The article analyzes the political, economic and religious development of Saudi Arabia and its role in regional and world politics. It is claimed that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is an influential power in the Middle East, the center of the Islamic world and an energy superpower, one of three modern countries named after the ruling dynasty — the Saudis. The author explores the history of various state entities that have existed in Saudi Arabia since ancient times. The article pays special attention to the origin of Islam, the activities of the Prophet Muhammad and the Arab conquests. It is emphasized that during the first centuries of its history, Islam dominated the world political scene, culture and international relations. The analysis of the period of Egyptian and Ottoman rule on the Arabian Peninsula, the creation and functioning of the first and second Saudi states in the 18-19 centuries, and then the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, its relations with the United Kingdom and the United States in modern times. The role of the oil and religious factors in the history of this country, as well as the main features of its modern political and economic development, is considered separately. The activity of the state at the regional and global levels is studied, the main aspects of official Riyadh’s cooperation with new centers of power, including the Russian Federation, are analyzed. The author concludes that today the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is striving to become a leading player in the Middle East and thus take a significant place on the world stage.

The article examines the sanctioning tools of unfriendly countries used to restrict international financial activities by creating obstacles in cross-border operations using correspondent accounts and the SWIFT financial messaging system. The dependence of the global financial system on the US dollar and, consequently, on American banks allows the US and its allies to abuse their geographical and political position, using sanctions as a non-competitive weapon in the financial sphere. Many states consider the use of the US dollar in international trade as one of their greatest vulnerabilities under current conditions. Target states of sanctions are aware of all the emerging risks and are in search of new effective solutions to ensure foreign economic activities, creating new platforms and mechanisms capable of replacing existing technologies for conducting cross-border currency transfers, mitigating the risks of sanctions on specific elements of payment infrastructure or specific participants in transactions. One such solution is the use of central bank digital currencies in international settlements. Thus, in June 2024, the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation announced a platform for settlements in national currencies among BRICS countries aimed at establishing direct financial logistics between the central banks of the union’s countries. The article discusses the mechanism for conducting cross-border transfers using this platform, analyzes possible risks, and provides recommendations for their elimination.

Technological sovereignty of Russia can largely be ensured by the creation of innovative developments by small technology companies, which are traditionally widely supported by venture funds and investors in world practice. In our opinion, the Concept of Technological Development for the period up to 2030 does not pay enough attention to the tools for developing the venture industry. Therefore, based on the analysis of successful experience in the formation and development of venture markets in the USA, EU countries and Israel, a classification of mechanisms for supporting venture investments has been developed, namely consulting, legal, financial, tax, communication, ecosystem, elements of which can be used in the Russian economy to implement innovative projects of technological sovereignty. Borrowing successful practices involves gradual institutional transformations and a comprehensive assessment of the effectiveness of the implemented state programs. The article provides some recommendations in terms of implementing state policy to stimulate venture investment in Russia in the areas of supporting talent, developing institutions, financial and tax measures. It is possible to implement a wide range of educational programs for the heads of small technology companies and business angels, provide tax incentives to private venture investors (exemption from capital income tax, compensation for business angels of the investment amount), assist and simplify the procedure for small companies to enter the stock exchanges of Russia and friendly countries, conduct accelerators for small technology companies, including export ones and in the interests of the defense industry. It is necessary to develop various forms of cooperation between participants in the venture industry, both interregional (organizations of the “quadruple helix”) and international (exchange of experience, creation of joint venture funds with friendly countries).

In scientific research, the use of socio-economic categories allows analyzing and identifying trends or dependencies for decision-making on developing government response measures to socio-economic risks and challenges. In this study, institutional rent is considered as a socio-economic category reflecting the most essential properties and connections of rent relations, which is formed and implemented in the process of organizational interaction between subjects of rent relations in the production, consumption and redistribution of property rights to socially significant goods. The presence of an institutional environment for socio-economic development allows subjects of rent relations to use institutions to reduce transaction costs of their organizational behaviour. Under these conditions, an institution becomes a resource for rent relations, and the ability to reduce organizational costs through the effective use of institutional factors, an independent competitive advantage, allowing subjects of rent relations to extract monopoly income in the form of institutional rent. The use of classification as a general scientific method for systematizing knowledge about institutional rent allows us to expand the theoretical basis for research into rent relations and propose new directions for using institutional tools for its analysis, which determines the relevance of this study. The aim of the study is to clarify the methodological features of the classification of institutional rent as a socio-economic category of rent relations. The paper clarifies the definition of institutional rent and substantiates the methodological features of its classification, the criterion of which is the ability of subjects of rent relations to form their competitive advantages through the use of formal institutions and informal restrictions in the process of reducing various types of transaction costs. The article proposes a general classification of formal institutional rent by the level of hierarchy of formal institutions, and informal institutional rent by the type of informal restrictions created by the institutions of family, culture, religion and education

Currently, numerous studies are focusing on identifying the key factors of economic growth in modern Russia, the main ones among which are creativity and human creative work. Due to the actualization of the human role in the economy, the creatosphere, through diverse and numerous ideas, becomes the basis not only for the formation and development of a human-oriented economy, but also for the full satisfaction of various human needs. The creatosphere is essentially a creative lever for human development and a human-oriented economy, therefore, the issue of managing the creatosphere becomes especially relevant. The aim of this study is to develop a conceptual framework for managing the creatosphere as a structural element of a human-oriented economy. The research method is an expanded model of compensatory homeostat. The methodological basis of the research is the theory of human-oriented economics. As a result, the creatosphere was identified in the categories of the expanded model of compensatory homeostat (the object of management is the creatosphere; the components-antagonists of the creatosphere are the cultural and innovative spheres; the supreme governing body is the federal authorities; the subject of management is the regional authorities; the block of additional activation and adaptation is the subjects indirectly influencing the creatosphere; the “input” of the model is the development of the creatosphere with the help of basic resources; the “output” of the model is a creative person); the main areas of management impacts on the creatosphere (resource management, communications management, additional support) are identified. The presented research results become the basis for further scientific research in the field of the creatosphere and the construction of a full-fledged theory of a human-oriented economy. Practical significance is defined by the fact that the conceptual foundations of creatosphere management provide a basis for the development of targeted support measures for its progressive development.

In the context of the reorientation of the Russian economy to the Asian market, the importance of the Arctic zone is increasing, since it is a transport and logistics base on the Northern Sea Route, which is the shortest shipping route between the European part of Russia and the countries of the Asia-Pacific region. However, since the post-Soviet period, most Arctic cities and towns have been in decline. The article assesses what impact the implementation of such an investment project as the creation and commissioning of a floating nuclear power plant can have on the municipal economy of an Arctic town. The study was conducted on the example of Pevek. The aim of the work is to determine the changes in the socio-economic situation of the town due to the launch of the floating nuclear power plant. The study was completed in the context of the Concept of Sustainable development of territories. Using the methods of retrospective analysis and descriptive statistics, an assessment of indicators illustrating the state of the social, environmental and economic spheres of the town was carried out. The creation of new high-paying and high-tech jobs at the nuclear power plant, the attraction of qualified specialists from other regions of Russia to them compensated for the migration outflow from Pevek and caused population growth. The wage growth caused an increase in the average per capita income of residents and a decrease in the proportion of the population with monetary incomes below the subsistence level. Raising the level of the local budget sustainability at the expense of the personal income tax has allowed increasing budget expenditures, including on improving the urban environment and the quality of life of the entire city population. The study shows that the revival of the Arctic is possible only due to an effective government policy aimed at cooperation with corporations, since towns’ own resources are not enough to restore their economies. One of the newest solutions, which can breathe new life into Arctic towns, is the attraction of such a large investor as Rosatom State Corporation and the implementation of projects for the placement of floating nuclear power plants.

Modern small and medium-sized industrial enterprises operate under the influence of many multidirectional, far from orderly factors. Enterprises should take them into account when they choose the directions of technological development. The aim of the study is to identify the main driving forces of technological development in small and medium-sized industrial enterprises. The systematization of scientific literature devoted to the problems of technological development in small and medium-sized enterprises from different countries revealed the access to financial resources as the key determinant of innovations. Regression analysis of consolidated accounting data for the period from 2010 to 2022 indicates a direct dependence of the increase in fixed assets on the increase in total assets and an inverse dependence on the increase in accounts payable of Russian small industrial enterprises, while medium-sized industrial enterprises are characterized by a direct dependence on the increase in long-term borrowed funds. In addition, the inverse dependence of the fixed assets profitability on the volume of accounts payable, the total volume of short-term and long-term borrowed funds and the level of taxation was revealed for both small and medium-sized industrial enterprises. Russian small and medium-sized industrial enterprises have an unbalanced structure of financing sources, characterized by the inflated share of accounts payable and a lack of own funds. The improvement of the situation can be facilitated by the attention of the government to the problem of differentiation of interest rates on debt financing depending on the size of the business and the expansion of opportunities for using of benefits by small and medium-sized enterprises aimed at technological development.

The paper examines the issue of mercenaries and private military companies (PMC) participation as well as volunteer formations, in the conflict in Ukraine as a part of a hybrid war unleashed by the collective West against Russia. It was revealed that mercenaries from dozens of countries are acting on the side of the Kiev regime whose main functions are to participate in battles, provide instructions, and carry out punitive actions as barrier detachments. At the same time, it is shown that the training of mercenaries for battles against Russia took place in advance even before the special military operation. It was established that the number of mercenaries does not exceed 2–3% of the total number of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and other Ukrainian paramilitary formations. The use of mercenaries as barrier detachments was revealed due to the drop in the motivation level of mobilized soldiers of the Kyiv regime. It was shown that PMCs are actively participating in combat operations on the side of the Ukrainian forces. It was concluded that the use of mercenaries and PMCs is an important element of hybrid wars. It is suggested that NATO military personnel are acting under the guise of mercenaries on the side of the Kyiv regime. The paper also shows the specifics of recruiting volunteers in the interests of the Joint Group of Russian Forces in the area of the special military operation. Russian PMCs, in particular Wagner Group, play an important role in achieving Russia’s goals in the conflict in Ukraine and in other regions of the world where Russian interests are present. It is concluded that the specifics of these organizations allow them to be used as an important tool in the confrontation with the collective West which has unleashed a new type of total hybrid war against Russia.

The article analyzes the role of knowledge as one of the most important conditions for policy transfer at the international level. The dynamics of knowledge transfer shows how actors in the political process transform goals and means of policy as a result of acquisition of a new knowledge. It is noted that during periods of structural transformation, there is an increased interest in the interaction between knowledge transfer and policy change, and different configurations of such a process are possible. This is confirmed by the example of the role of knowledge transferred at the beginning of reforms in the post-Soviet space, primarily the success or failure of such transfer. To designate such processes, it is proposed to use the term “knowledge transfer” as a complex of various types of activities and mechanisms that promote (ensure) the dissemination and use of knowledge in a particular area of society. Three main themes structure the content of the article, namely the analysis of the terminological apparatus and features of linguistic research communication when considering knowledge transfer in the context of global and national strategies; methodological approaches to international knowledge exchange as the basis for promoting political decisions, its methods and actors; the role of casual mechanisms in knowledge transfer in social sciences and the politics that ultimately determine practical outcomes. Based on the analysis of the modern discussion about the role of causal mechanisms in global politics, they are conceptualized in the article as events that lie between the input (knowledge transfer) and the output (making/not making a political decision), explaining the logical connections within the process. At the same time, there is need to intensify the discussion about the ways of knowledge transfer as well as important role of causal mechanisms in explaining modern dynamics of the transfer/dissemination of knowledge and politics.

The article raises the problem of women’s participation in the socio-political life of modern China. Despite the efforts made by the Communist Party to involve women in economic and political activity, today China lags behind world leaders in this area. The aim is to identify and describe the most significant factors constraining the reduction of gender inequality in the country and the growth of women’s representation in party and government structures. The authors focus on the culture of Chinese society as the main discriminating factor. Describing several generations of Chinese women, starting with the formation of the PRC, the authors characterize the different approaches of the CPC to increasing their involvement in socio-political processes in the country. The difficulties associated with the destruction of gender stereotypes are most obvious in the political sphere, where women still rarely achieve leadership positions. Politics is still perceived as a man’s business, and a woman’s participation in it not only conflicts with her family functions, but can also cause public censure. The authors believe that a noticeable change in the situation can occur due to demonstration and cumulative effects, when, on the one hand, the Communist Party expands opportunities for women to participate in its activities, thereby giving an important political signal to society, and, on the other hand, an increasing number of women receive higher education and achieve career success in the socio-economic sphere, and their activity outside the family will become the norm.

The aim of the article is to analyze the main factors of transforming the structure of CSTO bodies as an international regional organization in the field of security, taking into account the circumstances characterizing the military and political situation on the territory of the post-Soviet states. To do this, the article solves the tasks of determining the content of the CSTO functions in the context of the changing military and political situation in the post-Soviet space, as well as considering the architecture of the CSTO bodies and its dependence on the transformation of the military and political situation in the post-Soviet space, the development of CSTO expert and analytical bodies’ structure. The architecture of the CSTO governing bodies is presented as the result of a combination of the functional content of the organization’s activities and events in the field of military and political security of the CSTO member states. The article provides some examples of recent years, which determine specific military and political decisions in the field of transformation of the organizational and legal basis of the CSTO activities. The development of the organization’s structure is largely the result of responding to the transformation of modern threats and risks to the military and political security of the CSTO member states. Based on the application of political analysis (event analysis, content analysis), a natural connection is traced between the CSTO mandate and the objective circumstances of the development of the military and political situation in the post-Soviet space. The uneven dynamics in the change of CSTO governing bodies’ architecture is noted, the special role of the organization’s departments and working bodies responsible for prompt response to emerging risks and threats is revealed. The potential for the development of regional security systems and further integration of the organization’s member states directly depends on the ability of the CSTO structures to flexibly respond to modern challenges and threats. The changes that are taking place in the military and political management bodies of the CSTO indicate the organization’s desire to maintain a high level of collective security in the post-Soviet space.

To improve the effectiveness of strategic management of Russian regions scientific and innovative development, it is important to understand the patterns of its mutual influence with the level of regional economies. Based on multiple regression analysis, significant correlations were identified between economic indicators and parameters of scientific and innovative activities. The study is based on correlation and regression analysis. The dataset analyzed covers 77 regions of Russia, excluding 8 sparsely populated regions whose economies are most significantly associated with mining, as well as 75 regions from this sample, but excluding Moscow and St. Petersburg. Since sanctions against Russia in 2022 created barriers to the publication activity of Russian scientists in internationally represented journals, an array of indicators of scientific and innovative activity for 2021 was used, including the number of publications in Scopus by scientists in the regions of the Russian Federation and data from the Science and Innovation section from the regional collection of Rosstat. There is a significant positive correlation between scientific and innovative activity and the Russian regions GRP. The most significant factor turned out to be the indicator of publication activity in the field of economics, econometrics and finance. The model explains 68% of the variation in GRP per capita by region, which indicates the importance of scientific and innovative activity for economic growth. The obtained regression formula shows that only at a certain level of economic development scientific and innovative activity begins to have a significant impact on economic growth. This is important for taking into account the spatial distribution of scientific potential in the management processes. The formula generally provides a certain “strategic recipe” for scientific and innovative development of a Russian region: support for research into specific economic problems, development of applied science that solves specific production or other problems, as well as the desire to produce innovative products. This result can be used in the formation of scientific and innovative components of regional development strategies.

Spatial transformation as a form of change in the organisation of economic space is currently insufficiently studied and has not found a systematic application in the practice of regional management. At the same time, the need to overcome regional gaps and ensure the transition of the economy to the sixth technological order determines the relevance of the search for new management tools. The present study is aimed at solving this problem and focuses on identifying and substantiating the features of spatial transformation processes manifesting in Russian regions. The analysis of theoretical approaches of domestic and foreign researchers to the concept of spatial transformation and a content analysis of the Russian regulatory legal framework were carried out; the empirical basis was made up of data from EMISS, Rosstat and “Atlas of Industry”, for processing which statistical analysis methods and a graphical method were used. It is determined that spatial transformation is a change in the spatial organization of the region’s economy, contributing to the formation of new branches of specialization and the transition to a new technological order, or a change in the system of distribution of productive forces and sectoral specialization of the region, which provides such a transition. Based on the analysis of the results of using industrial parks, technoparks and clusters as tools for managing spatial transformation, its peculiarities in the regions of the Central Federal District of the Russian Federation are revealed: the leading regions (Kaluga and Ryazan regions) ensured the growth of production and the share of manufacturing industries in GRP; in regions that use these tools insufficiently (Bryansk region) or formally (as in the case of the pharmaceutical cluster in the Yaroslavl region), the potential for spatial transformation is realized to a lesser extent.. The implementation of spatial transformation in the region ensures the differentiation and stability of the economy, reduces the risks of development and the impact of crises. The results obtained can be used to study the impact of spatial transformation on the socio-economic systems of the meso-level, including on the human capital of the regions; in the search and research of other methods and tools of spatial transformation; in determining the contours of managing the spatial transformation of the region.

Data Science, which emerged relatively recently, has taken its rightful place in the structure of sciences. The application of data science has shown outstanding possibilities for solving many complex problems in various fields of activity. The basis of its success was a new methodology of cognition, including the concepts and methods of Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, an interdisciplinary approach (computer science, statistics, mathematics, social and humanitarian sciences). The new scientific paradigm of Data Science radically transforms scientific methodology and therefore needs to be substantiated. To solve the problem, the scientometric method, case-study methods, comparative analysis, methodological and epistemological analysis are used. The article considers cases of methodological and epistemological collisions that hinder the effectiveness of data science, their causes and consequences. Specifically, examples of improving search engines on the Internet, optimizing the management of scientific research, and the operation of car navigators in megacities are analyzed. As a result of the conducted research, two groups of contradictions between the methodology and epistemology of data science are distinguished. The first group is associated with subjective causes of dilemmas, the second — with objective ones. In the first group, methodological reasons for the emerging conflicts prevail, while in the second group — epistemological reasons for the emerging contradictions. In the author’s opinion, objective paradoxes are more complex. They touch upon deep questions of the philosophy of science. In any case, the identified contradictions lead to a decrease in the potential of data science, lead to erroneous decisions and erroneous forecasts, and they must be eliminated.

Contemporary public service development relies on two prominent approaches for professional training, candidate selection, and subsequent career development. The first approach, historically prevalent and now considered traditional, emphasizes qualifications. This model centers on the professional preparation and training of civil servants, often assessed through standardized testing, examinations, or documentary verification. The second, more recent approach, known as the competency-based approach, introduces a distinct category to describe a high level of professional proficiency — competence. Unlike qualification requirements, competencies are less readily formalized and assessed. It is crucial to understand the unique characteristics of each approach to ensure their effective and purposeful implementation in public service training programs. This article delves into the distinctive features, advantages, and limitations of both the qualification-based and competency-based approaches within the context of public service personnel development, recruitment, training, and career progression. It analyzes current practices within public organizations, highlighting common errors in the application of each approach, while also examining their potential to enhance the efficiency and quality of public service delivery. A comparative analysis of these paradigms provides recommendations for their integrated application within public organizations. This article aims to foster a comprehensive understanding of the impact of qualificationbased and competency-based approaches on the development of a highly effective and adaptive public service. Ultimately, this will contribute to improved functioning of public institutions and the provision of impactful public services.