The relevance of the topic of the article is determined by the need to revise, within the framework of domestic political science, the liberal paradigm of the relationship between the state and non-governmental non-profit organizations (hereinafter: NPOs), in order to fill the publicpolitical space of government-public interaction with the values of constructive, constructive cooperation. Comparative, historical, and descriptive methods were used. The following results were obtained. The author identifies and characterizes the reason that reduces the validity of the “gardener state” model, popular in modern political science, according to which the government creates all conditions for supporting civil initiatives, developing and scaling technologies of intersectoral social partnership, while not interfering in the evolution of NGOs, providing full freedom of their activities. Such a reason for the ineffectiveness of the “gardener state” model is the de–ideologized liberalism of the late twentieth century, which leveled the role of the state in initiating, developing and implementing policies to support and regulate the third sector, including the ideological and value content of public-state interaction. Using concrete examples, it is argued that attempts to transfer the model of the “gardener state” to an illiberal type of democracy have contributed to the emergence and intensification of crises and imbalances in the development of both non-profit sector organizations and national political systems. It is proved that the underlying reason for the sharp tightening of Russia’s state policy towards NGOs in the 2000s and 2010s was the conflict of values between ultra-liberal public organizations and the government in the 1990s. As a result, the need for modern political science and practice to adjust the model of the “gardener” state in terms of strengthening the goal–setting, ideological function of the state in relation to NGOs is argued. The introduction of the concept of values management for NGOs is considered to be the primary stage in the constructivization of government-public interaction in the public-political sphere.

The article examines the issues of developing a policy in the field of import substitution and ensuring technological sovereignty. The prerequisites for the emergence of the need to solve them are considered. Sanction pressure on the Russian economy led to the departure of investors from the domestic market from states that pursue an unfriendly policy towards the Russian Federation. This, in turn, led to the rupture of economic and technological ties. It forced us to look for a replacement for imported goods from these countries, to implement an import substitution policy. Further escalation of sanctions pressure required the development and implementation of a policy to ensure technological sovereignty. This required a new look at the issues of innovative development. Russia has experience in implementing a policy aimed at building an innovative economy. Based on its analysis, conclusions are made about the risks of ensuring innovative development by borrowing foreign technologies, the need to implement a technological development policy based on our own resources. The article considers the Strategy for Scientific and Technological Development of the Russian Federation and the Concept of Technological Development for the period up to 2030 as strategic planning documents related to the implementation of policies in the field of import substitution and ensuring technological sovereignty. The article considers the problems of the functioning of the strategic planning system, proposes approaches to coordinating the strategy for ensuring technological development with industry strategies and the strategy of spatial development. Options for carrying out these agreements are proposed and compared.

The article discusses issues of ensuring information and economic security as one of the most important qualitative characteristics of logistics systems that determine the ability to ensure the established parameters of material flows in the process of goods distribution when introducing digital systems and technologies. An analysis of modern risks and threats characteristic of the development of digital ecosystems of transport and logistics services is carried out. The key factors for ensuring economic security and their importance in logistics are examined from the point of view of ensuring operational control over compliance with established key indicators of product distribution. The issues of ensuring the parameters of commodity distribution within the established threshold values are touched upon in order to achieve optimal functioning of the commodity distribution system and ensure the economic activity of the enterprise with all the necessary resources. Logistics systems are studied for the effective organization and management of material flows, aimed at ensuring the reliability of operation and implementation of the strategy of economic entities. The necessity of using modern digital technologies to increase the level of economic security in logistics systems and ensure transparency, controllability and traceability of material flows in the field of commodity distribution is substantiated. At the same time, the very fact of digitalization of cargo delivery processes is considered from the perspective of the ecosystem paradigm and platform concept. The patterns of transformation of traditional logistics operators into providers of digital logistics services are substantiated. A model of a cyber-physical ecosystem in logistics has been developed, providing end-to-end management of business processes and data exchange in the process of goods distribution.

The article examines the conceptual basis of international fragmentation of production in the form of global value chains (GVCs) as an important feature of globalization of the world economy. The aim of the study is to reveal the key methodological approaches that allow measuring the participation of national economies in GVCs. Traditional international trade statistics published on the official websites of state customs authorities are not sufficient to address this task. The concept of trade in value added suggested by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in the early 2010s is analyzed, the main indicators of countries’ integration into GVCs are identified and systematized, as well as the leading international databases on GVCs are described with their strengths and drawbacks being shown. The author concludes that the existing methodological approaches to the investigation of GVCs provide new insight into the positioning of countries and regions in global production and trade. The relevant statistics can be applied both by transnational corporations to optimize the geography of their GVCs and improve the efficiency of their activities, and by host countries’ governments implementing the strategies of economic development.

The problems of war and peace throughout the history of mankind remain the most discussed issues. Their solution is not only of purely theoretical interest, but also has an impact on the development of international law and relations between states. Modern world politics has significantly enriched ideas about the dialectic of war and peace, expanding knowledge about possible mutual transformations of war and peace, expanding the actors in the use of military force, and raising the problem of considering war as a means of enforcing peace.

The purpose of the article is to trace the dialectic of war and peace at various stages of world history, to reveal the nature of transformations of war and peace, to establish the conditions under which war becomes a means of enforcing peace.

The research methodology is based on the analysis of extensive historiography on the problem of war and peace, the use of the comparative historical method in studying the nature and character of such states of society as war and peace, the use of the dialectical principle in considering the place and role of violence and non-violence in society, the use of military force as a means of enforcing peace.

The results obtained in the study allow us to expand knowledge about the nature and nature of modern wars, the conditions under which military force is a means of enforcing peace, indicate the need to maintain the armed forces of the state adequate to existing threats to ensure national security and sovereignty, in readiness for use as a means of enforcing peace.

Conclusions. The results of the study allow us to conclude that in modern international relations, wars may have the goal of coercing peace. The just nature of the armed struggle of the people of Novorossiya, as well as the special military operation carried out by the Russian Federation, are a forced and extreme measure aimed at preserving the national and cultural identity of the inhabitants of Donbass, eliminating emerging military threats on the southern borders of Russia through peace enforcement.

The purpose of the article is to prove the possibilities and limitations of studying childhood events to justify practice-oriented projects in the field of youth policy and childhood support. The article describes main directions of the evidence-based approach in applied research. Authors argue the need to use sociological data on the scale, specifics of various situations, episodes, debut events in childhood for making management decisions in evidence-based state policy in the field of childhood and youth. The data of panel studies “Eventfulness of Childhood” implemented in 2018 and 2023 are analyzed. From an array of 100 significant childhood events, those that are most relevant for designing various programs for children and youth (deviant childhood events, introduction to subcultural practices, mastering information and communication technologies, traditional practices of mastering culture) were selected to argue the evidence-based approach. It has been revealed which groups of children and adolescents are the target audience for projects on the prevention of deviation and associative subcultural groups, introduction to reading, digital hygiene programs, etc. The prospects for development of an evidence-based approach have been identified: the imperative of using it not only at the initial stage of creating projects, but also upon completion of programs to prove effectiveness, the need to introduce research as a mandatory condition in grant programs, and a change in the priorities for selecting experts.

To date, not enough generalizing studies have been published in Russia aimed at identifying the obvious and hidden external risks to the INSTC project, the strategic importance and geoeconomic significance of which is beyond doubt. Therefore, the purpose of the article is to form an adequate understanding of the actual and imaginary significance of these risks, their severity, interrelationships and interdependence. Based on a comprehensive analysis of an array of extensive information, the author concluded that the leading project participants — Russia, Azerbaijan and Iran — initially paid increased attention to the western branch of the INSTC. At the same time, it was found that this project was the focus of the most acute challenges from the United States and the EU, Turkey, India and China, the republics of Central Asia, Armenia and Pakistan. At the same time, it is emphasized that the main danger to the coordinated work of the Russian Federation, Azerbaijan and Iran within the framework of the project comes from the United States and its NATO allies. Without hiding their hostility to Russia, Iran and China, they are making efforts to involve Azerbaijan and other former Soviet republics in their geopolitical game in the South Caucasus. A certain influence on Baku's behavior has also been established on the part of the "pan-Turkist" movement, which is concerned about Azerbaijan's shift of attention to the TITR project. The Pan-Turkists are impressed by the fact that TITR enjoys the support of the West. The author also refers to the Azerbaijani Iranian and Azerbaijani Indian contradictions, India's competition with China and Pakistan in Central Asia, and Armenia's claim to create a parallel transport infrastructure to the World Trade Center. The article explains the background and scale of all these challenges and risks for Russia and the INSTC project, their thoroughness and severity. According to the author, the main challenge (in fact, a threat) to the project today comes from the United States, which has stepped up its participation in the reconciliation of Baku and Yerevan. In this regard, he urges to monitor Washington's desire to oust the Russian Federation from Armenia and turn it into a state controlled by the West. Attention is also drawn to the dangerous prospect for the Russian Federation of concluding a deal between Turkey and Azerbaijan at the expense of Armenia in the direction of compulsory implementation of the he Zangezur transport corridor project.

In recent years, the problem of economic security has become significantly more acute. One of the threats to economic security is excessive differentiation of the country’s regions by their level of socio-economic development. This differentiation makes the country’s economic space heterogeneous. The corresponding threat to economic security requires neutralization. The key issue here is the choice of a method for assessing the level of differentiation. The article analyzes the methodological techniques used to assess regional differentiation. It is shown that they not only differ, but can also give contradictory results when applied. The need for unification and integration of approaches to assessing regional differentiation in the context of ensuring economic security is revealed. These recommendations can be considered when implementing economic policy at both the federal and regional levels.

The issues of long-term development of Russian regions do not lose their relevance, both from a theoretical and practical point of view. One of the important issues of the regional economy on the agenda remains the issue of sustainable development of regional socio-economic systems. To date, there are unresolved issues on the formation of a comprehensive methodology for assessing the prospects for the development of the region from the perspective of its sustainable development. The purpose of the article is to develop a methodology for assessing the prospects for the development of the region based on the concept of sustainable development, implemented in the form of a flowchart. To achieve this goal, the following tasks were identified: to review research in the field of assessing the prospects for the development of the region, to identify the optimal set of methods and tools for assessing the prospects for the development of the region, differentiated by components of sustainable development, to formulate a definition of tools and methods for assessing the prospects for the development of the region, to formulate a definition of assessing the prospects for the development of the region. The subject of the research are tools and methods for assessing the prospects for the development of the region. During the analysis of the scientific literature, it was found that the assessment of the prospects for the development of the region is carried out by performing 6 steps: selection of indicators for the development of the region, retrospective analysis, forecasting, assessment of prospects, formation of corrective measures, development of a strategy for socio-economic development. Based on the review of scientific literature, definitions of forecasting socio-economic development and assessing the prospects for the development of the region were formulated. As part of the comparison of the contents of the concepts of «forecasting» and «assessment of prospects» for the development of the region, common characteristics and the difference between these concepts are established, which lies in the very purpose of carrying out a particular procedure. The article defines the tools and methods for assessing the prospects for the development of the region from the perspective of the theory of public administration and the theory of socio-economic systems. The difference between these concepts is defined. During the preparation of the scheme for assessing the prospects for the development of the region, the proposed research tools and methods for assessing prospects were described, as well as the expected result was formulated within the framework of each step of the algorithm for a comprehensive assessment of the prospects for the development of the region based on the concept of sustainable development. A comprehensive scheme for assessing the prospects for the development of the region is proposed, which includes an analysis of external and internal conditions affecting the sustainable development of the region, an assessment of development prospects for three components of sustainable development, as well as a comprehensive assessment of development prospects using the integral index of sustainable development, which allows to assess the overall sustainable development of the region. The proposed scheme eliminates the shortcomings of existing methods for assessing the prospects for the development of the region.

In November 2024, the first conference of scientific community of students of the RANEPA network “Young Scientists of RANEPA — 2024” was held. The work was carried out within the framework of three sections: socio-humanitarian, economic and managerial, international relations. Students of all levels of training — undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate — became the participants of these sections The conference solved two main tasks: 1) to give an opportunity to students of RANEPA branches to present the results of their scientific research and receive professional assessment of their works from the moderators of the sections — scientists of the North-Western Institute of Management RANEPA; 2) to determine the field of common scientific interests of students from different branches of RANEPA in order to create interregional youth research teams in the future. Both tasks were successfully solved. The conference participants received a constructive impetus to continue their research, the results of which will be presented at the next Second Conference of the RANEPA SSS Network in 2025.