Experts in the field of international conflicts focus on a threatening trend - increasing levels of aggression in Europe. Russia has been involved in all the high-intensity conflicts that have taken place in the region since the 2000s – the wars in Ukraine and Georgia, the limited wars in Dagestan, Ingushetia and Chechnya, and the content of the conflict in Moldova. The Crimean crisis and aggression in Donbas have become a painful reaction to Russia's inability to lead the world leadership and structure a new world order. Modern foreign policy of the Russian Federation is based on the Soviet understanding of the geopolitical structure of the world in general and the European region in particular. Russia is making every effort to consolidate itself as a center of power on a continental scale and dreams of regaining the geopolitical weight of the Soviet era. The article analyzes the causes and consequences of the use of hybrid aggression, identifies the complexity of using military-political, economic, informational and international tools to influence the formation of the world order. The example of Russian aggression in the African region is considered and the ways of counteracting Russian aggression are offered to Ukraine.

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Modern political transformations involve free choice of ideology, ability to communicate with society and maintenance of their political preferences. Political struggle often leads to radical action and political extremism. The aim of this study involved an analysis of political extremism that occurs in modern democracies, and identification of the main factors underlying the development of political extremism. The determinants of the political stability/extremism are analysed based on the algorithm of hierarchical clustering. It is proved that 26 European countries studied in the work can be grouped into four clusters, which are characterised by the number of parties of extremist ideology in the national parliaments of European countries; Elite Quality Index (EQx); the Freedom in the World Index; Political Stability and Absence of Violence Index, which is part of The Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI). It is revealed that today ideological trends of authoritarian populism, conservatism and extremism are spreading in European countries. Cluster analysis has shown that the political extremism is influenced by the level of quality of national elites, the development of fundamental rights and freedoms, the political stability, and the absence of violence. Further research should focus on econometric simulation of factors shaping political extremism through economic development indicators.

The article studies the current changes taking place in the civil society sector of Eastern European countries under the impact of intensifying radical action on the political environment. One of the key areas of progress of modern states is a further development of democratic values, which depends largely on the activity of the civil society sector. In this regard, the aim of the study was to examine the main problems and areas of change in the development of the civil society sector during the period of intensification of political radicalism in some Eastern European democracies. Methodologically, they used the empirical results of a survey of citizens of Eastern European countries to determine areas of development and key issues of civil society. In conclusion, a comparative analysis of the level of development of the civil sector and the degree of radicalization in Eastern European countries revealed the correlation between the development of civil society and radical policy frameworks.