Abstract: The subject of this research is the social activity of the Russian Orthodox Church in the USA in 1867-1917. The goal of the article is to study the activity of the North American Orthodox diocese, which can be viewed as a tool of "soft power" employed by the Russian Empire. Since the above mentioned body of the Church was traditionally focused on close work with government authorities, and during the viewed chronological period the Most Holy Synod was an official part of the government apparatus, it seems only logical that the usage of the Church's resources as a conduit for Russian interests in foreign policies had great potential. Using the historical, genetic, comparative-historic and the institutional methods, the author analyzes the social activities of the Orthodox diocese in the USA and the broadening of its public functions. Despite the fact that numerous studies dealing with the history of the Orthodox church in the USA, the aspects of the possible role of the Russian Orthodox Church in the USA between the XIX-XXth centuries have not been sufficiently studied from the "soft power" point of view. The key conclusion of the article is that the social activity of the Russian Orthodix Church had the potential to positively affect the perception of the Russian Empire among the American parishioners.

Keywords: missionary activity of the ROC, Orthodoxy and politics, Orthodoxy and society, social activity of the ROC, Orthodoxy in the USA, soft power, Russian Orthodox Church, international church activities, Russian-American relations, Russian foreign policy

Abstract: This work studies the issue of conflict between inmates, as well as the work of operative units as a form of conflict prevention. The author examines the opinions of several researchers on the nature of conflict, spotlights major forms of conflict prevention. Based on the practical data the author outlines the main functions of operative units which specialize on inter-inmate conflict prevention. Enhancing the efficiency of social and psychological work in correctional facilities, as well as various arrangements aimed to inmate adaptation and reducing criminal recidivism among the inmates allows to take into account all groups of factors which influence the establishment of the correctional regime and security in correctional facilities. Among such factors are conflicts among convicts serving a sentence. The direction of interviewing the convict who became the object of a conflict situation depends on a variety of factors, such as where and in which condition the inmate was, his standing with the conflict's initiator, the cause of the conflict, the behaviour of conflicting parties, the readiness of the inmate to provide truthful information, their reason, if any, for withholding the truth. While preparing for the interview it is necessary to draw the list of conflict's circumstances that need to be clarified. Depending on the exact circumstances of the conflict the questions during the interview may vary greatly. The less-relevant questions should be asked separately, based on their importance (which is, in turn, subjective, and largely situational), if the interviewee is not inclined to speak freely.

Keywords: inspection, inspection of premises, survey, operational units, convict, correctional institution, Conflict, search, recidivism, psychological violence

Abstract: This article studies the phenomenon of conflict in the sphere of politics. This topic raises such interest because conflict as a phenomenon of our society, despite its age and presence in modern world, is yet to be fully defined, and there is no single scientific approach to defining the term “conflict”. The author attempts a methodological rethinking of political conflict as a phenomenon, and explains the diversity of its existing definitions that vary per each academic discipline that attempts to explain it from its own angle. The author explains that the broad differentiation of the term “conflict” is dictated by the fact that it’s studied by multiple science disciplines that view it from different sides. It is also noted that General Conflict Studies contains several branches: political, psychological, social, legal, military, administration, labour, etc. Each branch has its own subject field, and studies specific aspects of conflict. The methodological basis of this research is constituted by systemic, structural-functional, comparative-historical, comparative-political, geopolitical, cultural-civilizational approaches, and the methods of analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction, modeling and observation. The novelty of this research is defined by a consolidation of approaches and methods that exist in modern political science, as it is applied to understanding the phenomenon of a political conflict. The conclusions reached represent a multitude of approaches for understanding the subject field of Conflict studies as an academic discipline, as well as to sorting out the considerable number of interpretations in its terminology. This, in turn, sets the goal of further studying of political conflict as a phenomenon.

Keywords: conflict, research, diversification, phenomenon, phase, study, analysis, tension, politics, traits.