Moscow University Bulletin. Series 12. Political Science. 2024. 2.

The purpose of the work is to identify the features of modern political ideologies associated with digital technological transformations. The remythologizing approach and L. Althusser’s refined approach to ideology are used as a methodological lens. Digital technology corporations are considered as specific intellectual ideological devices that form the conditions for digital transformations of most modern political ideologies. It was discovered that such a polyvalent phenomenon as the ideologization of the meme is becoming important in these changes. An analysis of cybercommunism, cyberlibertarianism, cyberanarchism, cyberfascism and neoreactionism led to the conclusion that the digital environment contributes to the remythologization of political consciousness, in which more flexible mythological constructs, rather than strict ideological dogmas, become popular. On the one hand, the key features of modern political ideologies that are changing under the influence of digital technological transformations are revealed, on the other hand, their similarity with classical ideological constructs is revealed. It is shown that all these ideologies consider digital media and technologies as tools for qualitative socio-political transformations in the future.

This article explores the profound impact of digital technologies on international relations and geopolitical dynamics. It posits that the digital realm has become a new frontier in global politics, where state and non-state actors engage in both cooperative and antagonistic interactions. The advent of cyber warfare, digital espionage, and the strategic use of social media have introduced novel forms of conflict, challenging traditional notions of sovereignty and national security. Simultaneously, digital platforms offer unprecedented opportunities for cross-border collaboration, fostering diplomatic engagement and facilitating the achievement of shared goals. The article highlights the dual-use nature of digital technologies, serving both as tools for empowerment and instruments of power struggles. It discusses the emergence of digital alliances and networks that transcend national boundaries, reshaping the landscape of international cooperation. However, it also underscores the digital divide and the geopolitical implications of unequal access to technology, which can exacerbate existing tensions and inequalities. The article calls for a multilateral approach to govern the digital sphere, emphasizing the need for international norms and regulations that balance national interests with global digital commons.

The main goal of this article was to identify the potential and features of the use of digital actants and computational propaganda technologies in contemporary processes of digital socio-political communication. Current digital technological transformations and the rapid evolution of artificial intelligence technologies are powerful factors and drivers of the development of digital actants — software and hardware systems operating on the basis of the use of neural network algorithms and taking an active part in the processes of digital socio-political communication. In this regard, such new type of actants require careful study by specialists and scientists. In the framework of this work, the methodological basis of the study was the methods of discourse analysis, case study, and expert survey, which made it possible to confirm the results we obtained. The work demonstrates that digital actants have a substantial potential to impact mass consciousness and behavior. It is determined by the high efficiency of algorithmically adapted information and communication influence from “smart” communicative actants on the target audiences’ consciousness. Such potential is based on the algorithmic analysis of users’ digital traces and the identification of subjective features and characteristics of the latter. Based on the results of the work, it is concluded that contemporary digital technological transformations create a significant potential for computational and propaganda wars in the digital environment between global political actors. This circumstance leads us to the thesis about the need to ensure state technological sovereignty in the digital space.

The article examines the phenomenon of the rapid formation of artificial intelligence (AI) as an object and means of state policy in Russia and other countries. The information basis for the study of this phenomenon is abundant and contradictory. Every day, there is a lot of fragmentary information in various domestic and foreign media about private facts and statements by leaders of different countries about the role of AI in their politics and correctly. In this regard, the main attention was paid to several dozen official documents, which made it possible to compile generalized ideas about the essence and features of considering AI as a subject and means of public policy in Russia and abroad. To study such documents, methods of systematic diagnostics of socio-political and socio-economic processes and phenomena developed and tested at the Federal Research Center “Informatics and Management” of the Russian Academy of Sciences were used. It was shown that at present, government strategies and programs for the development of AI have been adopted and are being implemented in the world, reflecting various state interests in this subject. It is also shown that in many cases, states claim to be world leaders in the development and use of AI. Attention is drawn to attempts to use AI for public administration purposes as a means of total control over public behavior and loyalty of citizens. The assumptions about the long-term continuation of this policy are substantiated.

The article presents the results of an applied political research of the information flow of external pressure aimed at the formation of protest attitudes among Russian social media users. Currently, the activities of external actors in the network dimension are focused not so much on the launch of established scenarios of colour revolutions, but rather on the implementation of new hybrid schemes based on prolonged manipulative influence, implementation of a chain of special information and psychological operations, dissemination of fakes, incitement of social and ethnic discord, gradual soft deconsolidation and disorganisation of the state and society. The scientific problem is dictated by the types of contradictions that the basic provisions of the network and cognitive approaches are aimed at analysing and explaining. The research methodology is based on the general principles of social media predictive analytics and includes the use of cognitive mapping of digital content and automated social media analysis. Based on the results of the study, the authors draw conclusions about the basic characteristics of the information flow under study, describe the role of external network actors in the formation of protest attitudes of Russian social media users, and substantiate the political risks of the implementation of such activities.

The article discusses digital technologies of external destructive information and psychological influence on the constituent entities of the Russian Federation bordering Ukraine: Belgorod, Bryansk, Zaporozhye, Kursk and Kherson regions, Donetsk People’s Republic, and Lugansk People’s Republic. The authors used cognitive mapping to study an array of publications of relevant content in relevant Telegram channels. As a result, key digital ways of achieving external destructive information and psychological influence have been identified, which are technological methods of information propaganda and manipulation of public consciousness. Propaganda most often uses the techniques of demonization and stigmatization, and manipulation uses negativization, primitivization, tendentious selection of information and parasitism. At the same time, most often in information materials of a deconsolidating nature, which provoke ethnic and socio-economic splits, the manipulative technique of primitivization is used.

The main purpose of this article is to examine the public policy for the development of AI technologies in the European Union, which emerged during the public debate around the Artificial Intelligence Act, which began in 2021. The study uses a case study methodological approach in combination with political analysis methods to identify pressure groups and predict outcomes. Of particular importance in this case is the status of the European Union as a supranational entity that implements policies in an area traditionally dominated by transnational IT companies. An additional complexity is presented by the different starting conditions in which the EU member countries find themselves in terms of the level of digitalization. An undoubted discovery of EU policy in this area is the risk ranking approach, according to which a set of prohibitive and permissive measures is built. Another strength of this policy is its attempt to reconcile the diverse interests of all parties involved in the process of digitalization.