclear catastrophe. However, at the last moment, the political leaders of the USA and the USSR managed to stop the development of a conflict situation fraught with a world war, and found ways to resolve this conflict.

With the end of the Cold War, the way was opened for a relationship based on partnership and cooperation for peace. However, it is difficult to implement this turn in practice. New mechanisms that could ensure stability and cooperation have not yet been created. Significant funds are still being spent on the arms race. But at the same time, the need to establish relations of international cooperation is actively recognized, since outside of it it is impossible to solve many problems of our time, including global problems.

Cooperation in environmental protection and solving other environmental problems is topical today. Significant enough is cooperation in the fight against crime and international terrorism.

58. METHODS OF POLITICAL ANALYSIS

The foundations of the methodological diversity of political analysis are largely predetermined, on the one hand, by its features as an applied discipline, and on the other hand, by the specifics of political issues as a subject of analysis.

In general, 2 groups of methods of political analysis can be distinguished: general and particular.

General methods predetermine the direction, perspective and methodological support of all stages of political analysis. These include event analysis (from English - "event") and situational analysis. Among the general methods, event analysis is of paramount importance, in which the political process is shown as an event series of representations, for example, in the form of speeches, political elections, mass demonstrations, elections, the adoption of regulations, each of which is backed by specific actors with their own interests, etc.

Situational analysis systems allow solving complex applied problems related to information support of the political decision-making process. The main tasks are monitoring the political situation, tracking changes in the key parameters of the situation, as well as forecasting its development, building scenarios.

Private methods include standard methods borrowed from statistics, sociology, economics and other disciplines. This group includes the sampling method, peer review method, correlation analysis, content analysis, mathematical modeling, benefit-cost analysis, etc.

The specificity of private methods of political analysis is manifested in their compliance with the structure of the process of political analysis, in taking into account the conditions and limitations of their application at the most important stages of studying the situation, as well as in the analytical and applied possibilities of their application.

Thus, the formulation and conceptualization of the problem involves the use of methods of selective research, content analysis, interviewing, testing, experimental methods that allow expanding the information base of political analysis.

Correlation analysis allows you to measure the relationship between dependent and independent variables.

Mathematical modeling allows you to reproduce the events of the past, present, and future, and at the same time check the action of forces in those processes, the actual course of which is difficult or even impossible to carry out in modern conditions and conditions.

Cost-benefit analysis (BCA) can be the main method when efficiency is the only meaningful goal, i.e. BCA reduces all alternatives to monetary form, assuming the choice of the one that generates the greatest benefits.

59. FORECASTING AND MODELING OF THE POLITICAL PROCESS (SPECIFICITY, TECHNOLOGIES, TOOLS)

political forecasting is

a special analysis aimed at identifying promising trends, ways, dates, and stages in the development of political processes.

In the technique of predicting the possible development of political processes, an important role is played by the ability of researchers to take into account and use real fayus. Much depends on the variety of sources for obtaining such information, and on the possibility of its systematization.

The bases of political forecasting are diverse: these are various types of statistical information, and sociological research data, and public opinion polls, and media materials, and intelligence data, and historical, economic and other studies - everything that contains knowledge about the factors that affect the course political processes.

In general, the political forecast is based on the following principles.

1. The principle of alternativeness is due to the fact that the flow of political processes, even within the framework of stable political systems, is complex, non-linear. The occurrence of certain situations cannot be predicted with absolute accuracy. There is always a spectrum of alternative future states of a political object. Exactly

the establishment of such a fan of main alternatives and the determination of the probability of their implementation constitute, in general terms, the task of political forecasting.

2. The principle of consistency is due to the multidimensionality and consistency of the policy itself. Political processes are closely intertwined with other social processes: economic, social, cultural. This makes it necessary to take into account the relationship of political processes with a wide range of conditions and factors that ensure their development and change.

3. The principle of verifiability (verifiability) is aimed at determining the reliability of the developed forecast.

The main methods of political forecasting include statistical analysis, the construction of time series with subsequent extrapolation (i.e., the mental continuation of certain real political processes into the future), the method of expert assessments, and the method of constructing scenarios.

In political forecasting, the modeling method is extremely useful. Within its framework, knowledge about the future state of political processes is obtained by creating a conditional image of an object that can be embodied in a mathematical formula, graph, scheme. The meaning of political modeling is to simulate the structure of the predicted process. The use of computers makes it possible to generalize and analyze huge amounts of information, which makes the forecast more reliable.

60. POLITICAL MARKETING

Political marketing is a set of theories and methods by which the authorities and political parties formulate their goals and achieve their support from the population. The basis of political marketing is the study of the political needs of social groups and communities in the market of political forces, the creation of the necessary prerequisites for turning these needs into real purchasing demand for a particular politician and his political program.

Thus, political marketing is a technology of any political campaign, i.e. collective actions based on the mass support of the population and aimed at achieving specific goals. Therefore, the marketing of a real political campaign must take into account the influence of many factors, which can be not only global, but also random.

Marketing any political campaign includes a number of stages. At the 1st stage, the political market conditions are studied:

1) the moods and expectations of various electoral groups are revealed;

2) the nature of the reaction to possible actions to solve the actual problem is determined. At the 2nd stage, a strategy is formed

and tactics of political influence:

1) the expectations of the population are transformed into a specific program, which defines the goals, methods and means of achieving them;

2) probable results are calculated;

3) address groups are identified, the support of which can be counted on.

At the 3rd stage, the product (program, candidate) is promoted to the political market, accompanied by political propaganda, the meaning of which is to form a sustainable interest among the population in the goals of the campaign.

According to the set of means and methods of influencing the population, political marketing can be conversion, stimulating, developing. By the nature of the impact - offensive, defensive, waiting, supporting and counteracting.

Depending on the type of political campaign that needs marketing support, one can single out, for example, selective marketing.

Particular attention to the political marketing of election campaigns is due to the fact that free elections have become in our time a common democratic way of forming government bodies. Elections to various authorities are consistently repeated every 2, 4, 5 years and have become an integral element in the lives of citizens of almost all countries.

However, political marketing should not be limited to election campaigns. This is a broader concept that includes a complex system of methods and techniques for purposefully influencing the population in order to achieve its support for the goals put forward.

61. POLITICAL CONSULTING, LOBBYING, NEGOTIATIONS

For all political leaders, as well as a considerable number of their assistants, analysts, and consultants, political activities have long turned into a profession that requires certain skills and abilities. Many areas of the politician's activity are quite technologically advanced, that is, they allow for a certain standardization. The totality of certain methods and techniques of political activity is called political technology. Among them, along with electoral, information, advertising technologies, are political consulting, lobbying and negotiation technology.

In many countries there are think tanks that study political processes and are able to advise current politicians on many issues of public life.

A fairly common technology is lobbying. This term denotes a special mechanism of influence on power structures, the purpose of which is the adoption of a particular bill that is beneficial to certain social groups.

Initially, lobbying was understood as a kind of shadowy, behind-the-scenes politics and was considered something reprehensible. However, realizing that it is impossible to avoid this form of pressure on legislators, they decided to legalize it, limiting the acceptable forms and conditions of influence on deputies by law.

Lobbying activities are carried out, as a rule, within the power structures. Lobbyists influence parliamentarians or executive officials with rational arguments, manipulation of the funds of various foundations, promises of support in election campaigns or in the passage of certain bills. In the arsenal of lobbyists, there are also such techniques as promoting the right people to responsible positions in the system of legislative and executive power, influencing public opinion through the media, membership in organizations of various profiles, and active participation in various events (for example, conferences).

The technology of negotiation is also sufficiently developed. Thus, the success of negotiations depends primarily on the thoroughness of their preliminary preparation. In the course of organizational preparation, the place and time of the meeting of political delegations, the formation of the delegation, and the definition of the functions of the members of the delegation are determined. With meaningful preparation, an analysis of the problem is carried out, options for solutions are worked out, proposals are developed. There are also well-developed rules for conducting negotiations, preparing premises for them, choosing the time, and conducting a business conversation.

62. TECHNOLOGY OF ELECTION CAMPAIGN

When considering an election campaign as a kind of political process, it should be taken into account that, firstly, the initiators of an election campaign, acting as a subject of control, are deprived of the right to dictate the rules of the game, i.e., to create norms that are mandatory for the object of their influence. No candidate or electoral association can issue an order or decree prescribing patterns of electoral behavior to the masses.

Secondly, the subject of governance is deprived of the opportunity to rely on the right of legitimate violence, to apply sanctions and other measures of influence on potential voters. In a democratic society, you cannot force a person to vote for one candidate or another. Consequently, the methods of influence of the subject on the controlled object should be very specific, associated with special forms of influence on the motivational structure of the individual, and the main content of the election campaign will be the struggle for the mindset, preferences of the population.

The set of ways to influence the masses in order to influence their electoral behavior and induce them to give their votes to a particular candidate is called electoral technology. The main feature of electoral technologies is their focus on the inclusion of socio-psychological mechanisms that regulate the behavior of voters, appeal to the convictions of citizens, their value orientations, interests, moods, aspirations and aspirations.

The modern approach to electoral technologies is distinguished by the awareness of the need for an organic combination of practical experience in political struggle and scientific knowledge. It is important not only to know well-established methods of election campaigning, but also to understand the underlying reasons for the success or failure of specific technologies. But such an understanding is possible only when the organizers of the election campaign have the necessary theoretical knowledge, are able to adequately assess the situation, identify trends in the development of mass sentiments, identify those pain points in the minds of people, the impact on which can lead to a change in their behavior in the direction necessary for the organizers. This circumstance forces the organizers of election campaigns to turn to the help of professionals - people who specialize in the field of political technologies and have the appropriate knowledge, skills and abilities.

In the hands of professionals, electoral technologies become a powerful weapon that makes it possible to attract significant segments of the population to the side of the candidate served by these professionals and change their electoral preferences.

63. TYPES OF ELECTORAL SYSTEMS

The term "electoral system" is used when summing up the results of voting in the sense of a method for determining the results of elections. There are 3 main types of electoral systems:

1) majoritarian;

2) proportional;

3) mixed.

The majority system (from French majorite - "majority") is based on the principle of the majority, that is, the candidate who receives the established majority of votes is considered the winner.

In the majority system, the following varieties of it are also distinguished:

1) a relative majority system, which assumes that in order to win an election, a candidate needs to collect more votes than any of his rivals. This system does not establish a minimum voter turnout threshold for an election to be declared valid;

2) an absolute majority system, which assumes that in order to win the election, a candidate must receive more than half of the votes (at least 50% plus 1 vote). But in this system, a lower voter turnout threshold is set (half of the electoral corps or less).

The majoritarian type of the electoral system contributes to the victory of large political parties, which makes it possible to form a stable government based on a parliamentary majority, and ensures close ties between the deputy and his voters.

However, the majority system also has disadvantages. Thus, a significant part of the voters may not be represented in the elective body, there is a reduction in the representation of political parties in power structures.

Under a proportional system, voters vote for lists of candidates put forward by political parties. Under this system, elections are held either in a single nationwide constituency or in multi-member constituencies. It is based on the principle of proportionality, i.e., the distribution of mandates between parties is carried out in accordance (in proportion to) the number of votes cast.

In a number of countries that use this electoral system, protective barriers operate, that is, the minimum number of votes (in percent) that a party must gain in order to take part in the distribution of mandates is determined.

The proportional system makes it possible to take into account the political preferences of voters more accurately than the majority system, and ensures that even small parties are represented in parliament. But the proportional system contributes to the fragmentation of the political spectrum. This leads to difficulties in the formation of the government.

A mixed electoral system is a combination of majoritarian and proportional systems. Such a combination can be either dominated by some type, or balanced.

64. CONFLICTS IN PUBLIC LIFE

Conflict (from lat. conflictus - "collision") - a clash of interests of various groups, interests in society.

Society is heterogeneous. Members of the same community may be citizens of different ages, genders, representatives of different social strata. Their interests in the political space cannot but clash.

Conflicts arise because of power. Power regulates relations by:

1) distribution of material resources;

2) distribution of profits;

3) delimitation of spheres of influence.

In addition, a society can be fragmented along religious and national lines, which is typical for multi-component societies.

Conflictogen is a factor provoking conflict.

Conflicts cause negative reactions. Indeed, conflicts in most cases entail negative consequences: physical losses, destruction of material values.

Conflicts also have a positive meaning.

First, they clarify the situation. The conflict is accompanied by a polarization of public interests. The process of social polarization reveals hidden and accompanying problems and even shows ways to solve them.

Secondly, after conflicts, relations are built on a qualitatively new level.

Political scientists continue to argue about which conflict is more dangerous for society - acute or sluggish.

An acute conflict develops into an open confrontation with the use of force (for example, a civil war). The consequences of the acute conflict include numerous victims, the extreme degree of polarization of society. Power in this situation undergoes a process of demitization, a crisis occurs in the existing political system. But if one side of the conflict has noticeable advantages and the first has a much higher ability to regenerate, then the conflict is resolved by diplomatic methods, and sometimes by force.

Another type of conflict is sluggish. It is characterized by a protracted nature, the absence of direct sharp collisions and the use of force. But the parties are following exactly the "put a stick in the enemy's wheel" tactic. This type of conflict is characterized by diplomatic wars, intrigues, provocative statements in the media. But since there is no incident (reason for conflict), the parties do not use force.

If a (sluggish) permanent conflict occurs in one N-community, then it destroys its foundation. If different communities conflict, then the members of each form the psychology of a resident of a besieged fortress.

In order to resolve the conflict in society with minimal losses, it is necessary to identify it in time and correctly diagnose it.

65. TYPOLOGY OF CONFLICTS

Typology of political conflicts - classification of political conflicts on the basis of a typical feature.

Researchers distinguish the following types of conflicts:

1) by the nature of the flow:

a) sharp;

b) sluggish (permanent);

2) by the number of sides:

a) bilateral;

b) multilateral;

3) by subjectivity:

a) state (nation);

b) intrastate interethnic;

c) interstate international;

d) international;

4) according to the level of leakage:

a) local;

b) regional;

c) interregional;

d) world;

5) according to the method of resolution:

a) power;

b) peaceful;

6) in relation to the political system:

a) systemic;

b) off-system;

c) anti-systemic;

7) in relation to the individual:

a) intrapersonal;

b) interpersonal;

8) by subjects of political activity:

a) by party character;

b) intra-party;

c) inter-party;

9) in relation to Parliament:

a) parliamentary;

b) extra-parliamentary;

c) inter-parliamentary;

10) in relation to the government:

a) government

b) intergovernmental. Political conflict may take place

both in an acute form (with the use of force, speeches, protests), and be sluggish (permanent). Such a conflict lasts for a long time, as the parties evade the solution of the conflict.

The minimum number of parties to the conflict is two, but there may be more. In the latter case, the conflict is considered multilateral.

We cannot equate the concepts of "state" and "nation", since the problem of inter-ethnic relations remains relevant for multi-component societies (and they are the majority).

The conflict can take place at the local level (for example, Chechen separatism), become regional (for example, the difficult political situation in the North Caucasus of the Russian Federation), interregional (when two regions are in conflict, no matter how far they are from each other) and global (for example, the First and World War II) character.

The conflict situation is resolved either by force or peacefully (a series of negotiations and consultations). The political conflict proceeds either within the framework of one system, or outside it, or is aimed at destroying it.

66. POLITICAL CONFLICTS AND WAYS TO RESOLVE THEM

A political conflict is a clash, a confrontation between political subjects, due to the opposition of their political interests, values and views. The sources of political conflicts are rooted in the difference in statuses and roles played by people in political life, the diversity and mismatch of their needs and interests, the belonging of citizens to various social groups, and finally, the presence of different values and beliefs among people.

There are 3 types of political conflicts:

1) conflicts of interest. They prevail in economically developed countries, stable states, where the political norm is the struggle for economic benefits;

2) conflicts of values are characteristic of developing countries with an unstable state system. They require more effort to resolve;

3) identification conflicts are characteristic of societies in which the subject identifies himself with a certain group (ethnic, religious, linguistic), and not with society (the state) as a whole.

Depending on the level of participants, a political conflict can be: interstate (then the subjects of the conflict are states and their coalitions), state (branches of power, political parties, etc.), regional (regional political forces), local.

There are 2 main strategies for resolving political conflicts. The first is the control strategy. Emphasis is placed on preventive measures related to the identification of conflict factors, their primary analysis and attempts to prevent the dispute from acquiring destructive features, i.e., to prevent the conflict from escalating from crisis to violence.

The second conflict management strategy involves the implementation of specific procedures and actions to purposefully modify the behavior of the conflicting parties and change the external environment.

In addition, methods for resolving political conflicts are often divided into 2 groups:

1) with the use of violence (wars, revolutions, various coups, pogroms, terrorist attacks, etc.);

2) non-violent methods (negotiations, mediation, etc.).

The ratio of power and non-power methods of solving problems is not the same. It has changed throughout the development of civilization. Thus, in the history of Western communities, the role of peaceful means was initially insignificant and was reduced only to summing up the results of the war or attempts to redivision the world on the eve of it. Now the situation has changed: negotiations and other non-violent methods have become the most important tool for resolving conflicts. Nevertheless, violent methods continue to be used by the parties to conflicts.

67. STATE POLICY, ITS ESSENCE AND TYPES

State policy receives impulses from various social forces of society, each of which seeks to achieve its own goals, influencing the setting of goals and interests of other social groups, involving the state as a mediator in the settlement of disputes and conflicts.

And therefore, state policy could be defined as a set of relations that develop as a result of purposeful interaction of groups regarding the conquest, retention and use of state power in order to realize socially significant interests. In this sense, state policy is understood as the result of a collision of multidirectional actions of groups that compete both with each other and with the government, which is also a special group and therefore protects not only general social, but also its own interests.

State policy is a holistic and qualitatively defined area of social life. Its structure is as follows: political system, political process and political consciousness.

The political system, the core of which is the state, characterizes the role and significance of public authorities in the political life of society. In addition to the state, it includes party organizations, pressure groups, various social movements. It allows you to accumulate the political will of various social strata and translate them into certain political decisions and actions.

The political process includes a variety of interactions between the elite, the electorate, various national, confessional groups, and government institutions. It determines the rhythm, dynamics and general direction, the nature of the political life of society, which can vary from an uncompromising struggle for power to a broad consensus on the policies pursued by various social and political forces.

Political consciousness characterizes, as you know, the subjective side of politics, represented by political ideology and political psychology, utopias, myths and other ideal images and goals that guide the subjects of the struggle for power. From this point of view, politics appears as a social mechanism specially adapted for the implementation of various ideological projects.

The range of types and types of state political activity is quite wide. There are constructive-positive (aimed at ensuring the reproduction of the political system), negative-destructive (oriented at undermining the system), strategic and operational-tactical activities.

68. POLICY MECHANISMS

In the practical life of a person, no historically stable forms and ways of his existence arise as a result of the arbitrary desire of individuals or groups. All of them are original responses to the challenges of the time, changing circumstances and conditions of human life. This happened with the state policy, which was formed as a result of the intersection of a number of trends in the development of society, which demanded this way of ensuring human interests, solving urgent problems.

All social life is a process of constant interaction between people and their associations, pursuing their own interests and goals, and therefore inevitably competing with each other. At the initial stages of human development, such competition was supported mainly by the mechanisms of social self-organization. Their leading elements, which ensured the order and distribution of resources important for human life, were customs and traditions, mores and some ways of coexistence. As a result of the complication and intensification of social interrelations, the growth of demographic, territorial, religious and other forms of differentiation of the population, these mechanisms turned out to be unable to regulate the life of people together and ensure the satisfaction of many group needs.

In addition, over time, among group needs, opposing interests emerged, the implementation of which threatened a sharp rise in social tension and the disintegration of the human community. Thus, a powerful social need was formed for new, more effective ways of regulating the largely changed human relationships.

This need was realized as the state emerged as a specific institution that proved capable of creating obligatory forms of social behavior for all segments of the population. The coercive power of public authority brought society to a qualitatively new level of regulation of social ties and relations.

Only state power was the force that could not only ensure the implementation of various group interests, but also preserve the integrity of social life, ensure order and stability. Thus, the activity of the state was aimed at using the opposing sides and providing its conditions for the expression of the whole society as a whole. At the same time, the ability to exercise control over the state, as well as to use the power of its structures to ensure their interests, began to act as the most attractive goal of activity for various social groups.

69. POLITICAL CAMPAIGN

A political campaign, like any electoral process, is one of the forms of political participation of the population in it, an inalienable property of democracy and a means of implementing popular sovereignty.

As world experience shows, the political activity of voters depends on many factors and, above all, on the nature of the political regime, the level of economic development, the traditions of the country (for example, in Anglo-American countries, the degree of participation is higher than in Muslim countries), the organization of election campaigns and the exercise of the electoral right of citizens in specific state.

Each candidate (or electoral bloc), entering the pre-election struggle, strives to solve his own problems and makes certain efforts for this. Thus, a political election campaign can be defined as the totality of actions taken by parties, electoral associations or candidates and their teams to achieve electoral goals. A political campaign also appears in the form of events associated with the adoption by its participants of certain decisions, their assessment of the situation and the subsequent organization of various actions. However, it is part of the electoral process unfolding in the country.

Political campaign is a kind of political management. A team (a party organization, a group of like-minded people, political consultants) headed by a candidate acts as the subject of management in it, and potential voters are the object. The purpose of management is determined by the tasks that the candidate sets for himself. As practice shows, not all candidates, entering the pre-election struggle, are guided by victory. Some of them see the political campaign as an opportunity to draw attention to themselves, to go through a preliminary "promotion" in order to participate in the next election, or they are trying to win over some of the votes of strong rivals of a candidate.

Each political campaign is conducted by its initiators in the conditions of a tough struggle with political rivals. After all, a political campaign is inherently a competitive process, during which there is a sharp rivalry between its participants for the right to hold prestigious positions in the political hierarchy, the ability to influence the masses, and access to significant resources. And in order to prevent this rivalry from escalating into sharp contradictions and crises, each country creates legislative norms that regulate the course of the political process. All this creates a certain legal framework, the exit from which entails the application of sanctions to the violator.

70. THEORIES OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

The most important and necessary component of power is the state with its attributes such as the presence of subjects, the territory to which its power extends, the mechanism of coercion, the people who carry out this coercion in an organized form. The state is an instrument of organized violence, it has a monopoly on making laws in society. Its importance should not be underestimated or exaggerated. The state is a complex of bodies, each of which performs its specific functions of a legislative, executive and judicial nature.

The political life of the state really constantly oscillates between two opposing theories: non-intervention of the state in public life and its complete control over it. The choice of this or that model is determined by the way of interpreting society and the individual, by the difference in priorities in their correlation. Within the framework of the first, liberal-individualistic theory, society is seen as a collection of individuals, and politics and the state exist primarily to protect the rights of the individual, to regulate relations between people. In the framework of the second, statist theory, society is seen as an organic integrity, and the meaning of human existence in it is seen in service, subordination of oneself to the requirements of integrity.

Right in this case is thought of as a matter of course in human relations.

Considering the specifics of power relations, the following main qualities of power inherent in any of its types are distinguished. Power is:

1) the form of management, regulation and control, the type of direction of energy, opportunities and resources available to human society;

2) a powerful means of streamlining social relations;

3) a volitional attitude that has a purposeful (goal-directing) character, this is a change in behavior through a change in the motives and goals of people.

Power is associated with:

1) the culture of human communities, with the measure, regulation of people's relations, with the adoption by them of certain restrictions in behavior;

2) differentiation, structuring of human communities. As management in conditions of social differentiation, power is political in nature. A high assessment of the importance of power and state relations for the regulation of the life of human communities does not mean a rejection of the vision of the other side of the coin - the connection of power with cruelty, suppression, increased intergroup and intragroup differentiation and exploitation. There is an obvious danger of uncontrolled power, which exacerbates the importance of its regulation.

71. THEORIES OF BUREAUCRACY, GENERALITY OF ADMINISTRATIVE MANAGEMENT

The negative part of the activity of almost any state entity is bureaucracy, the meaning of which lies not only in the presence of a special group of people engaged in the implementation of the functions of social management, but in the formation of special interests and goals in this social group that are different from the tasks of the state and society. The bureaucrat subordinates political activity, public service to serving only his own selfish interests. The trend towards bureaucratization of power in politics as a social phenomenon that grows out of the dialectic of common and private interests is always there, and any society needs to develop appropriate legal, cultural, political guarantees that can limit or block such a trend.

Bureaucracy as a social phenomenon has a number of technical, organizational and social characteristics. These include:

1) hierarchical construction of power relations in a bureaucratic organization;

2) the focus of this organization on the implementation of a specific task;

3) strict division of labor between members of the bureaucratic organization;

4) the low importance of personal characteristics for the implementation of bureaucratic functions;

5) subordination of the activities of the bureaucrat to strict rules;

6) the desire to ensure secrecy, closeness of political processes;

7) active use of various political and social privileges with a strict ranking of their availability, size and quality for each category of persons of bureaucratic labor;

8) representation of the state as the main source of well-being of the social order;

9) subordination of legislation to the executive branch;

10) corruption;

11) indifference to the law as the main feature of the mass psychology of citizens in a bureaucratic society.

Bureaucratism is characterized by a pronounced conservatism, an attitude to existing forms of leadership and management as to unchanging structures, which sooner or later turns into political blindness, a loss of the ability to see the need for change (wishful thinking is taken for real). Thinking patterns arise that seriously simplify social reality, and the political actions that are based on them lead not to the resolution of social and economic contradictions, but to their multiplication. This kind of simplification of political thinking and political action has a quite definite social meaning: it consists in bringing the real picture of the social, political process to the measure of the own, private interest of the social groups involved in governance.

72. SUBJECT AND METHOD OF POLITICAL REGIONALISTICS

Political regionalism as a branch of political science deals with the study of the region and its place in the political system.

Region - a set of territories and administrative entities characterized by different types of development in the socio-economic and political spheres.

The region can be located both on the territory of one country and include neighboring states, in connection with which the expressions Volga region, Pacific region are equally valid.

The subject of political regionalism can be considered:

1) relations between the center and the region;

2) the problem of the formation and functioning of regional elites;

3) the influence of the political culture of the region on the management style of the political leader;

4) resolution of regional political conflicts, etc.

The center, under certain conditions, can also be considered a region. But if we resort to the help of a structural-functional approach, we can come to the conclusion that the center has the right to distribute and redistribute resources.

The structural-functional method analyzes the region and its place in the political system through functions.

In the process of historical development, the map of the Russian regional space has changed more than once. In connection with this circumstance, it seems very interesting to trace the dynamics of the development of Russian regions in a historical retrospective. The comparative-historical method is used.

If a specialist sets himself the task of studying the course of the conflict in the N-region, then the algorithm of his actions will look like this:

1) defining the problem and forming a working hypothesis;

2) collection of information (conducting sociological surveys among residents of the N-region, taking into account the specifics of the mentality);

3) diagnosis of the problem situation. They reveal how conflict-prone the situation is in the N-region at the moment, what is the dynamics of conflicts, what place does the N-region occupy in the federal hierarchy;

4) analysis of factors of influence, such as the political situation in the country, the attitude of the opposition to the federal government, media coverage of the course of the conflict, and finally, the contacts of the problem region with other states;

5) making a forecast. Based on the processed data, a forecast is made, consisting of the most probable options. Methods - system (region as part of the political system of the N-state), mathematical modeling. The most reasonable approach to the study of the region is complex, which includes all methods. Studying the region in one aspect or another, it is necessary to understand it as part of the political system, and not as an alien element.

Authors: Barysheva A.D., Zubkova A.S., Streltsova N.K.

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Workaholics have fatter kids 07.08.2019

Parents' long working hours increase their children's risk of being overweight and obese during preschool years, scientists at the Research Center for Social Research in Berlin have concluded.

The researchers studied data from 2,4 thousand children under the age of 6, taken from SOEP (Germany's regular socio-economic survey). Preschool age is crucial in shaping the weight of children, the publication notes. - The study found that children of mothers who work 35 hours a week or more are at increased risk of becoming overweight and obese - compared to children whose mothers do not work. The risk also increases when fathers work long hours (55 hours a week or more). In this case, even shorter working hours of mothers (24-34 hours a week) negatively affect the weight of children.

The researchers suggest that "along with the increase in working hours, the quality of nutrition and the level of physical activity of preschool children decreases." A possible reason for this relationship may be the disturbed sleep rhythm of children whose parents stay at work for a long time, the publication reports.

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