The article is intended to stimulate the discussions on sustainable development and separate Sustainable Development Goals. It was initially prepared for the 21st session of the UN Committee of Experts on Public Administration “Transforming institutions and governance to build forward better towards 2030”. The article covers the progress, lessons learned and challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and its impacts on the implementation of Goals 4, 5, 14 and 15 and on leaving no one behind, as well as reflections on the challenges of state-building. The authors suggest that building strong and effective public institutions is crucial for achieving the Goals and building forward better after the pandemic. This should be accompanied by investments in the public sector workforce to align competences and values with the challenges ahead. Supporting developing countries in making their public institutions, societal and physical infrastructure and economies more resilient and agile not only against COVID-19 but against all potential future shocks is crucial and in the interest of all nations. Global cooperation and solidarity are therefore critical, and all countries should work together to address the virus and ensure equitable vaccine distribution while also ensuring that no one – and no country – is left behind.

Crisis ideologization as one of the tools to carry out political manipulations plays a leading role in the construction of reality, has the powerful potential for influencing the mass consciousness. It makes the manipulation of the public opinion possible, impacts the behaviour and political decisions of the recipient to get rid of political dividends in favour of the actor. The actors exercise control over the value balance in the society both within their own country and abroad using a set of tactics – special tools, which allow influencing political decision-making and public opinion to ideologize mass consciousness. The mechanism of ideologizing a crisis is wide-spread in modern international relations. The author offers a typology of manipulative tools relying on the study of crisis situations by the method of critical discourse analysis, and singles out the tactics of legitimization of the political actors’ actions, censure and condemnation, coercion and punishment, accusations, threats of war, misinformation, seduction, insults, and distraction. The aim of the article is to describe the mechanisms of political manipulations by means of crisis ideologization. The study is based on mass media publications representing various crises emerged in the post-Soviet space since 2020.

The article reveals the content of the new concept of “wolf warrior diplomacy” that first appeared in 2019. “Wolf warrior diplomacy” is a metaphorical phrase denoting a new demeanor of Chinese diplomats, characterized by particular assertiveness and aggressiveness. The author examines the emergence of the concept and its popularization in Chinese media discourse, and comes to the conclusion that this behavior of Chinese diplomats was not only condemned by the Chinese leadership and Chinese society, but, on the contrary, was supported and publicly approved. This is consistent with the new conceptual foreign and domestic political ideas of China – the strengthening of the “discursive power” in the international arena and the strengthening of the “four certainties” within the country. Wolf warrior diplomacy is intended to demonstrate China’s ability to turn in its favor even ideas, concepts and formulations that were originally anti-Chinese in nature and were developed by Western countries to discredit China and undermine its international image.

The paper examines the development of demographic policies throughout the history of the People’s Republic of China, makes predictions for future trends and offers potential solutions based on quantitative analysis. The policies focused on controlling the fertility rate control, with measures first advocated by the government and then made a part of administration regulation, with further changes at legislative level. The author shows that while the Chinese population is growing, but fertility is decreasing and concludes that the population will decrease in the near future unless the situation changes. That explains the adjustments made by the Chinese government which is integrating demographic policies into the country’s long-term strategies.

In the article the authors examine the state policy of the Republic of Moldova in the field of migration. Since the country is mainly a donor of migrants, there are a number of state bodies in the country whose purpose is to control and ensure the right to free movement both inside and outside the country, as well as facilitate the return of migrants to their homeland from abroad. Among the main reasons for migration, the authors identify such problems as poverty, high unemployment, the unstable political situation and corruption at state level, a desire to improve the quality and standard of living, moving to live with relatives or to study.
The research methodology is based on the following general scientific and special cognitive methods: system-structural analysis, the comparative method and formal logical method. The article analyses the materials and data provided by the national institutes of the Republic of Moldova, as well as the data and materials of international organizations.
As a result of the study, it became clear that the Republic of Moldova is actively working towards the implementation of the principles of effective public administration in the field of migrations. There are a number of laws adopted at state level that contribute to the regulation of migration in the country. The Republic of Moldova is facing many challenges. Although significant progress was recorded, much work remains to be done on migration policy at all levels of public administration. People continue to migrate and only a small percentage of them return to their homeland.