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Crises in social systems are considered by analogy with phase transitions and the corresponding critical phenomena in «non-living» many-particle physical systems. We present two qualitative physical models: (i) a historical and demographic progress as a gradual condensation of economical domains with an improvement of living conditions, and (ii) the modern economical crisis as a result of a spontaneous «condensation» of assets in a free expansion of the U.S. economy in 1990th and 2000th, reducing a control over large business enterprises formed in this process. The first model explains the observed hyperbolic growth of world population in the I–XX centuries A.D. without any additional assumption while the second model points to the analogy between the economic expansion with a drop of competition, and the expansion of gas into vacuum with a drop of temperature.

The article describes the modes with the exacerbation of social and biological history. The analysis of the possible causes of the sharp acceleration of biological and social processes in certain historical periods is carried out. Using mathematical modeling shows that hyperbolic trends in social and biological evolution may be the result of transitional processes in periods of expansion of ecological niches. Accelerating biological speciation due to the fact that its earlier life change inhabitancy, making it more diverse, saturating the organic, thus creating favourable conditions for the emergence of new species. In the social history of the expansion of ecological niches associated with technological revolutions, of which the most important were: Neolithic revolution — the transition from appropriating economy to producing economy (10 thousand years ago), “urban revolution” — a shift from the Neolithic epoch to the bronze epoch (5 thousand years ago), the “axial age” — transition to the development of iron tools (2.5 thousand years ago), the industrial revolution — the transition from manual labor to machine production (200 years ago). All of these technological revolutions have been accompanied by dramatic population growth, changes in social and political spheres. So, observed in the last century, hyperbolic nature of some demographic, economic growth and other indicators of world dynamics is a consequence of the transition process, which began as a result of the industrial revolution and to prepare for the transition of the society to a new stage of its development. Singularity point of hyperbolic trend shows the end of the initial phase of the process and marks the transition to the final stage. The mathematical model describing the demographic and economic changes in the era of change is proposed. It is shown that a direct analogue of the contemporary situation in this sense is the “axial age” (since 8 century BC to the beginning of our era). The existence of this analogy allows you to see into the future by studying the past.

In the last quarter of the twentieth century, the nature of global demographic and economic development began to change rapidly: the continuously accelerating growth of the main characteristics that took place over the previous two hundred years was replaced by a sharp slowdown. In the context of these changes, the role of a long-term forecast of global dynamics is increasing. At the same time, the forecast should be based not on inertial projection of past trends into future periods, but on mathematical modeling of fundamental patterns of historical development. The article presents preliminary results of research on mathematical modeling and forecasting of global demographic and economic dynamics based on this approach. The basic dynamic equations reflecting this dynamics are proposed, the modification of these equations in relation to different historical epochs is justified. For each historical epoch, based on the analysis of the corresponding system of equations, a phase portrait was determined and its features were analyzed. Based on this analysis, conclusions were drawn about the patterns of world development in the period under review.

It is shown that mathematical description of technology development is important for modeling historical dynamics. A method for describing technological dynamics is proposed, on the basis of which the corresponding mathematical equations are proposed.

Three stages of historical development are considered: the stage of agrarian society (before the beginning of the XIX century), the stage of industrial society (XIX–XX centuries) and the modern era. The proposed mathematical model shows that an agrarian society is characterized by cyclical demographic and economic dynamics, while an industrial society is characterized by an increase in demographic and economic characteristics close to hyperbolic.

The results of mathematical modeling have shown that humanity is currently moving to a fundamentally new phase of historical development. There is a slowdown in growth and the transition of human society into a new phase state, the shape of which has not yet been determined. Various options for further development are considered.

The paper considers the basic model of competitive interactions and its use for the analysis and description of social processes. The peculiarity of the model is that it describes the interaction of several competing actors, while actors can vary the strategy of their actions, in particular, form coalitions to jointly counter a common enemy. As a result of modeling, various modes of competitive interaction were identified, their classification was conducted, and their features were described. In the course of the study, the attention is paid to the so-called “rough” (according to A.A. Andronov) cases of the implementation of competitive interaction, which until now have rarely been considered in the scientific literature, but are quite common in real life. Using a basic mathematical model, the conditions for the implementation of various modes of competitive interactions are considered, the conditions for the transition from one mode to another are determined, examples of the implementation of these modes in the economy, social and political life are given. It is shown that with a relatively low level of competition, which is non-antagonistic in nature, competition can lead to an increase in the activity of interacting actors and to overall economic growth. Moreover, in the presence of expanding resource opportunities (as long as such opportunities remain), this growth may have a hyperbolic character. With a decrease in resource capabilities and increased competition, there is a transition to an oscillatory mode, when weaker actors unite to jointly counteract stronger ones. With a further decrease in resource opportunities and increased competition, there is a transition to the formation of stable hierarchical structures. At the same time, the model shows that at a certain moment there is a loss of stability, the system becomes “rough” according to A.A. Andronov and sensitive to fluctuations in parameter changes. As a result, the existing hierarchies may collapse and be replaced by new ones. With a further increase in the intensity of competition, the actor-leader completely suppresses his opponents and establishes monopolism. Examples from economic, social, and political life are given, illustrating the patterns identified on the basis of modeling using the basic model of competition. The obtained results can be used in the analysis, modeling and forecasting of socioeconomic and political processes.

Dynamic scenarios leading to multistability in the form of continuous families of stable solutions are studied for a system of autonomous differential equations. The approach is based on determining the cosymmetries of the problem, calculating stationary solutions, and numerically-analytically studying their stability. The analysis is carried out for equations of the Lotka –Volterra type, describing the interaction of two predators feeding on two related prey species. For a system of ordinary differential equations of the 4th order with 11 real parameters, a numerical-analytical study of possible interaction scenarios was carried out. Relationships are found analytically between the control parameters under which the cosymmetry linear in the variables of the problem is realized and families of stationary solutions (equilibria) arise. The case of multicosymmetry is established and explicit formulas for a two-parameter family of equilibria are presented. The analysis of the stability of these solutions made it possible to reveal the division of the family into regions of stable and unstable equilibria. In a computational experiment, the limit cycles branching off from unstable stationary solutions are determined and their multipliers corresponding to multistability are calculated. Examples of the coexistence of families of stable stationary and non-stationary solutions are presented. The analysis is carried out for the growth functions of logistic and “hyperbolic” types. Depending on the parameters, scenarios can be obtained when only stationary solutions (coexistence of prey without predators and mixed combinations), as well as families of limit cycles, are realized in the phase space. The multistability scenarios considered in the work allow one to analyze the situations that arise in the presence of several related species in the range. These results are the basis for subsequent analysis when the parameters deviate from cosymmetric relationships.