Articles

This article provides an analytical review of the key stages in the formation and development of GR management as a system of practical-political for the relationship between businesses and government and an applied discipline in Russia and abroad. The authors examine the evolution of GR management through the lens of four primary organizational forms of GR activity: corporate, associative, consulting, and international (transnational) GR, development of GR as an educational and research system is also reviewed.
The study explores the key stages of GR institutionalization in Russia, systematizes existing theoretical and methodological approaches and elaborates on the core features, functions, and operational frameworks of each of the four organizational GR forms. The analysis identifies challenges facing GR management as an academic discipline and outlines directions for future research.
The findings demonstrate that GR management in Russia has evolved significantly from the fragmented practices of the 1990s to a fully-fledged academic discipline and professional field. Further institutionalization of GR in Russia requires consolidating efforts by academic and professional communities to expand its theoretical-methodological foundation, and develop new or enhance existing programs for training industry specialists.

The article investigates social architecture as a concept linking the theoretical understanding of social order with the practical tasks of public administration and the coordination of socio-political processes within the Russian sociocultural context. It examines the transition from the classical problem of social order to a new governance paradigm grounded in the principles of social architecture. The focus is on the theoretical and methodological dimensions of positioning social architecture as an element of scholarly and socio-political discourse that aspires to a normative character. The article analyzes the institutional consolidation of the social architecture concept across the domains of media, education, expert knowledge, and public policy. It assesses the potential of this discourse in terms of addressing state objectives related to the formation of national (civilizational) identity. The study draws on a combination of discursive institutionalism, the ‘analytics of government’ (in the tradition of governmentality studies), and the strategic-relational approach (of neo-Marxist tradition), enabling social architecture to be examined not as a given, but as a constructed social reality aimed at ensuring the resilience and stability of state systems. The author demonstrates that the development of the social architecture discourse represents an attempt to resolve contradictions in the governance of socio-political processes — contradictions arising from the exhaustion of the previous sociocultural tradition's potential and the need to form new systems of expert support for state policy. In a broader theoretical perspective, social architecture is considered as one possible response to the fundamental problem of social order — a problem of enduring relevance to the contemporary social sciences and humanities — in conditions where interest in Russia's national political tradition and the interpretation of its historical experience of state-building is growing.

In just a decade, Western political thought has gone from using the concept of ‘Civilizational State’ to describe the geopolitical opponents of the modern West to using it in studying the changing political structure and the geopolitical nature of Western civilization itself. These discursive changes demonstrate profound shifts in the paradigmatic perception of both the very structure of international relations and the essence of the actors in these relations. The article presents the results of an analysis of various directions of the civilizational approach in the West, which have an impact in the modern political and scientific discourse of Europe and the United States. The ‘Civilizational State’ is the most appropriate concept to describe the reality of a multipolar world, the transition from the Westphalian model of nation-states to the order of “large spaces” by Carl Schmitt. The reflection of Western political thought on the semantic burden of the concept of ‘Civilizational State’ is obligatory for comprehension in the context of the study of the identity of the Russian Civilizational State — its political, spiritual and social aspects.

The purpose of this article is to determine the nature of the influence of digitalization on the political process, identifying the associated risks and prospects for the stability of the political system. The research question is how the transformation of the elements of the political process under the influence of information technologies changes it at the micro, meso, and macro levels. The methodological basis is structural-functional analysis, which allows us to consider digitalization as a destabilizing but adaptive factor in the development of the political system, and the modeling method, which makes it possible to consider the political process as a model existing at three levels. The findings of the work demonstrate that digital transformation modifies political institutions and actors, creates new challenges, but at the same time does not create a fundamentally new political reality, but acts as a key factor forcing the political system to adapt.

The article analyzes the phenomenon of information fakes, the use of which in the contemporary digital space becomes an instrument of confrontation between economic and political actors and a threat to national security. The theoretical and methodological framework of the study is based on the concept of a digital society, while the authors emphasize the transformation of the nature of communication in a contemporary digital society. It is concluded that the predominantly emotional consumption of news replaces the cognitive component of communication itself. Taking into account the increasing orientation of the audience towards the short-term perception of information and with the constant simplification of production and improvement of the technical quality of fakes, favorable conditions are being created for the increasingly massive spread of fake information.
The materials of the Russian Federation shows the main directions of countering the spread of fake information, including law regulation, the establishment of legislative responsibility for the spread of false messages, the creation of a media field monitoring system, the development of state and public resources specializing in exposing fakes, etc. It is concluded that an effective strategy to combat fakes should include not only identifying and blocking false information, but also increasing the digital literacy of society and developing information hygiene.

This article examines revolution as a socio-political phenomenon through the prism of the views of two outstanding Russian social thinkers — V. V. Rozanov and P. A. Sorokin. Despite the obvious differences in their personal and professional biographies, they both, having offered in their own way a deep and comprehensive analysis of the causes, nature and consequences of the revolution from the point of view of individual, social and historical development, coincided in essential assessments that sound relevant later more than a hundred years. A common feature of the work of Rozanov and of Sorokin is the antinomy, contradictoriness of one’s views, which modern researchers pay attention to. Using the personal biographies of the presented scholars as an example, the article examines the phenomenon of revolution and the social and political context in which it was matured over many years. Rozanov was a direct witness to the revolutionary events, and Sorokin was even a participant. Such close acquaintance with this phenomenon allowed both authors to conclude that, as Sorokin put it, “the real nature of revolution is very different from these romantic representations of it which are usual among its apologists.” Both of them initially shared common inspiration and hopes, and both authors saw a common inevitable pattern in the development of this process — disappointment in ideals, the aggravation of all problems and revolution’s eventual reversal into its opposite.

Central Asia as an important subject and actor in the emerging world order draws attention of regional and global powers. Since the beginning of the 21st century, China and India have also initiated a more proactive foreign policy towards the Central Asian states. This article explores the specificities of the implementation of China’s and India’s foreign policies in the Central Asian countries in the political and economic domains. It also conducts a comparative analysis of China’s and India’s foreign policy approaches, priorities, similarities, and differences in Central Asia. It is pointed out that “soft power” constitutes an essential instrument in the implementation of the foreign policies of both countries in Central Asia. It is noted that the main differences in the formation of the Central Asian policies of the two countries include the disparity of trade and economic presence and the difference in the degree of autonomy of the Central Asian policy vector.

The article focuses on the main meanings of India’s modern foreign policy, which form the basis of the country’s soft power messages and appeal to its civilizational identity. It highlights the significance of India’s foreign policy vision, which is rooted in the idea of development and heritage, appealing to the harmonization of the past and the future.
Therefore, along with the government’s ambitious Viksit Bharat (Developed India) concept facing the future, the main foreign policy semantic guidelines and substantive elements of the soft power campaigns of modern India are formulated with references to the historical and cultural heritage, demonstrating not only the connection of times, but also the relevance of ancient messages to all humanity for the modern world.
8 experts specializing in various aspects of New Delhi’s foreign policy were interviewed in 2024. The article provides an overview of expert interviews on topics related to the perception of the concept of ‘soft power,’ as well as the semantic foundations and attitudes of Indian soft power, including opinions on the influence of the Hindutva ideology on the content and formats of Indian soft power campaigns after 2014.

This article provides a theoretical and practical justification for the concept of the fifth freedom (the freedom of knowledge) for the Eurasian Economic Union as a necessary stage in the development of integration in the context of intensifying geopolitical competition. The authors argue that modern regional integration goes beyond purely economic logic and incorporates humanitarian, normative, and value-based dimensions. A comparative analysis of the approaches of Turkey, China, and the United States to interaction with post-Soviet countries demonstrates that leading external actors utilize tools of humanitarian influence to advance their interests. The US approach relies on the network of loyal NGOs and media outlets established in the post-Soviet space over the past decades, China is developing its own infrastructure of humanitarian influence, and Turkey is developing a common value-based and ideological space. The further development of the Eurasian Economic Union and the successful technological modernization of its member countries are impossible without the formation of a common scientific and educational space. The fifth freedom initiative could become an adequate response to new challenges in global politics and the competitive environment of regional integration.