The paper presents some considerations, partly polemic, inspired by Mary Kaldor’s book New and Old Wars. For this end, a brief comparative analysis is suggested of large-scale wars of the past (starting from the17th and with particular attention to the end of the 19th and the first half of the 20th centuries), on the one hand, and the so called “new wars”, on the other. The concept of “war” has been actual permanently, but it underwent changes, the most serious of them took place at the beginning and in the middle of the 20st century. However, the current political situation on the world scene shows that the conflicts of the globalization era differ considerably from those of previous centuries which were mainly conducted according to the generally adopted “rules of war” considered now as classical.

The substantial role in modern violent collisions is played by a conflict of identities which was not so important when wars were conducted mainly between national states. Unlike conflicts of the previous centuries, the military confrontations of today may occur not only between states, but also inside the single country, where different groups of participants are pursuing their own goals in frameworks of identity policy. The traditional notion of civil war is not enough to cover this variety. Due to the global nature of the modern conflicts and involvement of the variety of participants, the conflict resolution seems to be more complicated than ever. Moreover, the identity factor has become an effective tool for different parties of the conflict who tend to use it at their own convenience. Consequently, resolution of modern violent conflicts, wherever they develop, demands contemporary and often non-trivial solutions, as well as close attention of the global community. 

The author believes that to resolve modern conflicts effectively, the world society should create a unified and comprehensive definition of the concept of “war” as well as invent new ways of the conflict solution taking into consideration, among other things, the diverse dynamics of globalization processes.

The Global terrorism is evolving, adapting to the new realities and still posing a serious threat to all humanity and the security of all countries of the world. Currently, the main terrorist threat comes from ISIL (Da’esh), which despite the complete defeat of the «caliphate» in Syria and Iraq, has a wide network of terrorist branches in the most problematic and conflict areas on the territory stretching from the Western part of the Sahel to the Philippines. The problem of foreign terrorist fighters returning and moving from the war zone to the countries of origin is the most urgent issue on the present agenda. At the annual press conference held on December 19, 2019 the Russian President Vladimir Putin again emphasized the topical character of this problem. He highlighted in particular that the problem of returning terrorist fighters can be solved only by joint efforts, and for this “it is necessary to establish highly effective joint cooperation”. At least 16 countries of the world, including Russia, have already suffered from terrorist attacks carried out by ISIL fighters returning from battlefields. The article analyses in detail the problems that the flow of recent supporters of «caliphate» returning to Russia and other countries brings. The study also contains consolidated recommendations on addressing the threat posed by foreign terrorist fighters affiliated with the «Islamic State».

NORDEFCO which emerged as the new format of defence and militarypolitical cooperation between the countries of the Northern Europe is considered to be the logical result of the previous security initiatives of Nordic countries, but at the same time the emergence of this format has taken the cooperation to a whole new level. NORDEFCO has in ten years evolved from the structure aimed at enhancing the effectiveness of defence expenditures to the forum on security issues of the Northern Europe. Nordic countries did not manage, however, to achieve significant progress on most proposals laid out in the Stoltenberg Report of 2009. Nevertheless, as foreign policies of Nordic countries continue to converge, NORDEFCO continues to retain its value and significance, even if it is taken into account that the multilateral cooperation within the framework has not proved as effective as the bilateral cooperation as in the case of Sweden and Finland. At the same time different relations of Nordic countries with the EU and NATO hinders further progress in the sphere of defence integration. NORDEFCO along with other subregional initiatives such as NG12, NB8 and e-PINE (NB8+USA) has the potential to serve as the groundwork for a full-fledged security forum in the Baltic Sea region.

Small states in the Post-Soviet area have to make a geopolitical choice by leaning towards one of the great powers. The peaceful power transition that took place in Armenia in Spring-Fall 2018 was described by some Russian experts as “a color revolution” actively supported by external actors. However, it was exactly this unique case in which, despite such external influence, Armenian protesters did not demand a change in the geopolitical orientation of the country. Still, in spite of the preservation of the alliance between Russia and Armenia, part of Nikol Pashinyan’s team is evidently oriented to the West.

Having conducted focus groups and in-depth interviews with Armenian experts, the authors try to answer the following questions: what is the structure of the Armenian establishment? What do its representatives think of the strategy of Armenia-Russia relations? What messages are they sending to the Russian audience?

The authors are convinced that it was not a revolution, though called a “velvet revolution”, but a change of the elite groups. The political system remains as it was, institutions have not been demolished or upgraded. The partnership between Russia and Armenia is still characterized as strategic.

Nevertheless, there is some misunderstanding between the current authorities in Russia and Armenia. It has to do not only with the generation and ideological gaps between Russian and Armenian officials but also with the lack of communication between Nikol Pashinyan’s team and Russian decision-makers. The problem is that the Armenian elites do not understand Russia as they do not have an experience of dealing with the country. Hence the importance of enhanced coordination among Russian organizations advancing Russia’s soft power in Armenia.

The article talks about migration processes in the post-Soviet space in the context of Eurasian integration. It is noted that recently, due to the natural population decline in Russia, migration is one of the mechanisms for compensating for demographic problems. An important factor determining migration processes is Eurasian integration. The article indicates that the creation of the EAEU and its expansion provides legal access to the Russian labor market for an increasing number of post-Soviet countries. The authors consider the demographic situation in Russia and the need for labor migration. They indicate that the peculiarity of Russia is a rather low life expectancy compared to other urbanized industrial countries, especially for men. Talk about the general situation with migration in Russia in 2017. The key longterm trends of labor migration to Russia are indicated. One of them, according to the authors, is the tendency for the population in the post-Soviet space to grow, mainly in the countries of the Muslim cultural tradition, primarily in Central Asia, while in the countries of the Christian cultural tradition it is falling. The possible expansion of the EAEU is considered as a factor determining migration. In this regard, security threats associated with Central Asian labor migration are identified. Also scenarios for the development of migration to Russia from post-Soviet countries, including in the context of Eurasian integration processes are indicated.

The article is devoted to analyzing various aspects of the impact of Brexit consequences on the states of the Scandinavian-Baltic region and the prospects for relations with them. It is noted that Brexit may lead to a slowdown in the economic growth of the countries of the region, but it will not be significant. At the same time, given the small scale of the economies and their dependence on the external economic situation, the Baltic countries will experience a relatively greater negative impact than the highly developed innovative economies of the Nordic states. Revision of the priorities for the EU funding will also lead to a decrease in subsidies within the framework of the cohesion policy and the implementation of infrastructure projects, which can be painful for the economies of the Baltic states. A change in the direction of migration flows from these countries is also highly likely. As for security and defense cooperation, changes are unlikely here, since the UK has repeatedly reaffirmed its commitment to the principles of collective defense within NATO. However, a reduction in the number of channels of interaction and coordination of positions in international affairs (as a natural consequence of withdrawal from EU political institutions) is likely to intensify UK participation in other formats of regional political and defense cooperation (NB+1, JEF, NORDEFCO, etc.).

The article analyzes the concept of the Russian world, which became firmly established in the modern Russian political lexicon in the second half of the 2000s. The objective basis for the concept is the existence of numerous Russianspeaking communities outside of modern Russia, together with significant civilizational role of Russian language and culture. A characteristic feature of this concept is the lack of a clear, unambiguous definition of what the Russian world really is. At the moment, there are many definitions ascribing numerous meanings to the linguistic form Russian world. The article considers the peculiarities of the life of Russian communities in the near (the Post-Soviet space) and far abroad in the context of modern international processes. In conclusion, taking into account the variable meanings of the concept, as well as the negative experience of the policy pursued by Russian authorities in relation to Russian communities abroad, possible directions of alternation and development of this policy in the future are outlined.

The Activities of the Caucasian Workshop (July to December, 2019).