The humanities and social science

The international disaster relief represents one of actively developing are­as of interstate cooperation, both at universal, and the regional level. It repre­sents one of sustainable development goals of the UN (UN SDGs). This arti­cle sees its purpose in the analysis of activity of the international organiza­tions in disaster prevention, development of idea on what the global mecha­nism of such prevention is about, and the role of the international organiza­tions. The research used comparative, analytical and historical analyses. The author states that the international organizations actively participate in pro­tection of the population and territories against disasters while implementing various programs and certain activities. Such work is carried out on universal (within the UN) and regional (ASEAN, CE, etc.) levels. However, there are certain differences between the regions in this sphere of cooperation are pre­sented is non-uniform. The author reveals features and advantages of some of them. Activity of the international organizations in general in the field of pro­tection against disasters promotes gradual growth of the independent branch of international law — international disaster relief law, by means of develop­ment of the basic principles and norms and practice of their application.

This paper considers the features of the governing in the Palestinian Na­tional Authority (PNA), resulted from Oslo agreements. The purpose of this study is to analyze how public institutions, security forces work in practice, and public finances are formed and spent. The methodology is based on a sys­tematic approach in order to demonstrate the whole complex of interconnected elements and the totality of interacting objects. The findings revealed the weaknesses of state institutions of the PNA, the significant influence of the executive branch and power structures, which are overgrown with client rela­tions and systemic corruption. It is noted that the state budget is formed not only from donor assistance, but also from income received internally. In fact, PNA has become a system in which plutocracy reigns supreme. The interde­pendence of the head of state, monopoly business and law enforcement agen­cies created a tangle that cannot be unraveled. The author points out that many actions of the leadership are aimed at protecting oneself from opposition forces and sentiments as well as maintaining power. Under current condi­tions, genuine reforms are almost impossible to implement since they can lead to self-destruction of the PNA structure.

The article focuses on the theoretical aspects of the development of behavioral geoeconomics as a new area of interdisciplinary research. The authors attempt to introduce the “strategic economic behavior” construct into scientific circulation. The approach is based on the results of empirical and theoretical verification of the methodological individualism postulate. According to researchers, the experimental data suggest that the behavior of the state cannot be narrowed down to the behavior of individuals. The rejection of the methodological individualism principle allows us to consider that the rationality of the state economic behavior should be considered through the correlation of goals, available resources and the planning prospects. The proposed theoretical construct is postulated as the basis for a new interdisciplinary research program that integrates the institutional-evolutionary economics and behavioural economics.

The geography of modern innovation processes increasingly covers not only megalopolises and large industrial cities, but also rural areas. The issue of innovative development of the countryside has acquired particular prominence in the context of securing human capital and preventing the marginalization of rural settlements, though creating a favorable environment for life and business in particular. At the initial stage, the innovation of rural areas is associated with the diffusion and implementation of innovations in the economy and social sectors, as well as expanding the public access to various innovative solutions and technologies that can increase the level of well-being and the quality of the living environment. The purpose of this study is to assess the existing differences between the rural and urban population in the provision of banking, public, information and communication services as the basis for activating the innovation process. The study is carried out on urban and rural municipalities of the Leningrad region. Special attention is paid to the spatial factor in concentration of service renders. It is revealed that there is a significant gap in innovation susceptibility both between urban and rural settlements, and within rural settlements, depending on their proximity to a densely populated urban agglomeration, significant highways, large industrial and port infrastructure.

The research focuses on the poorly studied process of a social system passing through a bifurcation point: birth and progress of a crisis — social collapse resulting in the disintegration of the society — recuperation via integration of a part of the disintegrated social structure into a new one. A fine example of such a process is given by the admission of a part of Rzeczpospolita (Grand Duchy of Lithuania lands) into the Russian Empire. Those events had a major impact on the ensuing historical path of Belarus, which makes it more urgent to be studied. Herein, we employ the institutional approach supplemented with the recently developed theory of institutional matrices. It is revealed that when a state is formed out of elements with essen­tially differ­ent institutional matrices, there becomes possible a transplan­ta­tional dysfunc­tion of institutions, which in turn can initiate a crisis, capa­ble, in case of a malfunctioning political system and disunited elites, of trig­gering a social col­lapse and (if there are interested «poles of power») the total di­sintegration of the society. The subsequent entry of its part into another social system constitutes one of the options of passing through a bifurcation point. Three stages of this process are distinguished: incorporation of the new lands into the administrative-territorial structure of the recipient state, rebuilding of the social stratification in the new lands, administrative and legal unification, and deep integration. It is shown that upon the admission of Grand Duchy of Lithuania lands into the Russian Empire some basic economic and sociocul­tural institutions were retained, which bears witness to the preservation of singular elements of the institutional matrix of the disin­teg­rated society even during its passage through a bifurcation point.

The article focuses on the publications of the Konigsberg Cyrillic printing house of the first third of the XVIII century. Its founder and publisher Vasily Korven-Kvasovsky, professor of mathematics at the University of Prague, be­came the author of calendars. Their target audience was the Orthodox popula­tion of different countries, primarily Russia. In total, he is established to have been the author of four calendars, three of which are printed in Königsberg. Two publications are studied in the article — calendars for 1727 and 1730. Copies of these publications are kept in the collection of the Russian State Li­brary. The bibliography of these publications is analyzed, the content is exam­ined, and copies of books are described. The analysis relies on source study, historical chronology, bibliography, book science. The Konigsberg editions of the Korven-Kvasovsky calendars are found to be original works which rely on the author’s knowledge in the field of calendar-chronological of his time that performed practical and educational functions. The calendar for 1727 included the original author's text of the "Home Healer", and the calendar for 1730 in­cluded the first chapter of the arithmetic textbook. Three copies of calendars from the collection of the RSL contain readers’ comments on the margins, their ex libris, which is a certain sign of the cultural value.

The confessional space of regions and countries is dynamically changing and acquiring new characteristics. But these changes and the factors that de­termine them are not fully reflected in academic research. One of the least studied topics is the economic activity of confessions. Estonia is one of the few countries in the Baltic region where religion has not been a public institution until nowadays, therefore it hasn’t provided access to the financial records of its religious organizations.

At the same time, the population of modern Estonia (more than other countries in Northern Europe) is influenced by the processes of secularization. The aim of the study is to confirm this hypothesis using data from economic and mathematical-statistical tools. Analysis of the financial activities of the leading (in the number of objects of religious infrastructure) of adherents of the EELC and EPC MP lets us state that at the moment the Church has the ability to provide its current activities, but not its development or expansion. Moreover, these religious organizations are already facing the task of losing some number of buildings belonging to them as well as the staff of priests.

Analysis of the economic activity of a religious organization is rarely used in scientific research, however, its results may be indicative of the processes and trends in the functioning of religious institutions, implementation of different aspects of churches' activities as parts of the unite confessional space.

The article studies the development of integration processes in Europe and Eurasia. The purpose of scientific research is to identify the similarities and differences between European and Eurasian integration. The theoretical relevance of the research lies in the comparison of the integration processes re­garding the analysis of demographic and socio-economic development indica­tors of the EU and EAEU countries, as well as the integration mechanisms and instruments. The research comes to the conclusion on the possibility of adopting the European Union integration experience for the further integra­tion processes in the Eurasian integration process. The primary tool for re­search is the comparative analysis. It is noted that the economic integration of countries in the post-Soviet space follows the path of the European Union in terms of adopting the organization principles. However, despite some similari­ties, integration associations have significant differences in the starting condi­tions, motives and context of integration, and the tools and mechanisms for its implementation.  The authors conclude that the implementation of certain fundamental principles of constructing European integration, such as federal­ism and democracy, is not possible in EAEU decisions making. Nevertheless, the achieved harmonization of some regulations and standards of the countries of the two integration associations, in the process of borrowing European ex­perience, will contribute to their further economic convergence and interac­tion. The practical relevance of the research is to show the possibility of partial adopting of the EU experience for further integration of the EAEU countries and the need to improve the theoretical foundations that could form the basis for the development of Eurasian integration.