The article reveals a specific aspect and importance of religion in the European Union. The study is based on the analysis of the provisions of the EU law, the analysis of historical component in the development of «religious» confessional rights of European states. The author came to the conclusion that despite the existence of basic fundamental documents determining the development of state relations and guarantees of freedom of conscience and religion, there are a number of problems to be studied and addressed in connection with the deepening of European integration.

The article analyses the changes in geopolitical and geo-economic situation of the European Union for the last decade. The author focuses on The Common Foreign and Security Policy project and attempts to revise the concept of EU security of 2003. The idea of creating the all-European army as an instrument of political integration in the European Union has been traced to its roots. The author concludes that present geopolitical situation demands careful analysis in the light of a new EU security concept.

The article presents a comparative analysis of several constitutions of post-Soviet states (Kazakhstan, Belarus, Baltic countries) and proves their non-sovereign character. The historical context which determines their non-sovereignty is the USSR’s defeat in the cold war. Legal mechanisms of de-sovereignty are considered. Another feature of post-Soviet constitutions is a ban and restrictions imposed on state ideology, whereas the values and ideas expressed in them are based on liberalism and western-oriented. The author sets a task of elaborating a general constitutional reform aimed at re-integration and re-establishment of sovereignty of the former Soviet republics.

This article describes the activities of the Central election commission of the Republic of Bashkortostan and communication resources it applied in order to provide information support for elections. The current problems connected with Russian information society development under the conditions of socio-political changes are considered. The author generalizes the experience of interaction between the Central election commission of the Republic of Bashkortostan and mass media during the preterm President of the Republic of Bashkortostan election on September, 14, 2014. Some factors have been revealed to raise the efficiency of using communication resources in election process.

In a democratic state the factor of increasing the number of election commissioners with advisory vote, observers and other supervisors of elections should be welcomed. But recent practice in election organization has revealed a number of loopholes in the electoral legislation demonstrating the lack of regulation of the legal status of election commissioners with advisory vote. The article proves the necessity to close these loopholes as they give rise to the abuse of rights by some unfair participants of electoral legal relationships. Thus the author proposes to make amendments to the law “On Basic Guarantees of Electoral Rights and the Right of Citizens of the Russian Federation to Participate in a Referendum”.

The article formulates the author’s definition of the limits of active suffrage as a constitutional and legal phenomenon. The author studies the limits of active suffrage in the context of rights limitation as a mechanism to ensure the equality of human rights and prevent the abuse of rights. The article analyses the existing concepts on the limitation of rights and freedoms, considers the limits of the active suffrage in modern Russian electoral system and their classification.

The article describes the features of the organization and conduct of elections of the Governor of the Stavropol Territory 14 September 2014 in the context of law enforcement. Based on the analysis of the election campaign, the author raises the issues that require legislative regulation both at the federal level and at the level of the Russian Federation subject. The author argues that in the process of formation and establishment of the electoral system of the Russian Federation law enforcement issues occupy a special place. They act as the engine of progressive development of the institution of elections and test the quality of regulations.

The article is concerned with one of the most acute problems of the local government in the Russian Federation. Financial support of municipal education is a very important task for public authorities of the Federation and its subjects. The solution of this problem promotes the development of effective and independent level of public authorities, as well as the implementation of many local programs aimed at supporting municipal education.

The article analyses the notion of the principle of fair dealing in common law jurisdictions. The author identifies the commonalities and differences in understanding the principle of fair dealing in Australian and British case law. The examples of concrete cases lying at the heart of the emergence and development of fair dealing doctrine are provided. The recommendations to elaborate the current civil law of the Russian Federation are given.

On the basis of the analysis of the viewpoints in modern scientific literature the concepts of «private interest» and «public interest» are studied. The author focuses on the process of their interpenetration (convergence) which is inherent and modifies legal regulation of civil relationships. In case of change of the standards of this regulation the transfer should be made with the account of a balanced ratio of public and private interests.

Outsourcing can be regarded as one of the ways to optimize entrepreneurship by concentrating on the core activity and delegating non-core functions and corporate roles to external specialized legal entities (outsourcing organizations). The article considers the concept and legal nature of the outsourcing contract. The authors make a conclusion of the possibility of qualifying the outsourcing contract as a paid services agreement or an operational contract.

The article considers the possibility of increasing the economic efficiency of convict labour on the basis of the studied data on the current state of the industrial complex of the correctional system, problems in this area, the potential possibility or the lack of it to attract the condemned to certain types of works and obtain a positive economic result. The author describes the features of arrangement and working conditions of prisoners in the penitentiary system and provides examples of effective functioning of specialized production capacities of the convicted.

The article deals with one of the most acute problems of modern information society - the problem of cyberespionage. The author analyzes various aspects of cyberespionage and makes some organizational and legal propositions to counteract cyberespionage. One of them is the creation of a special service capable of meeting the challenges of modern information society and possessing necessary labour resources and technical facilities to implement its tasks within special jurisdiction.

This article discusses some aspects of criminal enforcement legislation, including the issues of improving its efficiency. The author analyzes such types of criminal punishment as arrest, forced labor, as well as a preventive measure under the Criminal procedure code, in the form of house arrest. In addition, the paper analyzes the statistical moments of criminal executive legislation of the Russian Federation. Some options to improve the quality of the sector in question are suggested.

The article refers to the concept of recidivism. The circumstances excluding recidivism are specified. The loopholes in legislation are analyzed and the solutions to cover them are suggested from different points of view. The necessity is substantiated to integrate an annex for punishment strengthening (for former convicts with no recidivism in the past) into Section 63 of Part 1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. The issues of recidivism are considered through the prism of systemic approach to crime repression measures.

This article describes the features of the formation of antisocial youth groups of different types ranging from «informal» to «criminal». The author considers emotional and psychological factors of adolescent group behaviour influencing the ways of youth self-assertion, “role” distribution and «leader» promotion. The main focus of the article is on the peculiarities of coordinated actions of minors, the relationships among them at the point of criminal group creation and minor - adult relationships while involving the former into crime. The conclusion is made that there is a connection between intergroup relationships of juvenile delinquents and their criminal behaviour.

One of the main directions in the development of the Russian information society is to improve the security of corporate and individual information systems, though the mechanism of enforcement of intellectual property and related rights is not fully developed. The article analyses the Russian intellectual property legislation, reveals current problems connected with administrative and criminal liability for the marketing of counterfeit software copies and offers some solutions to these problems through the legal definition of the concept “software”, protection against illegal use of demo-versions of programs and recognition of their copies as counterfeit.

This article considers a motive as an element of the subjective side of an offense. The article highlights the contradictions in criminal and criminal procedural law on the meaning of a criminal motive as an aggravating circumstance in some corpus delicti of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, as well as the problems of motive identification during preliminary investigation. The author of the article proposes the use of social media pages of the users who have committed crimes as one of possible sources of information on their motives.