Аutonomous State as a Political Category and Tool of Strategic Presence

Abstract

The article attempts to derive the definition of an autonomous state and a set of its key features (characteristics) proceeding from existing foreign and domestic scientific materials. Although such a category is not present in wide political discourse, the existence of states (or state-like entities) with an autonomous status is still a reality that requires a scientific assessment. The relevance of the stated problems is due to the historical events that took place in the region of East Asia in the first half of the twentieth century. And for objective or subjective reasons, they require scientific and social rethinking. One of these events is the role and importance of Mongolia (then — Outer Mongolia / Mongolian People’s Republic) in the events preceding and accompanying the Second World War and the Great Patriotic War. Another event may be the creation of an “alternative” Mongol state in the occupied territories of Northern China by the Japanese military command. And if the current state of international relations in the region allows us to argue that the military presence of powers that are unfriendly to Russia in East Asia is not expected in the expected future, then we cannot speak with the same confidence about other instruments of strategic presence, including so-called “soft power.” That is why studying the experience of building a regional political order is an important task, to the solution of which the scientific community must also be connected.