A new military escalation in the modern world, as well as the crisis of the international peace-building system, determines the relevance of the present article. In this study, the author considers the negative historical experience of the League of Nations (LN) as the lessons of history for the United Nations. The comparative historical and political analysis was used as the main research method, which allowed the author to compare the pre-war and modern international legal systems. The discovered historical parallels revealed dangerous trends leading to the threat of a global catastrophe. The presented analytical material shows the LN as an organisation establishing the value-based and geopolitical domination of certain subjects of world politics. According to the author, the United Nations was created drawing on the idea of value consensus with the consideration of the negative experience of the LN. The author believes that the latent substitution of value universalism for value consensus at the UN level constitutes a threat to humanity.

The article considers the role of the League of Nations in preventing wars and conflicts in the interwar period; studies the views formed in the 17th-19th centuries on the necessity of legally regulating international relations, the reasons for founding the League of Nations, its objectives, functional features and its policy on the activities of aggressor countries in the 1930s, as well as the reasons for the failure of the League of Nations in the pre-war crisis.

The article analyses the Treaty of Versailles concluded with Germany defeated in the First World War and its perception in German society as a national humiliation. The author considers the attitude of the victorious powers (USA, Great Britain, France) to the defeated countries (Germany and its former allies) as a prologue to a new world war.

The article covers the events leading up to the Second World War: the Anglo-German agreements reached at the meeting of A. Hitler and E. Halifax on 19 November 1937; the Munich Agreement of 29 September 1938; Anglo-French policy of appeasing Hitler's Germany, its outcomes and influence on the development of the international political crisis of 1938-1939. The article focuses on the role of Britain, France and Poland in the fate of Czechoslovakia and the breakdown of the Anglo-Franco-Soviet talks on political and military issues that took place in Moscow in the summer of 1939. The author believes that the German-Soviet Non-Aggression Treaty signed on 23 August 1939 was not decisive in the outbreak of World War II.

This is the first Russian translation of the “Discourse on the Causes of Political Revolutions” by the British researcher and social philosopher Thomas Bailey (1785-1856). This work is of undoubted scientific interest to historians, sociologists and political scientists, since Bailey’s concepts found further development in the works of famous thinkers and inspired the development of the theory of revolution.

The article analyses the development of liberal historical consciousness in Russia in the late 20th - early 21st centuries. The relevance and socio-political significance of this issue are obvious: the number of people carrying this form of consciousness in the modern world is innumerable, which also indicates the scientific and historical significance of its analysis. This is confirmed by the assessment of liberalism given by the President of the Russian Federation V. Putin at the G-20 meeting in Japan (28-29 June 2019). The article focuses on analysing the development of prerequisites for the formation of liberal historical consciousness that constitutes the novelty, as well as the scientific and practical significance, of the posed problem, which, in this case, is done using mainly the comparative historical method and the principle of historicism. The massive nature of historical consciousness determined the choice of information sources, which mainly include materials and publications in the newspapers Moskovsky Komsomolets and Soviet Russia. The article analyses the formation of liberal historical consciousness at its initial stage, which does not cover all its essence and content; as well as shows who and how was involved in this formation.

The article covers the representativeness of sources of personal origin in studying the role of the human factor in the history of Gorbachev’s reforms (1985-1991). The relevance of the topic lies in the fact that without understanding the role played by the human factor it is impossible to comprehend the reformation experience in modern Russian history in full. The fact that the topic has not been studied by historical science from this aspect determines its scientific novelty. The article is written drawing on a complex of both known sources and those previously not used by historians - mainly the data of sociological surveys conducted by the author and other researchers, as well as memoirs, diaries, letters of citizens and oral history materials. The research methods used in the study included questionnaire, content analysis, actor approach, as well as other methods and approaches of anthropological research. The study revealed that sources of personal origin are of significant cognitive value for the researchers of modern Russian history.

This paper reports the results of a round table devoted to the problem of the objectivity of historical knowledge. The relevance of this issue is evidenced by the main task of historical research - search for the truth in the study of any phenomena, as well as permanent attention to this task in the development of historical knowledge and the expression of different, including mutually exclusive, attitudes to the objectivity issue. The range of problems addressed at the round table included the analysis of individual methodological problems along with the historiographic analysis of the objectivity issue. The round table also covered the issue of truth in the Orthodox doctrine.

The article presents the first translation of the Rhetorical stela of Ramses III into the Russian language along with its annotation. The stela was discovered in the 19th century in the sanctuary of Meretseger (Theban Mountains). Its text contains important historical information on the wars of Ramses III, as well as data concerning the assimilation of peoples subjugated by the Egyptians. According to the text, the captives adopted the Egyptian language and were integrated into Egyptian society.

The article presents the historical analysis of the period when statehood originated on the island of Barbados, one of the most economically successful English colonies. The author considers demographic, socio-cultural, military-political and other factors which contributed to Barbados becoming a relatively independent territory governed by England. The development of the island is shown in the context of historical events, taking place in England in the period under study, in terms of their impact on the formation of economic and political relations in the colony. It is concluded that the foundation of the subsequent independence of Barbados was laid in the 17th century.

The article analyses the development of the ideological platform of the anti-fascist resistance movement in Italy during the Second World War. The study focuses on the activities of the Communist International in the 1930s - early 1940s; the strengthening of anti-fascist trends following the tipping point in the Great Patriotic War; the overthrow of the Mussolini regime in 1943; as well as the struggle for choosing the development path of Italy (1943-1947). The study of sources revealed a connection between the decisions made at the Tehran Conference and the dissolution of the Comintern, which affected the political struggle in Italy following the collapse of fascism. The author updated the issues regarding the anti-fascist movement in Italy, which includes the participation of Soviet citizens in the resistance movement, a departure from the communist ideals in Europe and the spread of social democracy as a form of the common struggle against the fascist threat.

The article is aimed at considering the Eurasian ideology as the unifier of the EAEU and SCO countries in the context of Russian foreign policy. Particular attention is paid to how the Russian understanding of the Eurasian idea evolved and to the potential of its conjunction with alternative unification projects of the European Union and the PRC. Given the complex nature of the stated problem, the authors employed interdisciplinary, systems and problem approaches, as well as political, historical, sociological, comparative and other research methods, which enabled the analysis of the evolution of views on the Eurasian integration held by the Russian leader V. Putin. It is concluded that faced with the West’s desire to reshape the post-Soviet space to suit its geopolitical ends disregarding Russia’s interests, Moscow was forced to switch from the idea of Greater Europe, which it systematically promoted throughout the 2000s, to the idea of Greater Eurasia as a more promising one. The results of the present research can be used to study the role of the Eurasian factor in world politics.

The article presents the Arctic Policy of China as described in the works of the Chinese and Russian scientific communities. The foreign policy is considered as a system of “political attitudes defining the main content of activities for developing state relations with other actors in the international arena”. In this article, the author identifies the goals and interests of China, which determine the reasons for the country's increased attention to the Arctic region. The countries are divided into two blocks, either supporting or being critical of China’s policy in the region. The author comes to the conclusion that in the coming decade, China will develop the Northern Sea Route and strengthen its position in the Arctic, which will significantly enhance its role in global politics, as well as expand its access to natural resources. In addition, the study of climate change will become one of the priorities. The findings of the study can be used to predict China’s policy regarding the Arctic.

Absract. The article analyses the use of internal factors associated with the instability in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region in the US foreign policy on the eve of and during the Arab Spring; as well as shows the evolution of the US foreign policy from its onset to the present time. The author determines the instability factors in the region; analyses their interrelations and examples of their use in the American foreign policy at the beginning of the 21st century; as well as provides the assessment of these actions by US regional allies. Conclusions are made about the transformation of regional relations under the influence of internal and external factors, the decline in US influence and their desire to overcome this decline using traditional diplomatic and economic methods. The scientific merit of the article lies in the fact that it comprehensively assesses a number of internal problems of the region, their interconnection and use in the US foreign policy.

The article analyses the evolution of trade unions in the first years of Soviet power. Using the method of historicism, systems analysis and multi-dimensional approach, the author considers the object and subject of research affected by political changes. The analysis of the early years of Soviet power, when many social structures were transformed under the influence of the centralising policy, reveals the archaic nature of the new state. Its structures employed methods of adapting to schisms known to Russian society, which prevented the resolution of various internal conflicts and contradictions while contributing to the retention of power and control over the society. The example of trade unions participating in the implementation of the food-supply policy (1920-1923) reveals the trend of public organisations being integrated into the centralised vertical power structure to further the ideological objectives of Bolsheviks. The issue of relations between the authorities and public organisations is of continued relevance.

The article covers the introduction of the rationing system in Moscow at the initial stage of the Great Patriotic War; emphasises the feasibility of introducing a rationing system; as well as considers the main types of cards and the mechanism of centralised supply. Despite the fact that there is a number of publications on related topics, the topic of rationed supply in Moscow is poorly researched. In this work, the author used the principle of historicism and systems approach, as well as historical and logical methods. The theoretical importance of the article consists in the analysis of archival documents and publications on the supply system of the time of the Great Patriotic War. The article is addressed to historians and researchers studying the history of the Great Patriotic War.

The article analyses the most important component of the Soviet propaganda in 1941-1945 - Russian historical events and personalities, which were actively used in all kinds of propaganda in the rear and at the front. Drawing on both text and visual sources, as well as using the achievements of domestic and foreign historiography, the authors traced the origins of the ideological turn which occurred on the eve of and during the Great Patriotic War, concluding its conformity with the historical and cultural tradition of Russian civilization. The first part of the article specifically addresses events of the early 1930s, which are characterised by ideological innovations

The article considers the development of collective farms in 1950, when N. Khrushchev became the leader of the Moscow regional committee of the CPSU, drawing on documents from the funds of the Moscow Central State Archive. Khrushchev was fascinated by the idea of creating agro-towns and giant collective farms. He initiated preparations for the construction of agro-towns in the Moscow Region. According to Khrushchev, small collective farms outside Moscow hampered the development of agriculture. Khrushchev wanted to turn farmers in the agro-towns near Moscow into agricultural workers.

For more than two years (1994-1996), the Chechen crisis remained the central theme and affected the domestic and foreign policy of the Russian Federation. The leadership of Chechnya and Russia could not resolve the situation through negotiations. An attempt to solve the Chechen problem quickly resulted in a large-scale military campaign inflicting a huge number of human casualties, as well as a humanitarian catastrophe. In this article, the author covers the internal struggle in the Chechen Republic (up to December 1994) by analysing various Russian mass media sources. The author aims to cover the events that occurred in Chechnya, as well as the influence of the federal centre on the opposition forces within the republic. The author gives a general description of the military operation against the regime of Dzhokhar Dudayev conducted by the opposition forces with the support of the federal centre. The article is intended as a contribution to the course on Russian modern history.

The article covers the crisis state of relations between Russia and Western countries at the beginning of the 21st century, attempting to answer the question of whether this situation is the manifestation of a new cold war. Using a comparison method, the author analyses the processes inherent to modern Russian-Western relations, as well as the events of the second half of the 1940s associated with the Soviet-American confrontation. The author finds similarities and differences in the causes of aggravated relations between the sides in different time periods; identifies program documents promoting confrontation; as well as demonstrates some ways, means and methods used in the years of the cold war and in the new era of confrontation. The author presents his vision of the current state of relations between Russia and Western countries, noting some historical lessons arising from the confrontation between the USSR and the USA.

The article is aimed at proving the incorrectness of using R. Gilpin’s structural method for explaining the theoretical aspect of History by Thucydides. The author analysed the concept of human nature by the ancient Greek historian and studied The Theory of Hegemonic War by R. Gilpin. The method of structural realism was employed for the analysis. The analysis revealed the key error made by R. Gilpin in determining the basic aspiration of Thucydidian human nature; thus, it was concluded that the structural approach should not be used when analysing the text of Thucydides. The theoretical relevance of the article lies in proving the incorrectness of using some methods of modern political realism to study classical texts. The article is addressed to historians and political scientists who study the modern theory of international relations.

The article presents the results of studying the impact of globalisation on the political processes in the countries of the Asia-Pacific region. In this work, the authors employed historical and analytical methods along with the fact analysis. Currently, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations provides political stability in the region, promotes interaction between countries and maintains a balance of extra-regional forces. The presented data indicate that globalisation leads to both positive and negative economic, social and political consequences for the states of the region. Negative trends necessitate the adoption of measures aimed at protecting national producers from external competition. Resistance to globalism is characterised by the rise of traditionalism and patriotism, as well as the rise of the anti-globalist movement. The practical results of the study consist in the characterisation of political processes in the countries of Southeast Asia.