Russia’s relations with India have been close to those of an alliance. However the changes that have taken place in Russia and in the general global situation as well as India’s mighty economic upswing and the rise of its geopolitical ambitions on that basis have introduced new accents and nuances to these relations. With the coming to power in 2014 of Bharatiya Janata or Indian People’s Party whose ideology is Hindutwa, the nationalism, based on Hindu religious traditions, India’s foreign policy has acquired a new assertiveness. The present Prime Minister N.Modi has declared his plan to make India a leading power on the international arena. An important feature of India’s foreign policy of recent years is its active building bridges with the US which it view first of all as a potential counterweight to China. The Indian diaspora in the US of 3Million has played its role in that process. However New Delhi maintains the line of the privileged strategic partnership with Russia. India’s global and regional interests coincide more often with those of Russia than witch othegreat powers. As for Russia, it never had any conflict with India in the past. Three main pillars of our partnership beyond the foreign affairs framework are those of cooperation in energy, including nuclear power, military technologies and space exploration. Russia-India partnership has proved its viability and efficiency. It helps to promote global peace and security.

The most important stage in the relations between the USSR and India is the second half of the 1950s and the 1960s, when the systemic factors led to the transformation of the two states into natural strategic allies. The article studies the evolution of Soviet and Indian foreign policies and the impact of exogenous and endogenous factors on their strategies. The analysis of unique, special and universal aspects of the general strategy of two states reveals their geo-economic and geopolitical interests and conditions which promoted or limited the realization of these interests. All key subsystems of bilateral relations (political, economic, military-political and culturalcivilizational) are studied in their correlations. The analysis of the political parameters covers the summits, political consultations on a broad range of issues, cooperation between the USSR and India at the global and regional levels. The article focuses on the analysis of the global changes that largely determined the evolution of the Soviet-Indian relations. The significance of the formation of all-party consensus in India on foreign policy (from the middle of the 1950-s) is stressed. This concord concerns the main directions and macro objects, while there are differences in the methods of their achievement, which is linked both with different political and ideological platforms and with global changes in the world system. The analysis of Soviet-Indian economic relations covers the growth of trade turnover and changes in its structure, cooperation in the field of heavy industry and energy, the supply of Soviet machinery and equipment. Close military-political ties that is the cornerstone of the present bilateral relations originated in this period. At the same time it is necessary to point out the relative closeness of two countries in the sphere of cultural life (notwithstanding enormous differences of Russian and Indian civilizations): spiritualism as en immanent element of both cultures opposes materialism and consumerism of the developed world and multinational and multiconfessional composition of both countries brings them closer.

 

The article analyzes the evolution of military strategy of the Republic of India and key factors that influences its development. New Delhi keeps an eye on the balance of power in South Asia to create favorable conditions for its economic and social development, yet the remaining threats and new challenges still undermine the security and stability in India. The ambitions of China aspiring to power in Asia-Pacific region, combined with its immense military build-up and territorial disputes, cause disturbance in New Delhi. The remaining tensions between India and Pakistan also cause often border skirmishes and medium-scale conflicts. Close relations between China and Pakistan, labeled as “all-weather friendship”, are a source of major concern for India. The fact that both Beijing and Islamabad wield nuclear weapons means that without effective mechanisms of nuclear deterrence any military conflict may turn into a full-scale nuclear war. Terrorist activities and insurgency in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir and in the North-Eastern regions of the country, along with maritime piracy and illicit drug trafficking contribute to the complicated nature of the challenges to the Indian security. Indian military strategy is considered as a combination of the army doctrine, maritime doctrine and nuclear doctrine. The Indian political and military leadership wants to meet the challenges of changing geopolitical environment and thus continuously adapts its strategy. However, there is still a gap between theory and practice: Indian armed forces lack the capacity to implement the declared goals because of bulky bureaucratic system, outdated military equipment and insufficient level of command and control. The government needs to mobilize political will and administrative resources to upgrade its defense sector to counter its security threats and challenges.

 

The aim of this research is the analysis of the globalization model of the Indian economy, its main trends and perspectives. The article highlights the ways of India’s integration in the world economy –its participation in the international capital movement and in the international trade as well as its positions in global value chains. The author examines the most representative definitions of globalization and draws attention that the theoretical basis of the study is the synthesis of the concept of global value chains and A.P. Thirlwall’s definition of globalization. The methodological basis of the study is such methods as induction and deduction, analysis and synthesis. The systematic approach to the overall study of the Indian economy and the Indian external economic policy in particular has become the base of this research. The author underlines that according to the OECD data the Indian participation in global value chains is 42% of the Indian gross exports. At the same time India as a large economy has a less share of exports made of inputs taking part in vertical trade in comparison with other developing countries due to diversified national economy created during the importsubstitution period. The author notes Indian positions in international capital movement. The author stresses that the Indian contemporary investment policy is aimed at attracting foreign capital that doesn’t lead to the formation of external debt. The article highlights the Indian positions in international trade of goods and services. The author examines the composition of Indian exports and imports as well as direction of Indian trade. The author draws attention to increasing the Indian positions in trade in intermediate goods. It proves the active participation of India in global value chains. The article presents statistical data on the Grubel-Lloyd Index which measures India and the world economy intra-industry trade as well as RCA coefficient which measures the comparative advantages of the Indian economy in trade both in goods and services. The article also presents statistical data on the dynamics of the Indian external trade, foreign direct investments’ inflow and exports of the Indian capital.

 

The main objective of the proposed study is to identify the specifics of India’s participation in the regional trade agreements (RTAs), a comparative analysis of the main provisions of the RTAs and the impact of membership in the integration agreements on the country’s foreign trade relations. In the world economic literature there is no unity of opinions on the economic effect of the participation of states in RTAs. The author’s thesis is that the final effect of membership in the RTAs depends on the amount of customs duties on the date of signing the agreement (the higher they are, the greater the effect of trade creation), and also on the place of the partner country in the trade of another participating state (the greater is mutual turnover, the greater effect of trade creation). Of course, other factors affect, such as geographical proximity, transportation and other transaction costs. India’s participation in the regional trade agreements (RTA) was one of the tasks of implementing the policy “Look East”, which was approved in 1991. The countries of Southeast Asia have been identified as a regional priority, which was caused by the geo-strategic and economic reasons. Later, regional coverage has been extended to the countries of Northeast and South Asia because of increasing the role of China in the world economy and politics, which has become a strategic challenge and economic opportunities for the Indian economy. India is a participant of 13 RTAs, the majority of which are bilateral. In India’s integration practice, one of four types of RTAs is applied: (1) agreement on comprehensive economic partnership, which differ in the widest scope of mutual economic relations; (2) agreement on comprehensive economic cooperation; (3) free trade agreement; (4) preferential trade agreement. Most often, there is used classical integration model (of preferential or free trade area).Initially, the Indian policy of RTA dominated the political factor (taking into account the geographical proximity of the States), subsequently economic factor became the prevalent one. Most of the regional trade agreements, especially with developed countries (Japan, Republic of Korea and Singapore) entail trade diversion effect for India, which is particularly reflected in the reduction of the share of the RTA’s member countries in the Indian exports from 45.1% to 41.3% in 2005-2015. The growth rates of India’s exports to the partner states less than that for imports from RTAs members. At the same time, the effect of trade creation provide agreements with less developed countries as Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, and Nepal. Lessons from the Indian practice of the RTA’s membership include: (1) the need for a more careful approach to choosing a potential partner; (2) the importance of a broad scope of issues of liberalization of mutual economic relations in order to obtain larger economic benefits for the Indian economy. The results of this study will contribute not only to acquaintance with the history and tendencies of India’s participation in RTAs, but also to a further deeper understanding of this form of cooperation of not only in India but also in the other states.

 

Strengthening the influence of India in the Asian region and in the world requires for resorting of the modernization experience of this country, including the development of its energy sector. India today is among the top ten countries to generate electricity per capita. At the same time, both traditional sources of energy production coexist in India (using the muscular strength of man and animals) with the conditions for the development of modern energy infrastructure through foreign investments. The article attempts to trace the main stages of the formation and development of energy industry in India; the modern state of energy is analyzed and plans for its development are considered. The research is based on a complex of traditional methods and approaches based on the principle of scientific objectivity and systemic method used in research in the framework of international relations and political science. For more than a century of history of the development of energy sector in India significant success has been achieved. Starting with the electrification of large cities and industrial enterprises due to foreign investments in the colonial period, India, after gaining the independence, set the task of developing its own infrastructure, electrifying the countryside and providing the industry with energy resources. The greatest progress in the development of electric power and nuclear energy was made. Indian economic growth will increase India’s energy needs and quadruple the demand for electricity over the next 25 years. For this, India needs to solve the problems of energy efficiency, energy complex management, lack of standards and energy imports, as well as actively introduce alternative energy sources and move to clean electricity (increased use of water resources and solar energy), which can be done through the development of Russian -Indian cooperation.

 

The article analyzes socio-economic problems and ways of eliminating poverty in Bangladesh. The focal point of the research is poverty among rural population which is the most vulnerable one. The author’s assumption is that the main reason for rural poverty is historical inequality of land property distribution in Bangladesh. The existing measures of poverty alleviation in Bangladesh (micro crediting among others) have made the country a role model for development. However, due to the limited potential of micro crediting a broader program of socio-economic reforms is required for any country striving to provide inclusive development. Using comparative-historical method the article compares the experience of Bangladesh and Indian state of West Bengal in implementing agricultural reforms aimed at improving life of the poor. West Bengal under the CPM rule is considered as a state with strong government whereas Bangladesh is considered as a state with weak government but rather strong non-governmental actors (NGOs). The article makes a conclusion that a weak institutional power of Bangladesh is one of the main reasons why agricultural reforms have not been adopted in this country and that poverty elimination there requires structural reforms to redistribute land property and to guarantee rural population legal and economic equality.

 

 

Nuclear energy is a key branch of the world power system. The nuclear energy development is viewed by India as one of the ways to resolve the problem of the energy supply. In 2008 the country gained more opportunities for developing nuclear power sector and solving the national power deficit problem after NSG lifted restrictions on nuclear trade. This resulted in foreign companies emerging on the Indian nuclear market. In 2011 after the major emergency at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Japan India faced numerous anti-nuclear protests backed by NGOs, including those with foreign funding, and political parties. The article deals with the question of the political role this anti-nuclear opposition plays in India. According to some researchers the protests are organized by the competitors in order to compromise the business of a Russian company Rosatom in India. However, such demonstrations are spread throughout the country and directed against the competitors of Rosatom as well. The article comes to conclusion that the protests are just a reflection of the political fights in India where nuclear energy is a significant political factor.

 

The author traces the history of formation of the Indian diaspora in the UK, evaluates the key trends that characterize the current state of diaspora. The article highlights the level of involvement and participation of diaspora in the evolution of the bilateral relations, as well as the influence of diaspora over home and foreign policy in the UK and India. The diaspora today is not just a unique vibrant connection between the two countries, it has also become a factor of influence over domestic, social and economic affairs in both the UK and India. There is a growing number of Indians among British statesmen and politicians. Indians occupy significant posts in various sectors in Britain, including business and finance. This contributes to strengthening of economic ties between the two countries, particularly important considering Britain’s forthcoming exit from the EU. As to internal political matters, though potential issues exist (those include, for instance, the possible transfer from India into Britain of problematic inter-caste relations, India’s criticism over unbalanced approach to teaching colonial history in British schools), the Indian diaspora due to its’ inherent tolerance and moderation generally plays a stabilizing role in the UK, especially on the background of radicalization of other ethnic communities. For the new India the diaspora today is not just an important source of financing, competences and know-how, it is also a significant lobbying and soft-power instrument. This article is part of a broader research, related to the contemporary relations between the United Kingdom and India. Indian diaspora in the UK is an integral part of the unique centuries-long history that connects the two countries. It is poised to remain a strong factor contributing to interdependence and cooperation between Britain and India in the XXI century.

The article describes the problem of organized crime in modern Mexico. It addresses the activities of criminal clans, which profoundly evolved since the 1930s. The USMexican extensive border length and the stable demand for drugs in the United States leads to the continuous flow of illegal migrants and drugs from Mexico to the US and American firearms back to Mexico. First, the authors address the issue of interconnectedness of crime in the neighboring countries. Second, they describe the geographical distribution of crime activity. It shows the influence of organized crime on the political life oin Mexico and ways of its adaptation to law enforcement pressure, namely division and disaggregation. The authors state that the fight against organized crime was ineffective in Mexico in 2006-2012, because it ignored political and cultural realities, it used exclusively force and almost did not involve civil society. In addition, it only increased the level of violence in the country and contributed to the growth of corruption in the ranks of law enforcement. Moreover, it increased the level of violence in the country and contributed to the growth of corruption in the ranks of law enforcement. Many of its components had a pronounced «pre-election» character, aimed at attracting the voter with the promise of an «early and decisive victory» over criminals. The article proposes new approach to the problem of organized crime in Mexico. To start with, government should refuse to use unilateral, as well as politicized and opportunistic actions. The involvement of civic society is of ultimate importance.

 

After the triumph of revolution in Cuba in 1959 Washington and Havana have been hostile to each other for more than half a century. Even the end of the Cold War and disintegration of the bipolar international system left intact the antagonism between the two. Only after Barack Obama came to power did normalization become possible. He admitted the failure of the policy of sanctions and declared a “new beginning” in US-Cuba relations. There is a risk now that under the new administration of Donald Trump the efforts made before can be neutralized if the US president keeps his recent pre-election promise and cancels all the previous agreements on normalization. The question remains open – whether Obama’s achievements in this regard will be preserved or Trump will manage to reverse the normalization policy of his predecessor. There will be either pragmatic Trump the businessman who understands the benefits of continuing Obama’s policy, or Trump the politician who will stand firm on his pre-election pledge to roll back on once promising initiative. The article analyzes the process of normalization initiated by Obama and Castro in 2014, explains its background motivations and builds various scenarios of further development of Cuban-American relations, as well as Trump’s policy towards Cuba. It is unlikely that the Trump administration will abandon what has already been achieved. It may entail significant political and economic costs, which is unacceptable for Trump the businessman. However, any new progressive steps towards the normalization should not be expected in the short term.

The article compares U.S. and UK approaches to concluding the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, given the special relationship between Washington and London. The article is based on official statements and reports as well as the debate in the media. Concluding TTIP was a priority for both U.S. President B. Obama and British Prime Minister D. Cameron. The trade agreement is both economic and political in nature. Geopolitically, the agreement may strengthen the role of the West in setting standards in global trade. U.S. and UK approaches were close when it came to the elimination of tariffs and further liberalization of non-tariff barriers. The U.S. was interested in accessing the EU procurement market; nevertheless, the British were more cautious in estimating the possibility of gaining access to U.S. procurement. Initially, the countries diverged on financial services regulation, with the U.S. being against its inclusion in TTIP. Officially, both countries supported including the ISDS mechanism in TTIP. The Brexit victory in the UK and Donald Trump’s election in the U.S. have made the prospects of TTIP even more uncertain. Thus, it is necessary to continue exploring the U.S.-UK approaches to a Transatlantic FTA. If concluded, a future bilateral agreement between the UK and the U.S. might inherit some features of TTIP regarding trade liberalization, eliminating non-tariff barriers and the investment protection mechanism, as the interests of the U.S. and the UK elites converge on many of these issues.

 

The article analyzes the threats to international security of Russia in 2017. It presents the analysis of the twelve situations, the development of which could have a significant effect on the interests of Russia in the field of international security. There is the most probable scenario for every situation and a list of conditions of its occurrence. The objective of the forecast is reduction of uncertainty of the future and the promotion of reasonable hypotheses about its likely scenarios. The forecast task is to help decision-makers, mentally put yourself in a situation in which realized one of the scenarios for the future and to encourage them to calculate their possible actions. In the preparation of the forecast two scenario analysis tools were used: the allocation of two key variables, the ratio of which determines the spectrum of the analyzed scenarios, and the key events method, which consists of several stages and allows to evaluate the prospect of implementing the scenario observed in real time. Authors conclude that the USA with the new president will be forced to choose between maintaining global posture and keeping order at home, and the EU will be absorbed by internal issues. In 2017 for Russia is important to keep the positive dynamics in the Transatlantic and Grand Eurasia regions, and in the Middle East. For this purpose it is necessary to ignore the provocations – mainly in Europe. The source of a new crisis may be NATO members discouraged by lack of attention to them by the USA or allies of Russia.

 

The article provides a theoretical analysis of political elites in small states. The author uses comparative analysis and descriptive approach to demonstrate main challenges that small countries ruling class is facing. The article states that regardless of widespread use of small state concept in political science and international relations theory its definition is still essentially contested. The author elaborates on the quantitative and qualitative approached to the given notion. The conclusion is that small states are not a “small copy” of great powers, and their foreign policy actions are driven by a specific and unique logic. The main feature of this logic is dependency, and asymmetrical relationship with major powers. This shapes the specifics of small state elites’ political preferences and interests. The article highlights the relevancy of theoretical scrutiny of activity and behavior of political elites of small states. Presented analysis of various cases of political elites’ actions and strategies can to contribute to elite theory. Mainly, contribution is possible in the study of interconnection between internal and external (international) political factors that are influencing actions of elite. This area of research is especially relevant at the current stage of elite theory development. Globally, increase in number of small states, expansion of their toolkit of influence in international system, and erosion of boundary between domestic and foreign policy of states can be considered as a burning issue in Political Science. Also “factor of size” in the field of elite studies in different individual states and interstate associations can further contribute to the discussion.

A review of the publication describing the position of the European Union in the global dimension, as the foreign policy component policy of the European Union, the EU’s relations with different regions of the world. The illustrative book shows the dynamics of the EU’s relations both with individual countries and with major international organizations. The author of the review considers the phenomenon of European integration, in which the boundaries of the territory of the European Union, the Euro zone and the territory of the countriesparticipants of NATO do not coincide and the impact of this phenomenon on the formation of EU foreign policy. Also considers the prospects for the development of the EU’s relations with countries and international organizations, as well as the factor of “catching up development” of the foreign policy development of the EU in comparison with foreign trade.