soft power

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 deals with topical issues of the implementation of China’s “soft power” policy in the Asia-Pacifi c region. The growing infl uence of China’s public diplomacy is demonstrated by the example of state programs of technological and economic development integrating tools of interaction with the governments of the Asia-Pacifi c states. The conclusion is made about the growing infl uence of China’s promotional policy to strengthen its diplomatic positions in the Asia-Pacifi c region in overcoming the negative consequences of the crisis associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.

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.

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).