The humanities and social science

The article explores consequences of revising the Constitution. Based on 25 years of experience in implementing the supreme law of the Russian Feder­ation, various approaches to changing the text of the Constitution are ana­lyzed. Speial attention is paid to the analysis of proposals to reform the consti­tutional law, which in effect means replacing the current Constitution with a new one. The author aims to study possible effects of constitutional reforms and the stability of the Constitution. He substantiates his position regarding the amendment of the main law. The author employs methods of historical, systemic, comparative legal and dialectical logic analysis. The following forms of the development of the Constitution have been identified: revision, amend­ment, adoption or perfection of the existing sub-constitutional normative legal acts, official and casual interpretation of the Constitution by the Constitu­tional Court of the Russian Federation. The author considers all proposals to revise the text of the Constitution groundless since the main law has not ex­hausted its potential. The evolutionary development of the supreme law, which is the key to the progressive development of both state and society, can be achieved through the application of the above forms, including a non-textual amendment of the Constitution.

Crimes related to drug trafficking present a serious problem to modern society. Since 1986, comprehensive reforms have been carried out in the So­cialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV) in all spheres of life, including politics, economy, culture, etc., to create and develop market economy and the rule of law in the country. High crime rate poses a significant danger to the state. Drug trafficking is one of the most serious crimes in Ho Chi Minh, Hanoi and the Vietnamese border provinces. The author analyses the dynamics of drug-related crime rate in Vietnam. Special attention is paid to the concepts of the situation, place and time of crime. The author gives his definition of these im­portant concepts and identifies the most typical places, time as well as circum­stances characterizing the situation of crime related to drug trafficking in Vi­etnam.

The article is devoted to the analysis of the behaviour of bidders in the global gold market affected by short-term and medium-term geopolitical dis­turbances. The direction, volume, speed and time range of investments in gold are determined depending on the nature of geopolitical threats. Based on non-economic factors, the author reveals the main patterns of making trivial and non-trivial decisions on investing in gold. The first part of the article de­scribes the influence of geopolitical processes on the dynamics of the price of gold and the degree of its relevance. To achieve this goal the author employs the observation method and systemic, comparative and retrospective analyses. The global market of gold has its permanent professional participants, the in­vestment behaviour of whom directly affects the revaluation of the precious metal. There is another group of market participants acting strictly in the in­terests of the world leading players. This group does not significantly affect the fluctuation of the price of gold. The article explores the differences and similarities between actors of the gold market and the main players on the po­litical arena. The behaviour of professional participants in the gold market is conditioned by repeated and abrupt changes in the geopolitical space.

The author evaluates different development strategies for the Kaliningrad region proposed following the region’s active participation in the implementa­tion of the Greater Eurasia project. The analysis of the strategies took into ac­count the current trends of strengthening regionalization in the era of globali­zation. The author employs a wide range of methods — economic-statistical, economic-cartographic and graphoanalytical analysis — and critically reviews a wide body of literature on the problem. It is shown that the exclave position of the Kaliningrad region makes it difficult to justify a long-term strategy of its socio-economic development. Most of the previously developed strategies were based on export and / or import-substitution, proceeding from the advan­tageous geographical position in the coastal zone and the region’s proximity to economically developed countries and Russian regions. Deterioration of polit­ical relations and the weakening of socio-economic ties between Russia and the West diminished chances of implementing this type of strategy. However, the Greater Eurasia project opens up new perspectives for the Kaliningrad region. The new development strategy presupposes the development of the region as a link of the East — West transport corridor. The implementation of this strate­gy can be facilitated by the strengthening of foreign economic ties with the East of Eurasia and the restoration of relations with the EU countries on a new ba­sis.

Increasing competition in the retail segment of the Russian pharmaceuti­cal market, which is mainly represented by small businesses, leads to the struggle for each customer, who is becoming increasingly demanding when it comes to the quality of medicines and medical services. The article identifies the main problems and factors affecting the development of the retail segment of the pharmaceutical business of the old industrial region. The author offers a methodology of the assessment of consumer preferences and presents the re­sults of marketing analysis of customer preferences in the retail segment of the pharmaceutical business of the Kemerovo region.

The authors reflect on the interaction of nature and society in the territo­ry of the modern Kaliningrad region in the Stone Age. Natural factors played a decisive role in the formation of the region’s cultural landscape. In the Stone Age, anthropogenic changes in the natural environment were minimal and were mainly noticed in separate components of the natural landscape. At the boundary of the Paleolithic and Mesolithic periods, megafauna species — mammoths, woolly rhinos and turs — disappeared from the territory of the re­gion. The reindeer population decreased significantly and completely disap­peared in the middle of the Mesolithic. Changes in the fauna were caused by both natural and anthropogenic factors. It is difficult to trace the anthropo­genic effect on vegetation before the Late Neolithic when floodplain agricul­ture (though not everywhere) started playing an auxiliary role. Favourable natural conditions in the Mesolithic-Neolithic periods contributed to the for­mation of a complex adaptive type of economy, characterized by sustainability.

The article examines the course and outcome of the operations of the 1st Russian Army during the second stage of the East Prussian offensive in Au­gust 1914. The author used the example of an infantry division to analyse its combat operations in the battles in East Prussia and its disbandment follow­ing the operation. The failure of the Russian invasion to Germany at the be­ginning of the First World War led to the disbandment of two divisions that could not withstand the severity of the defeat. The injustice of this decision, especially given the fact that dozens of new divisions were formed in the Rus­sian army, is undeniable.

The article is a review of the body of literature published in Finland dur­ing the 1990s — 2010s, describing the evolution of Finland's foreign policy to­wards the USSR in the last decade of the Cold War. The author identifies chronological stages of the study of Finland’s policy towards the Soviet Union and analyses the most relevant themes, which were the subject of attention of Finnish historians and historiographers. The author characterizes each histo­riographic period, its main topics and key research works. The author con­cludes that the main research interest of Finnish authors was the position of Finland in relation to the separation of the Baltic States from the USSR in the late 1980s and early 1990s. However, Finnish researchers did not comprehen­sively consider the evolution of the Finnish policy towards its eastern neigh­bours during the entire period of the 1980s — early 1990s.

In 1997, the Constitution of the Republic of Poland was adopted. Since then, constitutional disputes have continued in Poland. After the 2015 elec­tions, they sharpened. In addition, Polish President Andrzej Duda proposed a change to the Constitution of the Republic of Poland. This initiated a po­litical debate on constitutional matters. They are the subject of the article. Moreover, the most important current constitutional dilemmas were ana­lyzed. The cur­rent constitutional debate refers both to the need to amend the Constitution of the Republic of Poland of 1997 and the need to pass a com­pletely new basic law.

The aim of the study is to study the system of social standards of modern society and to assess the system of social norms and norms in the Russian Federation at the moment. The methods of analysis of the system of support of motherhood and childhood in Russia were used, as well as the method of com­parative characteristic of the system of support of motherhood and childhood in different countries of the world according to different criteria. The study revealed that one of the priority national projects in the Rus­sian Federation is the Demography project, which includes many programs to support mothers and children at both the federal, regional and municipal lev­els; and the comparison of the issue under study in other countries of the world showed that in our country one of the best systems of support of moth­erhood and childhood in the world according to various criteria, at the same time it is constantly expanding and modernizing taking into account changes in society and economy. For comparison, European, Asian, Latin American state programs supporting motherhood and childhood are investigated, which are largely determined by the current demographic situation, the level of eco­nomic development, historical, religious and cultural peculiarities.