This book provides a comprehensive analysis of Russian food policy. Food policy is defined as the way government policy influences food production and distribution. Russia’s food policy is important for several reasons. The first and most obvious reason is that a dysfunctional food policy is symptomatic of larger political and societal problems. A failing food policy is often the precursor to political instability. Russian food policy is also important is due to the agricultural recovery since 2004 that has allowed Russia to become self-sufficient in grain production. Being food-sufficient in grain means that Russia is not drawing upon global grain supply. Even more important, Russia now produces surpluses and has become a global grain supplier. Moreover, the agricultural recovery has made the country food secure, traditionally defined as having enough food for a healthy life. An analysis of food policy reveals that the structure of food production has changed with the emergence of mega-farms called agroholdings that are horizontally and vertically integrated. Agroholdings represent a concentration of capital and land, with a small number of farms producing large percentages of total food output. The book explores alternatives to the industrial agricultural model by discussing different variants of sustainable agriculture. A final importance of Russian food policy concerns food trade. Russia has become more protectionist since 2012. The food embargo against Western nations (2014-2017) is one example, so too is import substitution that is a core component of food policy. The book demonstrates the politicalization of external food trade. Food trade and denial of access to the Russian market is used as an instrument of foreign policy to punish countries with whom Russia has disagreements. Current Russian policymakers have food resources to augment, support, and extend national interests abroad. Russia historically has cycled through periods of integration and isolation from the West. This book raises the question whether a new normal has arisen that is characterized by the permanent withdrawal from integration, as evidenced by its nationalist and protectionist food policy. The book is entirely original, rich in detail and broad in scope. It is based on field work, survey data, a wide reading of primary sources and the secondary literature, all of which are linked to important policy questions in development studies and food studies. It is destined to become a classic book on Russian food policy.

This volume offers profound analyses of the main theoretical and practical aspects of the concept of sustainable development: namely, current environmental problems; the building of green economies; climate policies; specifics of international cooperation in the sphere of sustainable development; specific features of business and government involvement in implementing sustainable development; the role of civil society; its social and gender aspects; and specific characteristics of national models of sustainable development. The focus on the international aspects of the implementation of sustainable development ideas makes the insights offered here fresh and unique.

This book series publishes monographs and edited volumes devoted to studies on the political, economic and social developments of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Volumes cover in-depth analyses of individual countries, regions, cases and comparative studies, and they include both a specific and a general focus on the latest advances of the various aspects of development. It provides a platform for researchers globally to carry out rigorous economic, social and political analyses, to promote, share, and discuss current quantitative and analytical work on issues, findings and perspectives in various areas of economics and development of the MENA region. Perspectives on Development in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Region allows for a deeper appreciation of the various past, present, and future issues around MENA’s development with high quality, peer-reviewed contributions. The topics may include, but not limited to economics and business, natural resources, governance, politics, security and international relations, gender, culture, religion and society, economics and social development, reconstruction, and Jewish, Islamic, Arab, Iranian, Israeli, Kurdish and Turkish studies. Volumes published in the series will be important reading offering an original approach along theoretical lines supported empirically for researchers and students, as well as consultants and policymakers, interested in the development of the MENA region.

Human capital is produced primarily by the education system. Today it is the most important factor in the development of economy and society. By investing in human capital, economic growth rates above the average world-level can be achieved, which is necessary in order to strengthen Russia’s positions in the context of increasing global competition. The report proposes 12 projects, aiming not only for the development of education, but for making a decisive contribution to the “breakthrough” of the country in economic, social and technological development by activating the creative potential of the Russian population as a whole and self-realization of each individual. The ultimate result of all the proposed 12 solutions will be a steady increase in the quality of life of the Russian people.

The current international order is in transition, driven by the interplay of its main actors, Washington, Moscow, Beijing, and less significantly, the European Union and other emerging forces. If successful, a multipolar global order will eventually be created. However, the transient international order is characterised by chronic instability, regional and global turmoil, and dramatically complicated governance. The central question is whether the emerging multipolar order can provide security and welfare for the international community. Or, will we see policies based on narrow national interests, being bound to bound to reawaken memories of the bipolar Cold War era and its proxy wars? In this book, twelve authors from the US, Russia, Europe and China analyse what the multipolar world order could bring about and how it will affect the predominant powers in the international system.

Originally published in 1995. In securing the future of any democracy, it is vital that the education service should provide an effective introduction to citizenship by means of a high quality and empowering curriculum in educational institutions organized and administered according to democratic principles. In this volume, educators with a variety of backgrounds and experience gained in educational institutions in both Russia and western countries address the question of the conception, justification and implementation of the idea of 'education for democracy'. This is the first publication to emerge from a collaboration of Russian and Western educators in recent times and is an enthralling account of education in countries with wide social, political and historical differences yet having common ground to share over the creation and management of their school systems.

Higher Education in Federal Countries: A Comparative Study is a unique study of higher education in nine federal countries—the United States, Canada, Australia, Germany, Mexico, Brazil, Russia, China and India. In this book, leading international scholars discuss the role of federalism and how it shapes higher education in major nation-state actors on the world stage. The editors develop an overarching comparative analysis of the dynamics of central and regional power in higher education, and the national case studies explain how each federal and federal-like higher education system has evolved and how it functions in what are highly varied contexts.  

The book makes a major contribution to higher education studies and defines a new field of comparative analysis. It also provides important insights into comparative governance and the study of federalism and federal arrangements, with their particular historical, political, legal and economic dimensions.

Miscommunicating Social Change analyzes the discourses of three social movements and the alternative media associated with them, revealing that the Enlightenment narrative, though widely critiqued in academia, remains the dominant way of conceptualizing social change in the name of democratization in the post-Soviet terrain. The main argument of this book is that the “progressive” imaginary, which envisages progress in the unidirectional terms of catching up with the “more advanced” Western condition, is inherently anti-democratic and deeply antagonistic. Instead of fostering an inclusive democratic process in which all strata of populations holding different views are involved, it draws solid dividing frontiers between “progressive” and “retrograde” forces, deepening existing antagonisms and provoking new ones; it also naturalizes the hierarchies of the global neocolonial/neoliberal power of the West. Using case studies of the “White Ribbons” social movement for fair elections in Russia (2012), the Ukrainian Euromaidan (2013–2014), and anti-corruption protests in Russia organized by Alexei Navalny (2017) and drawing on the theories of Ernesto Laclau, Chantal Mouffe, and Nico Carpetntier, this book shows how “progressive” articulations by the social movements under consideration ended up undermining the basis of the democratic public sphere through the closure of democratic space.

During the past several decades, several “highly-resourced, accelerated research universities” have been established around the world to pursue—and achieve—academic and research excellence. These institutions are entirely new, not existing universities that were reconfigured. Accelerated Universities provides case studies of eight such universities and highlights the lessons to be learned from these examples. Each of the cases is written by someone involved with leadership at the early developmental stages of each university, and provides insights that only senior executives can illustrate. Accelerated Universitiesshows that visionary leadership and generous funding combined with innovative ideas can yield impressive results in a short time. Universities aspiring to recognition among the top tier of global institutions will find this book indispensable. 

The coursebook is aimed at developing foreign language competence among university students and interlingual and intercultural communication in professional sphere. The book is a possibility to master phonetic, lexical and grammatical skills as well as listening, writing anf speaking on the basis of a documentay series "The History of the Kings and Queens of England". Students are provideв with various task types which assist in developing language, communicattive and cultural competences.

The research on technical regulations and standards highlights that the EAEU is already implementing many EU standards as the basis for reforming and modernizing its former GOST regulations and standards. In addition the EAEU is adopting many standards of the international standards organizations (ISO, IEC, ITU), which work very closely in partnership with the European standards organizations (CEN, CENELEC, ETSI), such that international and European standards are to a large degree identical. This means that the legal and technical infrastructure for non-tariff barriers of the two parties is already converging. This makes non-tariff barriers a potentially fertile field for cooperation between the EU and EAEU, which in turn could mean easier access to markets and increased mutual trade. In this case, the potential format and extent of cooperation could extend to include a Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA) on Conformity Assessment, through to the most ambitious formula (in EU practice) of the Agreement on Conformity Assessment and Acceptance of Industrial Products (ACAA). Such arrangements would in principle ideally form part of a free trade agreement. Such scenarios can be technically specified, but of course they would have to rely on demanding political conditions which today are not satisfied.  

The objectives of the study were (a) to identify the reasons and concerns of those public administrators and marketing scholars who do not accept the usefulness of marketing in the public sector; (b) to deconstruct, comprehend, interpret, and critically appraise the current conceptualization of public sector marketing from the viewpoint of negativists identified in step (a); and (c) to reconstruct, redefine, reinterpret, and reoperationalize the current controversial conceptualization of public sector marketing into a new conceptualization in the context of park and recreation services. The critical theory approach to the study primary used non-empirical procedures data collection and analytic procedures which included investigative research, negative case analysis, and theoretical triangulation. These procedures were supplemented with empirical data collected from in-depth interviews with five scholars and with three parks and recreation managers. Results of the non-empirical procedures revealed the biased selective nature of the current conceptualization of public park and recreation marketing and the existence of alternative conceptualizations which have been ignored. The existing and alternative models were discussed with scholars and park and recreation managers. Support was found for the alternative models. From these data an alternative conceptualization of public park and recreation marketing was developed and named the concept of administered marketing. Implications for park and recreation managers are discussed. Directions for future research into the administratively managed park and recreation marketing concept are suggested. 

In the last decade, advanced economies, including the euro area, experienced deflationary pressures caused by the global financial crisis of 2007‒2009 and the anti--crisis policies that followed—in particular, the new financial regulations (which led to a deep decline in the money multiplier). However, there are numerous signs in both the real and financial spheres that these pressures are disappearing. The largest advanced economies are growing up to their potential, unemployment is systematically decreasing, the financial sector is more eager to lend, and its clients—to borrow. Rapidly growing asset prices signal the possibility of similar developments in other segments of the economy. In this new macroeconomic environment, central banks should cease unconventional monetary policies and prepare themselves to head off potential inflationary pressures.

In order to understand a country as large and diverse as Russia, it is extremely important to consider spatial patterns of economic development. As Russia looks for new drivers of economic growth, it is important to understand the structural conditions that have defined economic development in Russia’s regions. This report uses the Economic Potential Index (EPI) methodology to identify the conditions that drive regional development. Economic potential is the level of productivity that is possible for a region to achieve given its structural endowments, which are characteristics that are hard to alter in the short run. The methodology used in this report combines quantitative analysis of drivers of productivity across regions with in-depth case studies that focus on the role of regional governments and institutions in converting endowments into economic outcomes. This methodology generates insights that are relevant for both national and regional governments. The first chapter of this report provides an overview of regional development in Russia over the last 25 years and identifies “Russia-specific” national structural conditions that may affect regional development. The second chapter discusses the results of an assessment of economic potential at the regional level and the factors that shape it in Russia. The third chapter focuses on the role of national and regional governance, policy, and institutions in promoting economic development of the regions. The final chapter proposes policy priorities for both regional and national authorities.

Religious violence is surely as old as both faith and fighting themselves. In the Russian Federation, as elsewhere in the world, religious teachings and philosophies are used both to justify and combat violence. But what forms does this take, and with what implications for Russian society, Russian policy, and Russia's future? This volume examines the many ways in which religion and violence intersect in Russia, and offers recommendations for both policymakers and scholars as they chart paths forward. Presenting the results of original research by collaborative teams of Russian and western authors, it takes on topics from violent radical Islamic jihadism to religious propaganda employed by violent right-wing groups; from repression of religious communities to conflict within religious confessions. In each case, it offers not only new analysis, but prospective policy solutions to make Russia and Russians of all religions (and no religion) safer and more secure.

The 11th International Conference on Theory and Practice of Electronic Governance (ICEGOV2018) took place in Galway, Republic of Ireland, between 4 and 6 April 2018. The conference was held under the high patronage of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (DPER), Government of Ireland. The Insight Centre for Data Analytics, part of the National University of Ireland Galway, co-organised ICEGOV2018 with the United Nations University Operating Unit on Policy-Driven Electronic Governance (UNU-EGOV), which is also the conference series organiser1. The conference organisation was also supported by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the Science Foundation Ireland (SFI).

While workers movements have been largely phased out and considered out-dated in most parts of the world during the 1990s, the 21st century has seen a surge in new and unprecedented forms of strikes and workers organisations. The collection of essays in this book, spanning countries across global South and North, provides an account of strikes and working class resistance in the 21st century. Through original case studies, the book looks at the various shades of workers’ movements, analysing different forms of popular organisation as responses to new social and economic conditions, such as restructuring of work and new areas of investment.

The materials of The International Scientific – Practical Conference is presented below.

The Conference reflects the modern state of innovation in education, science, industry and social-economic sphere, from the standpoint of introducing new information technologies.

It is interesting for a wide range of researchers, teachers, graduate students and professionals in the field of innovation and information technologies.

We investigate the consequences of excessive international debt overhang as they relate to both debtor and creditor countries. In particular, we assess the impact of monetary policy on financial stability and how it can be used to smooth borrowers, as well as creditors, consumption over the business cycle. Based on [Goodhart, Peiris, Tsomocos, 2018], we establish that an independent countercyclical monetary policy, that contracts liquidity whenever debt grows whereas it expands it when default rises, reduces volatility of consumption. In effect, monetary policy provides an extra degree of freedom to the policymaker. We implement our approach to the Czech and Eurozone area economies during the 1990s. In our model, we introduce endogenous default ά la [Shubik, Wilson, 1977], whereby debtors incur a welfare cost in renegotiating their contractual debt obligations that is commensurate to the level of default. However, this cost depends explicitly on the business cycle and it should be countercyclical. Hence, contractionary monetary policy reduces the volume of trade and efficiency, thus increasing default. This occurs as the default cost increases the associated default accelerator channel engenders higher default rates. On the other hand, lower interest rates increase trade efficiency and, consequently, reduce the amplitude of the business cycle and benefit financial stability. In sum, the appropriate design of monetary policy complements financial stability policy. The modeling of endogenous default allows us to study the interaction of monetary and macroprudential policy.

This paper demonstrates opportunities for the development of the place marketing theory given by pure model of local expenditures (Tiebout 1956) and concepts of the creative class (Florida 2004) and creative city (Bianchini and Landry 1995). Rethinking them in marketing terms, we then analyze their limitations and show why their re-examining can support competition analysis, targeting, and marketing policy of places. In the discussion section, main directions of theoretical research in place marketing are highlighted.

Nonprofit organizations in Russia are introducing for-profit activities as a means of gaining autonomy from external donors, and as instruments of strategic planning and sustainable development. This study focuses on organizations that work with welfare provision and explores how they reconcile entrepreneurial activities with their social mission. More specifically, we interrogate how two institutional logics, business and nonprofit, are defined and reconciled in organizational identities, structures and hierarchies. Socially oriented nonprofits define their mission through service to beneficiaries, through personal and professional dedication to beneficiaries’ well-being, and through making an impact on public policies and the society at large. They mimic a business approach in strategic planning and meticulous reporting, but subordinate profit-seeking to social mission by integrating entrepreneurial activities into already existing organizational structures, or by separating them into independent entities.

Background. Discussion of the social origins of personality formation, based on the biological individual, is a characteristic feature of modern interdisciplinary researches at the junction of natural science and the humanities. At the same time, evolutionary aspects of the relationship between the biological (innate) and the social (acquired) — i.e., the problem of the origin of sociality — come to the forefront. 

Objective. This article presents and discusses the hypothesis that the evolutionary origins of sociality are processes of evolutionary divergence (increasing individual diversity) and convergence (symbiosis) that define two oppositely directed vectors of the development of life from its simplest forms. 

Method and Results. The theoretical and experimental data used to discuss the hypothesis are considered here from the standpoint of the historical evolutionary approach to the processes of formation (evolution) of the uniqueness of the personality and of social interpersonal relations. The approach is based on an understanding of these processes as a special case of the evolution of interacting systems on the basis of two opposing trends — towards preserving and towards changing the system. The hypothesis allows us to answer two questions about the ambivalence of human existence in society: (a) Why do all people, regardless of their social status, find it so difficult to endure loneliness, which is incompatible with both the mental and even physical health of each of us? (b) Why at the same time do all of us involuntarily protect the “boundaries” of our own physical, mental, and social “Me”, the violation of which is as destructive (unacceptable) to us as is loneliness? 

Conclusion. Systematic historical-evolutionary analysis of the sciences of nature, society, and humankind allows us to isolate general patterns of development of complex systems, leading to a more accurate understanding of the phenomenon of personality. Such an interdisciplinary approach was used in this work on the biological roots of sociality and the particular features of individual existence in the external and to some extent social environment that generates unique individuals. 

The last decade brought increasing attention to income and wealth inequalities in advanced economies because of their increase in several countries and negative social and political implications. However, this debate is often limited to the single-country perspective, disregarding decreasing global income inequalities, i.e. inequalities between individuals in the entire world. This paper focuses mainly on the global dimension of the inequality trends but also tries to update statistics on national inequality trends which, contrary to the dominant narrative, seem to go in various directions depending on a concrete country. Finally, an attempt is made to analyze the potential interrelation and trade-off between decreasing global inequalities and increasing national inequalities and the role of globalization, in its various forms, in such a trade-off.

Chayanov A.V. On the Agrarian Question. Translated from: Chayanov A.V. What is the Agrarian Question? Moscow: Joint-stock company “Universal Library”, 1917. 63 p. (League for Agrarian Reforms)

Ten years after the global crisis of 2007–2009 the financial regulation has being enhanced with the pace of world stock markets growth. Latter ones have hit their historical maximum values being two to three fold higher than on the eve of the crisis. Such prudential tightening incentivizes using financial technologies to create new banking products and optimize regulatory burden. Same time it inflates the stock market bubble leading to greater fragility and increases the probability of another global crisis. Current research shows how human psychology has to be accounted for. This is relevant both for humans managing financial institutions as objects of regulation and humans benefiting from regulation when consuming financial services. It is shown that unconventional policy measure of abandoning both regulation and state deposit insurance enables to enhance financial stability. It implies more conservative behaviour and diminishes risk-appetite for both financiers and their clients.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the frequently neglected role of business model innovation (BMI) as a key instrument of strategic adaptation of Western multinational enterprises to emerging economy enviroment. Despite an abundance of studies on BMI, prior works have paid little attention to how specific characteristics of emerging economy environment force MNEs to change their business models. In order to fill this gap the author developed the analytical framework allowing to trace potential directions of this changing impact, and suggested a typological classification of respective innovative business models responding to concrete challenges posed by emerging economies to MNEs. The paper identifies the main directions of influence exerted by emerging economy environment on various building blocks of MNEs’ business models, thus enabling related innovative activities. These growing BMI activities entail very serious implications for MNEs’ strategy and organization, and innovation governance mechanisms, which are increasingly required to enhance their abilities to support multiple business models adapted to specific environment in all major host countries.

This paper defines a stress scenario as a global or national business development leading to the scrapping of established trends as a result of one or several technological breakthroughs, which can combine with a number of events and factors unfavorable for the global or national economy. The paper presents an analysis of technological shifts in the global agricultural sector focused the impact of these development on the Russian economy. Special attention is paid to scenarios involving deviation from conventional trends, when the imbalance between production and consumption becomes particularly acute while the situation in global food markets changes quickly and significantly with serious consequences for the Russian economy. This remains dependent on developed countries, which are major suppliers of vital resources required for the Russian agricultural sector. Six stress scenarios for the Russian agricultural sector, if certain drivers are triggered, were developed. In contrast to conventional forecasts based on the trends formed in recent years, stress scenarios consider the disruption of such trends, which today are recognized by most experts as the most realistic.

This paper contributes to the conceptualisation and operationalisation of the “technology trend” discussion in the scope of the Technology Foresight paradigm. It proposes a consistent logical approach to analysing technology trends and increase predictive potential of futures studies. The approach integrates Big Data analysis into the Foresight studies’ toolset by means of applying text mining, namely computerised analysis of large volumes of unstructured text-based industry-relevant analytics. It comprises methodological results such as analytical decomposition of the trend concept, including trend attributes (inherent characteristics) and various trend types and empirical results of detection and classification of global technology trends in the agricultural sector. The study makes a significant contribution to the development of a conceptual apparatus for trend analysis as a sub-area of Foresight methodology. The agricultural field is used to demonstrate the application the methodology. The empirical results can be applied by federal and regional authorities responsible for promoting development of the sectors to design relevant strategies and programmes, and by companies to set their long-term marketing and investment priorities.

The paper analyzes the existing approaches to the concept of scientific career, as well as career patterns of PhD holders. The authors consider the choice of alternative career options that do not involve a strict hierarchy or a clear understanding of where a person’s career path will take him. Taking into account the approaches developed earlier in the framework of the sociology of science, the sociology of employment and the theory of life cycles, as well as on the basis of the results of modern empirical research, including the results of the international project “Careers of Doctorate Holders (CDH)” (OECD, Eurostat, UNESCO Institute for Statistics), the authors propose a new model of academic career and identify the main factors, allowing to assess the success of a career. The model was tested on the data obtained during a survey among Russian researchers involving 828 respondents aged between 30 and 49 and employed by universities, research institutes, organizations of engineering services, industrial enterprises, medical centers and clinics. The analysis revealed 5 main factors determining the research career: recognition in the academic community; application of the scientific results in practice; implementation of research interests; formal criteria for successful employment (salary and level of position); mobility (including international). The results of the study confirmed the initial hypothesis that the factors affecting career success can be classified by their significance for the individual / for the professional community / for society as a whole.

The paper compares and contrasts the patent-based indicators, traditionally used to assess a country’s technological capacities and specialization. It seeks to determine how a chosen metric might affect the results of such an analysis, sometimes being misleading. Empirically, the paper is based on the statistical information on patent activity of the top-10 patenting countries. It concludes with a clear demonstration of the need to employ a complex of patent-related indicators to make deliberate solutions on managing technological development of a country. Also the authors offer a taxonomy of technological capacities, which might further help understanding their current status and prospects for future progress. Above the methodological implications, the paper might be of an interest for policy-makers and practitioners as it analyzes the patent profiles and technological specialization of the global leaders

Cognitive dissonance arises as a reaction to conflict appearing in choices between two equally attractive options. It leads to changes in the desirability of these options. The chosen option becomes more desirable whereas the rejected option is devalued. Despite cognitive dissonance being largely used by social psychologists to explain social conformity and preference reevaluation, little is known about the neural mechanisms of such choice-induced preference changes. In this study, we modulated the activity of the posterior medial frontal cortex (pMFC), which has been found to be involved in cognitive dissonance in neuroimaging studies. We influenced the activity of the pMFC before individual choices using both cathodal and anodal transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) during a revised version of Brehm's free-choice paradigm. Our results showed that cathodal tDCS over the pMFC significantly decreased the typical choice-induced preference change relative to a sham stimulation. On the contrary, no significant effect of anodal tDCS was observed. Our findings of the influence cathodal tDCS on preference re-evaluation highlight the central contribution of the pMFC in cognitive dissonance and provide evidence that pMFC plays a key role in the implementation of subsequent post-decision preference change.

The modernisation of the Ukrainian economy and state continues to develop at an unsatisfactory pace due to a lack of pro-reform political consensus. The two upcoming election campaigns in 2019 (presidential and parliamentary) make the reform process even slower and additionally put its effectiveness and sustainability under risk. The international community has a limited toolkit to overcome this stalemate.

Virtual currencies are a contemporary form of private money. Thanks to their technological properties, their global transaction networks are relatively safe, transparent, and fast. This gives them good prospects for further development. However, they remain unlikely to challenge the dominant position of sovereign currencies and central banks, especially those in major currency areas. As with other innovations, virtual currencies pose a challenge to financial regulators, in particular because of their anonymity and trans-border character.

The G20 and BRICS emergence in response to systemic vulnerabilities and structural changes in the world economy germinated expectations, reflections and criticisms. The G20 sought to manage the crisis, reform the international architecture and devise a new global consensus. BRICS committed to foster cooperation and policy coordination between its members and promote the international institutions reform.  Often criticized for lack of efficiency and legitimacy, G20 and BRICS consistently engage with international organizations (IOs). This engagement has the potential to promote inclusiveness and efficiency of the two institutions and global governance. The study explores the G20 and BRICS modes of engagement with the IOs testing the assumption that the they can resort to a combination of “catalyst,” “core group” and “parallel treatment” modes and their preferred choice reflects their mission and role in the system of international institutions. Acting as a catalyst they can exert influence for change in IOs through endorsement or stimulus. Engaging IOs as a core group they can impart a new direction by giving a mandate or providing the necessary political leadership. They can also create their own mechanisms in parallel with IOs.  Drawing on quantitative and qualitative analysis of G20 and BRICS documents the authors trace the dynamics and models of the G20 and BRICS engagement with IOs since their first summits.  The findings confirm G20 and BRICS commitment to multilateralism. The G20 exceeds the BRICS by the number, intensity and scope of references to IOs. It employs all three modes, engaging key partners (the IMF, the FSB, the OECD, the WB, the WTO and the ILO) mostly as a core group. With a different degree of success G20 exerts catalytic influence over its key partners. It resorts to parallel treatment sparingly. The G20 engages IOs across the full range of global governance functions.  BRICS members consistently support the G20 decisions and the UN central role in the multi-polar world. BRICS acts as a catalyst endorsing and supporting change of the UN, the IMF, the WB, the WTO, but never acts as a core group. BRICS increasingly uses its own institutions. The BRICS mostly engages IOs in deliberation and direction setting, less frequently in decision-making. BRICS own mechanisms are also involved in delivery.  Thus G20 demonstrates a strong capability for global governance development through use of IOs, while BRICS contributes to global governance development building BRICS-centered institutional system and stimulating change of the IOs. 

The intransitive cycle of superiority is characterized by such binary relations between A, B, and C that A is superior to B, B is superior to C, and C is superior to A (i.e., A>B>C>A—in contrast with transitive relations A>B>C). The first part of the article presents a brief review of studies of intransitive cycles in various disciplines (mathematics, biology, sociology, logical games, decision theory, etc.), and their reflections in educational materials. The second part of the article introduces the issue of intransitivity in elementary physics. We present principles of building mechanical intransitive devices in correspondence with the structure of the Condorcet paradox, and describe five intransitive devices: intransitive gears; levers; pulleys, wheels, and axles; wedges; inclined planes. Each of the mechanisms are constructed as compositions of simple machines and show paradoxical intransitivity of relations such as “to rotate faster than”, “to lift”, “to be stronger than” in some geometrical constructions. The article is an invitation to develop teaching materials and problems advancing the understanding of transitivity and intransitivity in various areas, including physics education.

This is a theoretical study. Theoretical understanding of a visual stimulus in a psychophysical experiment is critical for controlling the experiment and for interpreting its results. This fact encourages vision scientists to use “simple” visual stimuli. A triangle in a 3D scene is one of the simplest stimuli for studying 3D perception. In this study, we analyzed geometrical properties of a relation between the triangle and its retinal image using a computer algorithm. Based on the analysis, we discuss validity of results of past studies that used triangles as their visual stimuli.

This is an empirical study. The perception of a pair of contours in a retinal image cannot be understood simply by adding up the perceptions of the individual contours, especially when they form a perpendicular junction, or are parallel to one another. It is the relationship among the contours that determines what is perceived. Note that it is hard to actually compare the perception of such configurations quantitatively. We managed to do this by testing the perception of such configurations in three psychophysical experiments in which the perception was characterized by measuring the orientation threshold of a single contour. This threshold was estimated by using a modified Method of Constant Stimuli based on the assumption that contours forming a configuration are perceived individually, and that they are integrated linearly. This assumption made the quantitative comparison of the perceived configurations possible. We found that changes of the estimated threshold depended on the type of the configuration, specifically thresholds estimated from a perpendicular junction were substantially lower than thresholds estimated from a single contour or from a non-perpendicular junction. The lowest thresholds were observed when the threshold was estimated from a pair of parallel contours. These results suggest that the visual system is sensitive to perpendicular junctions and parallel contours in a retinal image.

The purpose of this research is to reveal how macro-, meso- and micro-level factors influence the choice of matrimonial behaviour. The ability of determinants of various levels to explain cross-country differences in matrimonial behaviour was examined (second wave of the Generations and Gender Survey); differences in matrimonial behaviour of the Russians were also investigated (a panel part of three waves of the Russian part of the same survey). It was revealed that the form of marriage historically formed in the country, the values profile of the citizens, and the family policy of the government can explain the cross-country differences in matrimonial behaviour at the macro-level. The type of settlement determines the choice between cohabitation and marriage as a first union at the meso-level, while at the micro-level it is determined by the age at entry into the union, conception prior to the union, matrimonial experience of parents, circumstances of leaving the parental home and entering the labour market and educational level. The explanatory ability of these variables is different for men and women, as well as for various generations of the Russians.

The study is devoted to the investigation of the interrelations between migration and demographic behavior (partnerships, marriages, and childbearing) of modern Russian women. The quantitative research conducted on 2,229 individual biographies of women between 19 and 43 implies the use of descriptive analysis and Event History Analysis (Cox regression) within the Life-Course Approach. The results of the research are viewed within the framework of the hypotheses explaining the impact of migration on demographic behavior already described in scientific literature. The Russian female population is characterized as mostly immobile (more than two thirds of women never experienced migration, at least before age 43). The paper discusses various economic and demographic factors affecting the risks of occurrence of demographic events in migrant and non-migrant life careers. The disruption hypothesis describing the negative effect of migration on marital and reproductive behavior, is partially disproved: 1st migration exhibits no effect on the risk of 1st childbearing or 1st partnership among adult women; the risk of 1st marriage is negatively affected among women after 21.  The selection and the interrelations-of-events hypotheses may explain the demographic behavior of the two suggested groups of migrant women in Russia: educational migrants and marriage migrants.

  In this paper, we introduce a simple new theory on mixed competition between oligopolistic firms and the competitive fringe, assuming a comparative advantage for  big firms and  free entry for small firms.  Oligopolies are defined as conglomerates, each part of which benefits from joint operations through lower costs.  Our theory implies that   (i) industries with a few oligopolies arise as a stable outcome of mixed competition;   (ii) mixed competition differs from the monopolistic competition of single-product firms due to the underproduction of oligopolistic firms and  differs from pure oligopolistic competition since constraints on this underproduction are imposed by the competitive fringe;   (iii) a positive shock in the market size can strengthen or weaken the competitiveness of the economy through the growth of the number of oligopolies.  

This paper investigates the role of bank voluntary disclosure, as a source of information about risk, in the interbank market. Using data on the 179 largest Russian banks over the period of 2004-2013 we test whether the ability to attract interbank loans is sensitive to various transparency indices such as those disclosing bank risks, board composition, or even corporate event details. We show that larger but riskier banks – at least in terms of credit risk – behave more transparently and disclose more. The article is also the first to provide evidence that the ability to attract funds in the interbank market is positively correlated with the degree of transparency. This result is stable for various aspects of disclosure.

This article evaluates the efficiency of current MIF rates for the Russian market and identifies the effects of their changes. In order to estimate the demand of end users and end-user surpluses the study uses the adopted version of the Bedre-Defolie and Calvano (2013) model as well as representative samples of 800 traditional (offline) Russian merchants, 1500 Russian individuals and 7 banks from the top 20 that cover more than 80% of the Russian issuing and acquiring markets and the end-user benefits. Results confirm the efficiency of currently set MIF rates. Comparative statics analysis confirms that the changes in MIF rates never lead to a Pareto improvement, while the total surplus changes are asymmetric across different market parts. The article also shows that once the realistic assumptions are introduced to the models (e.g., information asymmetry, imperfect pass-through of changes) the end-user welfare is distorted more severely as a result of the MIF rates changes. The first-best policy for the Russian regulator and legislators is the use of alternative (non-tariff) stimulating measures for a cashless economy in order to isolate the effect of changes to the intended groups