This article is an analysis of the theory of cultural identity by Zheng Xiaoyun, a distinguished Chinese philosopher. His theory of cultural identity presented here gives a new perspective to the study of cultural identity. Zheng Xiaoyun's work The Theory of Cultural Identity has won recognition with Chinese academia and has been widely cited there, yet it is little known abroad, Russian academic thought included. Zheng Xiaoyun investigates the relations between cultural and national identities, stating that culture revolves around cultural identity. He comes to the conclusion that cultural and national identities are determined by the cultural development of individuals and society in general (horizontal determination) as well as by the global identity coming into being (vertical determination). His novel ideas and insights add to the academic discussion of the problems of identity. The comparison of Zheng Xiaoyun’s ideas and the theories of Russian and foreign researchers shows notable distinctions: western authors tend to look into psychological aspects of identity, Russian research focuses on its cultural dimension, whereas in China maintaining one’s cultural identity in a changing world is the key problem of identity research. In his works Zheng Xiaoyun studies the functionilg of cultural identity in an alias language environment and explores how strong national identity and values determine the life of a group. Key topics in Chinese identity research today, such as regional identity and Asian identity, call for an in-depth analysis of national and cultural identity and tap from the works of Zheng Xiaoyun. The comparative analysis has proved that his ideas on determining the foundations, mechanisms and types of cultural identity corresponds with other academic traditions. However, Zheng Xiaoyun’s study outlined in this article brings about novel structural approaches to the analysis of the dynamics of identity creation. Following on from the principles of historicity and objectivity, the philosopher develops the basic prerequisites for combining structural and cognitive approaches in studies of modern national and global identities.

It is not only the illiteracy found in today’s knowledge societies, including developed countries, but also its reproduction in new generations that determines the relevance of this research. In France, one of the leading countries in Europe and the world, for decades there has been a decline in the level of general education. The trend continues despite the constant reforms of the education system, including those aimed, as their developers believe, at facilitating and updating learning. Programs in French, mathematics, history, and literature were especially lightened, or simplified, but fewer and fewer schoolchildren cope with them. University professors state that the number of students who experience difficulties in reading, writing and speaking their thoughts is growing. Official statistics report millions of functionally illiterate people who have left school. The purpose of this research is to analyze the axiological components of the French general education reforms and to study the philosophical reflections of the trend by the professional community. To exemplify and illustrate the problem there were chosen works by Barbara Lefebvre and Réne Chiche devoted to a detailed analysis of the situation in French education as of today with the focus on school education. The article aims to provide the specified data on the dynamic of functional illiteracy in France, to identify the axiological dominants that lie behind the modern reform, and to give a comprehensive analysis of the ideas expressed in the books of B. Lefebvre Génération «J'ai le droit»: La faillite de notre éducation and R. Chiche La désinstruction nationale. In both cases the authors attempt to undertake a philosophical understanding of the modern school education as one of the mechanisms for the transmission of culture that supports the formation of personality in the process of socialization. Both books clearly convey the idea that politically engaged reforms of public education, consciously or unconsciously ignoring the need to reflect on the real axiological foundations on which they are built, bring about the prospects for new, including latent, social risks.

Based on the propaganda materials of the international terrorist organization Islamic State*, the article examines the temporal scheme and the historical narrative of jihadist propaganda. Studies of the politics of memory and historical narratives of organizations of radical Islamism are practically absent due to the inaccessibility of the source base. This study is based on the official jihadist propaganda materials coming from the propaganda bodies of the Islamic State*, and on the corpus of sources of spontaneous propaganda of supporters of radical Islamism. Due to the extremely different socio-cultural basis of its supporters, jihadist propaganda is forced to operate not with an integral narrative, but rather with a set of plots, building a discrete narrative about the past. These plots correspond to the ethnic myth scheme proposed by Smith A. D. Despite the fact that modern jihadism is not an ethnic community due to the orientation towards internationalism and universalism of the dogma, the commonality of religious and, more importantly, political ideas make it possible to analyze the historical narrative of radical Islamism from the point of view of an ethnosymbolic approach. The study of representations of the past, characteristic of a modern jihadists, is carried out because of the types of cultural memory identified by Jan Assman. The study main historical points fixing the temporal scheme of the Islamic State*; and some stable ideas about the past of Islamic civilization, characteristic of jihadist propaganda. Of particular interest is the mythology of the centuries-old global conspiracy against the Muslim Ummah, which is in many ways the key concept of the jihadist narrative, as well as the eschatological representations of jihadist propaganda.

UNESCO is the leading international organization of the UN system for the development of international humanitarian cooperation and the protection of historical and cultural heritage throughout the world. The organization has a unique institutional capacity to carry out core activities in relation to disputed states. However, today the problem of insufficient representation of the organization in unrecognized and partially recognized states remains. The relevance of this study lies in the absence of works that systematically analyze the problems that UNESCO faces in countries that have the status of unrecognized states. The subject of the work is the UNESCO’s policy for the protection of cultural and natural heritage in the disputed territories. In each case, episodes of interaction or attempts of cooperation between the leadership of the above-mentioned countries with UNESCO are considered from a historical perspective. The article uses the case study method, for the analysis the cases of unrecognized states with a rich tangible and intangible cultural heritage — Kosovo, Taiwan, Nagorno-Karabakh, Palestine, Abkhazia and South Ossetia — were selected. In each case, episodes of interaction or attempts of cooperation between the leadership of the above-mentioned countries with UNESCO are considered in a historical perspective. The novelty of the study lies primarily in the identification of obstacles UNESCO missions face and in the adjustment and improvement of conventional mechanisms and methods for the harmonious coexistence of different cultures, in the development of strategies and canons for the protection of cultural heritage in each of the cases mentioned above. The author comes to the conclusion that one of the most significant factors is the international context in which UNESCO's work is carried out in relation to each of the unrecognized and partially recognized states. In the process of implementing its activities in the context of acute collisions, UNESCO faces obstacles in the form of politicization of the issue of preservation and ownership of cultural heritage sites. At the same time, UNESCO provides an extremely constructive platform that contributes to the establishment of cooperation in the field of preserving the cultural heritage of these territories based on common humanistic values.

The article analyzes the intersection of universal and regional human rights concepts in Latin America. The regional approach to human rights protection has been proposed by anthropologists who argue that cultural relativism is the basis for the development of the concept of human rights protection. The evolution of human rights is examined by scholars through the prism of both cultural relativism and universalism. While proponents of the first approach assert the importance of cultural and civilizational particularities, proponents of universalism promote the idea of universal morality. The novelty of this study lies in the examination of a different academic approach to human rights protection that encompasses features of both of the aforementioned concepts in order to provide a more objective picture of the current state of the system of human rights protection. The interaction of these concepts is demonstrated through the example of the system for the protection of women's rights in Latin America, as well as of the rights of other vulnerable groups such as indigenous peoples. This leads to the conclusion that both the universalist and the regionalist approaches to human rights protection are mutually supportive. Furthermore, universal and local moral systems borrow elements from each other despite the contradictions between them. In general, the interaction between universalization and regionalization of human rights is clearly visible in Latin America. The elaboration of a new approach that incorporates the features of the two old ones is necessary in order to better understand this process, since human rights protection is acquiring new features that fit into the so-called paradigm of relative universalism. An explanatory model to account for this phenomenon is needed for better understanding of the common patterns of the process.

The article is devoted to the life and various aspects of the activities of the outstanding diplomat Prince Alexey B. Lobanov-Rostovsky (1824–1896). The name of Lobanov-Rostovsky was not mentioned in literature until the first decade of the 21st century. Then Lobanov began to be remembered thanks to the efforts of his descendant Prince Nikita D. Lobanov-Rostovsky who initiated a number of studies about the prominent diplomat. A fundamental monograph on Prince Lobanov-Rostovsky has now been prepared. His international activity as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary took place at the most difficult political points at that time — twice in Constantinople (1859–1863; 1878–1879), as well as in London (1879–1882) and Vienna (1882–1895). He always managed to solve the most pressing problems of his time using skillful diplomatic tools. He received the post of Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs during the challenging period of restructuring of social and public institutions in Russia. It was the era of the so called Great Reforms of Emperor Alexander II. By offering him this position, the emperor took into account Prince’s intellectual scale, strategic foresight and tactical flexibility. During 11 years of activity in this field (1867–1878), Prince Lobanov-Rostovsky often performed the duties of a minister. During this time, the legal norms of the state and its relations with society significantly improved. In 1870, Alexey B. Lobanov-Rostovsky received the honorary position of State-Secretary of His Imperial Majesty, that is, the emperor's personal speaker, the position he held until the end of his life. Both Emperor Alexander II and Nicholas II treated Lobanov-Rostovsky with special warmth. Lobanov-Rostovsky managed to conclude the Russian-Turkish final Peace Treaty of 1879, which put an end to the war between Russia and Turkey. This agreement gave Russia significant moral and material results and marked the beginning of the autonomous Principality of Bulgaria, that led to Bulgarian statehood. Lobanov-Rostovsky’s work as Foreign Minister for 18 months (1895–1896) brought Russia fruitful results on the world stage and was highly appreciated both in Russia and in the world. The article talks about the different sides of the prince’s extraordinary personality. A true polymath, proficient in the Russian antiquity, he became a bibliophile, collector, genealogist and historian. He carefully commented on the historical documents he discovered and for 14 years (1871–1885) systematically published in special historical journals. The article examines the memoirs of contemporaries about the diplomat, as well as the latest research about him.

The article discusses the reflection of the features of the own — alien dichotomy in the Balkan model of the world in the xenologic pejorative vocabulary of the Balkan sprachbund languages: Albanian, Aromanian, Bulgarian, Modern Greek, Macedonian, Romanian and Serbo-Croatian. The author gives a brief review of the historical, cultural and geopolitical specifics of the Balkan-Carpathian region, which influenced the local peoples’ ideas about strangers; some traditional mythological beliefs of the Balkanians related to the conceptual field of otherness are also presented. Based on the analysis of the internal history of the word, an attempt is made to define the main models for constructing derogatory names for strangers in order to compare the data for various Balkan languages and, to the extent possible, build an integral image of the concept of alien in the Balkan conceptual worldview. According to the results of the study, the xenopejorative vocabulary of languages of the Balkan sprachbund shows significant similarities both in terms of form and content. Pejoratives with undifferentiated evaluativity absolutely predominate, which could account for the richness of the Balkan derivational morphology and a large number of lexical borrowings in each of the languages; pejoratives with an indication of appearance, features of language and peculiarities of behavior are also widely represented, however, the first are referentially limited, while the second and the third are universal, from which it is concluded that the prototypical Balkan alien is someone who speaks differently and behaves differently. At the same time, the most common target for pejorative vocabulary in the Balkan languages among all strangers is Roma people, which is bound both to a number of stereotyped ideas about the physical and behavioral distinctive features of this ethnic group, and to the historical isolation caused by the nomadic way of life and the closedness of the Roma community from outsiders.

The article considers the balance of tradition and innovation as forms of cultural dynamics using the example of education. The review of scientific publications published in 2020-2021 has found that the research interest in the topic is characteristic both of Russianand Spanish-speaking authors, which allows us to refer to international experience, mainly Spanish, for comparison. In this research the authors focus on the project of bilingual classes in primary schools in Moscow and Moscow region. The idea of bilingual education is that educational material is presented in two languages, yet the language pairs can vary: official and minority, official and migrant, official and foreign languages. In the context of the case study, teachers of primary education constitute the most promising group due to the structural features of this level. The system in which one teacher is responsible for most of the subjects allows the project to be implemented gradually without involving a large number of pedagogical staff. At the same time, a teacher of a bilingual class has an opportunity to develop an independent teaching strategy, demonstrating a high level of methodological freedom. The survey among the teachers found that while there is a demand for counseling on their part, they are motivated and receptive to innovations.

The article dwells on the phenomenon of Russian Beardsleism, which was formed by the influence of the works and personality of the English graphic artist Aubrey Beardsley on the Russian intellectual society at the turn of the 19th – 20th centuries. Being the brightest representative of English aestheticism and Art Nouveau, Aubrey Beardsley became a champion of the ideas of new art for Russia. In his homeland, Aubrey Beardsley managed to make a real revolution in the field of illustration and book graphics, separating them into independent elements of creativity and raising the art of graphics to a completely new, unprecedently high level. No less revolutionary was the behavior of the artist — Aubrey Beardsley turned his life into art, postulating innovative aesthetic and philosophical aspirations by his very appearance. The worth of his personality was undoubtedly comparable to the worth of his works, and one became inseparable from the other. Thus, the very image of Aubrey Beardsley became a symbol of the Art Nouveau era, containing a lot of complex concepts. Therefore, no wonder that the sphere of influence of this master in Russia was extremely wide — not limited only to the field of graphics, it extended from new artistic methods up to the lifestyle and demeanor. The significance of Beardsleism in the Russian artistic life of the turn of the centuries is also indicated by its scope — the most prominent figures of the Silver Age, such as S. Diaghilev, L. Bakst, N. Feofilaktov, and rather obscure A. Silin, A. Arapov and M. Durnov — both those and others experienced a significant influence of Aubrey Beardsley on their works and life.

The subject of this study is the influence of the traditions of German expressionism on modern cinema, primarily the horror genre. The relevance of this work is due to the need to study the genesis of modern trends in one of the most popular types of art and its popular genres in the context of cultural history in terms of allusions and reminiscences, traditions and innovation. In order to prove that the traditions of expressionism are clearly traced to this day and promise to be quite productive in the long run, as well as to trace the nature of their presence in the history of the film industry, in line with the culturological approach, the method of comparative historical and historical situational analysis, as well as content analysis was mainly used regarding cinematography of the period under consideration. The scientific novelty of the work lies in the very prism of the study and its object — the films of 2021–2022 were considered in terms of traditions of expressionist aesthetics; in addition, the article presents a slightly different view on the masterpieces that have become classics of the cinema of the 20th century. As a result, it was revealed that the expressionist concept of man and the world is strong in the artistic world of cinema art of this period. The methods of German filmmakers of the beginning of the previous century were continued in a somewhat modified form at the level of the play of light and shadow, framing, the figurative system itself (vampires, homunculi, ghosts), mechanistic acting, sinister paraphernalia, and deceitful details. The common denominator of foreign and domestic films of all the genres and subgenres considered in the article was the use of a special musical setting — music that originates from the new Viennese school (in other words, musical expressionism), which also confirms the theory put forward.

The reviewed Jewish Philosophy in an Analytic Age is a unique collection of essays that combine analytical philosophy to the Jewish religion. Analytical approach has been widely applied to Christianity since the 1980s and marked the legitimization of analytical philosophy of religion. This turn is primarily associated with the names of Alvin Plantinga, Richard Swinburne and others. At the same time the texts by Jewish religious philosophers are rarely, if ever, considered through the prism of analytical philosophy of religion and analytical theology. This collection of essays is not only valuable because of its exceptional nature: the authors of the essays touch upon important topics of religious philosophy, such as the correlation of the freedom of choice and a divine knowledge of the future, the epistemological distinction of faith and belief, moral justification for lying, the problem of evil, etc. The extensive Discussion part, written by Tzvi Novick from the Theology Department of the University of Notre Dame, presents the author’s attitude towards the approach taken in the book. Readers are encouraged to think of the very essence of Jewish philosophy and possibly review its understanding. The analytical approach found in the essays sometimes transcends the boundaries of the analytical philosophy of religion, contributes to the modernization of Jewish religious and philosophical works, and introduces these texts to the domain of modern analytical philosophy. The latter is achieved through analytical generalization of Jewish texts, making them universal. The abovementioned features make the book worth reading by scholars, researches, and all those interested in the modern philosophy and the study of Jewish religion.

On April 14-15 the International scientific and practical conference Digital international relations 2022 took place at MGIMO University. The event was organized by MGIMO University in cooperation with Ivannikov Institute for System Programming of the RAS under the aegis of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Plenary session International Relations in the Context of Digitalization of Public Life was opened with the speeches of the Rector of MGIMO University A. Torkunov, the Minister of Foreign Affairs S. Lavrov, the Minister of Science and Higher Education V. Falkov, the President of the Russian Academy of Sciences A. Sergeyev, the Deputy Minister of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media A. Shoytov, the Director of the Institute for System Programming A. Avetisyan and the President of the Russian association for public relations Ye. Minchenko. Distinguished guests noted the growing role of digital technologies in world politics, public administration, economics, education, and science. There were lots of sessions, panel discussions and round tables, such as Digital public diplomacy: new rules of international politics; Digital transformation of ASEAN and Russia: points of convergence; Legal support for the development of the digital economy in Russia and abroad; Diplomatic and consular service in the era of digitalization of international relations; Digital technologies and new media; Digital youth: what awaits the employer in the 21st century; Data analysis and international processes dynamics; Business models and business processes’ digital transformation; Regional experience of the economy and social sphere digitalization: best practices. The conference was attended by more than 750 professionals from different countries and regions – scientists, researchers and entrepreneurs working in IT, social science, and humanities. This variety helped to hold lively and open discussions on the most relevant and significant topics and to establish interaction between highly qualified specialists who have absolutely different but equally deep understanding of digital technologies.