In the last two or three decades, there has been a progressive increase in interest in history. Scientists see the reasons for this in the political situation, the growth of nationalist sentiments, and “memory wars.” The article proposes a hypothesis according to which the causes of the origins of this phenomenon lie much deeper: in global changes in human culture related to ideas about time, changes in views on the role of the past, as well as the relationship between the past and the present and the possibility of predicting the future. History is being replaced by historical memory, the functionality of which lies mainly in the sphere of historical politics and social practices. Hence, the paradoxical nature of what is happening: the role of historical science is diminishing, and the role of historical knowledge is growing. The current information situation and total digitalization play a huge role here. Thanks to them, the past and the future turn into an “expanded present,” and historical knowledge becomes a giant palimpsest that is constantly being rewritten. Hence, the trend towards the repoliticization of history, calls for the restoration of its ethical component, its role as a “teacher of life,” the legal and ethical relevance of historical knowledge, which acts as an argument in the accusations and justifications of countries and peoples (this process is called the legitimization of history). The conjuncture for the sake of “correct” modern politics is no longer considered a discrediting circumstance for historians. On the contrary, historians are charged with the duty to act as judges or lawyers at the trial of descendants over the past. All these trends, in the context of the end of the temporal regime of modernity and universal digitalization, lead to the blurring of the distance between the past and the present and the transformation of history into an “expanded present,” because it is the goals and objectives of the present that determine the endless revision of the past, rewriting history. This conclusion is important for understanding the ongoing processes. The modern growth of retrotopia, the changing role of historical knowledge, the trend towards the repoliticization and rehabilitation of the presentism is not a negative political conjuncture that can be corrected nor can its onset be contained. This is the result of global trends in the field of culture in the broadest sense of the word. Ultimately, they can lead to the rebirth of historical science and historical knowledge into a new meta-system that differs from the role of the history of the modern era that is familiar to us.

The article analyzes the perception of colonialism and anti-colonial struggle in modern Iran. The Iranian authorities attach particular importance to the anti-colonial struggle and condemnation of the colonial practices of the West, taking into account not only formal colonization, but also the actual subordination of formally independent states to the will of Western powers. In this regard, particular importance is attached to liberate the oppressed of the whole world. The purpose of the study is to examine the history of colonialism in Iran, the views of the spiritual leaders, presidents and senior officials of Iran on issues of colonialism and anti-colonial struggle, to identify historical events and personalities who played a key role in the anti-colonial movement in Iran. For this purpose, the materials of the Iranian agency IRNA and the speeches of Iranian spiritual leaders were analyzed. A statistical analysis of the most common terms on the subject of colonialism was also carried out. As a result, it was found that the Iranian discourse focuses on condemning the crimes of the West, especially the United States and Israel, against Muslims, as well as praising the resistance of the Iranian people to colonialism in the past and present, with an emphasis on the special role of Ayatollah Khomeini in the Iranian anti-colonial movement. Western colonialism in Iran is divided into several aspects: war crimes committed in the countries conquered by the West, preventing the free development of weaker countries, the struggle to change independent and patriotic regimes and impose rulers ineffective and obedient to Western elites on the peoples, and the imposition of destructive manifestations of Western culture. In addition, the Iranian policy in the Middle East is praised as being driven by noble motives and aiming to provide all possible assistance to the peoples of the region to achieve liberation from the colonialists. The case of Syria is cited as an important example of Iran’s anti-colonial struggle in the Middle East, when Iran helped the government of Bashar al-Assad to regain control of the country and to defeat the armed opposition.

Modern day politicians often refer to historical memory in order to construct and/or adjust foreign policy. The analysis of historical memory as one of the tools for constructing foreign policy narratives is attracting increasing scientific interest in the study of international relations. Under conditions of deep socio-political split in the USA and fragmentation of American identity, representatives of the Democratic administration actively turn to historical memory, trying to explain the changing international realities and justify the implemented foreign policy course. The article attempts to identify the key historical narratives of the Biden Administration and analyze how their use influences the foreign policy of the U.S. at the present stage. To achieve this goal, the authors used the method of narrative interpretation to conduct a qualitative analysis of a broad source base (speeches, interviews, press conferences of key representatives of the U.S. executive branch). As a result, a number of foreign policy narratives with the most characteristic historical subjects for the current administration were identified. It has been established that U.S. leaders address historical memory as part of discourses on the promotion of liberal democracy in the world; the limits of “hard power” and the fight against international terrorism; human rights and freedoms; relations with Russia; and the defense of a liberal world order. It is determined that historical narratives are often used by the United States to legitimize its unilateral and discriminatory foreign policy actions. The authors conclude that for the current administration the construction of foreign policy narratives through selective reference to the subjects of American historical memory becomes one of the key tools of adaptation to the development of international multipolarity, mobilization of its resources and consolidation of allies to defend the “free world” from “illiberal” opponents.

The intensification of the discussion on the German colonial past at the present stage combines the experience of historical research on this topic with the domestic and foreign policy objectives of Germany’s leadership. The purpose of this article is to examine the process of rethinking the colonial past in the Federal Republic of Germany as a part of ideological support for the FRG’s foreign policy on the African direction. The article examines how the debate over Germany’s colonial past has evolved in recent years, and how the intensification of the debate affects the government’s policy towards African countries. The conclusion is that Berlin’s address to this topic so far rarely goes beyond academic and socio-political debate, while the tangible steps of the government remain mostly at the level of declarative intentions. While expressing willingness to admit responsibility for the destruction wrought, the authorities of the Federal Republic of Germany seek to maintain control over its “monetization,” as they fear to get a flow of bills with potentially unlimited sums. Most initiatives are in the first stages of implementation and far from meeting the requests of African states. Germany’s colonial history, marked by both crimes against the local population and the infrastructure development of its controlled territories, is a potential resource for engagement with African countries. The importance of Africa for German foreign policy as expected will increase in the future due to economic, demographic and geopolitical factors.

The author characterizes memory politics and identity politics as analytical categories formed in a highly competitive field of meanings and interpretations. The methodological approach is social constructivism, which represents the mainstream in the study of memory and identity politics. However, the author considers it necessary to take into account the socio-cultural framework of actions performed by various actors that shape memory and identity. In addition, sharing the methodologically innovative approach advanced by I.S. Semenenko to the definition and analysis of identity politics, the author applies it to the object of her research. The article proposes using the concept of securitization to study not only the politics of memory, but also the identity politics pursued by the European Union. The shaping of a European identity on the basis of memory politics involves many problems, both supranational and national. This article deals primarily with supranational policy, but national discourses of memory and identity politics are also taken into account. In this context, the concepts per se, which have categorical conjugacy, turn out to be associated with courses characterized by considerable discord. The seemingly unshakable foundations of memory politics, established after World War II, are being challenged by the new member states of the European Union, shaping different practices of remembrance and forgetting. As a result, implying the possibility of different interpretations and harmonization of discourses, dialogical memory as the foundation of European identity is giving way to the securitization of memory politics and identity politics, which means their instrumental use to legitimize specific policies.

The breakup of Yugoslavia has become one of the key events of the postbipolar world order and has occupied a special place in the discourse in both politicians of Serbia and Russia. However, interpretations of the crisis, its causes and main driving forces, as well as its use as a reference object in contemporary national and political discourse differ significantly in Serbia and Russia. One of the important subjects is that in both countries, at the level of both discourses, there is a convergence of radical versions, and in the changing structure of European international relations, the role of an external factor in the tragedy of disintegration acquires a special sound. In this article, a discourse analysis of narratives of the Yugoslav crisis in academic and political discourse in a cross-country perspective is conducted using a social constructivist approach. The study seeks to deconstruct the images of the “guilty ones” in the Yugoslav crisis and to consider the features of using peculiarities of the crisis image in contemporary political discourse. It explores how the formal discourse of academics further influenced the discourse of politicians in the Russian and Serbian cases.

The problem of divided societies and divisions in societies acquires special significance against the background of growing socio-political tensions in the internal and external political dimensions around the world. The West is ceasing to be an area of predominant tranquility and wellbeing. In recent years, in European societies a trend of increasing divisions has also emerged. The article analyzes old and new socio-political divisions (cleavages) within the Portuguese society. The choice of Portugal as a case study is due to the combination of several factors: the memory of the Carnation Revolution, the attitude towards the European project, the imperial past, Catholicism/secularism, and the historical legacy of the Salazar dictatorship. The theoretical and methodological framework of the study is based on the use of the concept of divided societies and constructivism as the main epistemological tools, while the country studies analysis is also applied. The authors attempt not only to identify the basic socio-cultural divisions in the contemporary Portuguese society, but also answer the question of whether it is possible to speak of a divided society in relation to the Portuguese case. The emphasis is placed on the peculiarities of Portugal’s historical path as a post-imperial state whose specificity is largely due, first, to the heritage of the Portuguese maritime empire, and, second, to the legacy of the 1974 Carnation Revolution. The key cleavages that are at the center of the analysis are the legacy of the Carnation Revolution, the European project, the imperial legacy, the religious configuration, and the Salazar heritage. The conclusion is that the Portuguese society has managed to avoid the most negative scenario of the development of the situation and has a chance of consolidation.

The author implements the constructivist approach to study the discourse of imaginary geography and its main concepts based on the analysis of the facts of the discourse – the main ideological texts that form the imaginary geography of Turkey in the 19th-21st centuries, and significant events like the publication of maps. The author considers the imaginative geography as a representative and performative discourse of power connected with historical memory and nation-building. The article demonstrates how Turkey, relying on the Turkic and Islamic ideological dominants, uses the technologies of force (G. Fields). State and media mapping is going along with the construction of architecture in territories inhabited by Turks and Muslims, which is carried out at the state level. The analysis showed that at this stage imaginative geography becomes a tool for promoting Turkey’s national interests not only in the post-Ottoman, but also in the post-Soviet spaces. It justifies Turkey’s active foreign policy and legitimizes it in the eyes of people inhabiting this imaginative geography. The inclusion of a religious component expands this geography to a worldwide reach. Through an imaginative geography, relying on the political ideas of Turkism that developed in the twentieth century and underwent Islamization, Turkey projects a new regional configuration, where its role becomes the leading one. Turkey’s active foreign policy includes maintaining its central position through a set of tools, such as humanitarian policy, constructing an imaginary geography and fixing it through the concepts of “geography-destiny” and “geography of the heart”, visualization through mapping. The author comes to the conclusion that although the example of Turkey in the use of imaginative geography is not unique, it demonstrates an example of the successful implementation of the technologies of force and should be taken into account when developing Russia’s foreign policy strategy.

The article discusses the dynamics and prospects for the development of the historical politics of the PRC at the present stage. The present study attempts to identify two key components of the PRC’s historical politics that define the framework for remembrance in China. The reference points of the study are Chinese interpretations of what should be forgotten or reformatted, as well as the Chinese leadership’s policy of imagining the future. The article is based on the “Resolution on the Major Achievements and Historical Experience of the Party over the Past Century” adopted by the 6th Plenum of the 19th CPC Central Committee, collections of Xi Jinping’s public speeches. In theoretical terms, it relies on the studies of historical politics by A. Assman, A.I. Miller, E. Wolfrum, O.Yu. Malinova. The study demonstrated how the CCP becomes the only mnemonic actor writing its own history. In the first part of the article, forms of “forgetfulness” are considered, behind which there are very different methods, actions and strategies. The second part analyzes the narrative of building the future, expressed in the concepts of “Xiaokang (moderately prosperous society)” and “accelerated promotion of socialist modernization” circulating in Chinese documents as the goal of “two centuries”. In the course of the study, we found that it is in the interests of the CCP, led by Xi Jinping, to present the history of the PRC teleologically, in which the events of the past anticipate the victorious march of the CCP in the history of China. It is for this reason that the main instruments of the historical policy of the PRC are various techniques of oblivion: rewriting, erasing, silence. However, in parallel with the historical policy aimed at the past, the Chinese leadership is also working on images of an imaginary future. Thus, the main goal of China’s historical policy at the present stage is the construction of a single, monolithic, homogeneous story about the past, present and future of the PRC, in which there is no place for discrepancies, criticism and historical nihilism.