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The uncontrolled territories (UT) attract the attention of an increasing number of researchers; however, most publications are devoted to only one type of UTs – unrecognized states. The objective of this paper is to assess and analyze changes in territory and population of all UTs in different macro-regions of the world through 2006–2010 and 2014–2019. Five main directions of studies of such territories are identified and characterized. The authors distinguish several types and patterns of territorial control, propose a typology of UTs and consider in detail the methodology and difficulties of creating a corresponding database. The aggravation of the geopolit ical situation in the second decade of the 21th century led to an increase in the number of international conflicts and in the area and population of UTs in Asia, Africa and Europe. The de facto secession largely affected the vast zones of problematic statehood in Asia and Africa, where according to the authors’ estimates, about 45 million and 138 million people live, respectively. The emergence of UTs is a special case of the fragmentation of the political space at different territorial levels – a consequence of the turbulent transformation of the world geopolitical order.

Against the backdrop of global trends, the main directions, methodological approaches, and the most striking research results in the field of geopolitics and political geography in 2011–2021 are considered. Political geography is being widely integrated with neighboring scientific fields. Russian political geography and, to a much lesser extent, geopolitics are based on a wide range of concepts known in world literature. Researchers in these areas are promptly responding to current foreign policy and other challenges, including the coronavirus pandemic. Particular attention is paid to geopolitical publications about the pivot of Russian foreign policy to the East and the Greater Eurasia concept. Since the 2010s, the theory of critical geopolitics has become more widespread in Russia, operating not with speculative reasoning, but with large amounts of information analyzed by modern quantitative methods. The flow of studies of state borders and frontiers is growing. In such publications, a large place belongs to the works devoted to the growing gaps in the pace and directions of economic development between former USSR countries. Shifts in the topics of border studies are associated with a deeper study of security issues. Many works reflect the desire to preserve the positive experience of cross-border cooperation between Russian and European partners in a deteriorating environment. Most of Russian publications on regionalization at different spatial levels involve the Baltic Basin. The body of research on territorial conflicts and separatism is growing. Russian geographers and other scholars have made a significant contribution to studying the problems of uncontrolled territories and unrecognized (partially recognized) post-Soviet states. Conflicts around them are considered in relation to their internal differences, complex composition, intricacies of formation and identity of the population, influence on neighboring regions and in historical retrospect.

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In the article, the authors refer to the phenomenon of localism as one of the manifestations of the process of fragmentation of the political space, one of the important features of the cultural and political dynamics in the modern world. In Europe, this is manifested in a noticeable increase in the importance of local political movements, which is partly due to the dynamics of the world economy, the visible manifestations of which determine the political choice and behavior of various social actors. Stagnation in the economy, increasing social differentiation and polarization, and the erosion of the middle class are causing voter disappointment in «historical» political parties, volatility in the party structure and voter preferences. In this study, the authors study the recent experience of one of the post-socialist countries - Lithuania. As a result of the reform of the electoral legislation since 2015, non-partisan lists of local residents - public electoral committees (PEC) - were admitted to the municipal elections in Lithuania. An important feature of PEC is their short life cycle, they cease to exist with the end of the election campaign. The authors analyzed the key positions declared in the election programs of 113 PEC in the municipal elections in 2015 and 2019. The geography of PEC participation and support is expanding. In 2019, they were represented in 47 local governments and collectively received 27.8% of the vote, more than any other party. Large cities turned out to be the most receptive to the innovative institution of the electoral process. The key factors influencing the success of the PEC are the degree of fragmentation of the electoral space of the municipality, the presence of a strong leader at the head of the list, running in parallel for the post of mayor. The case of Lithuania showed an increase of support for local political movements in Europe due to the overflow of voters from national parties. However, institutional constraints (short life cycle, lack of access to higher decision-making levels) reduce the potential of local movements to overcome local problems. Thus, in the competition of political agents of different scales with opposite trends in electoral support a new conflict for the political dynamics of modern Europe is born.