According to Part 4 of Article 15 of the Constitution of the RF, generally recognized principles and norms of international law and international treaties of the Russian Federation are “an integral part of the legal system” of the country. The consolidation of this norm in the Basic Law for the Russian legal system was of double significance. Firstly, this means that the range of normative sources on the basis of which regulation of social relations within the country is being carried out was substantially expanded by virtue of the norms of international law. Secondly, for the first time in the domestic law the principle was fixed, according to which, when conflicts arose between national and international law, the norms of international law prevailed. Thus, international law was proclaimed the criterion of legal support of the rights and freedoms of a person and citizen of the Russian Federation. It also formed the basis of the constitutional status of the indigenous small-numbered peoples of Russia.

Introduction. In the modern world environmental problems become more and more apparent, highlighting fragility of the environment. At the same time fight against offenses in this sphere remains a weak link and, undoubtedly, demands development of appropriate legal framework on the international and national levels. Nowadays the only international treaty regulating movement of flora and fauna objects is the CITES Convention of 1973. On the national level such matters are usually regulated by environment protection laws. Methods and materials. In the research the authors applied general scientific (analysis, deduction) and special juridical (comparative law, technical juridical) methods. Results of the research. The authors of the article consider measures suppressing illegal movement of flora and fauna objects, analyze corresponding experience of foreign legal regulation (structures of offenses, types and measures of responsibility, competent authorities and their powers) using the evidence of the USA, Germany and Japan. Discussion and conclusions. The authors come to the conclusion that the reform of the legislation is needed and propose a number of ideas for further improvement of regulation in this sphere including redistribution of powers of competent public authorities, development of the population encouragement system and active use of modern technologies.

Introduction. The article considers the experience of regulating meetings and procedures of local government bodies in the Republic of Ireland. The authors for the first time in the domestic literature analyze the provisions of a number of legislative and municipal legal acts of the Republic of Ireland relating to the regulation of the organization and conduct of meetings and related procedures of the Limerick City and County Council. Materials and methods. The methodological basis of this research is formed by such general scientific and special methods of cognition of legal phenomena as a method of system-structural analysis, a formal-legal method, a logical method, and others. Results. The Standing Orders of the Limerick City and County Council, adopted in 2016, are very formal and regulate quite thoroughly the issues of organizing and holding meetings of the Council and the organically related procedures of the Limerick City and County Council. Standing Orders of the Limerick City and County Council are more focused on the regulation of procedural, rather than institutional aspects of the organization of the Limerick City and County Council. The Standing Orders, regulating the relationship of the mayor with the Council, ensure the significant role of the mayor of the Limerick City and County, who is also the chairman of the Council, in the activities of the Council, since his powers extend to solving a number of issues, including those outside the scope established by law and standing orders. Discussion and Conclusions. The Standing Orders allow for the presence of the public and media representatives at meetings of the Council, which ensures an adequate level of openness and transparency in the meetings and activities of the Council. The Standing Orders allow for following the institutional and procedural features of the organization and activities of meetings of the Limerick City and County Council, they are characterized by dynamic development and democratic potential and create the conditions for proper organization of collective work of advisers, officials and employees of the Limerick City and County Council.

Introduction. The most important principles for democratic state-building are the principle of legality and the principle of legitimacy. They both affect directly the modern legislation. They are also interconnected with principles of the electoral system. These principles are so fundamental for any law-based state, that they influence the mechanism of interaction between state and society. The article presents the analysis of these two principles as well as the new ones – democratic legitimacy and legitimatic legality. Materials and methods. The methodological basis of the research constitutes such general scientific methods as analysis and synthesis and special cognitive methods such as the formal-logical method and the method of comparative law. Results of the study. Results of the analysis reveal that many principles of the theory of state are similar and have common philosophical-conceptual sources of their formation. Discussion and conclusions: The author’s approach to the special way of the Russian legal system formation is substantiated. This conclusion is confirmed by the works of other Russian authors. In steadily developing societies the existence of a sufficient level of legitimacy of state authority and the exercise of power in strict accordance with the letter of law make the state authority fully empowered and the management mechanism – stable and effective.

Introduction. The article is dedicated to the analysis of the legal provisions of the international acts and the local legislation of the states belonging to different legal families, which establish the principle of the equal treatment. The paper reveals the essence and value of this principle as a system-forming factor in the process of unifying norms regulating employment relations complicated by a foreign element. Materials and methods. In the course of research, the following methods of scientific cognition were used: analysis, synthesis, abstraction, generalizations, analogies and others. The general scientific and special-legal methods, such as system-structural, method of dogmatic analysis (interpretation of legal norms, legal and technical constructions, etc.), comparative legal, formal, legal, logical, etc. formed the methodological basis of the research. Results of the study. The analysis of international agreements discloses the diversity of approaches in the normative consolidation of the principle of the equal treatment. The laws of states belonging to different legal systems also indicate a variety of forms and ways of establishing of the principle of the equal treatment. Despite the lack of terminological uniformity in the embodiment of the principle of the equal treatment, its purpose is always the same. The peculiarities of the equal treatment are shown in the connection with the sphere of regulation of relations involving foreign nationals. The article indicates the role and importance of the principle of the equal treatment in the process of unification. Discussion and conclusions. The study showed that the principle of the equal treatment, specified by the local laws and the international acts, forms the basis for the unification of norms regulating labor relations complicated by a foreign element.

Introduction. This article represents a system analysis of the most important characteristics and organisational principles of public service in today's Russia and a number of foreign countries in the context of the existing realities and prospective structural, management and staff reform in the government system. The article describes the key elements characterising the organisational aspect of public service. It is emphasised that government modernisation has a particular importance for the current reality, primarily due to the fact that it is undertaken during a critical historical period for the Russian society. This entails the task to provide public servants with the modern “culture of changes”, which would enable them not to destroy, but to create and improve, while retaining the best achievements accumulated during the history of state-building and public administration, and to activate any new and more efficient model by means of a smooth and creative, rather than revolutionary and disintegrating, process of transition. The authors have defined the notion “organisation of public service” and identified a number of organisationally and functionally interrelated subsystems therein, and they prove that only a stable, well-structured and high-skilled government staff and a highly efficient, well-organised and reputable public service can implement efficiently the tasks of modernisation and social renewal. The public service is a multidimensional space where each element has its own status, distinctive features and attributes, as established in the relevant national enactments and regional regulations. It is characterised by a number of specific features. First of all, it can be described as the institution of universal legal regulations to be complied with in an indisputable manner, and the professional service activity directly associated with the exercise of the state's powers; it is established on a permanent, professional and paid basis, in accordance with the principles of democracy, legality, focus on social issues and humanism. Materials and methods. The dialectical materialistic approach towards analysing social phenomena, their legal regulation and strategic managing influence upon them has formed the theoretical and methodological basis for this study. A broad set of methods for scholarly analysis of political and social phenomena was used, including the comparative law, formal logical, specific historical and system functional methods. Study results. Within the framework of the “developing approach” and the implementation of the ideas related to the “new culture of public service”, the authors have substantiated certain measures for further reform of public service, including the stricter delimitation of powers among instrumentalities and the enhancement of their responsibility; the decentralisation of administrative units, to be more focused on quality and efficiency; the de-bureaucratisation of internal public service and public administration activities; enhancing the prestige of the public servant’s profession; upgrading the personnel development system in order to provide employees with stronger motivation for continuous skill development; and updating the structure of remuneration and benefits for public employees.

Introduction. The article discusses the main aspects of the international regulation of corporate governance. The authors substantiate the necessity of development of normative-legal regulation in this field at the micro - and macro-levels. The article presents characteristics of corporate governance and describes its main objectives, which are implemented taking into account the activities of all stakeholders. Materials and methods. The material for the study consists of the works of Russian and foreign researchers in the field of corporate governance. The methodological basis of research comprises general scientific and specific scientific methods of cognition, the conceptual and empirical analysis, that allow conducting a systematic theoretical and methodological research. The results of the study. In the course of the study the authors explore the concept of corporate governance and analyze the need for the elaboration of the standards in this sphere. A classification of fundamental standards is presented, their characteristics and applications are discussed. The authors offer the directions of application of these standards to the practice of large companies and highlight areas of improvement for corporate governance. Discussion and conclusions. In this article the authors raise the issue of the need for the development and improvement of corporate governance standards in the modern environment due to changes in economic conditions and the expansion of large companies. New technologies and best practices and corporate management mechanisms are worked out by major companies in the post-crisis period, based on accepted international and national standards.

Introduction. The issue of ensuring state security, including security in the information sphere, is critical in the current conditions for the development of global information space, which is determined by the country’s long-term national interests in protecting interests of society, individuals and state from external and internal information threats. Ensuring state security in information sphere is becoming significantly relevant in connection with the increased number of cyber attacks, cyber espionage, theft of information, disclosure of information constituting state secrets, interference with privacy, etc. Protection of world community and countries from the use of information space by terrorist groups for criminal purposes, the use of information technologies for military or peaceful purposes by influencing mass consciousness are particularly important. The goal of the research is to explore law, political, economic mechanisms, and specifics of the countries’ approaches to ensuring state security in the information space. Materials and methods. The implementation of the research tasks was achieved through the study of official documents, including Doctrine of Information Security of the Russian Federation (2016), Cybersecurity Strategy of the USA (2015), UNGA Resolution No. 55/63 of 4 December 2000 “Combating the Criminal Use of Information Technologies”, Convention Council of Europe on Cybercrime (2001). The research methodology is based on system approach; law and statistical methods. Results. The article analyzes approaches to ensuring security in the global information space - cyber security and information security; contains analysis of world trends in the field of cyber defense, Russian market of information security; comprehensive analysis of the American approach to ensuring cyber security and ensuring system of information security in Russia; threats to Russia’s information security and the USA’s cyber security. Discussions and conclusion. Today threats related to the use of ICT for military-political and military-strategic purposes come from global information space, and in recent years, they have become a powerful destabilizing factor that determines the focus of international relations. This requires the development of a legal framework and an international system for monitoring the global information security.

Introduction. The decision of the European Union to impose sanctions on Russia, its largest economic partner, neighbor and energy supplier, has proved to be an unprecedented case and has marked a new stage of development of the European foreign policy toolkit. Therefore, it seems relevant to investigate the process of coordination of positions of the European states on the imposition of anti-Russian sanctions and particular restrictive measures. The article is devoted to the distribution of roles in the process of the elaboration of the consolidated sanctions policy of the Western countries towards Russia in 2014. Methodology. The theoretical foundation of the study is the realist paradigm in its neoclassical version. The methodological basis includes the systemic method of the international relations analysis, comparative an evolutionary approaches. The data were analyzed with the method of traditional documents review, as well as the method of event-analysis of a particular case based on data clusterization on certain criteria. Results. The contemporary procedure specifics of collective decision-making on the issue of sanctions in the European Union are described. The distribution of roles and interests of the European states towards anti-Russian sanctions in early 2014 is reviewed. Germany’s leading position is analyzed in balancing between various stances of the European states and the USA and their polar views on economic issues. Conclusion. Germany’s chancellor Angela Merkel has proved to contribute the most into the elaboration of the middle-ground American-European position. On the one hand, she has tried to iron out the harsh American position, on the other hand, she has made great effort to achieve European consensus, and at the same time, she had to overcome domestic discrepancies.

Introduction. Among many risks that increase the likelihood of an unintentional conflict between Russia and the West (US and NATO), dangerous military activity is a special one. This kind of activity is likely to generate hazardous incidents where military aircraft and naval ships may be involved. At best, these incidents may cause collisions and crashes with casualties. But what is more important, at worst, it may lead to direct military engagements between the forces of Russia and NATO members. In this regard, international treaties and agreements and other normative documents play a crucial role in order to prevent it. The analysis of these documents makes it possible to assess their effectiveness and relevance. Materials and Methods. The study encompasses the sources such as international documents which set the framework for regulation of dangerous military activities and incidents prevention. In addition to the sources, a number of Russian and foreign research and analytical materials on dangerous military activities are used in this study. The methodology of the article is based neoliberal institutionalism – an IR school whose scholars evaluate effectiveness of norms and institutions on cost-benefit calculations of international actors (states). Results. The article analyzes the existing international agreements aimed at preventing collisions between air and sea vessels. Particular attention is paid to the U.S.-Russia memorandum of 2015, aimed at ensuring the safety of aircraft flights during operations in Syria. The study points to ambivalent behavior of Russia and NATO countries with respect to existing international agreements regulating dangerous military activities. On the one hand, they express little or no doubt that these agreements are ultimate it terms of preserving peace. But on the other hand, such agreements are not universal and, moreover, they could be seen as “hostages” of overall political distrust among Russia and NATO members. Therefore the power of these agreements is limited as they cannot be “put forward beyond the brackets” by the conflicting parties when they dispute on many other things. In order to overcome this logic of conflict greater rationalization and de-ideologization of the RussiaWest dialogue is needed. It may help to avoid overrated mutual expectations of the parties and prevent potential armed conflict among them. It is here that the mutual interests of Moscow as well as of Washington and Brussels are. Discussions and conclusions. The way of functioning of international and bilateral agreements which set a regulation of hazardous military activities and the prevention of incidents has been explored in the article. Current obstacles which limit effectiveness of regulations have been revealed and possible ways how to overcome them have been suggested.

Introduction. The article is dedicated to certain aspects of the post-empires’ agenda. The authors are inclined to think that the post-empire concept is relevant to the analysis of the current international relations; some rhetoric questions are also raised. Materials and methods. In order to compare social practices of different empires and post-empires taking into account the historical context, the authors use the comparative method. What is more, in order to reveal the origins of the “empire” as a concept, the authors use the elements of “knowledge archeology” as a popular method of social philosophy. The materials used are the social practices and historical experience of some post-empires: Great Britain, France and Serbia. Research results. First of all, authors concluded that the “empire” as a concept is one of the essentially-contested one, which means that this form of statehood could have various interpretations. Secondly, post-empire statehood is an integral part of modern international relations. Therefore the wellknown “empire syndrome” appears to be not only the abstract social phenomenon, but also the way the state acts on the international arena. Discussions and conclusions. The authors conclude that the empire syndrome and post-empire statehood tend to be the integral part of the modern IR, therefore these concepts should be taken into account within the framework of international studies. The questions raised could also drive further studies and debates.

Introduction: The article deals with the notion of post-empire, which implies numerous situations and practices that arise after the collapse of empires. The post-empires have long been the object of close attention of researchers, which, however, did not lead to the development of an adequate categorical apparatus. Having said that, the article analyzes the concept by determining the main directions for the development of post-empires rather than by formulating a strict definition. Materials and methods: From the theoretical and methodological point of view, the authors rely on the hermeneutic approach, which allows combining descriptive techniques and analysis of subjective aspects of the given phenomenon. The authors also turn to a comparative-historical method for understanding the correlation and interrelation of specific post-imperial historical situations. The material of the study mainly consists of European states’ historical experience (including Turkey). The reason for that is the structure and the content of the scientific discourse in the study of post-empires. The authors also draw attention to the experience of South Africa and Venezuela, which to some extent compensates for the original Eurocentrism presented in scientific generalizations. Research results: As a result of the research, it was revealed that the post-empires can develop in three main ways (trajectories). The first one implies the reproduction of imperial practices by states that are no longer part of or are not empires themselves. An important element of this behavior is the “myth of the empire”, which legitimizes the non-cooperative behavior of such a state. The second trajectory of the post-imperial behavior is to return to the imperial stage. Despite the optimism about the globalization and ultimate collapse of empires in the scientific discourse, the authors note that there is a significant political and socio-economic infrastructure for the revival of empires. Finally, the third way of postempires’ development is the trans-nationalization of imperial practices. This trajectory implies a combination of the potential of non-state and quasi-state actors in the world politics with well-established imperial practices, including ideocratic ones. Discussions and conclusions: The authors came to the conclusion about the multiplicity of ways of development as a basis for understanding the phenomenon of post-empire. The further attention of researchers can be focused on revealing the post-imperial trajectories that are not specified in the article (for example, within the framework of theories of democratic transit).

Introduction. The democratic transition theory assures us that the inevitable result of regime transformations is the transition to democracy. However, one of the most important political tendencies of our time is a certain strengthening of authoritarian elements in the political regimes of the world. This trend is not global so far, but it is important to understand how local specificity affects the processes of democratization. The article considers regime transformations using the evidence of the countries of South-Eastern Europe. Materials and methods: The theoretical and methodological basis of the research is the neo-institutional approach, which makes it possible to assess the interaction and interweaving of formal and informal “rules of the game”. The authors turn to comparative and historical-descriptive methods to analyze the problems of democracy in the Balkans. The given methods also allow the authors to present a qualitative analysis of the statistical data of the countries in question, to reveal the structural elements of regime transformations. Research Result. The authors have identified several factors that contribute to the strengthening of authoritarian regime practices in the countries of South-Eastern Europe. This is the devaluation of parliamentary institutions, the politicization of ethnicity, the demographic stratification of groups that are key to the long-term stability of political regimes. In addition to internal obstacles to the democratization of the regimes of the given countries, there are also external factors, such as the negative impact of the European integration processes, which implies the priority of the stability of regimes over their democratization. The situation of consolidation of democratic regimes being hampered by internal and external factors is not something exceptional, nor should the significance of the given factors of securing authoritarian political practices be underestimated either. Discussions and conclusions. The identified factors of strengthening authoritarianism in the countries of South-Eastern Europe cannot be explained only with the help of theories of political regimes, since external players are involved in the process of regime transformations. The identification of the reasons for what is happening in the analyzed countries is probably connected not only with the regime, but also with the regional post-imperial transformations. It is the post-imperial heritage that determines in the given countries multicultural and multiethnic relations, the increased role of violence in the self-identification process, as well as a specific demand for a “strong hand”.

Introduction. The study of the problem of searching for and legitimizing non-standard measures for the preservation of Soviet military graves of the Second World War in European countries does not lose its topoicality. The given problem is caused by the historical policy, which recently began to be carried out by a number of European states, particularly with the purpose of reviewing the attitude of the nations to places of memory, symbolizing the exploits and victorious events of the Red Army in the liberation of Europe from the Nazi invaders. Materials and methods. In the course of the research the following methods were used: comparative analysis, system method, logical analysis method, document analysis method. Results. As an optimal measure, which can unite the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition, the author proposes a program for reconstructing the victory of the USSR in the Second World War. The program includes the reconstruction of the main strategic operations, crossings of rivers, liberation of cities, towns and villages, descriptions of the exploits for which Soviet soldiers were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Discussion and conclusion. Using the vulgar theory of the “two occupations” (fascist and Soviet) and the agencies specially designed for the politicization of history (the Institutes of the national memory of Poland and Ukraine), the current ruling elites of a number of European states under the patronage of the United States began to remove and demolish monuments and tombs with the symbols of the USSR on their territories under the banner of anticommunism. As if there was no coming to power of National Socialism infused with racism, xenophobia and chauvinism in Germany in the 30s of the last century. The complete neglect of the verdict of the Nuremberg Tribunal of 1945-1946 is demonstrated.