The article analyzes the political, economic and cultural development of Iran throughout the existence of this unique state and its role in regional and world politics. It is claimed that the Islamic Republic of Iran represents one of the oldest civilizations and a serious geopolitical force in the center of Eurasia. The author explores the history of various state entities, that existed on the territory of modern Iran. The article provides an overview of key events in Russian-Iranian relations from the end of the 18th century to the present day, including the wars between the Russian and Persian Empires, the interaction of Moscow and Tehran during the First and Second World Wars, and the era of the Cold War. Special attention is paid to the Iranian Revolution of 1979, which is considered as a symbol of protest against Western domination and an important factor in Reislamization, as well as the Iran-Iraq war of 1980–1988 and its consequences for regional stability. As а part of the study of Iran’s policy in the 21st century, attention is focused on Tehran’s relations with the leading centers of the modern world, including the Russian Federation, the People’s Republic of China, the United States of America. The article describes the impact of Iran’s nuclear program on international relations and the effect of Western sanctions on the socio-economic situation in the Islamic Republic. The author concludes that Iran, which joined the BRICS in 2024, has every chance to become an important player in the global economy and politics. At the same time, the Islamic Republic of Iran is a very valuable asset for the group itself.

The article discusses the purpose of technological sovereignty of each state and its role for economic sustainability. The essence of technological sovereignty in the aspect of various scientific approaches is revealed as well as the boundaries of the sovereignty type under consideration are determined, taking into account production and knowledge-intensive components. Attention is focused on the features of Japan’s transition from a state in isolation to a state interacting with the outside world through technology. The essence of Japan’s approach to ensuring its own economic stability against the background of technological production is revealed. Japan’s place in the world rankings is considered in terms of technology and the number of registered patents for inventions. The indicators of capital investments, industry priorities, labor force in technological industries, the level of exports of goods and services from GDP, the trade balance from GDP, the level of exports of high technologies for 2020–2022 against the background of strengthening Japan’s technological sovereignty are analyzed. The forecast estimates of the technological future of Japan are determined, taking into account the priority in the national economy and the specifics of entering the foreign market with a new technological development. These forward-looking estimates take into account the specifics of the import of raw materials and their intended purpose to ensure technological sovereignty in the foreseeable future. As a result, there is a high probability of having a certain economic algorithm that allows the Japanese economy to restore the desired stability indicators in a short time. Therefore, it is necessary to conduct applied research in order to identify the essence of the economic algorithm used by Japan to strengthen technological sovereignty and ensure economic stability in a short time for subsequent possible adaptation in the Russian economy.

The aim of the paper is to systematize definitive approaches of “problem (distressed) debt” and related terms in order to create a conceptual apparatus useful from the point of view of management entities, as well as to statistically study the dynamics and sectoral structure of problem debt based on the banking sector performance indicators in Russia and other countries in 2009–2023. As a result of the analysis of international and Russian documents in the field of banking regulation, two types of problem debt typologies have been identified: classifications of credit risk of the supervisory authority and recommendations of internal credit risk. Two approaches to the definition of “problem (distressed) debt” have been identified: a regulatory (accounting) approach based on the requirements of regulatory authorities and reporting standards; an identification approach that includes a list of various signs of problems. As a result of the synthesis of approaches, the article proposes the author’s understanding of the terms “overdue debt (credit)”, “problem (distressed) debt” and “problem asset”, taking into account the subject composition of debt managers, represented not only by banks, but also by trade creditors. As part of the preparation of the statistical review for 15 years, a constant excess of the share of “bad” loans (with no probability of repayment and complete depreciation of debt) over “problematic” ones was revealed, which confirms the low effectiveness of the banks’ preventive work to prevent borrowers from becoming problematic (troubled). The authors analyzed the dynamics of the ratio of non-performing loans (NPL) to the total volume of loans issued in 28 countries of the world, revealed a relatively high proportion of the indicator in Russia in recent years. An assessment of the sectoral debt structure of Russian companies showed the dominant position of the manufacturing industry, whereas in the structure of overdue debts, the main companies are from the real estate, wholesale and retail trade sectors. The work of credit institutions to manage problem debts is an important issue of ensuring the economic security of the state and should include monitoring the condition of borrowers based on a strategic map and a comprehensive analysis model, using the methodology of managing transformational projects for the financial recovery of troubled companies.

The processes of decarbonisation of the world economy, expressed among other things in the increasing use by states of carbon pricing mechanisms and the strengthening of the role of green protectionism in international trade, create certain challenges for the competitiveness of the economies of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) countries, setting them the task of harmonizing national approaches within the framework of the climate agenda and subsequent carbon integration. This article, based on a comprehensive analysis of the economic and legal aspects of national and supranational climate regulation, examines factors that can contribute to the development of such integration in the Eurasian space, and identifies existing and potential challenges that could have an impact on it. We propose a definition of carbon integration as one of the areas of climate integration, analyzed the current conditions for its development, and identified potential measures for its further improvement and regulation in the EAEU. The authors come to the conclusion that, despite such factors as the initial stage of climate integration in the Eurasian space, the existing differences in the climate regulation regimes of the countries of the association (manifested among other things in the heterogeneity of the development of institutional and legal frameworks for the application of carbon pricing mechanisms), the scale of the consequences of introducing the European CBAM (Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism) for the national economies of the countries under consideration, opportunities and conditions for investing in green projects and greening of production, carbon integration remains one of the necessary conditions for the successful development of trade and economic relations of the EAEU member states at both regional and global levels.

This article raises the issue of using objective criteria as a guideline for the identification of emergencies. For this purpose, the author proposes to clarify the nature of the emergency through the comparison of the concept of “emergency situation” accepted in the Russian tradition with its Western analogue “emergency”. On this basis, the paper considers two approaches to defining an emergency. The first approach gives emergency situations a narrower content and from this point of view considers them as separate manifestations of emergency. The other approach, on the contrary, perceives emergency situations as a broader phenomenon, thereby equating them to the concept of emergency. The research unveils the main characteristics of an emergency — unpredictability, significant economic and human losses, the use of government emergency powers. This paper also forms an approach that eliminates semantic differences between Western and Russian scientific traditions and allows us to consider emergencies as events of a wide range of manifestations — humanitarian, economic, natural, etc. The vector of further research can be aimed at developing new approaches to defining and comparing an emergency situation, exception and state of emergency, developing a universal approach to defining an emergency in the context of globalisation and global emergency, proposing a new applied model of emergency management in the context of globalisation, developing a new typology of emergency situations, as well as searching for tools and determining the necessary resource base for managing new types of emergencies.

The ongoing global transformations and the high turbulence of global processes call into question sustainability of development of most countries, make it necessary to identify factors leading to instability and search for drivers of sustainable development in current situation. The conducted research allowed us to determine that the trends towards increasing instability are mainly determined by the processes of deglobalization, the dominance of maximizing production and consumption ideas, increasing social inequality, uneven distribution of resources between the environmental, social, and economic components of sustainable development, human violation of the laws of biosphere development, insufficient environmental protection measures, the consequences of recent crises, international conflicts, disadvantages of management. The considered factors of instability growth, the strengthening of their influence and the associated risks led to setting a new task: to determine what can be a driver of stability in modern difficult situation. Our study shows that positive impulses for sustainable development include: the dissemination of ideas and steps towards the implementation of the green economy; the establishment of specific deadlines for achieving targets of sustainable development by many countries; the development of technological sovereignty of countries based on a green worldview; the implementation of the concept of sustainable development not only by governments, but also at the micro level — by companies; the emergence of new financial instruments, in particular, green and social bonds to attract capital and invest in projects with environmental and social benefits; advances in the taxonomy of green finance. An important result of the study is the conclusion that despite the possibility of deceleration in certain periods, sustainable development is a long-term trend in the functioning of our civilization and further research should be aimed at improving management decisions to support it in the short and long term.

A significant problem of the organization of strategic planning is the lack of a unified methodology for the development of strategic planning documents. At the same time, coherence is not achieved between the accepted documents on targets, tasks, and time frames. The author supports the view that it is necessary to adopt a special normative document that removes these contradictions, and, as a contribution to its development, a number of methodological solutions are proposed, without which the development of a unified methodological approach seems problematic. The article summarizes the practice of federal strategic planning (25 current and 5 discontinued federal strategies are analyzed). It has been established that when developing federal strategies, a wide variety of approaches are used to establish consistency and interrelationships between the elements of strategies. The relationship between the elements is unclear or completely absent. In addition, the interpretations of different elements (goals, directions, priorities, tasks) often do not differ, and are also characterized by features not peculiar to these elements. As a result, the strategy turns into an enumeration of all possible common intentions with an indistinctly expressed, and therefore difficult to control end result. The adaptation of the mission concept from corporate strategic management to state management is considered appropriate. The essence of individual elements of the strategic plan is clarified, and their concepts that are absent in federal legislation (such as direction, priority) are formulated. A structural and logical scheme of the strategic plan is proposed, linking all the elements of the plan into a single system — from the mission to the tasks, as well as containing recommendations on the most appropriate placement of these elements in various types of strategic planning documents. The implementation of the proposed approach will help streamline the development and presentation of strategies, make the choice of strategic goals and directions more reasonable.

The scientific relevance of the article is related to the importance of identifying the prerequisites for the transition from protecting motherhood and childhood to protecting the rights of women and children in the state policy in the 1990s. Such prerequisites were of a social nature and marked the beginning of the transformation of Soviet state policy at the turn of the 1980–1990s. Accordingly, the aim of the article is to highlight the social reasons for the transformation of Soviet state policy regarding the protection of motherhood and childhood at the turn of 1980–1990s. To achieve the aim, the article uses historical, logical and cause-and-effect methods. The scientific novelty of the research is defined by a number of documents that have not been previously introduced into scientific circulation. These include paperwork documents of the Supreme Council of the RSFSR and documents related to the implementation of a set of resolutions which are stored in the State Archive of the Russian Federation. The study also includes documents reflecting statistical data, such as report of the USSR on the implementation of the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and documents from the collection of modern political documents of the State Public Historical Library of Russia (GPIB of Russia). Data from periodicals of the indicated years were also used. The study shows that in the context of political changes in 1980–1990s the social issue, due to many political and economic reasons, required a new solution. This entailed, among other things, a change in ideas in society about the tasks of the state in the field of motherhood and childhood. As a result, there was a need to transform policy regarding the protection of motherhood and childhood, which was most fully expressed in the 1990s.

The article contains the results of a study, the aim of which was to identify the role of youth policy in the system of recruiting political leaders. In the text, the authors analyze the features of the formation and stages of development of youth policy as a part of state policy aimed at supporting young people and realizing their interests. The article describes existing programs and projects designed not only to support young people, but also to help identify, develop and support their political potential and, consequently, the formation of youth political leadership in Russia. The paper presents the results of an expert survey conducted by the authors in 2023, the aim of which was to determine the features of state youth policy as a tool for the formation and identification of the leadership potential of youth, as well as the integration of its representatives into the country’s political elite through the system of recruiting youth political leaders. As a result, the authors came to the conclusion that recently there has been an evolution of state youth policy in the indicated manner. It acts as the primary mechanism of socialization in the field of political leadership, providing opportunities for building a career in various fields of activity, including in the field of public policy and public administration. At the same time, as a result of the study, the authors came to the conclusion about the fragmented nature of its implementation, expressed in the difference between the declared and actual levels, which meanwhile makes it possible to build career trajectories and social elevators for a certain category of young people, forming the first level of the pool for recruiting political leaders.

The transformation of scientific and technological achievements of universities is of great importance for regional economic development and the development of scientific and technological innovation. Based on three aspects — the input of innovative resources, the output of scientific and technological achievements and the transformation of scientific and technological achievements — this study selected 13 indicators, such as scientific and technical expenditures, the number of scientific and technical personnel, the results of publication activities, intellectual activity, patents, contracts and income from the transformation of scientific and technological achievements, to build an indicator system for the transformation of scientific and technological achievements of colleges and universities; at the same time 7 indicators were selected, such as the number of scientific and technological personnel, funding, the number of patents and scientific and technological business-incubators, to build a regional system for assessing scientific and technical potential, a system for assessing regional scientific and technical innovation potential. Based on the factor analysis method, the transformation scores of scientific and technological achievements of universities and regional scientific and technological innovations in each region of China in 2019–2021 were calculated; secondly, using the Coupling coordination degree model, the degree of relationship and coordination between the university system of transformation of scientific and technological achievements and the regional scientific and technological innovation system in different regions of China was calculated. The study showed that the level of scientific and technological achievements is uneven and not high; points of innovative development of Chinese regions have been identified. Thus, the transformation of scientific and technological achievements of universities is a necessary path for the scientific, technological and economic development of regions, when it is necessary to combine the needs of regional development, take measures to strengthen support for scientific and technological personnel, create platforms for sharing resources, and improve policies in the field of intellectual property in order to promote the industrialization of scientific and technological achievements, promote regional scientific and technological innovations and develop regional industry.

A key direction of the state regional policy is sustainable socio-economic development of the regions of the Russian Federation. However, the solution of this issue is significantly complicated by a number of problems associated with the spatial heterogeneity of the country and further inequality in the level of socio-economic development of Russian regions. The relevance of this study is determined by the necessity to solve the problem of systematization of theoretical approaches to the description of mechanisms of socio-economic development of the subjects of the Russian Federation, aimed to overcome the spatial differentiation of territories by basic indicators. The object of the study is the regions of the Far Eastern and Siberian Federal Districts. The aim of the study is to develop the principles of systematization of tools for spatial development of the subjects of the Russian Federation depending on the level of differentiation of regions by basic principles. To achieve the aim, the authors used the following research methods: comparative analysis, empirical analysis, synthesis, statistical method, graphic research methods. Based on the comparative analysis of the existing causes of differentiation of spatial development of the subjects of the Siberian and Far Eastern Federal Districts, the objective and subjective factors of regional inequality were identified. The analysis of existing mechanisms of spatial development of the regions of the Siberian and Far Eastern Federal Districts revealed their insufficient efficiency in solving the problem of smoothing regional socio-economic inequality. The author’s approach to the formation of a set of management tools to overcome the differentiation of spatial development of regions on the example of the Siberian and Far Eastern Federal Districts on the basis of grouping the subjects according to the studied groups of basic indicators is proposed. The paper proposes the definition of individual characteristics of each subject of the Russian Federation as a basis for the formation of tools for spatial development of the region.

The use of marketing tools in state and municipal management, one of which is geo-branding, is becoming an increasingly common practice. Many cities in our country strive to create their own unique geo-brands based on their competitive advantages in order to promote their own values and interests in the highly competitive “territory market”, as well as attract the necessary resources, including tourists, investors, residents, etc., depending on the tasks set. The city’s geo-branding strategy is aimed not only at external, but also at internal audiences (the population, local businesses, authorities, etc.), which helps to increase the loyalty of citizens to their place of residence. Moreover, in the process of interacting with the outside world, local residents themselves become bearers of their city’s brand. The article is devoted to the study of the current state of geo-breading in Russia on the example of the administrative centers of the subjects of the Russian Federation. The study was conducted through content analysis of the Internet communication network in November–December 2023. As a result, a classification was compiled in which cities were divided into three groups: cities with documented branding concepts and other signs of systemic marketing activity; cities with signs of systemic geo-branding, but being only part of a regional brand or tourist route (without an independent brand); cities without signs of systemic geo-branding. Based on the analysis, general trends in the field of Russian city geo-branding were also identified and recommendations were made for each of the groups of cities of the received classification.

The formation of urban agglomerations in the Russian Federation is currently one of the most significant forms of spatial development both at the national and regional levels. The need to strengthen agglomeration processes is dictated by the provision of polarized socio-economic development of different territories of the country. Urban agglomerations in the Russian Federation receive legal status at the federal and regional levels. Institutional support for agglomerations is the development of an appropriate legal framework and financial mechanisms aimed at the infrastructural development of territories, improving the quality of human capital, scientific and technological development, etc. At the same time, recently the public authorities at the federal and regional levels have started to pay attention not only to large and largest urban agglomerations defined in the Strategy for Spatial Development of the Russian Federation, but also to smaller urban agglomerations. A special intensification of institutionalisation of the status of urban agglomerations is observed in the normative legal acts of many constituent entities of the Russian Federation. However, the methodological aspects of formation and development of urban agglomerations in the regions are not elaborated. The analysis of existing theoretical and methodological approaches to the study of agglomeration processes also revealed the lack of methods for analysing the scale of complex socio-economic processes of urban agglomerations. Therefore, the need to form a methodology for assessing the scale of agglomeration development in the regions of the Russian Federation determined the relevance of the study. The aim of the study is to develop an indicator of the scale of socio-economic processes of Russian urban agglomerations. To achieve this aim, the existing methodologies of urban agglomerations research, presented in the approaches of Russian and foreign scientists, were analysed. The analysis allowed us to systematise the existing methodological approaches into two groups: the features of spatial development of agglomerated systems and the characteristics of their economic condition. The advantages and disadvantages of the existing methodologies are presented, on the basis of which a methodological toolkit for the scale of agglomerated systems is developed. The conclusion is made about the possibility of using the proposed indicator by public administration authorities in the development of normative legal acts of strategic planning in the field of spatial and socio-economic development of regions, in scientific and analytical research in the field of regional economy. The methods of content and comparative analysis, mathematical formalisation, expert assessments, modelling, observation and synthesis were used to solve the research problems.

The pharmaceutical industry is one of the leaders in terms of the intensity of commercialization of the intellectual activity results (IAR). Its development as a socially significant industry is a priority in the state policy of countries with developing economies, in particular, the countries of the Latin American region (LA). A number of economic conditions for the development of commercialization of the IAR in these countries are similar to the Russian economy. Common barriers to development include dependence on imported substances, inefficient interaction between science and business, lack of public and private investment in R&D, and insufficient development of the intellectual property (IP) institution. At the same time, it is possible to identify common growth drivers: the growth potential of the consumer market, unique natural resources, relatively high scientific potential, and the concentration of R&D in research institutes and universities. The similarity of the conditions helps to suggest that it is possible to adapt the best practices of IAR commercialization formed in the LA, to the Russian economy. The research method used in this article include analyzing published legislative and statistical materials on financial institutions of the LA countries in order to identify problems and experience in overcoming them in the field of commercialization of intellectual property. The analysis of state support for imitation, closed and open models of commercialization of IAR used by pharmaceutical companies in developing economies made it possible to identify successful support mechanisms, as well as positive and negative results of the application of each model. On this basis, as the results of the research recommendations for state support for the commercialization in socially significant industries of the Russian economy are suggested.

Due to the widespread introduction into the practice of Russian healthcare of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF), the development of digital medicine requires the reorganization of rehabilitation care in the Russian healthcare system. Special attention is paid to the models of 5P medicine and trinitarianism. In this regard, it seems relevant to form the basic principles of building a remote monitoring center model for patients with spinal cord injury. To this end, the authors conducted a search for publications in the PubMed databases, e-Library (the rubricator of clinical recommendations and regulatory legal acts), as well as additional sources in the reference lists. As a result, 86 publications and literature sources were identified, analyzed and systematized, 25 of which are included in this review. The following research methods were used: analytical method, data copying, SWOT analysis. As a result, from the perspective of a value-oriented model of rehabilitation, 5P medicine, and trinitarianism, the need for creating regional remote monitoring centers for patients with spinal cord injury to provide them with the necessary assistance, as well as other patients traveling in wheelchairs, was justified. The principles are substantiated, as well as the possibilities and threats of the formation of regional remote monitoring centers are shown. In conclusion, it is emphasized that the creation of such centers for remote monitoring of low-mobility patients based on ICF in Russia will contribute to optimizing resources, optimal routing and accessibility of medical rehabilitation care.