The article is devoted to the causes and premises of the 1978 – 1979 revolution in Iran. Particular attention is also paid to the international aspect of these causes. The material examines the problem of determining the nature of the revolution and the justification of its name ‘Islamic’. Based on the studied works of leading Iranists N. Mamedova, E. Doroshenko, S. Aliyev, S. Druzhilovsky, S.L. Agaev, A.Z Arabajyan, the reasons that plunged the country into a mass anti-government movement and led to the fall of the last Shah dynasty were considered. The objectives of the study were to highlight the international aspect of the Iran Islamic revolution causes, as well as to reveal the foreign policy factor that led to the deterioration of the social crisis in Iran into a revolution. In the course of the work, the following tasks were set:
– using literature to determine what role the external factor played in shaping the causes and premises of the Islamic revolution;
– identify the international aspect of the causes of the revolution.

Speaking about the relevance of the topic, the Islamic Revolution in Iran is essential to understand modern political processes and conflicts in the Middle East. It had a huge impact on the emergence of the Islamic society of social justice, the consolidation of the Muslim world around the ideas of anti‐imperialism, the development of the “Arab spring” in 2011, as well as the creation of a new political system: the Islamic republic. In order to characterize the causes of the Iranian revolution of 1978 – 1979, it is necessary to turn to the reforms of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, called the “White Revolution” or the
“bloodless revolution of the Shah and the people”. The reforms posed a number of problems for the state: the agricultural reform carried out in the country since 1963 did not stop the growth of social tensions in the village and, moreover, moved it to cities. The state’s economy was in a difficult situation, since most of the government spending was used to modernize the army, which was carried out by the shah via concluding multi‐billion‐dollar contracts with Western countries — the USA, Great Britain and France. The modernization program did not correspond to the budget possibilities, replenished at the expense of petrodollars, the flow of which increased critically after the 1973 oil shock.
The influx of foreign experts caused discontent among the conservative traditional Iranian class — the clergy. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the Shiite opposition to the Shah’s government, led the fight to overthrow the Shah and created the concept of the Velayat‐e Faqih, the reign of a just theologian, on which the Islamic Republic of Iran will be based in the future. Thus, in the course of the study, the following conclusion was made: problems of an international nature and the international situation that had developed by the end of the 1970s became a decisive factor in the deterioration of the Iranian crisis into a revolution and the overthrow of the monarchy.

The appearance of a guild called “Nowgorodfahrer” as a special purpose trading corporation of Lübeck merchants focused on the Russian market is according to Hanseatic sources chronologically in sync with the transition of governance over the Novgorod German mission to the Livonian towns: Reval (Tallinn), Dorpat (Tartu) and Riga. Regardless of the fact that Lübeck remained the highest appeals instance for Hanseatic merchants, Lübeck’s influence on the trade in East Baltic by the middle of the 15th century reduced significantly so it was carried out brokered by the guild of the “Nowgorodfahrer” in large measure. During the 15th century, the “Novgorod guests” had become an important “player” within the Hanseatic trade space and made large bargains, organized the transportation of large batches of goods in the area of the Baltic Sea region. At the same time, considering the fragmentary nature of the source base, the role of the “Nowgorodfahrer” in the Hanseatic trade is underexplored to this date and requires detailed discussion. An integrated study of a number of issues involved with the position of the “Nowgorodfahrer” in the Hanseatic League system in its high noon, expects the elementary definition of the issue area, identifying some significant aspects predetermined the development of the guild in the 15th century or demonstrate the organization nature, and also make it possible to determine the position of the “Nowgorodfahrer” in Hanseatic merchants’ world. In view of the fact that the history of the “Nowgorodfahrer” is closely connected with the development of Hanseatic-Russian, Livonian-Russian relations and relations inside the Hanseatic League, it should be impossible to study any aspects of business activities uncoupled from a relevant context. As far as during the 15th century the “Nowgorodfahrer” actively and highly proficiently adapted to the political changes in the Baltic states, tried to be aligned with forward-looking dynamics of European trade, sometimes violating the scripted norms of Hanseatic law, that in many ways predestined the extension of influence of the guild in the East Baltic trade in the mid-to-late 16th-in the beginning of the 17th century. On the same lines, an in-depth analysis of the business activity of the “Nowgorodfahrer”, characteristics of the internal structure of the guild and the relationship with other participants
of the Hanseatic merchandise exchange can allow us to tap into the specifics of Hanseatic League behavior during its ultimate power.

Military-technical cooperation between Russia and Sub-Saharan Africa has been developing rapidly these days, though in the 1990s this region was unjustly left “on the sidelines” of the main vector of Russian foreign policy and foreign trade. For example, a few Russian diplomatic missions to and consulates
in Africa were closed in the 1990s. However, today, despite some remaining difficulties, the Russian Federation is paying growing attention to its policy on the African continent.

Africa is a region with a huge development potential. “Africa today is in the same position as China was in the 1990s: like a tiger before a jump”, says, for instance, Ha-Joon Chang, a professor of Cambridge University. And Russia is now returning to the region, first of all, in the economic sphere. Russian-African forum, which took place in autumn 2019 with the motto “For peace, security and development”, became an event of a very large scale and may be a turning
point in Russian-African relations. Russian President V. Putin said that it was “the first meeting of such a scale, which is a clear evidence of mutual willingness to... strengthen multidimensional partnership.” During the forum, Russia signed deals on military-technical cooperation with more than thirty African states.

Military-technical cooperation is one of the most significant areas of cooperation between Russia and Sub-Saharan Africa. As the Director of Rosoboronexport noted, for many years Russia has been maintaining the top position in terms of arms supplies to Sub-Saharan countries and intends to maintain its leadership in this sphere, despite competition from the United States and China. However, the development of Russia’s military-technical cooperation with African States is often hindered by objective reasons such as the low solvency of these countries.

The article It also analyzes the relations in the sphere of military-technical cooperation and gives prospects for such collaboration both in general and with some countries of the region in particular.

The objective of this article is to analyze the current status and the prospects of the military-technical cooperation between Russia and the countries of Sub-Saharan Africa. To this end, the article considers its present state, problems and prospects, using also the examples of some countries that are developing their military-technical ties with Russia most rapidly – Sudan, Nigeria, the RSA and Mali.

The article examines the  process of  technological change in  Taiwan in  order to identify the  Taiwanese model of  national innovation system (NIS) and its characteristics at different stages of  evolution. To  form a clear picture of  the nature of  the  Taiwanese model, the notion of technological strategies and their two types: imitative (IS) and technological leadership strategies  (TLS) are borrowed from the  theory of  innovation management and transferred to  the terminology of NIS. The author identifies two stages in  the  evolution of  the Taiwanese NIS and concludes that horizontal linkages between S&T actors play a major role in  the  development of  the  system, it is these that have now allowed the economy to move away from IS and towards the implementation of TLS.

The article deals with the goals, problems and prospects of Afghanistan’s participation in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). The purpose of the study is to find out the reasons why the participation of Afghanistan in the SAARC was not beneficial to either party. The study of this issue relevant with regard to the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan scheduled for early September 2021, which may give the country more freedom in foreign policy, while the regional powerful actors may receive the opportunity increase their influence in Afghanistan. Since SAARC is the only regional integration organization that includes Afghanistan, it is likely that with the diminishing influence of the US, South Asia will become one of the most attractive areas of cooperation for Afghanistan. The admission of Afghanistan to this organization in 2007 could have been a mutually beneficial move, if it were not for SAARC’s incessant internal disputes and Afghanistan’s domestic challenges and problems. The author concludes that due to the SAARC’s weakness and Afghanistan’s inherent problems, the participation of this country in the organization will not be beneficial to either party.