2017 Issue №4

The article investigates the specifics of the interaction between political institutions and civil society. Analyzing relevant research literature, the author studies the effectiveness and legitimacy of political institutions in Russia. The author identifies the main trends in their activity of political institutions, which should be given special attention when establishing functional connections between civil society as such and political institutions.

The author critically re-considers the neo-institutional approach to the essence of political rent. The notion of political anti-rent is introduced and substantiated. The author considers forms and significance of political rent in the political space of modern party systems. The article provides a quantitative evaluation of rents and anti-rents in political markets of some states.

The article considers the environmental aspect of the current Arctic Strategy of Sweden. Despite the general predominant environmental vector, objective results of the Swedish Arctic Strategy remain quite frugal. As the leading environmental European power, Sweden was not able to present a comprehensive environmental part of its Arctic strategy and did not try to update the environmental agenda in the Arctic. Sweden’s Arctic Strategy is aimed at maintaining a policy of sustainable and balanced development in the Arctic region. However, in reality, it requires great efforts and concrete measures not only from Sweden, but also from other participants of international relations.

The article examines the main approaches to the study of nationalism. The author describes characteristic features of conceptual trends, reveals their strengths and weaknesses. The article shows that in political science there is no single self-sufficient theory that could become an instrument for studying various manifestations of nationalism.