On July 7, Editor-in-Chief of Russia in Global Affairs magazine Fyodor Lukyanov, a RIAC member, read a lecture to students of RIAC Summer School.
The lecturer underlined that diplomacy is no longer a closed shop, with more and more social groups are getting in and the Internet unveiling the previously off-the-record issues. The growing volumes of publicly available information make it difficult, if not impossible, for leaders to impose the country image of their liking. The state is losing the monopoly for its own image since the breakthrough technologies foster a basically different generation of citizens.
On July 7, Editor-in-Chief of Russia in Global Affairs magazine Fyodor Lukyanov, a RIAC member, read a lecture to students of RIAC Summer School.
The lecturer underlined that diplomacy is no longer a closed shop, with more and more social groups are getting in and the Internet unveiling the previously off-the-record issues. The growing volumes of publicly available information make it difficult, if not impossible, for leaders to impose the country image of their liking. The state is losing the monopoly for its own image since the breakthrough technologies foster a basically different generation of citizens.
The lecture gave rise to numerous questions, one of them why soft power is so widely discussed in Russia.
Mr. Lukyanov suggested that the cause is in the depletion of the ideological arsenal Russia kept employing after the breakup of the USSR. Having processed the Soviet legacy, we are trying to use the stereotype vision of the pre-revolutionary past. Today, there is a need for a different approach. As a matter of fact, Russia should position itself as the most dynamic post-Soviet state offering realistic perspectives and an attractive future, which seems the only scenario to become appealing to its neighbors.
RIAC Summer School
