Abstract: The article examines the prospects for the development of virtual and augmented reality technologies and artificial neural networks (AI) in the field of the production of social consent. It describes in modern IT terminology and analyzes the concept of the metaverse, the possibilities of such technology in propaganda, solving environmental problems, overpopulation, overconsumption, and achieving sustainable development goals. The object of research of this work is modern society. The subject of the research is new ICT technologies and their impact on global political processes. The purpose of the study is to analyze and forecast the use of such technologies, assess opportunities and risks. The study was conducted by comparative and analytical methods in combination with new terminology describing modern realities. The data are taken from open sources and scientific literature. The results obtained can be used to assess global political trends, global markets and information policy in the short and medium term. The risks and opportunities of new technologies currently being deployed have been assessed. A number of fundamental contradictions of Western and Chinese concepts of civilization development are revealed. A significant asymmetry in the development of the IT industry in Taiwan and the United States, and its impact on the policies of the main players, is described. The data are compared with each other and other studies in this area. Previously, the topic of the metaverse in conjunction with the Sustainable Development Goals has not been studied, which represents a certain scientific novelty. The results obtained allow us to talk about a new phenomenon in the field of communication created by leading IT corporations. An assessment of the risks and prospects of this concept in case of its implementation has been made.

Keywords: social networks, Community of Common Destiny, United Humanity, China, Taiwan, Starlink, Artificial Intelligence, information encapsulation, metaverse, personal assistants

Abstract: The subject of this article is modern communication technologies. The purpose of the study is to describe the current processes taking place today in the field of information/communication technologies in generally understandable terms to form an overall picture; analysis of these results; forecast of development. The object of research is a modern society on a global scale. The article analyzes the main trends of information strategies, technical innovations in the field of communications, clarifies terminology on this topic. The methodological basis of the research is both general scientific and traditional methods used in political science and economics, using new terminology describing modernity – analysis, synthesis, comparative methods, etc. The main conclusions of the study are the thesis about the beginning of a gradual change in modern society through minor but permanent changes in the modern social contract with the help of new information technologies, as well as about the opacity of such a system. The scientific novelty is represented by the analysis of the concept of an immersive virtual environment that is actively developing today - the metaverse, which today is often called the Internet 2.0. Also, on the basis of primary sources – publications on this topic since the end of the twentieth century and up to modern publications, the terminology in this area has been clarified and systematized. The article points out the existence of a certain contradiction, a conflict inherent in new technologies, from the point of view of political philosophy.

Keywords: search engines, artificial intelligence, augmented reality, virtual reality, sustainable development goals, metaverse, the singularity of propaganda, infocapsulation, social network, media consumption

Abstract: This article deals with the issue of global leadership in the context of universalization and liberalization of institutional structures of developing countries. The authors discover the reasons of economic and political elevation of the USA in XX-th century and evaluate its importance in the context of establishing liberalism as the universal standard for building the state. The focus of the research is to answer the question if developing countries are capable of following a global leader while preserving centuries-old local and national traits that define the function of informal institutes within society. This article relies on a set of research methods that include normative-value, institutional, systemic and other approaches. It reflects concept research of Jean Blondel, Douglass Cecil North, Andrew Heywood. The authors reach the conclusion that the basis of the ontology of leadership is the strategic capability of social systems for self-organization that is exercised by the most management-capable actors, using the authority resources at their disposal. Along with this, the efforts of certain developing countries to reproduce formal institutes that successfully function in the USA may lead into an administrative trap. Attempts to reproduce Western liberal model on post-Soviet space leads to emergence of dissonance between formal and informal institutes. Voluntarist attempts at liberalization of the economy and politics of modern Russia appear as lacking promise and justification.

Keywords: multipolarity, the institutional theory, U.S. politics, civil society, Russian politics, D.North theory, unipolarity, the convergention theory, leadership, authority

Abstract: The authors investigate concepts like the existence of a unified world system and the emergence of the "center" of the world. As authors see the global system is the spatial coherence of different regions. The subject of the study are the historical incarnations of the global center on the basis of the world-system approach, the trajectory of displacement of the world center, as well as the characteristics of the current world leader - the United States. Analysis of the basic characteristics of the world leader allows to statistically prove its role as the world center. The article also substantiates the crisis of the currently established system that involves parasitism, consumerism and conflictness. The study is based on the methodology of world-system modeling. In determining the Global center and the trajectory of its migration, the authors used factor analysis, comparative approach, sociological and statistical methods. The special contribution of the authors is a detailed study of the formation of unified world system, the study of the genesis of West-polar world order, the development of criteria for determining a country as the center of the world, the diagnosis of the crisis of legitimacy of the global Center. The novelty of the research lies primarily in the quantitative measurement and statistical justification of the status of the World Center.

Keywords: United States of America, speculative capital, parasitarism, civilization, Center, world system, world-systems theory, confrontation, Cold war, leadership

Abstract: The article analyzes the relations between Russia and NATO in the context of the crisis of modern system of global governance. Analyzing the common practices in the field of global governance, as well as the most important problems in Russia-NATO relations, the authors reveal the fundamental obstacles in the way of development of cooperation between those parties. At this stage, the contradictions between the parties exacerbated, as a manifestation of the crisis of global governance and the general trend of increase of turbulence in world politics. The methodological basis of the study includes a systemic, structural-functional, comparative-historical, comparative-political, geo-political, cultural and civilizational approaches, discourse analysis, methods of analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction, modeling, observation. When we talk about global governance, we mean the work involving the setting of priorities, streamlining processes and problem solving on all levels of the international system in various areas of international relations, based on the constant interaction of different actors, the making of formal and informal arrangements, operation of the institutions, as well as rules and practices. The authors conclude that the turbulence in world development and dissemination of relevant discourse make actors look for new, "limited" strategy of global governance.

Keywords: interests, democracy, color revolutions, hybrid war, state, USA, society, politics, OTAN, security