The present article is devoted to the analysis of the algocognitive culture, the new reality that humanity has already entered, but remains far from being understood. Today we can speak about dissolution of the concept of privacy: almost all actions of a person, including his daily movements, his social circle and values it shares, his corre­spondence and purchases are automatically observed, and completely transparent to information corporations. The problem of fake news has become insurmountable: its appearance in the information cascade is immediately converted into an event, making later investigations and refutations almost obsolete. A “cancel culture” has emerged, within which there is a priori no criteria for good and evil, where it has become pos­sible to “delete” any arrays of knowledge that do not meet the requirements of the self-proclaimed “new ethics” from the information circulation, and to ostracize people as­sociated with them. The authors compare the current state of affairs with the era of the dominance of sophists in ancient Greece, when the truth was determined depending on the situation, and finds relevant parallels. In this context, the authors formulate the concept of “cognitive vulnerability”: the new reality makes it possible to control of the masses, manipulating both their consumer and political behaviour. The authors define network reality as an alternative system of socialization, where the “network” ontol­ogy and values turn out to be more competitive than real ones, and therefore de facto displace them. The latter becomes possible due to a kind of “splitting” of the personal­ity, when the emotional reaction is de facto separated from real goal-oriented activity, and connected with virtual reality. Ruling algorithms in social networks are aimed at achieving this goal: as an example, the authors turn to the recent investigation carried out by The Wall Street Journal regarding Facebook: the MSI algorithm used by the latter provokes disputes and splits on every occasion. De facto, this leads to a situation where American information corporations are moving towards having sovereignty over the consciousness of external societies. This challenge has already been met by China, which nationalized algorithms on September 1, 2021, and handed control over them to the Communist Party. The authors analyse the steps taken by China and comes to the conclusion that, if this tactic works, China will become not only an economic, but also an ideological alternative to the United States, thereby making a bid to restore a bipolar world political system.

The article deals with the study of the anti-soft power. The concept of soft power has taken over modern political discourse. The opportunities to counteract such power have not been considered properly so far. The proponents of the liberal para­digm, trapped in the ideology of its exclusiveness, have failed to study this issue. Thus, the present article aims to answer the question of whether there exists an anti-soft power, both as ideology and practice, which could be sufficiently effective for the state to protect itself from the impact of external informational and cultural influence. The theory of soft power is based on the idea that its object accepts normative subordina­tion. Consequently, such an object should not pursue major political ambitions, should be ready to collaborate within the established world order and, above all, agree with superiority of the world leaders and the rules they impose. Anti-soft power is different. The core idea is that its holder is not willing to comply with the opponent’s superiority or its rules of the game. The subject of anti-soft power is politically ambitious and never recognizes its dependence or inferiority. Regardless of being strong or weak, it will not admit its junior or secondary position in a community. A few such subjects emerged during the era of globalization. However, the globalization crisis may change the situ­ation and thus give rise to a new political trend, the resurgence of anti-soft power. This article states that anti-soft power has repeatedly blocked the attempts of one country to influence another country. In the course of history, we can single out three main types of policy: 1) the policy based on supremacism, or chauvinism; 2) the policy based on ideological alternatives; 3) the policy based on segment restrictions of the oppo­nent’s soft power. Each of these, though, can bring its subjects both political benefits and unwanted costs.

The United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union has resuscitated aca­demic discussions on the topic of the certainty of the unfolding of disintegrative trends in the united Europe. Nevertheless, no general perception has emerged yet of how Brexit is likely to influence the organizational prospects and viability of European inte­gration. In most cases, the conceptualizations do not escape the dichotomy between integration and disintegration as two extreme states in international relations. In fact, these are two processes that are complexly co-related. Each of them can include a wide array of structural arrangements, a certain differentiation dynamism, different levels of centralization in separate domains, as well as certain (variable) numbers of partici­pants in distinct arrangements. In this article, we consider the meaning of Brexit as a condition of further European (dis)integration, based on Alexander Bogdanov’s theory of organization. This theory allows us to reconsider the established renderings of such key notions as integration, disintegration and differentiation.

New insight is gained into the after-effects of prior Europeanization for the political system of the United Kingdom. The cases of the Economic and Monetary Union and the Northern Ireland Protocol receive separate treatment. The latter case presents a path-breaking design for differentiated integration with subnational region participa­tion. Yet, to realize the potential of the Protocol in full, political will is needed from both London and Brussels.

On the most basic level, once this large country left the European Union, one could hardly imagine any of its remaining 27 members being able to block the further pro­gressive development of European integration. At the same time, it has to be acknowl­edged that, in order to make headway in terms of integration, the EU system, rather than unification and centralization, is in need of intensive differentiation. Meanwhile, the supranational institutions, above all the European Commission, remain oriented towards uniform integration as a priority. This could lead to the EU integration policy becoming less effective.

In 2017 negotiations on the free trade area between India and the EAEU countries entered an active phase. The negotiations covered such issues as import tar­iff liberalization and the elimination of non-tariff restrictions. The present study aims to quantify the potential impact of mutual tariff liberalization on the dynamics of bilateral trade between Russia and India, in order to develop key principles for Russia’s negoti­ating position (as part of the EAEU), taking its strategic priorities into account. The re­search methodology is based on the SMART partial equilibrium model and a qualitative analysis of modern trends in import demand and the degree of India’s trade protection­ism towards imports from the EAEU countries. The study found that symmetric bilateral tariff liberalization may result in a higher potential increase in Russian exports to India than imports, which will increase the bilateral trade surplus. This is in the interests of Russia, but it hardly meets the strategic interests of India due to its chronic trade deficit. The free trade area may lead to diversification of the commodity component of Russian exports due to the growing export supplies of Russian coal, and, to a lesser extent met­als (aluminum, copper and articles thereof). However, the opportunities to increase the share of hi-tech products in the structure of Russian exports remain limited. The free trade area can become an important tool for strengthening Russian exporters of ferti­lizers, as well as certain categories of agricultural products. In turn, Indian exporters can strengthen their positions on the Russian medicines market, an increase the share of textile products, jewellery, and certain categories of agricultural products. The results can help develop Russia’s positions (as an EAEU member) in multilateral negotiations.

It is estimated that the self-proclaimed Kurdish autonomy in Northeastern Syria accounts for one-third of the country’s territory, and, despite its unrecognized status, it appears to be one of the key players in the Syrian peace settlement and, at the same time, a political hostage to the situation that has developed in Syria as a result of the Civil War. The present article explores the formation of the self-proclaimed autonomy in Northeastern Syria (Rojava, Syrian Kurdistan, the Federation of North-Eastern Syria, the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria [AANES]) and puts forward the thesis of Rojava’s emergence as an insurgent state. The first part of the study analyses its political system through the concept of proto-state actors for the Kurdish Self-Defence Forces (YPG) and the Democratic Union Party (PYD). Due to the inclusiveness of the Kurdish Self-Defence Forces, Kurdish non-state actors (PYD-YPG) have acquired the features of a proto-state, going beyond the definition of the “Syrian wing” of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). The article focuses on the complex and diversified ethnic composition of the local population within the boundaries of the de facto autonomy. This is manifested in the presence of various political actors and movements, including those based on ethnic particularism. It is concluded that such a political structure is fragile due to the interethnic contradictions between the Kurds and the Arabs in the region.

Introduction. This article elaborates on the idea of Professor Y.A. Reshetov, who published a Draft Convention on the Right of Peoples to Self-Determination in the Moscow Journal of International Law. The Draft Convention represents one of the first attempts to draw attention to the problem of the limits of self-determination in plural states, the forms of implementation and the main subjects of the right of self-determination. The purpose of the study is to develop the relevant ideas of Y.A. R.Reshetov, as well as to introduce new ideas, taking into account the evolving processes of the realization of the right to self-determination in the modern world.

Material and methods. The study is based on international legal instruments, the advi­sory opinions of the International Court of Justice, the jurisprudence of other interna­tional legal bodies and contemporary research of Russian and international scholars. The methods used in this study are: analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction, compari­son, classification, systematization, prediction, as well as comparative and formal legal approaches.

Research results. The territorial disputes resulting from ethnic, regional and local conflicts are among the most pressing problems in international relations. It is extremely important for any multi-ethnic state, including Russia, to have a genuine scientific awareness of the principle of equality and the self-determination of peoples, adequate forms of its implementation, and how to structure ethnic identity in the system of civil identity. Exploring well-founded solutions to the matters involved will help consolidate world public opinion and ultimately develop an appropriate international legal mechanism under the auspices of the United Nations.

Discussion and conclusion. The article analyses the evolution of the idea of the self-de­termination of peoples, the place of the principle of equal rights and the self-determination of peoples in the system of basic principles of international law. With reference to the range of subjects of the right to self-determination, the specifics of secession, the institutions of uti possidetis juris and delays in secession, as well as questions on the forms and criteria of self-determination of the principal subjects, and the phenomenon of “unrecognized states,” the author presents a Draft Declaration on the Right of Peoples to Self-Determination and the Modalities for its Implementation.