In this paper the authors analyze the results of a sociological study on the reaction of Russian elitology to the challenges of the modern world, conducted in preparation for the Third all-Russian Congress by the Laboratory for improving the efficiency of public administration of the South-Russian Institute of Management (RANEPA). The authors compare the estimates of experts with those given in the course of sociological studies conducted by a similar method in connection with the preparation of the first and second congresses (2013, 2016).

The article represents the author’s approach to classification of ontologies of public opinion, formed by the intersection of possible ontological models of society and individual opinion. The ontologies of society are grouped into four types: (1) holism, (2) individualism, (3) dialectical approach, (4) ontological independence. The ontologies of individual opinion are grouped based on two major criteria: (1) the criterion of the existence of individual opinion and (2) the criterion of the existence of individual opinion in the form of several mutually exclusive opinions. The combination of these criteria is the basis for the construction of four types of ontology of individual opinion: type 0/1 (respondent may have no opinion or have one); type 1 (respondent must have some opinion, and it is always one); type 0/n (respondent may both have no opinion and have one or more, and even mutually exclusive opinions); type 1/n (respondent must have some opinion, one or more, even may have mutually exclusive opinions). The intersection of ontologies of society and opinion gives a classification consisting of 16 possible theoretical models of public opinion. The obtained classification may be a tool for further research that will help to compare the plausibility of the assumptions arising from each of the 16 ontologies, their explanatory and predictive capabilities and thus select the best theoretical models

The article is devoted to the analysis of internal and external contradictions of the phenomenon of digital diplomacy, caused by the use of the Internet as a tool of international relations. The author lays emphasis on the correlation between new opportunities and new risks of global communication, as well as the perspectives of the interaction between traditional and digital diplomacy and media. The communication revolution produced by the Internet has changed the ways, conditions and intensity of communication, creating a fundamentally new dynamic of international relations. The difference between digital diplomacy and traditional international relations is that its tools are used to influence not only diplomats and political leaders, but also the world public opinion directly. By promoting free communication and collective action among dispersed communities, the Internet can both strengthen and weaken the nation-state. Therefore, the presence of official diplomacy in the Internet becomes vital for the state

The paper dwells upon the external and internal communication practices of domestic and foreign educational organizations. The tools of communication at foreign educational institutions are analyzed. On the basis of the sociological research conducted by the author the specificity of scientific communication practices in Germany, Japan, the USA, China, Great Britain, based on national features of scientific activity is presented. Analysis of scientific communication practices revealed such positive components as strong educational scientific base, relevant scientific and technical development, and the exchange of scientific content

The paper represents the analysis the concept of “communication” in the context of ongoing efforts to further develop the theory of the information society. The term “communication” is increasingly viewed in expert scientific circles and as an indirect and expedient interaction of subjects, which can be their movement in space and time, where along with information communication, communication in its material, transport, and energy areas are required, as well as migration communication. Spontaneously developing migration processes, especially in the international field, indicate that in sociology there has arisen an objective need for a deep study of the essence and consequences of this social phenomenon at the intersection of different sciences. It is quite obvious that migration communications today is a complex system of interaction, interpenetration of cultures of different peoples and countries, which is accompanied by a range of positive and negative phenomena. In this regard, emerging new models and technologies in the field of international migration communication is noteworthy, since a negative context is being more clearly distinguished, an environment is being created that will promote the development of religious extremism, the drug and arms trade, and the strengthening of the role of the shadow economy and corruption

The purpose of this paper is to examine how corporate social responsibility projects are used for promotion of a company on the international arena. The objective is to develop a system of criteria for international public relations research on evaluation of project effectiveness within the practice of corporate social responsibility. The research is based on the analysis of corporate social responsibility projects of Coca-Cola, Gazprom, and LG Electronics. Comparisons between corporate social responsibility projects implemented in different countries by different companies suggest that they are much more similar than could be assumed. They build on the same set of target publics and similar country, temporal and social contexts. The conclusions demonstrate that the ongoing CSR projects are most successful in terms of international Public Relations

The paper represents a case-study of the particular case of manifestation of regional official’s rudeness and its reflection in media discussions. The sources are comments to news published on the regional information agency website, and telegram channels’ publications by the subject.Relationship between the authorities and the people is one of the key topics of political interest. Appeal to concept of political culture allows to answer many questions concerning the mastery, retention and use of power. To do this, the analyzed information array was considered the next aspects: reasons contributing to the appearance of the official’s statement (cultural level, awareness of the Russian regional elite, the gap between bureaucracy and Russian population); sanctions against the official (dismissal, extrajudicial reprisals); options for getting out of the situation for authorities (condemnation from the federal elite); political consequences of rudeness of the elite (protest vote of the population, recognition of personnel hunger in regions).Analysis of each issues allowed to address the problem of media discussions’ political potential, including new-media sites. Despite the constantly mentioned fact that such statements of officials provoke popular anger, which will affect the results of the elections in 2019, the discourse analysis reveals otherwise. Publications in the Internet space serve as a platform that absorbs negative expression of the audience, but not as a tool for calling for more active actions.

This article is devoted to the problem of transforming the values and political attitudes of modern students. Based on the results of empirical research, the authors come to the conclusion that contemporary Russian student youth are generally interested in politics, although they do not consider themselves politically active. The study also reveals a different level of trust in information in traditional and new media: in the second case, it is much higher. The authors draw attention to changes in the political culture of young people under the influence of the new structure of socio-political communication and call it “virtual civil-political activism”.The study analyzes the most obvious sociopolitical problems from the point of view of students, among which the problems of corruption and the lack of independent media dominate. It was also possible to reveal that the leading values of modern students are freedom of speech and the possibility of open will. On the basis of the respondents' answers, it is concluded that, understanding the wide range of problems of modern Russian society, young people demonstrate an orientation towards the evolutionary way of solving them and conventional forms of political activity, including the possibility of petitions and voting.The problem of patriotism and students' understanding of this phenomenon is considered. In particular, it is revealed that, although more than half of the students identify themselves as patriots, there is a negative trend compared with a similar study of 2010. The authors define that it is the replacement of traditional institutions of socialization with new ones that actualizes the issues of the formation of the system of national self-identification, a special place in which should be occupied by the educational process aimed at developing political literacy and competence

People’s Republic of China is a permanent member of the UN Security Council and has great economic potential, and is also included in the list of ten leading countries of the world in terms of GDP, has solid nuclear missile weapons and their delivery vehicles, and a great political weight in the international arena in the system of modern international relations. On the one hand, it strengthens its military potential, on the other hand, it spares no effort to build its image as a major responsible power, mainly through diplomacy of Soft Power. In the context of increasing global competition the Chinese government offers geostrategic projects aimed at intensifying international trade both on land routes and sea trade arteries. The article analyzes the strategic goals and objectives of one of these initiatives - the Project of the Maritime Silk Route of the XXI century. Special attention is paid to the assessment of the economic, transport and logistics potential of the project.The research methods: comparative analysis, functional method, statistical analysis and political forecasting method. The main conclusion of the work consists in the authors’ confirmation that the development of the Maritime Silk Route project will be aimed at reaching consensus in the political and economic sphere with countries along the route line and striving to align with the development strategy of the respective countries

The article is devoted to the processes of representation of national identity in the framework of the cultural policy of the North-East Asia countries (DPRK, PRC, Republic of Korea, Japan). The methodological framework is based on the provisions of structural constructivism, where the key element of analysis is the “construct” - the result of creative activity and social constructivism by power subjects. “Symbolic structures” are models that are the main factor in the formation of intercultural communication system. They are considered in the context of cultural policy as a mechanism of «soft power» formation (symbolic capital). Cultural policies of the North-East Asia countries focus on the representation of national identity in the space of intercultural interaction (use mass culture channels and traditional institutions. The symbolic structures of the “gift-giving” in the system of representations of national identity are contemplated, the rationality of their use and possible consequences for the region are substantiated

The Integrated Content is media content that includes information from the social networks or presuppose internet users as the source of information. This phenomenon, which combines information and communication, cannot be assessed by the same criteria as any other journalistic genre (for press, radio or TV). Based on the concepts developed by domestic and foreign researchers the author shows that integrated content creates certain consequences for the communication process and due to the synergy effect, it reaches a fundamentally new level of impact compared to the content produced by the media and the social networks separately. By using of information from social networks, journalists create some bias to a certain perception of content and often complicate rational and multilateral analysis of information. The author concludes that working with integrated content requires from the media representatives a more responsible attitude to the selection of material and sources to avoid possible risks in the information environment

The paper represents the analysis of the communication policies of companies in the communication services market segment. The authors have analyzed about 200 (two hundred) agencies providing services in the field of advertising and public relations. This allowed us to identify the agencies that pursue the same communication policy (1), common features of market behavior (2), and to describe the major maps of positioning (3). During the study, the research team mainly relied on the public activities of agencies, the services they provide, advertising products, type of customers, geography, ongoing projects, according to which positioning, and development strategy were described. This work continues the series of publications that were published from 2015 to 2018 and is part of the description of the global market for advertising agencies.