The article provides a critical analysis of the interpretations of the Concert of Europe by British and American historians of the XXth century. The interest in the study of this phenomenon is rooted in its relation to the problems of the maintenance of international order and stability. It is not only academic, being partly determined by the fact that throughout the XX century first Britain and then the USA was at the top of the world hierarchy, and accordingly played a leading role in the construction and maintenance of the European order. Current international environment, the experience of the two World Wars of the XXth century determined the angle from which the phenomenon of the Concert of Europe was studied. Whereas in the second half of the 1910s - early 1920s historians pointed to the deficiencies of the international system of the preceding century (and in particular, the institution of the Concert of Europe), the students of the Vienna system working after the Second World War regarded the period of 1815-1914 as relatively stable, compared to the short interwar interlude. The Concert of Europe was named as one of the factors contributing to stability and peace. Certain logic can be discerned in the development of the historiography of the problem, which to some degree reflected the evolution of ideas about international relations management. At the same time, the differences in the interpretations of the Concert of Europe derive from the fact that this very concept in the XIXth century was not fixed and static. Great Powers' readiness to cooperation did not mean that there were no conflicts of interests. They struggled for leadership within the Concert and sought to impart to it their own interpretation.

The article is devoted to the examination of the issue of Russian borrowing of military and technical as well as cultural experience of the West at the beginning of the Time of Troubles during the reign of Feodor I Ivanovich (1584-1598), Boris Godunov (1598-1605) and Dmitry the Pretender (1605-1606). One of the channels of the Russian contact with the west-European "powder revolution" and culture was foreigners on Moscow service. A lot of them were the military; doctors of the Tsar had a huge power; some merchants (for example, Jerome Horsey) carried out special orders of the Russian government. The article gives the description of western foreigners' position both, at the beginning of the Time of Troubles, when the Moscow government was interested in western innovation, and after 1606, when the situation changed. The author tries to find out in which areas and what kind of foreign experts were used in Russia; what were the reasons for the use of the Western European experts; what were the results of this phenomenon. While analyzing the "Notes" of foreigners, who were on the Russian service at the beginning of the Time of Troubles, the author examines the achievements of the "common revolution" at the beginning of XVII century.

The problems of the world order is often seen through the interaction of the leading centers of power. Nevertheless there is another approach, locating actorhood in the state, which forms the world order. State acts in international affairs, it has the right of legitimate violence, it also has the ability to concentrate the economic and human resources. Obviously, the nature of the state as part of the international system has an effect on the system itself, defining its key parameters. From that point of view, some questions arise: what happens to the state? What is the effect of its transformation on the contemporary world order? Why the state is changing? What hierarchy of states exists in the contemporary world order? The author proceed from the following theses. First, the nation state is no longer a universal formula of nation building. However, there is no balance between two key foundations of a legitimate order - fairness and efficiency. Second, the current world order is a mosaic of fundamentally different states. Each state is trying to find a formula for the combination of a fairness and efficiency. These formulas do not always coincide with each other, and it underlays the stability in international relations. Third, a small group of major powers still play the key role in the world order. The issue of sovereignty of many countries remains open. World order, as well as a state, is characterized by imbalance between equity and efficiency. The awaited harmony of these two principles may be spoofed again the triumph of efficiency oover justice -maintenance of order through the balance of power and a rigid hierarchy.

The unilateral model of international relations is not capable to execute global governance. The existing financial institutes serve only the interests of few highly developed countries. This situation does not satisfy developing countries. The latter put forward new approaches to the important task of reforming the world order system. BRICS countries will contribute to the elaboration of a new economic system based on equal to financial sources and trade markets. BRICS countries have the sufficient potential to become a new pole of political and economic influence free from geopolitical calculation and the temptation to impose their social models and political standards. Russia sees in BRICS an important place to discuss problems of international politics and world economy. At the same time Russia is interested in a dynamic economic cooperation with members of the group. Taking into consideration the current international situation, Russia will help to strengthen the political and economic position of BRICS. At the same time it is desirable to maintain a prudent policy of cooperation in both directions with East and with West.

The article studies the process of reforming the institute of civil service in the countries of the Eurasian space (e.g. Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan). The integration of national systems of public administration and, in particular, the civil service, is an important factor contributing to the implementation of the centripetal tendencies in the post-Soviet space. The research methodology is based on a combination of comparative legal analysis, historical retrospective method, normalization and scaling, structural-functional and system analysis. A comparison of the legal models of public service was made in research. The author puts forward the hypothesis that it is presence the relationship between the quantitative changes (for example, number of employees) of civil service and the dynamics of macroeconomic indicators (e.g. number of employed in the economy). In this regard were observed common trends. On materials of the statistical surveys were considered quantitative changes in national systems of civil service. The study of the socio-demographic characteristics of the public service (gender, age, profession) allowed to formulate conclusions about the general and specific trends in the reform of the civil service of the analyzed countries. A number of values were first calculated by the author. The work is intended to become the basis for a broad international research on the development of civil service, which is the central mechanism for implementation the integration in the post-Soviet space.

The article examines cross-cultural aspects of metaphorical framing in political discourse. The author notes the importance of conceptual metaphor in framing the conceptual domain of politics, political discourse as a whole, its perception as well as political reality itself. The author shares an opinion that the metaphorical structure of basic concepts of a nation always correlates with its fundamental cultural values. However, the examination of political discourse from the cross-cultural perspective reveals the cases of metaphor uses that don't meet the requirements of cultural coherence and may lead to negative cognitive and communicative consequences. Along with admitting a wide discrepancy between metaphorical models in western and oriental political discourse, the author gives some examples of metaphorical coherence as well as its violation in a number of basic metaphors in American, British and Russian political discourse. To illustrate how cross-cultural factors determine the specific character of metaphorical framing, the article analyses the dynamic character of metaphorical models that can realize diverse scenarios in different national varieties of political discourse. An observation is made about the dependence of metaphoric scenarios in different national varieties of political discourse on the cultural, historical, social and political components of the national cultural cognitive map. The latter is heterogeneous as it is structured by the objectified individual, group, and national verbal and nonverbal experience. This explains, for instance, why there are examples of similarity as well as discrepancy between metaphorical framing in ideologically different party varieties of political discourse within the national political discourse as well as in the rhetoric of politicians belonging to different generations. The observations are illustrated by cross-linguistic data proving the dynamic character of metaphorical models, their variability and potential for conveying new meaning nuances that reflect culture-specific characteristics of the political situation in discourse.

This article examines the main aspects of the IR experts' professional education and training, aimed at improving the efficiency of the foreign office staff. A new approach has been taken to the problem of updating and rationalization of the current academic programs (especially, MA training programs) in order to boost the competitiveness of national educational system at the global education market. The main focus is shifted from marketing to quality and "content" characteristics of the professional training in IR studies' area within the organization of higher education. The author draws on the empirical data, collected by means of analysis, processing and generalization of expert assessments and evaluations of Russian and foreign participants of international faculty and university forums in International Studies in 2015. As a result, the article proposes an ideal model of the master's program, developed by the author, based on "benchmark"International Relations/World Politics programs, which are highly valuated by the respondents. Moreover, it examines the most relevant issues, concerning the framework of students' teaching process (including preparation of master's theses), further employment of graduates and, finally, the development/modernisation of teaching staff. In conclusion, the article highlights recommendations on probable reforms of higher education in IR studies' area. The author does not criticize the national education system destructively. On the contrary, the inevitable question is how to converge the best qualities of domestic and foreign institutions of higher education system in a harmonious way. The article is designed and might be of interest for higher education and training experts, as well as for a wide range of readers interested in the education and training of the foreign office staff.

The subject of the article is dedicated to the evolution of the visible accent on the role of history and historico-civilizational heritage in formulation of Russia's foreign policy strategy in conceptual speeches of the President of Russia Vladimir Putin in 2013-2015. His thesis on Russia as a country-civilization, proclaimed in Summer-Autumn 2013, became the basis for serious practical steps for activization of the foreign policy of Russia starting from 2014. It became clear mainly during the Ukrainian crisis, but also other key international events of the last two years. Another significant element of such a strategy was the thesis on the sacrality of history for Russia, exceeding far beyond a traditional focus on using the historical memory in current politics, that one can see in other states' examples. The consequence of that thesis is the feeling of specific historical responsibility in front of Russia for state politicians, also formulated by President Putin. All this could be considered as a new dimension of the moral basis of politics. One more focus of the article is on the role of new public political panels for proclaiming such a historically motivated politics, like the Valdai Discussion Club, etc.

Against the background of political chilling between Russia and Japan trade and economic cooperation objectively form a basis for a positive development of bilateral relations in the foreseeable future. The structure of mutual trade has not changed significantly for a number of years. Russia plays the role as a pivotal supplier of certain raw materials for the Japanese market, namely energy resources, non-ferrous metals, seafood and timber. From Japan Russia imports mainly passenger cars and a certain amount of industrial equipment. With regard to investment relations between Russia and Japan, there exists a serious structural problem - the two economies are interdependent from the point of view of the technological division of labor. Russia, particularly its Eastern regions, not possessing sufficient infrastructure and logistics capabilities, as well as cheap labor resources, does not have any competitive advantages for Japanese investment compared to other countries like China. The potential of Russia is mostly viewed in Japan just as an energy donor. Thus the largest prospects of investment cooperation lie in the energy sphere. One can talk of the possibility for raising Russia's share in the Japanese oil and LNG markets. This perspective is supported by the instability of the political situation in the Middle East, which is Japan's main partner for energy supplies. In this connection, large-scale investment projects in the energy field, like the construction of gas pipeline "Sakhalin - Japan" or a power bridge "Sakhalin - Hokkaido", retain their perceptiveness. However, given the political, juridical, organizational, technical and other problems, these projects are difficult for implementation at the present stage. In this situation, the allocation of a certain share for Japan in the strategic energy deposits of Siberia and the Far East and the admission of Japanese capital to the exploration and development of these deposits seem to be a realistic choice for Russian strategic planning towards Japan, as such a cooperation would not be a subject of Western sanctions against Russia. For Russia it is important to build with Japan relationship on a more long-term and lasting basis. One of the possible ways here is to conclude a bilateral economic partnership agreement.

The beginning of the 1990s saw a prevailing understanding in Tokyo that restoration of trust and reconciliation with East Asian countries should be the first step to a larger role of Japan in the international politics. This understanding manifested itself in so far the most successful attempts to apologize for the policies of Japan in the first half of the XX century, including Prime Minister T.Murayama's statement, issued in 1995, as well as measures to address the so-called"historical issues". By contrast, incumbent Prime Minister S.Abe, who is also striving to increase the role of Japan in the international arena, shows a gradual departure from the above-mentioned strategy on presumption that a "masochistic" view of Japanese history runs counter to its national interests. His statement on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II promoted a thesis on importance to lift "the burden of apologies". Given the fact that it was nevertheless received positively by Tokyo's main ally Washington and did not become an obstacle to political dialogue with Seoul and Beijing, the author suggests that S.Abe will continue step-by-step efforts to remove "historical issues" from the bilateral political and economic agenda with China and South Korea, as well as to erase the link between the necessity to issue apologies, characteristic of the Japanese diplomacy of the 1990s, and a strategy to a larger Japan's role in international politics and security.

The defeat in the Second World War made Germany very carefully select the foreign policy concepts, which is still actual for the country. Until now, any political idea, even an indirect indication to the desire to establish German hegemony, could cause the deterioration of relations with partners in the EU and other neighboring countries. In these circumstances, Germany has chosen as the most appropriate foreign policy strategy for the promotion of the national interests the use of so-called "soft power" - the ability to encourage others to do what you want with the help of appeal, rather than through the manipulation of material needs. Germany has a large number of resources to implement the policy of "soft power." The German non-governmental organizations, political foundations are making a great contribution to make foreign policy attractive and spread political values. Organizations involved in exchange programs, scientific cooperation contribute to the expansion of German language and culture. A distinctive feature of German "soft power" organizations is that, despite the financing from the state, they retain the civilian nature of their activities, which is a necessary condition for the successful application of the concept. Another feature of German "soft power" is that its resources are directed not only at foreign audiences, but also German citizens. The key tasks of German soft power concept are to build a positive image of the country, to change its international legal status and to play the leading role in the EU.

The article provides a review of the ways in which interdisciplinary research in modern economic thought gives a more realistic understanding of human behavior and economic decision making. On the one hand, economic imperialism drove wider application of economics methods across social sciences and brought about new interdisciplinary fields, such as law and economics, economic sociology, public choice theory, etc. On the other hand, the origin of behavioral economics, experimental economics, and neuroeconomics bridging psychology, neurobiology, and economics influences the change in the methodology used by the economics itself and fuels transformation of the model of rational economic behavior 'homo economicus', one of the central assumptions of the neoclassical economics. George Akerlof and Robert Shiller's animal spirits, prospect theory of Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky, research by Amartya Sen, Daniel McFadden, Vernon Smith, and other economists focusing on decision making either significantly limit, or supplement the homo economicus concept providing a deeper insight into the nature of human rationality. Behavioral economics has already become so strong as a separate discipline that it can be classified into two streams - Classical and Modern, and its main principles should be incorporated into a basic course of traditional economics. The achievements of behavioral economics yield higher quality of economic research and forecasting. Interdisciplinary approach to the human behavior studies and transformation of homo economicus offer new tools for the development policy making.

Economic globalization and demographic changes as well rapidly changing technologies are the most important factors of the firm's environment. The rapid development of information technology radically changes the very essence of the creation of new value. The pace of technological change and innovations increases. In the most advanced sectors of global economy the knowledge is a key resource. The world economy has not finally recovered after the crisis of 2008-2009. The global economy his becoming more multicentre and the vector of economic power is shifting to China and India. The main actors and the anchor of today global economy are leading international companies (transnational corporations- TNCs). Several thousands of TNCs together with their value chain dominate the global economy. The economic power allows the largest TNCs significantly push the boundaries of the company. Globalization has changed external networks of TNCs, their corporate governance, corporate ownership as well transfer pricing schemes as well relations between the headquarter and its subsidiaries and affiliates. A remarkable feature of TNCs recent FDI flows is not Greenfield investment but mergers and acquisitions. Key features of TNC activities are defined by industry. A growing number of TNCs are changing their strategic activities, basing on the latest technology trends. The most important aspects of TNCs activities are linked to innovation, financial operations, advanced management technique, increase in intangible assets. Innovation activity of TNCs is shifting to Asia.

The article provides an analysis of the present condition and prospects of development of banks and the banking business in the face of international sanctions. It identifies current trends, problems and the risks of banks and banking in Russia and in the world. Special attention is paid to the analysis of sectoral international sanctions against the Russian banks and the need to minimize negative impact of sanctions on the banking business, both nationally and internationally. Great value in these conditions has the state monetary policy. Anti-crisis policy pursued by the Bank of Russia, in a context of stagnating economy, leads to a reduction in the Russian share in the world economy and increases in the standard of living gap with the developed countries. The article argues that Russia's economic growth opportunities in 2016 are limited by restriction level of bank interest, the high volatility of the exchange rate of the national currency, insufficient development of credit relations, tough, high-budget (at the level of developed Europe) tax burden, increasing administrative costs, dramatically increasing the concentration of risks of subjective decisions at the present stage of the electoral cycle. In a situation of uncertainty of predictions regarding the scope and duration of the application of sanctions, the Russian Government and the Central Bank of the Russian Federation had rightly seek to use a combination of anti-sanctions measures of austerity measures on introduction of contra-sanctions to create more comfortable conditions for doing business in Russia and her allies from member countries of Eurasian Economic Union, SCO, BRICS. The article examines the strategic aspects of development banks and banking business in Russia under the new circumstances. Given the practical recommendations on improvement of the development strategy of banks in Russia. The necessity to improve the theoretical, conceptual, methodological, her reasoning and extend the range of retrospective and prospective analysis of the State of the banking sector development strategy of the Russian economy.

The current military and political situation in the world raises the necessity of use by Russia of all existing tools to counter actions targeted against it. Participation of the country in international export control regimes, including the Wassenaar Arrangement (the WA), is one of these tools. Membership in the WA allows to Russia to maintain its international status, to contribute to strengthening of international stability, to ensure the non-targeting of this forum against the country, to participate in the development of decisions affecting its interests. Participation in the WA is also important from the view of modernizations of Russian economy towards transition to a new technological mode accompanied by emergence of new groups of innovative products and modification of existing ones. Control of crossing the country's borders by dual-use goods and services is one of conditions for carrying out their export. The Wassenaar Arrangement was established in 1995 to replace COCOM in order to contribute to regional and international security and stability. A huge work is carried out within the forum aimed at enhancing control over transfers of conventional weapons and high-tech dual-use goods. Russian export control system fully meets requirements of international export control regime, including the WA, and effectively functions. Export of the controlled goods from Russia or their transfer to foreign individuals and legal entities are possible only on the basis of decisions of the Export control Commission of the Russian Federation. The dilemma between the need to support exporters by reducing administrative barriers and the ensuring security interests of the country gain momentum in current stage of scientific-and-technological advance development.

The article analyzes issues of import substitution in national production and determination of its effective scale considering the country's involvement to international division of labor and an important role of interstate cooperation in today's globalized world. The relevance of the study relies on the fact, that unfavorable global economic and politic situation in 2014-2015 raised concerns among the Russian authorities and the society in general about the stability of the economy and the necessity to increase its independence and self-sustainability. Sectoral economic sanctions imposed by western developed countries could potentially lead to disruptions in the supply of components and equipment that ensure the operation of power facilities. Currently power companies are influenced by the external economic situation and the devaluation of the national currency. As the result, goods of foreign manufacture have become significantly more expensive and opportunities for power companies to realize their investing and repair programs have been reduced. Thereby there is a high importance of developing the substitution-oriented production of the high-tech electric equipment within the Russian Federation's territory. Import substitution issues are closely related to the governmental industrial policy. The programs of the national production development need huge investments and that's why issues of economic effectiveness evaluation are highly relevant. But balances between economy's specialization and diversification, import substitution and export orientation are also highly important. Such measures directed at artificial import rationing as sanctions against foreign goods, creating favorable competitive environment for national producers, governmental grants could in prospect lead to a stagnation of the economy.

The flow of refugees in Germany is a political migration at which the flow of migrants increases load of the budget due to payments of social benefits. At first sight, apparently, the existing privileges and incentives of creation of small and medium-sized enterprises (MSP) rather big and that problems inemployment of such number of migrants shouldn't be. They will take potential workplaces or will open the business, but a question in, whether it is possible to occupy the arrived migrants in small business in the territory of Germany. However, unlike labor migration which increases self-employment of the population, political migration of such effect can't give. At present it is necessary to limit global migration of the same Germany if the country intend store the economy. Positive influence of a migratory stream on national economy will be short-term, connected with increase in demand. In the near future refugees will demand considerable expenses of the budget as they don't pay taxes or pay them in a smaller size, demand additional expenses on safety in the social sphere.

The article discusses the latest issue of Go to think tank ranking and MGIMO position in it. It also considers global trends related to changes in the environment and forms of activities of research centers, identified by the ranking. In particular, it notes the changes in the system of financing think tanks from the few large grants for an extended period of time to a small but numerous grants for short periods for specific projects. It also notes the increasing state pressure on think tanks from around the world. In addition, it points to increased competition on the market of ideas and scientific expertise. Research centers have to adapt to these changes. In view of these trends the experience of one of the research centers of MGIMO, the Center for Military-Political Studies is considered. Innovation activities of the Centre on a whole corresponds to global trends. The center is seeking to diversify its sources of funding and enhances the focus of research topics - long-term forecasting of the international military and political relations.

Jose Manuel Garcia Margallo. Todos los cielos conducen a Espana:cartas desde un avion,Planeta, 2015. 816 p.

Book review: Martynov, B.F. The West and Non-West: the Past, the Present... the Future? Moscow: Institute of Latin American Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 2015. 172 p.