In modern conditions, classical approaches to urbanization need to be supplemented. The concept of rural agglomerations based on the development of inter-territorial cooperation of local governments arose. The question about new criteria for the formation of agglomerations was raised. The concept of actual urban settlements, which involves taking into account the modern characteristics of environmental processes is proposed. The territorial base is the southern part of the Republic of Karelia.

The article is devoted to the problem of improving the system of continuous professional training in the field of management. The article contains a review of the following actual features of training management personnel: continuity and incessancy, flexibility and variability, compactness and practical orientation, the on-person orientation of the educational process. Attention is focused on the need to develop “soft” skills and communication competencies of students, as well as the need to enhance cooperation with regional reserves of management personnel.

The main modern ways of eradicating poverty and inequality are considered: within the framework of the market paradigm; within a regulated economy; by social policy tools.
Cryptocurrency as non-state money and money unsecured by material benefits helps solve the problems of lack of liquidity in both anti-inflationary and pro-inflationary policies, without harming the state as an issuer.
Within the framework of the planned economy, cryptocurrency allows to solve the same problems that were solved by manipulating the different cost of money in the market and planned sector.

The purpose of this article is to study elections from the perspective of the motivation of society’s participation in them. The interests of professional political subjects and the people are differentiated.
A comparative analysis of a number of models of democracy is carried out from the position of their correspondence to reality. The elite model of democracy is taken as a basis for further research. The author’s approach to democracy as one of the means of hybrid management of society as opposed to the division of states into democratic and nondemocratic is described.
Elections to state authorities and elections to local self-government bodies are differentiated based on differences in the motivation of voters to participate in them.
An electoral model is proposed that includes elections as an advisory mechanism (elections for the authorities) and elections as a mechanism of public representation and self-government (elections for citizens).

The authors of this article set a goal to identify the most relevant obstacles for venture capital development in Russia. In order to achieve this goal, statistical analysis was carried out as well as valuation of different quantitative and qualitative information, including primary sources (interviews with venture industry experts) was conducted. Russian and foreign literature was exploited during this research. The analysis of the Russian venture capital development dynamics was carried out, as well as the major regulatory aspects of the industry were examined. Based on the results of the research, certain recommendations were provided, which, according to the authors, are capable of supporting venture investments in the long term and accelerating the volume growth of capital raising by domestic startups.

The 21th century challenges and the erosion of the global economic and business networks makes it urgent the rethinking of the main scientific research discourse in management. The article provides the overview of the scientific publications, dedicated to the globalization of the world economy and the main causes of the upcoming deglobalization. It is highlighting the impact of the strengthening trade and techno nationalism as well as the COVID-19 pandemic consequences on the world economy in general and the creation of global value chains in particular. It is also explains the imperative of economic and business processes localization by the degradation of the global environment and climate change. Some authors state that the new theoretical mainstream and a paradigm of management is needed to reflect the realities of the substantial transitions in the global economy.

The modern economy is heavily influenced by digitalization, which is becoming a driver of economic growth and structural transformation of the economy. The Covid-19 pandemic gave additional impetus to these processes, stimulating the active use of digital remote working technologies. In different sectors of the economy, the impact of digitalization is different. The subject of study within the framework of the article is digitalization in the logistics industry. The main directions of digital transformation of logistics, priority technologies used in digital transformation, as well as positive effects and barriers to the development of digitalization in logistics, were highlighted.

The article presents the results of a study of the problems of using the Harmonized System (HS) for Description and Coding of Goods as the main element of the Commodity Nomenclature of Foreign Economic Activity (CN FEA) of the EAEU. Given the global nature of the nomenclature, the author focuses on the practical features of using the system in international trade and customs purposes. Based on the analysis of literary sources, the author highlighted the main problems of using the HS and CN FEA of the EAEU. In the work, quantitative and qualitative research methods were used: a comparative semantic analysis of the use of a product name allowed the author to identify difficulties in application and incomplete compliance with the requirements of international trade. An empirical study of the classification characteristics of goods showed illustrative examples characterizing the presence of outdated and inappropriate terms and concepts that do not correspond to modern practice, which limits the use of the texts of the items of the nomenclature. The investigated compliance of the classification characteristics of goods used in the HS and CN FEA of the EAEU showed a lack of uniformity between the identification criteria and marking information in technical regulations, in terms of use for the purposes of compliance with prohibitions and restrictions. The structural analysis of the HS and CN FEA of the EAEU showed examples of the lack of structural uniformity in the assignment of goods made of the same material.
The study of the possibility of using the HS and CN FEA of the EAEU for search queries showed restrictions on their use for automatically determining the product code. Based on the totality of the study, the author has shown the discrepancy between the HS and CN FEA of the EAEU with the modern requirements of international trade in terms of the application of concepts, classification signs, systematization and the growing need for a radical revision of the HS.

This article reveals the process of becoming a “smart city” based on the materials of Barcelona. The socio-political aspects of the use of “smart city” technologies in the information and communication era are revealed.
The authors use of the system method made it possible to study the technologies of the “smart city” in aggregate, and the use of the comparative method made it possible to establish the specifics of the development of Barcelona during the tenure of Mayor Xavier Trias and Ada Colau. The authors draw attention to the reasons for the recognition of the capital of Catalonia as the most high-tech city in the world in 2015. It is emphasized that Barcelona has made a rapid breakthrough in a relatively short period of time, turning into a post-industrial city. It is noted that the driver of Barcelona’s transformation was the holding of the XXV Summer Olympic Games in 1992, which essentially changed the appearance of the city.
The authors point to the additional opportunities in city management that the information and communication revolution led to and the speed of the Internet penetration rate. It is emphasized that information and communication technologies led to the transformation of a rigidly vertical bureaucratic system of exercising power and set the vector of its transition to a horizontal (network model) based on the effects of high technologies.
It is noted that the modern model of exercising power in Barcelona presupposes the active involvement of citizens in the processes of city management, based on the use of technological platforms that simplify coworking processes.
As a result of the study, the authors come to the conclusion that the contemporary paradigm of the “smart city” involves the involvement of citizens as active participants in decisionmaking and planning. Attention is focused on the formation of two models of urban governance in Barcelona, differing in the dynamics of the exercise of power and the prevalence of tendencies from “top to bottom” (mayors of the city of K. Trias) and from “bottom to top” (mayor of the city A. Colau). The authors emphasize that modern Barcelona is not only a flagship of technological development, but also a city with democratic traditions and a high level of humancentered orientation.

This article is devoted to the study of public environmental organizations in Germany. The largest of them are “NABU” and “BUND”, which have existed for a long time. They operate at a high scientific level throughout the country, from mass events and environmental education to study of global environmental problems and the development of ways to solve them. Particular attention is paid to radical environmental organizations such as “Robin Wood”, “Earth First!”, “Earth Liberation Front”and” Animal Liberation Front”. Their activities are concentrated locally, and their methods of solving environmental problems are harder. As a rule, eco-radical protests are aimed at attracting public attention and encouraging the ruling authorities to take measures to change the environmental situation in a particular region. The attitude of the population to such methods of struggle is ambiguous, but no one is indifferent. Despite the peak of activity of these organizations has passed, this does not prevent them from existing, conducting educational activities and attracting new supporters to their ranks, since some of their initiatives remain relevant to this day.

This study is a systematic analysis of the current debate in leading English-language journals about the future of social policy in an aging society. Pension systems have been reformed in most European countries in recent decades, but there are types of reforms that can shift the burden of aging to other generations. If the benefits and costs of these reforms affect generations’ perceptions of social policy in different ways, then pension reform can be used as a tool to improve not only public finances, but also intergenerational solidarity. The investigation of the relationship between different types of pension reforms and social justice is one of the tasks of this study. One of the main challenges was to understand whether the changes in social policy could intensify or reduce the conflicts between generations. The results showed that the support for social policy, which is mainly aimed at older people, has declined in most European countries, although the vast majority of people believe that the state should provide a reasonable standard of living for older people. Support for the elderly declined more in the countries that raised the retirement age and introduced multi-pillar pensions. At the same time, a well-functioning intergenerational welfare pact is not only about ensuring the well-being of older people. It is also a preference for policies that support the working population and those under working age. The rebalancing of the intergenerational welfare pact can provide a solid foundation for an adequate pension policy.

Goal. The article analyzes new approaches in the state policy of Russia to reduce poverty. The essence of the social contract as a tool for solving issues of state social assistance to low-income families (citizens) and improving the level and quality of their life is revealed. The results of experimental activities of 21 regions on the introduction of a social contract in the practice of providing state assistance are considered.
Methods. The study uses a set of general scientific methods, such as analysis, synthesis, generalization, system-functional and integrated approach. Within the framework of the stated topic, the systematization of theoretical provisions and modern approaches is carried out on the basis of studying the works of various authors, regulatory documents of the federal and regional level, official statistics.
Results. The theoretical and practical significance of the presented research consists in the concretization and systematization of modern strategic approaches of the state policy of Russia, both in the field of overcoming poverty and in the provision of state social assistance to low-income categories of citizens. These areas of state social policy have not yet been sufficiently studied by Russian science. The conducted analysis justifies the need for further improvement of state policy in this direction. The obtained materials allow us to highlight the positive results achieved by the regions to date and identify the ways that led to them, which can contribute to the further development of the state social policy to overcome poverty and the system of state social assistance to poor categories of citizens.
Scientific novelty. The scientific novelty lies in the study of the state policy of Russia to reduce the level of poverty of the population, as one of the most acute problems. The article shows new strategies in the state social policy, identifies its weaknesses and strengths.

The article deals with theoretical aspects of the media image of the state/region and its components: image, conditions for the distribution of information flows; studied the group sociodynamics of the life of the population from the point of view of foreign journalists. To do this, a survey was conducted of foreign media employees who studied at advanced training courses at the North-Western Institute of the RANEPA under the President of the Russian Federation.
The author notes that the most important characteristic identified by the theoretical and practical research pathway is the behavioral actions of people who are directly related to the object: these include journalists who form the information flow from the point of view of creating a certain media image.
Particular attention is paid to the ratio of the information available to journalists about life in Chechnya and their ideas about the modern situation in the republic. The ratio of negative, neutral and positive tonality of submitting information about the Chechen Republic to the media was revealed.
The analysis demonstrates that the media policy of the republic, aimed at the external audience for the country, needs to be adjusted. As recommendations, the author writes that the reflection of the identity of the region, its traditions and culture can form a significant part of the media image toolkit.

The article presents the results of a strategic analysis of the development of the digital economy in Russia and China. The work was written in accordance with the strategy methodology of the Foreign Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Economics, Professor Vladimir Kvint.
This study examines the main indicators of the digital economy in China and Russia and the key changes that have occurred in this area in both countries over the past 15 years. The focus is on the growth of sectors such as telecommunications, blockchain, artificial intelligence and cloud computing. The policy of both states is analyzed regarding the support and control of the development of information technologies.

The article deals with the problems of integrated development of territories in the context of site planning, urban zoning and methods of disposal of public property: privatization, concession agreements, public-private partnerships. Current legislation, including laws of regions of the Russian Federation, was analyzed in detail and gaps in legislation were found. The paper emphasizes the need for further improvement of legislation and law-enforcement practices. The article also focuses on the withdrawal of land plots and objects located on them for the purposes of integrated development of territories and fixing rent rates. Recommendations are provided with regard to changes in existing legislation.