The show the role of nation-state institutions at the initial stage of the capitalism era. At present there is an aspiration to get rid of excessive state tutelage. Now financial capital claims significant shares of the state’s competences.

The change in the world order inevitably leads to a radical change in the national strategies of states. This implies transformations in all major areas: target setting, selection of the most effective means and methods of forceful confrontation, and distribution of national resources. These are the changes that Russia has introduced in the new version of the National Security Strategy.

The article discusses the main issues of the transformation of the electoral college in the United States, how they affect changes in the American Constitution and the emergence of the «winner-take-all» rule at the state level. The article describes the modern process of electing the US president, its peculiarities and the role of the electoral college; it analyzes the attempts to reform and abolish the electoral college, its problems and prospects for overcoming them.

The authors analyze the rethinking of the concept of «sovereignty» by the Western military and political elites and the prospects of transformation of the economy, political regimes and military construction of the European Union. The article considers the possibility of the renaissance of fascist ideology in Europe, as well as the prospects of military construction and mutual integration of the armed forces of European countries.

After the withdrawal of the US militaries, Russia has an opportunity to launch a policy towards Afghanistan from tabula rasa, because many of the imperatives of Soviet Afghan policy were leveled out or lost their significance. The new Afghan leadership is giving Moscow appropriate signs, remembering the long past of good neighborliness. But when formulating a new policy, both the miscalculations of Soviet policy towards this country and its strengths must be taken into account.

The author defines such concepts as “the Altai vector of Eurasian integration” and “Altai civilization”. Altai today, as the cradle of many Eurasian peoples, acquires a special unifying meaning. The cultural and humanitarian aspect of cooperation can be put on a par with the economic and political activities of states in terms of importance.

The article considers the situation in the labor sphere in the regions of the Volga Federal District, reveals the causes of tension and conflicts in this sphere. The main ways to reduce the tension between employees and employers are to increase the level of wages, improve working conditions, and change labor legislation.

The article examines the main agreements reached between Moldavia and Transnistria after the conflict on the Dniester (June-July 1992), which created the prerequisites for one of the key events of the Transnistrian settlement process – the Kozak Memorandum. The features of its development and the reasons for the failure of the signing are analyzed, lessons from the missed opportunity for a long-term settlement of the Transnistrian conflict are formulated.

The article considers the interaction of customs and business in the context of the Customs Code of the Eurasian Economic Union on the example of the Republic of Bashkortostan. The activity of Bashkortostan customs has a significant impact on the stable international cooperation of republican business structures. The article analyses the implemented and necessary measures to achieve the optimal level of customs and business partnership.