Abstract: The article is dedicated to studying the participation of a US State Department's employee - Alfred Will Kliefot - in determination of the Soviet-American relations. The topic is relevant due to highlighting how intradepartmental and interdepartmental contradictions and discussions in the state apparatus influenced the transition from a policy of sanctions against the USSR to an economic partnership. The purpose of the article is in reconstructing the influence of subjective and objective factors on U.S. foreign policy in the 1920s. The specifics of the functioning of the Division of Eastern European Affairs of the State Department are revealed in detail, as well as the role of the consulate in Riga in adjusting the directions of Soviet-American cooperation. During the research, the author used not only published documents and memoirs, but also materials from American archives. The research methodology is based on the principles of sociological constructivism. To characterize the processes in the US Department of State, the author of the article used historical-biographical and historical-genetic methods. Although A. W. Kliefot is best known for his diplomatic work in Italy, Austria, and Germany in the 1930s, the author has managed to reconstruct little-known aspects of his work in the Division of Russian Affairs and the Division of Eastern European Affairs in the 1920s. The author came to the conclusion that A. W. Kliefot since 1919 till 1929 not only significantly changed his views on the Soviet system, but also contributed to reducing the level of anti-Soviet sentiment in the State Department. Although the diplomat openly opposed the official recognition of the USSR throughout the period under review, he argued in favour of such a step in official correspondence, and also supported the development of Soviet-American trade.

Abstract: The article reveals the features of designing technological and institutional innovations in the modern world. The author's attention is paid to the specifics of endogenous and exogenous hybridization in the past and present - using examples of hybrid warfare, hybrid political regimes, hybrid forms of labor organization, etc., the advantages and disadvantages of using this method in various spheres of social life are shown in detail. The article provides not only the points of view of foreign scientists on this topic, but also the author’s explanation of the reasons for innovators turning to hybrid design. The research methodology is built in accordance with the principles of interdisciplinarity, and the main method used is institutional analysis, which makes it possible to find common features in the development of technological, political and economic subsystems of society. The novelty of the study lies in the author’s argumentation of the point of view that the trend towards hybridization does not lead to an acceleration, but to a slowdown in the pace of development of society. The use of a risk-based approach to the assessment of hybrid structures made it possible to identify the potentially dangerous consequences of their widespread implementation. The conclusions formulated in this article clearly demonstrate the low efficiency of chaotic combinations of dissimilar elements as a method of finding the optimal product. The author has confirmed the importance of investment in the development of the scientific and technical sector to preserve sovereignty. The conclusions of the study are addressed not only to the expert community, but can also be used in the development and adjustment of the content of strategic documents in the field of ensuring national security.

Abstract: The article raises the problem of the genesis of the capitalist economic system in the context of the possible influence of natural factors. Particular attention in this regard is paid to the search for variants of the relationship between climatic processes and socio-economic phenomena in traditional societies. Thus, the object of this study are the factors of the formation of industrial capitalism in European countries, and the subject of the study is the scientific discussion of the role of natural conditions in the process of the "Great Divergence". The author pays attention to the history of production, distribution and consumption of agricultural products in Russia and England to test the theoretical theses of domestic and foreign researchers in the field of political economy, related to the direction of "historical environmentalism". A critical analysis of the historical sources allows to reconstruct the processes that led to the creation of the capitalist economy than it was done in the initial stages of the scientific discussion on this issue. The methodology of the research is based on the principles of historical institutionalism, an interdisciplinary approach to the study of socio-economic phenomena and a historical-systemic method. Based on classical and modern research, as well as historical statistics, the author disputes the thesis about the fundamental role of the “Little Ice Age” in the lagging of the Russian state behind Western European countries in terms of economic development. The author concludes that the causes of the "Great Divergence" should be sought in a complex of social, rather than geographical or climatic factors. Thus, the imbalance in the development of commercial agricultural production in Russia should be sought not so much in the natural and climatic, but in the socio-technological field.

Abstract: In this article, the author examines in detail various aspects of transforming the armed forces into an instrument of socio-economic modernization. The object of research in this case is the army as a social institute, and the subject of the study is historical examples of hybrid institutional agreements with the participation of the army for the design of new institutional formations. Particular attention is paid to positive examples of the participation of armed forces in hybridization processes in the past, namely, knightly orders, martial arts, medieval military mercenaries, etc. At the same time, examples of unsuccessful hybrid agreements such as military settlements are also given. The aim of this study is the search for alternative methods of capitalizing the military potential of modern states in the changing conditions of a multipolar world based on historical experience. The research methodology is based on the achievements of the “new institutional economy” and involves identifying the place and role of the armed forces in the social mechanism through structural-functional and procedural-dynamic analysis. As a result of the study, it can be concluded that the task of capitalization of the country’s military potential and turning it into an instrument of socio-economic modernization can be solved if society is considered not only in the context of the diversity of content but in terms of the relationships between its constituent universal concepts. Cooperation and hybridization of institutes within the institutional matrix in this vein open up opportunities to overcome the factors hindering socio-economic development. The author's contribution to the solution of the research goal is the establishment of a connection between the “valence” of social institutions associated with the use of violence and the ability of society to find a balance between security and progress.

Abstract: In modern conditions the range of use of intelligence in politics is expanding. Today, experts single out intelligence operations as a separate kind of informational confrontation, on a par with the cybernetic and psychological struggle. In international conflicts, the goals are more and more often achieved not through direct military influence, but using alternative forms: sabotage, economic, diplomatic, etc. One of the widespread areas of secret services’ activity appears to be the interference into the development of the political systems of sovereign states. Thus, nowadays on a par with military interventions there are economic, diplomatic, ideological, intelligence, etc. interventions. This circumstance significantly complicates both the detection of foreign interventions and realization of countermeasures. It is especially difficult to solve these tasks in a situation of reconnaissance/intelligence intervention carried out by the secret services, whose activities are, as a rule, autonomous and entirely based on the use of unofficial methods and techniques, quite often associated with violation of the law. Moreover, as far as the choice of a interventional course by the government mostly depends on the information on the development of the situation provided by various departments, a misestimation is possible due to high level of bias in the work of intelligence-analytical services. In this perspective, studying the experience of past interventions largely reveals the most dangerous for the state forms of external interference. Account of this experience is a necessary condition for the formation of ability of society to resist disorganization and the crisis of statehood.

Abstract: In the current conditions of a shift in the moral values and ideological focus, the questions of interaction of various social institutions that ensure the integration of society based on the achievements of national culture are gaining relevance. Thus, there is heightened interest in the Church theme, namely the history of relations between the Russian Orthodox Church and the government. Lately, many political leaders alongside the church hierarchs, stand for integrating efforts aimed at countering national and global challenges, as well as developing a consistent system of social norms to overcome legal nihilism and build an effective civil society. In view of this, the study of the historical forms of relations between the Church and the government in Russia would facilitate the indicated processes by taking into account the experience of previous political regimes. The content of social experiments of the Bolsheviks in the territory of the former Russian Empire is explicitly described in the scientific and historical literature; however, the reasons and ideological prerequisites of confrontations between the Church and the government require clarification. This article aims to answer the question on inevitability of this conflict. For solving this problem, analysis was conducted on the works of the founders of Marxism-Leninism, which reveal the specificity of representations of the adherents of this ideology on the religious institutions prior to coming to power in Russia.

Abstract: In light of the aspect that social development is a combination of stable and innovative phenomena, the emergence and implementation of which depends on the limited range of factors, it should not theoretically appear as a problem for the scholars to forecast the vectors of social development. In other words, if society depends on the trajectory of its previous development and are rare instances of the individuals going beyond the traditional institutional blockages of innovative progress, the historical science should provide ample opportunities for forecasting the events, namely of economic nature. Therefore, a number of historians of the XX century advances a thesis on the need to apply mathematical tools to the analysis of human behavior in the historical context. The trend for using mathematical tools in human resource management and humanities research has recently gained relevance. For a long time, this methodology was considered equally suitable for describing events of the past and predicting future events. The experience of using forecasting models and mechanisms created by historians is however quite contradictory. The scholars are not always able to predict the vector of social progress of degree of regression. This article aims to explain the reasons for this situation.

Abstract: Today’s multipolar world, one can observe how different countries with different degree of agency on the international arena, seek to be actively involved in the development of recommendations for settling the existing crises, and pursue their foreign policy based on the own resources and national interests. This naturally results in complication of the system of international relations and makes it extremely difficult for its leading actors to make adequate decisions. The fact that the modern “world powers” have fundamentally different socioeconomic and political structure, aggravates the situation even more. Different values, principles of economic management, attitudes towards the role of the key social institutions and elements of the political system impede constructive communication between the states. Despite the efforts of many politicians, Europe is yet to reach cultural and political unity. The EU member-states have strong differences with regards to domestic and foreign policy; and some states continue to seek solutions to the existing crises, guided by their own principles of effective management. This defines the relevance of outlining the prospects for the convergence of national systems of political decision-making, since the discrepancy in this sphere increases distrust among the countries, parties and government leaders, as well as creates the background for various abusive activities.