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2015 Asia and Africa today

RUSSIA - SOUTH KOREA RELATIONSHIPS: ACHIEVEMENTS AND RESERVES FOR EXPANSION OF ECONOMIC COOPERATION by S.S.Suslina, Dr.Sc. (Economics), Institute of Far Eastern Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS)
Keywords: Russia-South Korea economic cooperation, Far East, North East Asia, economic integration
The article deals with new approaches to expanding the forms and directions of economic cooperation between Russia, South Korea and other countries of North East Asia. It also analyzes the current status and level of bilateral economic cooperation between South Korea and Russia; outlines main problems and prospects; gives an assessment of the most effective projects which can promote the synergistic momentum of integration processes in Northeast Asia.
It is shown that the expansion of the processes of integration and the emergence of Eurasian Economic Space will lead to a more pluralistic structure of the world economy which will make it more sustainable, balanced and equitable.

DAMNED NINETIES by A.M.Vasiliev, Academician
Keywords: Russia, the USSR, reforms, foreign policy, the Middle East and North Africa
All what is healthy and viable in the political and civil life of each country must be carefully nurtured and no reform caused by the requirement of the time should result in a sudden rupture between the past and the present. It should be realized gradually to become clear to the people and not have the character of a dangerous experiment.

S.D.Sazonov, Foreign Minister of the Russian Empire (1910-1916)
The collapse of the Soviet Union meant the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the second half of the twentieth century. 14 new states appeared on the territory of former superpower Russia. Thousands of books have been written about this historical event. Explanation of the causes of this disaster and details of its course is beyond the scope of this article.
We only note that, from the point of view of the author, and it was exactly Russia which was the Soviet Union. Russia was at the head the federation which consisted of 14 dependent countries - Soviet republics. Its administrative borders became international (which gave rise to hitherto unsolved problems). Russia found itself in the borders of the XVII century. The country entered a period of economic, social, military, demographic decline.
The author analyzes the impact of the internal situation of Russia on the foreign policy of the country in general and its policy in the Middle East and North Africa, in particular.

THE SUPPORT OF SMALL BUSINESS - A KEY PRIORITY OF THE CHINESE ECONOMIC POLICY AT THE PRESENT STAGE OF ECONOMIC REFORMS by V.V.Chuvankova, PhD (Economics), Institute of Far Eastern Studies, RAS
Keywords: China, small and micro-enterprises, tax, investment, financial and credit policies
At present stage the support of small business becomes the most important priority of the China’s economic policy at the present stage.
The article examines the main directions and concrete measures launched by the Chinese leadership in order to ensure dynamic growth of scale, productive capacities and the role of small business in the economy. The author reveals the mechanism of the government’s specific support, which can be obtained by small and micro-enterprises in the field of registration procedure, administrative sighting as well as financial, tax and investment policy.

REVOLT IN THE ARABIAN WORLD: CROPS AND SHOOTS

“AT THE STATE OF WAR”: COMBATING TERRORISM IN NORTH SINAI by K.V.Meshcherina
Keywords: the Sinai Peninsula, terrorism, non-state actors, “Arab Spring”, international security, Islamic radicalism
Analyzing the current situation in the “troubled” Arab region, were tensions are still burning and smoldering, it is safe to say that the events of the “Arab Spring” helped to strengthen the position of radical Islam. Dense network of radical, extremist and criminal and terrorist organizations have intensified its activities on the territory of several countries in the Middle East and North Africa. These organizations are now a major threat to international security and stability.
The author considers the problem of the growth of terrorist activity in the north of Sinai Peninsula and the measures taken to combat it.

TURKISH-SYRIAN RELATIONS: YESTERDAY AND TODAY by A.V.Suleymanov, PhD (Political Sciences), Nizhny Novgorod State University
Keywords: Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Hatay, the Euphrates, the Turkish-Syrian relations, the Kurdish problem, a civil war
After a period of normalization the relations between the two neighboring countries - Turkey and the Syrian Arab Republic (UAR) are going through hard times today. The outbreak of “Arab revolution” in early 2011 has become a new challenge.
During the civil war in Syria, relations between Ankara and Damascus have taken the form of mutual reproaches and local armed provocations and this is despite the fact that in the period from 2003 to 2011 both countries sought to develop good neighborly relations and pursue an active trade and economic cooperation.

TUNIS FROM AUTORITARISM TO DEMOCRACY by I.T.Kofanov, PhD (Economics), Institute for African Studies, RAS
Keywords: “Arab spring”, Tunis, Egypt, institutions of civil society, transition period, economy, security
The article contains the analysis of the situation in modern Tunis, the only country, where “Arab spring” resulted in transition to the democratic forms of governance. In this context the question “What helped Tunis to create relatively sustainable “rules of the game” on the basis of consensus of different, often just opposite, political forces?” arises. The article deals with differences in the activities of the institutions of civil society of Tunis and Egypt.
It is pointed out, that, unlike Egypt, which has chosen military force to remove islamists from power, Tunis has chosen the policy of compromise between government and opposition, islamists and secularists. At the same time the author underlines that the long transition period, characterized with bitter political fight and worsened socio-economic situation in the country, exacerbated security problems. These unresolved problems can become the basis for the return of the authoritarianism.

THE ROLE OF SOUTH AFRICA IN AFRICA’S ECONOMY by V.A.Sidorov, PhD (Economics), Institute for African Studies, RAS
Keywords: South African economy, foreign economic relations, BRICS, SADC, South Africa, Russia
Strategically important geographical position, the leading role on the African continent, quite high (even by international standards) level of economic development, wealth of natural resources - all these important factors that determine the prospects of development of the Republic of South Africa.
The elimination of apartheid in 1994, has led to an improvement in the economy of South Africa. This happened due to the stabilization of the political situation in the country, and due to the abolition of the regime of international sanctions.

ECOLOGICAL SECURITY OF THE COUNTRIES OF EAST ASIA by N.G.Rogozhina Dr.Sc. (Political Sciences), E.M.Primakov Institute of World Economy and International Relations, RAS
Keywords: Asia, environmental concerns, safety, environmental policy, green development
For East Asia to ensure environmental safety is directly linked not so much with the emergence of the threat of international conflicts caused by competition for limited natural resources and its degradation (conflicts over international water resources, competition for natural resources in the South China Sea), as with the prospects of achieving economic and social progress.
Finally, the degradation of the environment is converted into brake for economic progress of the countries of East Asia and lead to loss of competitiveness of their economies, focused on foreign markets, which in recent years has tightened the requirements for the environmental quality of goods and services.

FERTILITY IN TROPICAL AFRICA: STALL AT A HIGH LEVEL AND RISK OF DEMOGRAPHIC EXPLOSION by Yu.V.Zinkina, PhD (History), Institute for African Studies, RAS
Keywords: Tropical Africa, fertility, demography, population forecasts
The article views the recent fertility dynamics in a number of Tropical African countries for which the necessary data is available. It is shown that in the majority of these countries fertility started to decline in the mid-1970-s - early 1990s. However, in the mid-1990s and early 2000s a mass fertility stall occurred throughout the great part of Tropical Africa. Importantly, in most cases fertility got stalled at very high levels, more than 5 children per woman. A decade- long absence of fertility decline bears serious threats of demographic explosions. We present some ways of avoiding the catastrophic scenarios.

ENERGY: THE PRESENT AND THE FUTURE

AFRICA’S NATURAL GAS MARKET: its role in the world energy complex by L.N.Kalinichenko, Institute for African Studies, RAS
Keywords: natural gas resources, African countries, Mozambique, Tanzania, shale gas potential, ecological risks
The article analyzes the fact that the African continent role on the world natural gas market has substantially grown recently as a result of the unique resources discoveries on the East African countries’ sea shelf and the new data on the large shale gas reserves in a number of African countries. It is underlined that these discoveries have aroused considerable interest of the famous transnational companies which are taking active part in this sphere of exploration on the continent. The article deals with the gas infrastructure condition in some countries and the prospects of new facilities construction for natural gas extraction, processing and delivering. The opportunities for state revenues growth connected with the increase in gas production and export are estimated. The author comes to the conclusion that gas sector development is very perspective for African states’ economy but at the same time it is linked with different financial, ecological and other risks that should be analyzed before the beginning of any project.

TO DE DISABLED IN ISRAEL: EXPERIENCE AND PROBLEMS OF EX-SOVIET JEWS WITH DISABILITIES by E.E.Nosenko-Stein, Dr.Sc. (History), Institute of Far Eastern Studies, RAS
Keywords: people with disabilities, Israel, ex-Soviet immigrants
World percentage of people with disabilities varies between 10% and 15%, i.e. 600 millions - 1 billion persons. This is a huge “sector” of humankind with their abilities, lifestyles, experiences and needs. All that is almost unknown for a wider readership and disabled persons are a kind of “invisible” world. The situation with disabled people has its own peculiarity in various societies and cultures. The State of Israel is usually considered as a favorable country for such people and ex-Soviet immigrants find themselves in a comparatively good condition although they also meet certain difficulties and problems.

THE AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK ON THE CREDIT MARKET OF AFRICA by N.V.Vinogradova, PhD (Economics), Institute for African Studies, RAS
In June 2014 and February 2015 two papers by Dr.Sc. V.V.Pavlov and PhD V.V.Klishin were published: “The African Development Bank: methods and mechanisms of credit and lending activities and investment financing” (M., IAfr RAS, 2014. 202 p.) and “The African Development Bank: financial strategy of modernization of African economies” (M., IAfr RAS, 2015. 246 p.).
The African Development Bank is a regional interstate bank which deals with crediting the programs for economic and social development of African countries. This is the first international financial institution of the independent states of Africa, created in 1963 to promote the industrialization of this group of countries in order reduce their dependence on the situation on world commodity markets.

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