Book
Проблемы новой и новейшей истории зарубежных стран. Сборник научных трудов
Volume is devoted to a wide range of issues of history and modern foreign countries.
In this article we are talking about the early development of the educational process in one of England's North American colonies. Pennsylvania attracted many immigrants from Europe by its religious freedom. Moving to a new land, Europeans from different countries brought their way of life, including various systems of education. Therefore, at the end of the beginning of the XVII-XVIII centuries there were several different types of schools. The national education system, which appeared only in the XIX century has absorbed much of the colonists created.

The bulk of research in the history of the Russian-Polish relations of modern and contemporary periods demands deliberation on the prospects of the further development of this research area. We need to think about how receptive it is towards innovations in historical science and, in its turn, capable of contributing to the general development of historical knowledge. In this connection various research strategies are being considered, the common basis of which can become entangled history.
Collection of scientific works of teachers and graduate students, "Problems of modern and contemporarythe history and historiography" is devoted to a number of major problems of history and historiography. In the articles of the collection focus is on such important issues of our time, especially as the political development of Thailand in the second half of XX century. The impact of NATO expansion in Eastern Europe in US-Russian relations, NATO's activities in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1995, the idea of social justice in theory and practice of SocialistInternational in the modern world. Considerable interest is an article devoted to the problem of a multifactorial approach to history in the writings of Russian historians late XIX - early XX centuries, and others.
A.Herzen as a scholar of contemporary history: Polish aspects. Herzen considered the Polish national movement as the main ally of Russian revolutionaries in their struggle against autocracy and highly appreciated the Poles' sacrifice. However the moderate nature of Polish social doctrine and demands to restore the former eastern border of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth caused Herzen's critical evaluations. The Polish partners of Herzen were not ready to share all of his ideas. Differences of the programs complicated Russian-Polish revolutionary cooperation. Analyzing the Russian-Polish relations of the last three decades, Herzen proposed his own vision of the Russian Empire's contemporary history.
The book, offered readers, conference materials placed under the same name, held in Smolensk State Pedagogical University in June 1998. Articles reflected two trends: 1.The influence of religious outlooks and mentality on policy 2. The influence of politics and political interests on religion.
The article analyses the long political career and life of Mwai Kibaki, former President of Kenya.
The article is devoted to the new interpretation of the world history, macro-processes and “longue durée” which has already been characterized as the “global” (“transnational”) turn. It aims to answer the questions what are the reasons of this “turn”, what are the real results of the newly born interest towards macro-processes, and finally, what is the present vision on the combination of the micro- and macro-scales in the historical research. The article locates a place of the “global” (“transnational”) turn in the contemporary historiographical situation with its paradoxical combination of the demand on the “decentralization” (first of all, on overcoming Eurocentrism) and simultaneously the Anglo-Americanization of knowledge. The results of the turn are obvious and are connected with a new critical attitude towards conventional stereotypical generalizations (here we should underline the achievements of the second half of 1970s – 2000s in the struggle with metanarratives) and generally with a growing amount of sources available to historians (digital humanities). The interest, on the one hand, to history transcending conventional national, regional, ethno-confessional boundaries (the enlargement of the spatial dimension) and, on the other hand, to the “longue durée” (the enlargement of the temporal dimension) does not mean abandoning micro-historical methods but present a new criterion: a case should reveal an important large trend. The failures of the turn are also clear: the publications race and the wish to correspond to the most fashionable historiographical trends may lead to the laxity of narrative and the weak source base of conclusions.
Volume is devoted to the problems of the interaction of western and eastern societies at different times of its history.
The aim of the article is to reveal new concepts and models, systems of argumentation, rethinking of main categories, orientation to new social disciplines and self-reflection in different directions of the world history in the 21st century.
In the 1990s world history relying on the achievements of global and postcolonial studies has been radically transformed and, after several decades of existence in the backyards of historical science, has regained its leading position. Studies conducted in the framework of world history have established new directions that are the result of critical and postmodern revolutions in philosophy (postcolonial criticism, first of all) and rely on a number of concepts and approaches developed in the course of anthropological, linguistic and cultural twists and turns.
Firstly, we mean global and transnational history, offering ways to construct a universal non-Eurocentric world. Secondly, world history, analyzing interactions between world systems and local civilizations (cultural transfer), and complex networks of mutual influences of various historical phenomena. Third, the international history of the formation and development of various international institutions. Fourth, the Big history, which claims not only to encompass "the whole world", but also "all the time", that is, a time beyond the social - "time of the Earth."
The attention of historians is switched to the study of social trajectories, cultural exchanges, multiple identities; there is a fundamental rejection of dualistic oppositions (Europe / third world, metropoly / colony, center / periphery, city / village, modernization / tradition). All variants of the "new world history" are alliances of history with different disciplines, up to the attempts at integration with biology, geology, and cosmology.
The next transformation of the historical science in the 2000s and especially in the last decade is unusually favorable precisely for the development of world history. Firstly, it is the renewed need for broad contexts and large narratives. Secondly, the "spatial turn" in the social sciences and in historiography in particular. Thirdly, the awakened interest of historians in the metaphysics of time and the idea of multitemporality.