Key Challenges to the Sovereignization of the Digital Space of Socio-Political Communications in Contemporary Russia

The main objective of this study is to identify the key challenges that contemporary Russia is facing in the process of digital sovereignty in the national digital space of socio-political communication. The article uses the principles of critical discourse analysis of academic literature and the expert survey method as a methodological lens. Based on the results of the analysis of academic discourse, the authors identified a range of key challenges accompanying the activities of contemporary states in achieving their digital sovereignty. The authors come to the conclusion that external and internal factors that create conditions for key challenges to digital sovereignty and digital sovereignty are not simply interconnected, but are capable of reinforcing each other, in critical cases passing the point of no return and provoking the opposite process — digital desovereignization. Based on the analysis of the results of the expert study, the key challenges of digital sovereignty were clarified, and those challenges that are characteristic of the processes of sovereignty of the digital space of socio-political communications in contemporary Russia were identified. These challenges are closely related to the need to determine our own path of digital development and to create a national model of digital sovereignty that would reflect Russian national specifics. Also, in the aspect of analyzing the challenges specific to Russia, based on the integration of expert assessments, the need to form value and semantic attitudes among specialists in the field of digitalization, as well as the formation of knowledge, competencies, skills and abilities adequate to modern realities among representatives of all branches and levels of government responsible for developing policies and strategies for digital sovereignty, ensuring the legal framework for the country's digital development processes, as well as for the implementation of strategies within the framework of specific applied models and projects of digital sovereignty is highlighted. The paper also shows the importance and criticality of ensuring the pro-social nature of digital sovereignty processes, which otherwise could create the potential for socio-political destabilization and act as a factor in the growth of mistrust and dissatisfaction with the activities of government institutions on the part of the population.

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