Since 2014 relations between the European Union and Russia have been severely affected by the sanctions policy that has been detrimental to both sides. However, Spain has not been able to stand aside from this policy. Nevertheless, Spain, maintaining a common position on sanctions against Russia out of solidarity and because of its obligations to European partners, has tried to develop bilateral relations with the Russian Federation in a positive way. Spain realizes that more unites it with Russia rather than divides. Spain and Russia have common interests and challenges not only in cultural, scientific, economic and commercial spheres of bilateral relations, but also in political areas of the global agenda such as the climate change and terrorism, the organized crime. These challenges are also common for both the European Union as a whole and Russia, and for this reason, Spain can play a role of catalyst in possible rapprochement. Without abandoning the principles and values at the heart of the European project, Spain can advance a bilateral agenda with Russia, which will contribute to the gradual building of mutual relations, including in political sphere. The ultimate goal will be achieved when the right conditions are created and the broken trust is restored. Spain could also lead this process within the European Union, since it has a more balanced position in relations with Russia than other European partners do. Thus, Spain can become a necessary and key facilitator of the dialogue and efforts to normalize relations.

This article pays special attention to the genesis of relations and documents in the field of national security, which determine the relationship between Mexico and the United States, examines its framework and results, as well as the concept and constitutional foundations of national security and defense of Mexico.

In this conceptual framework, it is noteworthy that in March 2021 the American delegation, headed by Roberta Jacobson, the former US Ambassador to Mexico, the White House Border Coordinator, arrived in Mexico. Both delegations announced that the talks would focus on ensuring orderly, safe and legal migration in the region and progress in implementing the Comprehensive Development Plan for the Northern Region of Central America, but in fact, the main subject of talks would was US national security. In other words, the regulation of migration flows from Mexico and the countries of the so-called Northern Triangle (Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador).

The topics mentioned above are not new on the US-Mexico bilateral agenda, and in this regard, the government of President Biden seems to revise Donald Trump’s policy on migration, with a special focus on national security, using less aggressive rhetoric, without threats to continue the construction of the border wall, but, in turn, more rigid from a political point of view. In view of the above, it appeared appropriate to present the legal framework, set out primarily in the constitution, on which Mexico relies and which allows it to properly negotiate and at the same time have a clear vision on the current state of national security between the two countries.

A number of scholars have recently pointed out that International Relations (IR) is a discipline mostly formulated from the modern European political experience and philosophical developments, although it proposes to address international issues. Various critics point to the Eurocentric nature of IR theory (IRT), or argue that Europe’s modern history cannot properly elucidate the past and the present of nonWestern regions. In an attempt to turn IR into a truly international discipline, scholars from non-Western regions have provided their own local contributions (e.g. concepts, historical experiences, philosophies, etc.). This intellectual movement also aims to offer a better explanation of their respective regions. Although Latin America’s Dependency Theory is not widely recognized as a proper IRT itself, this paper argues that it maycontribute to it. The article is divided into three sections. The first section elaborates two criticisms of the Eurocentric approach to International Relations and its theories. The second briefly presents the thinking of the Dependentistas (Fernando Henrique Cardoso and Enzo Faletto, Ruy Marini, and Samir Amin, although the latter is French-Egyptian), as well as that of the ECLA. And the third argues that Dependency Theory might contribute to IRT in three ways: (1) by acknowledging that problems, and thus interests, are not homogeneously universal, it emphasizes the need of local solutions for local problems; (2) it is sensitive to non-traditional actors, such as multinational companies and domestic economic groups; (3) it understands the international arena as hierarchically constituted by a core-periphery rivalry

In this article the author analyzes a theoretical direction called “Peripheral Realism”, which has arisen within the scope of neorealism in 1990s due to an acknowledged Argentinean political scientist Carlos Escudé. The author makes an attempt to provide a complex analysis of the original theory of 1992 and compares it with the modern realities of international relations. The author also conducts a comparative analysis of the original theory and its revised version of 2016, in order to trace the dynamics of its development. The main objective of the study is to establish whether the theory of peripheral realism can be attributed to the so-called ‘non-Western’ theories of international relations. First of all, the article is based on an in-depth analysis of the theoretical basis of Carlos Escudé’s peripheral realism theory on the basis of his main writings of 1992 and 1995, as well as an analysis of subsequent variations of the theory in 2012 and 2015. The study also uses a comparative analysis method, which contrasts the features and theoretical positions of the canonical ‘grand’ theories of international relations (especially realism and neo-realism, being the origins for the theory) and correlates them with those of the theory of peripheral realism in order to highlight the role and place of this theory in the configuration of Western and non-Western theories of international relations. The author concludes that the uniqueness of the concept comes from assessing reality from the point of ‘weaker’ and developing countries, which is not generally customary for Anglo-Saxon theories. This unique feature puts the concept of peripheral realism beyond the perceptions of the nature of world politics generally accepted in the research community. The study was originally drafted for the research seminar “Non-Western Theories of International Relations” of the Department of theory and history of international relations of RUDN University, as well as for the joint research seminar of RUDN and HSE University “Non-Western Theories of International Relations in a Polycentric World.”

The authors consider the peculiarities of emergence of Buen Vivir сoncept in the context of increasing importance of the environmental factor in international relations. The authors present the main ideas of this concept, which became a logical response to environmental challenges – first from the autonomous societies of Latin America, and then found its reflection at the state level in countries such as Ecuador and Bolivia. At the same time, for the first time in Russian historiography, we present an analysis of this concept connection to the development of such a direction in international relations as environmentalism, as well as what place it can occupy in the international relations theory. The main results of the research are as follows: 1) the role and significance of the environmental factor in modern IR is increasing, while politicization of environmental problems is observed; 2) the number of studies on topics related to environmentalism in IR is increasing, with them becoming one of the dominants of not only public, but also a research discourse; 3) the concept of sustainable development did not fully comply with existing demands, which predetermined the emergence in Latin America of a separate concept of development, with an emphasis on the environmental component, being a Latin American ‘response’ to the search of a model for regulating the relationship of mankind with the environment in order to preserve it; 4) the concept of Buen Vivir was most successfully implemented in Ecuador and Bolivia as these countries are home to a significant number of Native Indians, and their worldview is closely intertwined with the key ideas of the concept.

This article is a political portrait of an extraordinary personality, the President of Nicaragua Daniel Ortega, who has travelled a long and very thorny path of transformation from a frantic fighter against a dictatorial regime to a man who actually became the country’s president for life. The author presents the methods by which Ortega achieved power and thereby ensured his political longevity. The author pays special attention to the role of Rosario Murillo, the politician’s wife, whose importance is growing in the internal political life of the state. The article provides an overview of the political history of the country in recent decades, the author also presents the peculiarities of Ortega’s biography and professional development. The author examines the stages of the party struggle in Nicaragua and the role of Ortega in this process. The author analyzes in detail the opinions of various experts regarding political events that took place in Nicaragua. The author traces and analyzes the main trends in economic development of Nicaragua, including cooperation with the Russian Federation. The author notes the role of Nicaragua in assisting the Russian Federation on the international arena. The author emphasizes the diversity of the spheres in which cooperation and interaction of the two countries is carried out.

The article is devoted to the current internal political situation in Nicaragua. The author analyzes the reasons for the acute socio-political crisis that arose in April 2018, presenting a detailed analysis of a historical background of these events. The author notes that a regime of personal power of President Ortega has been established in the country, relying on bureaucracy and power structures, since it is them playing a key role in preserving Ortega as the country’s President. The paper assesses the alignment of political forces and the general political situation in the opposition camp. The author analyzes the reasons for a number of existing contradictions that plague the opposition bloc of Nicaragua. An analysis of political potential and electoral possibilities of the opposition forces is given. The author predicts a possible scenario for the development of events within the framework of internal political situation in connection with the upcoming elections to be held in November 2021. The author comes to conclusion that the regime of Ortega is weakening and losing its positions, but still retains a margin of safety, which allows him to remain in power. As one of the scenarios for the development of events, the author predicts the possibility of a ‘compromise figure’ coming to power, which, however, does not imply a change in the real balance of power and dominant political figures in state politics.

In this article the author analyses the development of political process in Spain between the two crises of 2015–2016 and 2019–2020, highlighting the strong suits and problem issues of the domestic political debate, including the Catalan issue, as well as the problem related to the migration aspect. An overview of the evolution of the country’s foreign policy agenda is presented, including the foreign policy course towards the Russian Federation. The author analyzes political and economic aspects after the general parliamentary elections of June 26, 2016, which resulted in overcoming the governmental crisis that began in Spain in December 2015 and establishing Mariano Rajoy the head of the Popular Party (PP) government. The latest cabinet of the PP government was approved in November 2016. Rajoy himself had been serving as a Prime Minister of Spain from December 2011 to June 2018. Soon, a new stage in the political history of the Spanish state began, which was associated with the rise to power of the Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE) led by Pedro Sánchez since 2018. PSOE thus won the parliamentary elections in Spain on April 28, 2019. The next elections in 2019 were held on November 10 and turned out to be much more complex and unpredictable than the previous one. PSOE stroke a similar political balance of power to that of April. Confirmation of Pedro Sánchez as a Prime Minister of Spain in January 2020 ended a protracted political crisis in the country, when the Spanish government had been in an acting status for some eight months.