Geopolitical and world-system factors in the dynamics of modern societies: a research of structural differences

Ideas about the structural differences in the models of development of modern societies take place in the content of geopolitical theories and the world-system approach. The article is devoted to identifying these differences and developing a unified theoretical toolkit that allows exploring the complex structure of multiple modern societies. The synthesis of the key concepts of the theory of geopolitical dynamics (bigger territorial size - smaller territorial size, interior position - «marchland» position) and the world-system approach (core, semi-periphery, periphery) formed the basis of the typology of spaces of social relations. The twelve types reflect the basic interconnections of external and internal factors in the dynamics of modern states and societies under their jurisdiction, as well as the structural advantages/disadvantages of their existence. The article provides examples of states and societies associated with different types. The author argues that states of different types have different development strategies and perform different roles in the stages of the hegemony cycle of the world-system. The role of the hegemon of the world system, as a rule, plays the state of the core with a «marchland» position, capable of supporting financial and territorial expansion at the global level for a long time. The «marchland» position of the hegemon turns into a central position as the territory of influence expands. The role of the «challenger» - a state that is able to offer a new form of world order play the states that are similar in characteristics to the type of «semi-periphery with a territorial advantage and a central position in the system». As a conclusion, the author notes that typology can give significant results in the study of modern processes in Russia and the societies of the post-Soviet space.