Socio-Political Manipulation – Incidental Pathology or Immanent Component of International Realm?

Abstract

In terms of specialization in social influence, the sphere of international relations is one of the most specific fields of social activity. Competitive and anarchized structure of international interactions works in favor of standard’s relativization and dispersion of responsibility, which provokes use of ambiguously evaluated means of pressure. Legitimacy gained from Machiavel lian paradigm of effectiveness puts term of manipulation on the higher level in hierarchy of strategic social influence. The scope of its potential use is as broad as the field of diffusion between different scientific approaches to the issue of international manipulation. This shows the background for synthetic conception of social control, which simultaneously involves interest of various academic disciplines such as psychology, sociology and political science. Despite difficulties in grasping an equivocal substance of manipulation, both historical and theoretical context of its occurrence lead to consideration about its structural role in transformation of international sphere. Beyond the field of political realism, the case of legitimacy for manipulative influence is also undertaken within the reach of theories of constructivism. Suitable references to this issue reflect concepts of social control originally related to categories of rhetoric, diplomacy and propaganda. Under the common denominator of civil development strictly bounded to improvement of influential content and its distribution, all of mentioned factors build a wide area for research on manipulation within international environment.