This paper explores the potential of blockchain technology in revolutionizing intellectual property (IP) protection and its implications for sustainable development goals, particularly those related to peace, justice, and strong institutions. By providing a transparent and immutable ledger for tracking IP ownership, blockchain offers a secure platform to combat fraud and misrepresentation in IP transactions. Additionally, smart contracts can automate IP enforcement, further enhancing protection measures. Beyond IP protection, blockchain fosters transparency in copyright ownership and transactions, facilitating fair compensation for creators (...) and discouraging piracy. However, challenges such as accessibility and regulatory hurdles remain. Despite these limitations, integrating blockchain in IP protection offers transformative opportunities to establish equitable systems, enhance trust, and streamline processes. Collaboration and standardized frameworks are essential for maximizing blockchain's potential in IP protection and advancing sustainable development goals. (shrink)

The paper examines the structure and dynamics of the political imaginary of the two countries of post-Soviet Central Asia - Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. As the authors show, Russia has a special place in this structure. For a long time, many ordinary citizens of these states did not perceive Russia as a foreign state on an equal footing with others. This perception was due to a number of factors, the most important of which was Soviet institutional and psychological inertia. At the (...) institutional level, Soviet inertia was expressed primarily in the transparency of the borders between Russia and the Central Asian countries. On a psychological level, it manifested itself in nostalgia for the Soviet past. It was the overlapping of soviet nostalgia with the understanding of the importance of migration to Russia for the material well-being of households that gave rise to a high level of loyalty to Moscow. Recently, however, the Russian Federation has started to gradually become a foreign state among others in the eyes of ordinary residents of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. In the minds of people, Russia still has a specific status, but this specificity is increasingly seen in a global context; in this context, other actors along with Moscow matter (Beijing and Washington, as well as Istanbul and Tehran). The process of turning Russia into an ordinary “abroad” was going on before, but it accelerated sharply after February 24, 2022. The authors identify signs of distancing from Russia both at the level of the ruling elites and at the level of civil society. Among these signs are, in particular, the desire of governments to demonstrate a multi-vector foreign policy, a change in the public rhetoric of top officials, as well as manifestations of anti-Russian sentiment in the public sphere of Kyrgyzstan. (shrink)