Introduction. The Shinzo Abe administrations implemented a number of principal security reforms that marked Japan’s transition to the policy of ‘active pacifism’. Goals. The article attempts an analysis into key reforms of Japan’s security agenda during the Abe governments, seeks to determine their impacts on the country’s defense capabilities, and evaluate the balance between innovation and continuity as compared to Japan’s preceding security policies. Results. Under Abe, Japan established the National Security Strategy and the National Security Council that would provide a framework for a more cohesive and strategic approach to national defense. These institutions proved pivotal in strengthening Japan’s Self-Defense Forces and expanding its military capabilities. Abe’s administration introduced the 2015 Legislation for Peace and Security which reinterpreted Japan’s constitutional constraints to allow for collective self-defense. This marked a significant shift in Japan’s security policy and enabled the country to more actively engage in international security efforts. Key aspects of the international direction in Japan’s security policy included as follows: strengthening of the alliance with the United States, expanding of the agreement network with ASEAN countries, India, Australia, and others. The policy was designed to enhance Japan’s international status and strengthen its positions in the region. Despite the significant changes in defense policy, it does maintain continuity with the policies of previous Japanese governments.

Goals. The article presents a critical analysis of the ‘Turkish economic miracle’ of 2002–2010 and the subsequent crises, as well as their impacts on the geopolitical positioning of Turkey in accordance with an original concept and methodology. Materials and methods. The comparative analysis of key macroeconomic indicators for Turkey and a reference group of developing countries reveals certain structural imbalances of the Turkish economic model: a chronically negative current account, a low share of high-tech exports, and excessive dependence on consumer lending. These factors undermine the stability of the economy and call into question its long-term prospects. Particular attention is paid to the unconventional monetary policy of recent years based on a neo-Fisherian approach that contradicts conventional economic theory. This policy has led to exchange rate instability and inflationary pressures, which have negatively affected the investment climate. The paper introduces a game-theoretic model of interaction between the government and investors to explain the formation of equilibria in the Turkish economy. Results. Thus, as a result of the comparative analysis, factors undermining the sustainability of the Turkish economy have been identified, which cast doubt on its long-term prospects. In turn, Turkey's monetary policy led to exchange rate instability and inflationary pressures, which negatively affected the investment climate. In terms of geopolitics, it is noted that the relative economic successes of the 2000s contributed to the evolution of Turkey’s foreign policy strategy from Eurocentricity and peacefulness — to the revival of neo-Ottoman ideologies. Turkey’s foreign policy has become more proactive and aggressive, while domestic political processes have contributed to the growth of authoritarian tendencies in the government of the Justice and Development Party. Conclusions. The article concludes that the concept of ‘economic miracle’ is untenable, that the country’s economic strategy needs a fundamental adjustment, and that there are serious challenges to its geopolitical ambitions, including in the context of the discrepancy between neo-Ottoman ambitions and Turkey’s economic capabilities at the present stage.

Introduction. The ongoing transformation of the global order has significantly altered the security landscape in the South Caucasus and wider — Eurasia, as evidenced by the 2020 Artsakh War and the 2022 Ukraine conflict. Goals. The paper examines how these shifts impact the foreign and security policy planning of small states, with Armenia as a case study. It analyzes the evolving geopolitical environment in the region, focusing on the strategic interests of key actors — Russia, Turkey, the US, and the EU — and their implications for Armenia. The main novelty of the article is some specific emphasis on the fact of geopolitical importance of the transforming Middle East for the South Caucasus and Armenia, in particular. Materials and methods. Involving strategic documents, official statements, discourse analysis, and expert interviews, the study evaluates Armenia’s multi-vector foreign policy since its independence (1991) and explores its capacity for strategic maneuvering or geopolitical realignment amid systemic changes. The paper applies neorealist theory, particularly the black box concept, to assess Armenia’s adaptation strategies, including its efforts to position itself as a regional connectivity hub between East-West and North-South transport corridors. Methodologically, the research employs discourse analysis, scenario modeling, and trade/economic indicators, as well as the expert interviews. Results. The article examines the emerging geopolitical landscape of the region after the Artsakh War and the Ukrainian crisis. The analysis of key players (Russia, Turkey, USA, EU) and their interests identifies the main factors of change, which in turn largely determine Armenia’s foreign policy course. The study focuses on strategic documents, official statements, discourse analysis, and expert interviews to determine Armenia’s strategic priorities. The concept of a multi-vector foreign policy that Armenia has pursued since gaining independence in 1991 is also considered. Based on theoretical approaches to the study of foreign policy planning of small states, the work assesses the possibilities for strategic maneuver or ‘geopolitical choice’ in the changing world order. The article refers to the neorealist theory of the ‘black box’, arguing that in the conditions of the new reality, Armenia seeks to adapt and ensure its own security, and position itself as a connecting node between the East-West and North-South transport corridors.

Introduction. The Mekong Delta of Vietnam (VMD) is a key agricultural region vital for national food security. In recent years, the region has faced significant outmigration driven by economic challenges and climate change impacts, such as droughts, saltwater intrusion, and extreme weather events. Goals. This study examines the relationship between climate change and migration in the VMD and its implications for sustainable regional development. Methods. Using a political-environmental perspective, the paper analyzes quantitative and qualitative data from the 2019 Population and Housing Census and the 2022 Mekong Delta Economic Annual Report. Migration patterns, demographic shifts, and regional development indicators are assessed to understand how environmental stressors influence human mobility. Results. Findings reveal that climate change is a major driver of migration reshaping population structures, labor supply, and the region’s long-term development capacity. Over 1.3 million people migrated from the VMD in the past decade, posing challenges to demographic stability and socio-economic resilience. Conclusions. The study recommends strengthening climate-adaptive sustainable development policies and enhancing local human resource capacity. These measures aim to stabilize migration, promote inclusive development, and ensure climate-resilient growth in the Mekong Delta.

Introduction. The paper deals with the history of Russia-Mongolia economic relations in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Goals. The study seeks to determine, analyze and evaluate the role of Siberian merchants in strengthening Russia-Mongolia trade relations in the specified period. To facilitate these, the work shall examine why Siberian entrepreneurs were that interested in developing trade with Mongolia, identify some factors that hindered Russian economic expansion in the region, characterize the significance of the Siberian merchant class in the competitive struggle for internal markets of Mongolia. Materials and methods. The study focuses on a set of both published and unpublished documents. The former include international treaties that regulated Russia-China political and economic relations from the mid-nineteenth to early twentieth centuries, legislative acts of the Russian Empire pertaining to trade and industrial activities. The unpublished sources include statistical and record-keeping papers from public archives of the Republic of Buryatia and Irkutsk Oblast. Methodologically, the study rests on modernization theory in combination with a number of special methods of historical research — the chronological, statistical, system-historical ones — that prove instrumental in reconstructing the process of evolution of Russia-Mongolia trade relations in the context of political and economic transformations experienced by the Russian Empire and Inner Asian nations at the turn of the twentieth century. Results. The change in Imperial Russia’s foreign policy vector towards the Asia-Pacific entailed an intensified development of Russia-Mongolia economic ties. The former resulted from the desire of imperial authorities to facilitate further development of domestic trade and industries. The main role in strengthening trade ties with Mongolia was played by representatives of private capital — Siberian merchants. The expansion of Russian merchants into Mongolia’s internal markets was challenged by a number of problems and obstacles, the main one having been competition with Chinese trading companies that were enjoying huge financial resources and government support. Siberian entrepreneurs would rely on forces and resources of their own, count on state support — and did withstand the competition to retain control over some part of Mongolia’s internal market by the beginning of the 1911 Hsinhai Revolution.

Introduction. The present days witness an increased interest in traditional female crafts worldwide, which makes issues of their revival and development relevant enough. Goals. The study seeks to consider the manufacturing techniques, practical use, and symbolic significance of Bashkir patchwork products in a historical perspective and in contemporary contexts. Materials and methods. The work focuses on the authors’ unpublished materials obtained during grant-supported field studies (‘Women’s World of the Ural-Volga Region: Historical and Ethnographic Studies of Traditional Bashkir Crafts’, Russian Science Foundation) and scholarly writings on material, family and household cultures of the Bashkir. To facilitate this, the comparative historical, structural semantic, and descriptive methods have been employed. Chronologically, the study covers a period from the mid-twentieth century to the present day. Results. As traditional techniques with deep historical roots, patchwork mosaics and appliqués have been widely used in Bashkir household life and endowed with sacred, symbolic meanings. The practical significance was the latter would secure careful attitudes to woven fabrics, and the crafts as such would provide people with objects of material culture necessary in everyday life, such as blankets, beddings, curtains, clothing elements. Sacred meanings were manifested in the use of scraps from garments of the elderly believed to secure protection against evil forces and transmit their vitality, energy, well-being, and longevity. Meanwhile, symbolic meanings were manifested in the use of such scraps in rites and etiquette. The shape of a cloth scrap (triangle), its origin (ones to be obtained from healthy and successful long-livers), the number of such scraps have been endowed with sacral/symbolic properties. In Bashkortostan, much is being done for the development of various female crafts, including patchwork mosaic and appliqué techniques. Nowadays, patchwork is enjoying a revival to become part of contemporary textile arts. This applied art has successfully adapted to current conditions, craftswomen skillfully combine both traditional means and modern tools in their products. Patchwork pieces reflect cultural heritage at large, particular ethnic worldviews, and the creator’s individuality. Those are often exhibited at festivals and competitions.

Goals. The article deals with the history of formation and development of Yakut folk arts and crafts from the late nineteenth to early twenty-first centuries. Results. The study reveals the process is rooted in medieval cultures of Central and North Asia, and is closely associated with the Yakut ethnic and cultural genesis. The seventeenth-century Russian incorporation of Yakutia entailed that cross-cultural interaction, development of towns and regional markets became important factors in the evolution of arts and crafts. By the late nineteenth century, the process was connected with the movement for transformation of Russia’s peripheries. Regional elites would support a search for ethnic styles aimed at preserving cultural heritage. The trend remained relevant until the early twentieth century when folk arts became a symbol of Soviet transformations in the North. Government support for artistic crafts played an important role during the specified period. The development of folk arts and crafts reached a new stage by the end of the twentieth century. The paper primarily analyzes the formation of strategies for the preservation of cultural heritage of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) — in their relation to the cultural policies of Russia. The work shows that — as part of the early twenty-first century sociocultural transformations in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) — arts and crafts have been recognized integral to indigenous cultural heritage, and their preservation proclaimed an important government objective. By the beginning of the twenty first century, folk arts have began to be considered as an image resource and an important part of the region’s creative industries. Their development strategies have determined the specifics of contemporary Yakutia’s sociocultural image.

Introduction. The article examines the role of the ethnic factor in the cross-civilizational dialogue between Russia and Mongolia with evidence from the Republic of Buryatia. The latter federal subject is a border region located in the ‘overlapping’ zone of Russian and Mongolian civilizations, i.e. serves as somewhat an outpost of both the latter. This may actualize the question of competition (combination) between ethnic, civil and civilizational identities for Buryat residents of the Republic. Materials and methods. The methodological research basis is compiled from elements of social constructivism and civilizational political science. In 2024, an expert survey (structured in-depth interviews) was conducted among representatives of science and education of the Republic of Buryatia (N=13). Results. The survey reveals that experts tend to perceive the Republic of Buryatia as a bridge for cross-civilizational cooperation between Russia and Mongolia — given that such cooperation mainly covers the fields of science, culture and education. Experts are not inclined to exaggerate the importance of ethnic and religious affinities between Buryats and Mongolians. Russian civil identity is reported to have taken complete shape among the Buryat, and to date they belong — to a greater extent — to the Russian civilization, which, in particular, has manifested itself during the Special Military Operation. Quite a share of the experts also confirmed the importance of regional identity for representatives of all ethnic groups inhabiting Buryatia. Conclusions. As for practical use of categories inherent in civilizational political science, the experts positively assessed the prospect of their implementation in program documents on national (ethnic) policies. Meanwhile, it is necessary to undertake research efforts to clarify key concepts and integrate them into the education system so that the use of the category ‘Russian civilization’ should contribute to both the protection of our country’s cultural diversity and the consolidation of society.

Introduction. The study analyzes the meaning and use of the term ‘Kalmak’ in the sixteenth-century Majmu al-Tawarikh. Goals. The paper seeks to identify the semantic, ideological, and historical-cultural functions of the term. To facilitate this, the work shall spot certain contexts in which the term appears in the Majmu al-Tawarikh, determine its meaning as a marker of religious otherness, and analyze the religious-political dichotomy between Muslims and ‘Kalmaks’ within the Uluses of Jochi and Chagatai. Materials and methods. The article focuses on published Kyrgyz and Russian translations of the chronicle. In addition, the reliability of identified messages has been verified through comparative insights into a number of writings, such as the Qara Tawarikh, Tarikh-i Ḥamidi, Tarikh-i Rashidi, Zafarnama, Materials in the History of the Golden Horde (Collections from Persian Writings), History of Kazakhstan from Persian Sources, as well as the Nogai and Kazakh heroic epics ‘Edige’, ‘Forty Batyrs of Crimea’, and Kazakh legends. The study is based on the principles of historicism and systemic analysis, and employs the comparative historical and semantic methods. Results. It has been established that the term ‘Kalmak’ in the Majmu al-Tawarikh bears a predominantly ideological connotation, and is used to designate the image of ‘infidels’ and ‘enemies’ — in opposition to Muslims — regardless of ethnic or religious self-identities of designated groups. The analysis of sources makes it possible to assert that the term ‘Kalmak’ was taking shape within the Golden Horde under Özbeg Khan, and initially was used to nominate nomadic groups who retained traditional beliefs and rejected Islam. In this context, it is particularly important to distinguish between the concept of ‘Kalmak’ as religious-ideological category — and its later use as ethnonym for the Oirat that would be associated with the term in much later periods. In the late fourteenth century, the term ‘Kalmak’ had already become widespread enough to move beyond the Golden Horde’s borders as is evidenced, in particular, by its use in the Zafarnama. Conclusions. In the examined chronicle, the term ‘Kalmak’ had no strictly ethnic connotation but rather reflected the religious and political polarization that had developed in the region throughout the fourteenth to sixteenth centuries.

Goals. This article aims to comprehensively analyze the diary-memoir of Mark Ward, a member of the American Committee for Near East Relief, which carried out inestimable humanitarian activities in Asia Minor under the cruel conditions of the first decades of the twentieth century, when the Ottoman Empire’s genocidal policy was аt its peak. Materials. The diary contains day-by-day accounts of the events that shed light on the process of the forced deportations of Christians in Asia Minor. Results. This topic remains highly relevant in today’s dramatically changing and sensitive world, particularly considering the desire for a more balanced life and increased mutual understanding. Moreover, the tendencies and actual actions of genocide are a primary concern for all humanity, and scientific research cannot avoid discussing the issue. Reevaluating Mark Ward’s activity and the information contained in his diary is crucial for the reconstruction of past events and achieving historical justice. A thorough study of the diary and a series of significant archival documents put into scientific circulation for the first time, will help clarify the deportations that were occurring in several regions of the Ottoman Empire and identify numerous atrocities committed by the state-adopted genocidal policy. 

Introduction. The article deals with Mongolian verbs derived from onomatopoeias by means of suffixes and specific verbs (using the analytical method). Goals. The study seeks to list up the suffixes and verbs in question, and find out whether there can be any kind of variability in their choice. Materials and methods. The research material was collected from Mongolian language dictionaries using the continuous sampling method. Results. It has been found that Mongolian onomatopoeic verbs (within the outlined boundaries) can be formed following one of the three patterns: 1) with the use of the suffixes -лА-, -нА-, -гА-, -чи-, -хирА-, -жигнА-, -чигнА-, -ги-, -ши- (moreover, verbs derived from command cries directed at animals are formed only with the suffix -лА-); 2) as a result of conversion (the only verb registered is бавна- ‘to bleat’ < баван баван ‘bleating of a goat’); 3) through the analytical method, i.e. with the use of the verbs хий- ‘to do’, гэ- ‘to speak’, дуугара- ‘to make a sound, to resound’. Verbs formed by means of suffixation often, in addition to the direct meaning, also have a figurative meaning based on metaphorical transfer. No obvious semantic distinction has been found between the onomatopoeias used with the verbs хий- ‘to do’, дуугара- ‘to make a sound, to resound’, and гэ- ‘to speak’. Four onomatopoeias are used with both the verb хий- ‘to do’ and the verb дуугара- ‘to make a sound, to resound’, and the meanings of the phrases either coincide or differ slightly. However, no coincidences of onomatopoeic roots in combinations with гэ- ‘to speak’ and дуугара- ‘to make a sound, to resound’ have been registered in the dictionaries. Conclusions. Derivation of Mongolian onomatopoeic verbs is characterized by regularity (there is a limited number of the possible suffixes and verbs used in analytical constructions; verbs from exclamation commands for animals are formed only with the suffix -лА). The process of grammaticalization and semantic bleaching of verbs used in analytical constructions has not completed yet, which explains why they cannot be fully interchangeable.

Introduction. The article continues our research into lexemes denoting rainbow in Mongolic languages. The material of the study is the differences in various dictionaries of written Mongolian, Middle Mongolian and modern Mongolian languages, by dialects of Mongolian languages. As a result of the analysis of lexicographic sources, 10 names of the rainbow were identified, among the main ones are reflexes from the Proto-Mongolian *solaŋga in modern Mongolian languages. Some of these nominations are figurative in nature, which indicates, in our opinion, the taboo nature of naming the rainbow. Among them, there are also such names that retain the rudiments of archaic beliefs of a pre-Buddhist nature. In the bases of semantic transitions, such shifts in semantics were not found. The presence of a simple concept of its own in the Mongolian countries, the absence of a more extended collocation network shows, in our opinion, that the ancestors of the Mongolian peoples lived in a territory with a cold and cold climate, where conditions for showing rainbows in the sky rarely arose. Perhaps, they lived in such relations for some time, therefore, in communication there is no tracking of the reflection of a more branched structure of the concept. If the latter have developed additional meanings by transferring names to borderline phenomena (for example, in Mongolian languages the same words denote wind and air, wind and rain, etc., or in Tungus-Manchu languages thunderstorm and thunder, thunderstorm and lightning, in other languages similar semantic transitions are also denoted), then in the words of rainbow in Mongolian languages semantic transitions are not mentioned, although some of them indicate a possible transition rainbow → animal.

Introduction. Official correspondence is a form of dialogical interaction, and the text inevitably reflects some results of the mutual influence of different writing traditions. The Kalmyk-Russian and Russian-Kalmyk official correspondence in the aspect of interacting writing traditions has attracted the attention of linguists but the issue has remained somewhat understudied. Researchers have primarily focused on lexical borrowings. Still, it is as relevant to analyze the functioning of specific elements of the lexical system in original and translated narratives, which would characterize the influence of one language on another. Goals. The article seeks to identify lexical and grammatical features in private and official letters of Tayiji (Khan) Ayuka and their synchronistic Russian translations, which would characterize the writing traditions of official texts that had developed by the eighteenth century and resulted from cross-cultural contacts. Materials and methods. The study focuses one letters of Tayiji (Khan) Ayuka written from 1685 to 1724 and addressed to representatives of central and regional Russian authorities, as well as on the surviving synchronistic Russian translations of those official letters. The specified sources are stored at the Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts and Kalmykia’s National Archive. The paper analyzes the use of anthroponyms and calques from the Russian standard signature formula in the original and translated texts. The analysis is secured through the use of the descriptive and comparative methods. The undertaken insights take into account some cultural and linguistic specifics of the functioning of the mentioned lexical and grammatical means. Results. The analysis into Tayiji (Khan) Ayuka’s letters and their synchronistic Russian translations reveals certain features inherent to the functioning of anthroponyms characteristic of different writing traditions. The number of uses of the addressee’s personal name proves significant enough: the single use of the addressee’s name in the original Kalmyk official letter — and its multiple repetition in the synchronic translation are characteristic features of different official text design traditions in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. The influence of seventeenth-eighteenth century Russian records keeping practices on Kalmyk private and official documents can be traced in the functioning particulars of two- and three-component patterns of official personal names of Tayiji (Khan) Ayuka’s addressees, as well as in the use of one Russian-language calque — the formula γar talbiba (‘Have put my hand onto this’) which serves as a certifying element together with a seal impression. The functioning of addressees’ anthroponyms corresponds to the practice of naming officials which was widespread in the late seventeenth century. The identified signature formula was actively used in Kalmyk official letters from 1698 to 1704, and shows a certain dependence on the addressee.