Foreign States Research Articles

Сomparative epidemiological and demographic characteristics of TB and HIV infections among military personnel of the Russian Federation and USA armed forces and armed forces of National liberation army of people’s Republic of Сhina

More than 1,7 million people, 770 thousand people from HIV infection, died from tuberculosis worldwide in 2018. In accordance with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the World Health Organization’s strategy to fight tuberculosis, all countries need to reduce the incidence of tuberculosis by 80% and reduce the death rate from tuberculosis by 90% by 2030. According to the Joint United Nations programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) goals of «90–90–90», countries should achieve the following indicators by 2020: «90% of people living with HIV infection should know their HIV status; 90% of those who know about their HIV infection should receive treatment, and 90% of those who are being treated should not have their viral load determined». Socially significant diseases are a serious problem for the Russian Federation (RF). The RF is one of 30 countries with a high incidence of tuberculosis and ranks 3rd place in multidrug-resistant tuberculosis and 6th place in the prevalence of HIV infection. Socially significant diseases present a serious problem for the Armed Forces of the RF. 150 new cases of tuberculosis, over 50 cases of HIV infection are diagnosed every year among military personnel of the RF Armed Forces.The purpose of the studyis to analyze the current epidemiological situation of tuberculosis and HIV infection in the armed forces of the Russian Federation and foreign armies, to generalize domestic and foreign experience in the organization of medical care for military personnel with these diseases.Data from reports of the medical service and a review of domestic Russian and foreign medical literature allowed us to assess TB and HIV sickness rate among military personnel in the RF and foreign states, as well as to characterize the current system of medical care for this category of patients.

Learning the Language: Evolution of the FBI’s Linguist Program and Lessons Learned

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), although it is a domestically oriented intelligence service, must contend with foreign state, terrorist, and criminal entities. Foreign language capability is integral to countering many of these threat actors. The FBI has developed its foreign language workforce and associated infrastructure in response to the evolution of its mission. This was a learning process for the FBI and progressed from utilization of personnel who had language skills, or who were trained on an ad hoc basis, to establishing a dedicated workforce of linguists. This evolution highlights the need for organizations to assess needs and build toward workforces defined by subject matter expertise, rather than taking a one-size-fits-all approach. As the FBI’s history in the field of language illustrates, expertise will eventually become a necessity. Workarounds, whether in language, information technology, or any other field, will only ultimately delay the development of capabilities.

Extraterritoriality in Private International Law

The paper questions the extraterritorial nature of foreign private law applied by the national law enforcement body in the regulation of cross-border private law relations. In view of the use of common terms “exterritorial” and “extraterritorial” in the framework of international public and private law regulation, it seems necessary to study the extraterritorial effect of foreign private law provisions through the prism of the substantive characteristics of extraterritoriality, formulated in the context of public international law. To this end, the author refers to the definition of extraterritorial jurisdiction as an international legal category and raises the question of how appropriate it is to admit, within the framework of a single definition, “extraterritorial” both the presence and absence of the manifestation of the sovereign will of the state on the territory of which any of the types of jurisdiction of a foreign state is exercised. Taking into account that the manifestation of the extraterritorial jurisdiction of one state in relation to another is realized in the absence of the latter’s sanction for its implementation, the author debates the admissibility of designation as extraterritorial foreign private law, the admissibility and limits of application of which are sanctioned by the national state.

Method of Automated Assessment of a Territorial Entity Image in the Media Discourse of a Foreign State

The penetration of information technologies into all spheres of our life dictates new rules, so it is not advisable to conduct media research without the use of technological solutions. Every day there are not even hundreds, but thousands of new publications, and it is difficult to process the entire array of information with the help of human efforts alone. The article presents the results of testing a new method of analyzing the image of a territorial subject in the media discourse. A distinctive feature is the use of a convergence approach and the implementation of part of the research with the help of IT specialists. The proposed method consists of five stages. First of all, the semantic core of the study and the list of media are formed, then the data is transformed into a format suitable for the software. At the fifth stage, data is collected through the Google search engine using a specially developed program in Python. As a result of this method more than 220,000 articles were collected and processed during the period from 2012 to the end of 2018. The empirical material was analyzed according to the following criteria: a) the patters of publication; b) the frequency of mentioning certain words; c) the field (politics, culture, sports, etc.). The methodology is suitable for further research while there are several points to be addressed in future studies. Among them, we suggest to limit the semantic core of the research using the word "Russia". For the intonation analysis of articles it is necessary to develop a specialized matrix; in addition, it is planned to identify the research time periods in more detail, which will allow us to assess the patterns of publication at a deeper level. In the future, the use of this methodology in media studies will increase the number of empirical databases and foster further research.

“No Sensational Disclosures”: Foreign States and the Establishment of an Authoritarian Regime in Estonia in 1934

On 12 March 1934, the Estonian government carried out a coup d’état and justified it by the danger allegedly posed by the radical right movement, the Estonian War of Independence Veterans’ League. This article examines the reports of diplomats residing in Estonia from six countries and concludes that the foreign diplomats were convinced that the real reason for the coup was the government’s fear of losing power to the Veterans as a result of the forthcoming elections. Nevertheless, the coup and the subsequent establishment of an undemocratic regime did not damage Estonia’s international position.

Foreign Influence and Domestic Policy

In an interconnected world, economic and political interests inevitably reach beyond national borders. Since policy choices generate external economic and political costs, foreign state and non-state actors have an interest in influencing policy actions in other sovereign countries to their advantage. Foreign influence is a strategic choice aimed at internalizing these externalities and takes three principal forms: (i) voluntary agreements, (ii) policy interventions based on rewarding or sanctioning the target country to obtain a specific change in policy, and (iii) institution interventions aimed at influencing the political institutions in the target country. We propose a unifying theoretical framework to study when foreign influence is chosen and in which form, and use it to organize and evaluate the new political economics literature on foreign influence along with work in cognate disciplines (JEL D72, D74, F51, F53, P26, P33).

On measures of state support for Russian small businesses in the context of overcoming the consequences of the pandemic

The purpose of consideration and comparison in the present paper is the general and comparative analysis of the influence of the strategy of development of customs authorities of the Russian Federation 2030 on the formed logistic chains of participants of FEA. In the course of the research the author assesses the change in the concept of management of customs authorities of the country, the emergence of differently directed parameters in the strategy — Artificial Intelligence and Human Capital. The possible variants of conjugation of scenario conditions of Technological Revolution 4.0 and basic concepts of the Human Capital in scenarios of influence on participants of FEA in traditional directions of deliveries for achievement of synergy effect of use of various components in achievement of progressive and harmonious development of international economic cooperation are considered and offered in the Strategy. Researching procedure and methods. The work considers and analyzes the norms of the current customs and tax legislation in the Russian Federation and EAEU countries, serving as the basis for the organization and regulation of foreign economic activity. Also, the aspect of application of perspective directions of development of scientific and technological progress and demand for its results in the general theory of management of the Service (Federal Customs Service of Russia) and improvement of interaction with participants of foreign economic activity is considered. Results of researching. Suggested adjustments and additions to the management model of the customs service of the country, taking into account the increasing possibilities of scientific and technological progress, development and improvement of the general theory of management of customs authorities and general digitalization of business processes and public administration processes. Theoretical and/or practical implications. The conducted research helps to complement the theoretical picture of the relationship between participants of foreign economic activity and state authorities that control foreign economic activity of participants in foreign economic activity, and provides a sustainable progressive development of the theory of management of foreign economic activity of the country.

United States Special 301 – A Deeply Flawed Tool for IPR Regulation?

In this article an International Law and policy perspective is applied to the US Special 301 approach to the management of intellectual property rights of foreign States – with emphasis on the pharmaceutical sector and transfer of technology against the backdrop of US China trade tensions. In particular, the article draws upon the US Special 301 Reports between 2018 to 2020. The paper sets out to take a critical stance of Special 301. This evaluation is intended to equip in particular those who are at the receiving end of the Special 301mechanism. The paper concludes that Special 301 is lacking in informed, expert and empirically based inputs. Above all it lends itself to being hijacked by the narrow agenda of the executive without adequate international, constitutional and due process safeguards for those it is targeted at. US Special 301, Intellectual Property, WTO, Technology Transfer, Pharmaceuticals, TRIPS, China, International Law, Due Process

Ships, sovereign immunity and the subtleties of the Brussels I regulation: Case C-641/18 LG and others v. Rina SpA, Ente Registro Italiano Navale: Ships, sovereign immunity and the subtleties of Brussels I: Rina

More than 1000 passengers on a Panamanian-registered ferry drowned in the Red Sea. Some survivors and relatives of some of the victims sued the classification and certification ship society which had surveyed the ferry. Relying on the Brussels I Regulation, the plaintiffs sued the defendants in the latter’s seat (in Italy). The defendants claimed sovereign immunity as they were acting on behalf of Panama (that is, the flag state). The CJEU ruled that, generally, Article 1(1) of the Regulation means that an action for damages, brought against private-law corporations engaged in the classification and certification of ships on behalf of, and upon delegation from, a non-EU Member State, falls within the concept of ‘civil and commercial matters’ in the Regulation. The defendants were therefore not immune. The CJEU qualified its ruling by saying that this is conditional on the activity being not exercised under ‘public powers’ (within the meaning of EU law) because then it would then be a sovereign and not a commercial activity. The CJEU thereby ruled that the customary public international law principle that foreign states have immunity from jurisdiction does not preclude an EU Member State court seised of a dispute from exercising jurisdiction under the Regulation in these circumstances.

Foreign Sovereign Immunity in the Enforcement of Investor-State Awards

This essay looks at the enforcement of investor-State arbitral awards under the U.S. Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA). Part I considers immunity from suit, which tends not to be an obstacle because of the arbitration exception to immunity found in Section 1605(a)(6). Part II turns to the FSIA’s rules on venue, which, as currently interpreted, seem to require an initial action in the District of Columbia to reduce the arbitral award to judgment, followed by a second action to execute that judgment where the foreign State has assets. Part III discusses the FSIA’s provision on service of process, which sets forth four methods for serving foreign States that must be followed strictly and in order. Finally, Part IV considers the FSIA’s rules on the immunity of a foreign State’s property from execution. Although Section 1610(a)(6) contains an arbitration exception to immunity from execution that is parallel to Section 1605(a)(6)’s exception to immunity from suit, the property to which the exception applies is limited. Specifically, an investor can enforce its award only against property that is in the United States, is owned by the foreign State itself, and is used by the foreign State for a commercial activity in the United States. In the end, it is the immunity of a foreign State’s property from execution that poses the biggest obstacle to enforcing investor-State awards.

Specifics of the Ukrainian election system

The paper considers the concept of the election process as an activity related to the exercise of suffrage. The list of subjects of the election process has been determined. The formation of the institution of elections under the influence of external factors is explained. The formation of the electoral process in Ukraine since the XIX century is analyzed under the influence of foreign states such as the Russian Empire and Austria-Hungary. The introduction of elections in the second half of the XIX century is considered in details in connection with the reform. The change of the electoral legislation in Ukraine from 1989 to 2004 is noted. The main types of electoral systems such as majority, proportional and mixed are analyzed. The peculiarities of the majority electoral system, which has been operating in Ukraine for a long time, and the proportional one, which is currently used in accordance with the Electoral Code of January 1, 2020, have been identified. The issue of choosing the most effective electoral system, on the example of majority, proportional and mixed systems, is considered in detail. It is concluded that the optimal system of popular expression of will of citizens in Ukraine is proportional, which is supported by the opinion of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, and the example of the development of other European states. The importance of a stable electoral system in Ukraine is noted. The main provisions of the Electoral Code of Ukraine, which entered into force on January 1, 2020, are considered. The election process and innovations of the Electoral Code of Ukraine are considered in detail. Particular attention was paid to the issue of gender equality during the elections, which caused a lot of discussion among Ukrainian politicians and European countries. The conclusion emphasizes that the electoral process in Ukraine has gone through a difficult and long path of formation, but the election legislation is quite at the stage of formation and development, due to difficult circumstances in the Ukrainian state to build civil society.

Determining the Concept of National Development in Iranian Newspapers: Exploring Reformism and Conservatism Periods

This paper aims to understand the concept of development in Iranian newspaper editorials during the presidency of Mohammad Khatami and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, known as reformism and conservatism periods, respectively. To this end, a quantitative content analysis of 440 editorials was carried out to investigate four dimensions of development. The findings indicated that the evolution of the development concept was varied in reformism and conservatism periods. The concept of development with indicators such as freedom of speech, dynamic communications with foreign states, and establishment of civil society were highlighted in the editorials of the press during the reformism period. Whereas, in the editorials during the conservatism period, the focus was on economic development and indicators such as targeted subsidy plans and reaching nuclear energy.

Compensation for Harm Caused by Crimes: Foreign Experience and Modern Legal Structures

in this article, the author conducts a comparative analysis of various approaches to compensation for harm caused by crimes in the legislation of a number of foreign states. Compensation for harm to persons who have become victims of criminal acts is not unreasonably raised by the world community in a number of global and pressing problems. Much attention has always been paid to the issues of compensation for harm caused by criminally punishable acts in world law enforcement practice, but many approaches now need a modern reboot due to the evolution of forms and methods of compensation for harm. Based on the results obtained, the author comes to the conclusion that currently there are two groups of countries: firstly, those that pay funds from their own funds or from special funds, and, secondly, those that impose compensation payments on account of the harm caused only to the accused.

MODERN MODELS OF PROVIDING AUTONOMY OF HIGHER EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS (ANALYSIS OF FOREIGN COUNTRIES EXPERIENCE)

In this article, the process of ensuring the autonomy of higher education institutions in the developing countries of the world, the main tools, factors and models in this regard have been studied. Also in the article, the importance of ensuring academic freedom in ensuring the quality of education in higher educational institutions, the peculiarities of the autonomy of higher educational institutions as an institutional form of academic freedom are analyzed by the example of foreign state experience.

Compensation for the Harm Caused by the Crime: Experience of Russia and the Cis Countries

The article examines the creation and functioning of specialized funds for the compensation of harm to victims of crime, as well as a comparative analysis of various methods of compensation for harm caused by a crime, provided for in the legislation of a number of CIS member states. In conclusion, it is pointed out that it is necessary to introduce into domestic law enforcement practice the successfully tested experience of compensation for harm from the legal systems of foreign states, which, in turn, creates the preconditions for the most complete and fair compensation for harm to victims of crimes, and the imposition of material responsibility on those responsible for committing criminal offenses.

Development of patenting of domestic inventions for the surgical treatment of injuries of the shoulder joint

Domestic patents for inventions on surgical treatment of shoulder joint injuries are analyzed. The database of the Federal Institute of Industrial Property of Rospatent was searched. Eliminating the so-called search noise, we created an array of 215 patents for inventions for the surgical treatment of shoulder injuries (registration mainly from 01/01/1994 to 09/30/2020). The average annual number of patents for inventions was 7 1. Surgical treatment methods were presented in 74.3% of inventions, and devices (surgical instruments, endoprostheses, etc.) in 25.7%. In some inventions, both methods and devices were patented. Inventions for the surgical treatment of shoulder joint instability accounted for 23.4%, for the treatment of tendons and periarticular tissues 8.9%, for osteosynthesis of the bones of the shoulder joint 21.9%, for surgical devices and instruments 14.2%, for methods and shoulder arthroplasty devices 13.4%; other inventions (on assessment of lesions, the likelihood of a favorable outcome of surgery, pain relief, etc.) 18.2%. It is necessary to optimize the domestic inventive activity in areas of medicine to prevent a shotage of domestic medical equipment or tools in case of sanctions imposed by certain foreign states.

LIBERALIZATION OF INTERNATIONAL ROAD TRANSPORTATION AS A NEW IMPULSE FOR DEVELOPMENT OF TRANSPORT INDUSTRY

The article examines the influence of state regulators on the organization of the process of international road transportation for Ukrainian carriers.
 It is substantiated that in the field of international road transportation there is a permit system between countries. That is, the main document that allows the performance of commercial transportation of goods or passengers on the territory of any state by a foreign vehicle is a permit to perform international road transportation of goods / passengers on the territory of a foreign state. A separate permit must be issued for each carriage of goods, which gives the right to carry out one run in the forward and reverse directions, unless another is stipulated in the permit itself. The competent authorities of the Contracting Parties will annually transmit to each other a mutually agreed number of forms of permits for the carriage of goods. In most cases, freight permits are issued within quotas on a parity basis.
 It has been proven that the administrative barrier in the form of permits for international road transportation is a deterrent to the free market.
 On the one hand, it is a kind of lever to protect national carriers, but on the other hand it is a restriction for the industry and not just transport.
 After all, changes in the legislation of the European Union will have an effect on Ukrainian carriers. Since, the process of negotiations in the direction of liberalization of road freight transportation for Ukrainian carriers is becoming more difficult. Therefore, the agreements reached with the countries that have agreed to such a step are extremely important.
 The legal acts included in the so-called Mobility Package and intended for the regulation of international road transportation in the European Union are described. Despite the fact that the norms of the Mobility Package now apply only to carriers from the EU member states and do not apply to carriers from the third countries, including Ukrainian, it is expected that the competent EU bodies will initiate proposals to extend a number of provisions of the Mobility Package to the carriers of non-EU countries.
 The proposed liberalization of the conditions for international road transportation is a new impetus for the development of the transport industry, as the absence of any barriers in the form of permits is a competitive advantage of domestic carriers in the road transport market.

The US Peace Corps as a public diplomacy strategy

The US Peace Corps has been operating programs globally since 1961 with an enduring mission toward international friendship and world peace structured around clear goals that emphasize cross-cultural learning objectives. Little is known about whether the program has a positive effect on US soft power abroad and, if so, the magnitude of that influence. This paper examines the impact of Peace Corps programming in foreign states on US public diplomacy objectives. The primary research aims to understand the relationship between indicators of a foreign population’s favorability toward the US and Peace Corps participation to determine the effects of program size as well as program presence and removal. Pew Research Center US favorability scores were analyzed alongside Peace Corps volunteer cohort sizes between years 2004 and 2016 among 20 sample countries. The findings indicate a positive and statistically significant relationship between the size of the Peace Corps volunteer cohort and US favorability. Each additional volunteer increases favorability toward the US by 0.12 points. The results are robust to the inclusion of additional soft power factors. Supplementary findings illustrate that the removal of Peace Corps programming may adversely impact favorability toward the US, establishing the negative soft power effect of ceasing participation.

Approaching the EU Sanctions Policy: An Experiment with Event Analysis

For a long time, the US has been a global leader in terms of use of unilateral sanctions. However, the EU is getting increasingly active as sanctions’ initiator. Currently, the EU runs at least 26 regimes of sanctions to address relations with foreign states or tackle functional problems like human rights, nonproliferation, cyber security or counterterrorism. Russia is one of the targets. The EU sanctions policy raises a number of research questions. How active is the EU policy in comparison with other initiators? What are the peculiarities of the EU institutional process of sanctions implementation? What are the key targets and what is the distribution of EU decisions and actions among those targets? To address these questions the article provides analysis of Sanctions Events Database (SED), designed by Russian International Affairs Council. The research implies empirical analysis of EU sanctions policy everyday events in 2020. It also covers sanctions and enforcement actions of separate EU members as well as alignment with the EU sanctions of the third countries. The article attempts to fill in the gap in the literature between quantitative analysis of multiple sanctions cases on the one hand and in-depth analysis of particular cases on the other. It makes a special focus on EU sanctions related to Russia.

Strategic directions of modern policy in the sphere of legal provision of public safety

The article analyzes the key problems of ensuring public security at the domestic and international levels associated with the modern energy policy which threatens the life and health of the planet's population. The task of implementing measures aimed at legal regulation related to the prevention of international crime is being updated. Interaction between law enforcement agencies and special services and state control bodies of foreign states requires development. It is important to improve the system of measures for the prevention in crime, the development and use of special tools aimed at reducing the level of criminalization in public relations. Suppression and prevention of criminal and other unlawful acts in the field of energy assumes counteraction to such crimes including corruption, embezzlement and misuse of budgetary funds. The activity of foreign organizations and special services, suppressing extremist and terrorist crimes aimed at causing damage to objects and infrastructure of the fuel and energy complex, deserves activation.