Articles

The article is devoted to the problem of adopting the law “On Political Parties” in the second half of the 1990s. Based on a study of various sources, the author attempts to finalize this law after it was rejected by the Federation Council in early 1996. The adoption of this law was dictated by the need to exclude numerous non-political organizations from the electoral process. The total participation of these organizations in the 1995 parliamentary elections led to conflicting results and cast doubt on the effectiveness of the majorityproportional electoral system. Howevear, despite the intentions of the deputies, who, it would seem, were interested in the speedy adoption of this normative act, work on the document had stalled. The reasons that did not allow the adoption of this document again were in several factors. This is, firstly, an extremely difficult political situation in which the Duma of the second convocation acted, constantly standing on the verge of dissolution. Secondly, a significant amount of legislative work was influenced, which the opposition Duma was forced to carry out under constant time pressure. Thirdly, deputies feared that this law would be used against opposition parties. However, the decisive factor, which for decades did not allow achieving results, was the absence in Russia of strong parties and a developed party system. On the other hand, the refusal to fix the special rights and obligations of political parties in a special law can be considered as a feature of the Russian constitutional law of the 1990s. The then legislation allowed not only ideological, but also organizational pluralism for numerous socio-political associations.

The article addresses an acute issue of forming a modern pension system in the Republic of Kazakhstan in conditions of emerging market economy and aging population. The article examines the development and implementation of the national pension system in Kazakhstan in the 1990’s and 2000’s with the transition from state Pay-As-You-Goto a predominantly accumulative pension system, at the same time maintaining minimum social guarantees and increasing the official retirement age in the country. It also traces the transition from a decentralized system of mandatory funded pension insurance based on non-state pension funds to a centralized system represented by a Single accumulative pension Fund, with a gradual leveling of retirement age of men and women to 63 years. Drawing on SWOT analysis, the article identifies the priority directions for the development of the pension system in Kazakhstan with the formation of a multi-level model designed to ensure an increase in pensioners’ standard of living. The final part of the article presents the authors’ analysis of the national pension system and its place within the rating of the countries participating in the Global retirement index MMGPI and its sub-indices. The authors suggest certain measures for its improvement, such as raising the minimum retirement security, introducing additional compulsory insurance of employers’ contributions, tax incentives for voluntary pension savings, diversification of investment strategies including the right of citizens to choose a managing company.

Rapid absolution of skills and knowledge determines the need for constant retraining, advanced training and mastering new technologies. Nevertheless, the volume and complexity of the material learned are no longer consider being the main value of the learning process. Development of the range of cognitive abilities, which can be combined under the general concept of «learning to learn», comes to the forefront.

The article analyzes the “learning to learn” concept in the context of various approaches that differs both in the content of this skill and in the interpretation of its formation conditions. Within the first approach, “learning to learn” skill is developed through the disclosure of the skill’s structure to students. Within the second approach, the skill is developed by solving practical or research problems. The third approach to the “learning to learn” formation provides changes in the content of training and develops educational cooperation between the teacher and the students. Until now, no studies have been conducted to prove constant advantage of a particular method in the context of “learning to learn” formation.

In this paper “learning to learn” is considered to be a symbiosis of self-discipline, perseverance, motivation, information literacy, speed reading, critical thinking and reflection. Considerable attention is paid to the conceptual and terminological apparatus of the «learning to learn».

For almost two hundred years, the Arab Orthodox population of Syria and Lebanon, which constituted the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch, was under the ecclesiastical authority of the Greeks. The growth of the national consciousness of the Middle Eastern Arabs caused a desire to free themselves from this power, which at the end of the 19th century led to a protracted churchpolitical conflict in the Orthodox world. For the first time in Russian science, the article examines an important episode in the struggle of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch for its independence  — the patriarchal elections of 1906. The paper is based on the reports of the Russian consuls in Damascus and Beirut, which contain valuable information about the course of the struggle for the patriarchal throne, its participants, as well as the subsequent struggle for the recognition of the new patriarch by the Greek Churches.

The article researches the process of authorities’ transformation responsible for regulating state-confessional relations in the 1990–1997 period, associated with the adoption and practical application of the RSFSR “On freedom of religion” law in the context of the Russian model of religious policy formation. The rejection of the Soviet religious policy model intensified the search for a new vision that meets the society needs in the face of political changes. Manifested by 1993 the lack of a systematic approach to solving religious problems has predetermined the emergence of new interaction forms between authorities and confessional structures. The article uses the materials of the State archive of the Russian Federation and the Central state archive of Moscow to study the role of state institutions responsible for interaction with religious organizations, changes in these organizations functioning and the nature of state-confessional relations in general. The author comes to the conclusion that the processes of formation of new interaction forms between the state and confessional structures have contributed to the renewal of the state institutions system, to the creation of their new functioning principles, which operate in modern Russia, and to emphasized the need to improve legal regulation in the field of freedom of conscience.

In this article, the subjects of the civic identity formation and the evolution of political socialization factors are analyzed. Socialization mechanisms of ethnic  and civic identities have various types of influence on a person, competing with each other. In the work, critical factors that impact on the socialization process are identified, such as instability of modern capitalism, the decreasing role of the welfare state, the participatory democracy crisis. These factors create conditions that strengthen ethnic identities and increase the influence of populism in politics. The factors lead to a change in the role of a state and to a weakening civic identity.

In the modern economy, human capital is the main strategic resource for development, which has a direct impact on economic growth and social welfare. In the Strategy of Socio-Economic Development of the Russian Federation for the Period Up to 2030, human capital is given priority, and therefore there is a need to develop and supplement existing methods of its assessment and management. The need to develop new methods is also connected with the transition of the economy to the new technological and world economic paradigms and the corresponding change in the structure and value of human capital. 

Presented article is the development of a study on the measurement of human capital in terms of structural changes in the economy; its aim is to develop a model of human capital formation, assessment and management through inclusion in strategic plans of socio-economic development in the transition to an integrated world economy and the sixth technological paradigm.

The tasks of the study are to consider the problems and prospects for the Russian human capital development at the stage of the new technological and world economic paradigms formation; to create a matrix of parameters for assessing human capital; to form a socio-economic model for the formation and assessment of national human capital. 

The subject of the research is economic relations arising in the process of formation and use of human capital at the present stage of economic development. The main results of the research are the development of a conceptual model for multi-level and multi-component assessment of national human capital. The scope of the results obtained is determined by the possibility of including key parameters of human capital in strategic plans for socio-economic development and improving the competitiveness of the national economy.