«мягкая сила»

The article examines political aspects of the development of the doping scandal in international sports, which began after the 2014 Olympic Games. The accusations made against the Russian Federation for creating and supporting an institutionalized system of doping use point to the unprecedented nature of the information company. Despite the obvious political background of the doping scandal and the noticeable fl aws of the charges, Russian sports functionaries were unable to fully exploit the potential of the political information counteraction company.

The article reviews the basics of the concept of “soft power”, which is actively used by the United States to promote its interests in the essential country of Southeastern Asia – the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Basing on studying of materials of Executive authorities of the United States, such as the State Department and the U.S.

The article is concerned with the analysis of the evolution of Iranian public diplomacy in Central Asia. The author examines the circumstances of revitalization, development features and the current state of Iran’s public diplomacy in the region. The author argues that despite the cultural and civilizational resource on which Iranian soft power in the region relies, the political and ideological features of the new independent states limit Iranian public diplomacy to a certain extent.

Results of a survey of representatives of leading universities of Saratov region are analyzed in this article. Experts were asked about the current and potential possibilities of using resources of scholarly and educational organizations in terms of achievement of public diplomacy goals. Based on this survey, key directions of optimization of regional universities’ potential and their functioning as subjects of “soft power” for neighboring countries and beyond are systemized and substantiated.

In this article, the author tries to conceptualize and analyze the educational factor in realizing the national interests of a state. The author applies the method of analytic eclecticism for education complex analysis in the frames of different theoretical concepts. In the system of national interests priorities the author offers to consider the system of education in the context of three interdependent factors: as an instrument of national security; as a main factor for social and economic development; as a mean of political influence (soft power).