Abstract Media has emerged as a powerful yet under-theorized force shaping the nonmarket environments of multinationals (MNEs), particularly amid intensifying geopolitical tensions and ideological polarization. Drawing on mass communication theory, we conceptualize media, encompassing both institutional news media and social media platforms, as a distinct nonmarket influencer that actively constructs legitimacy, propagates geopolitical narratives, and accelerates public sentiment across borders. We develop a framework that explicates the pathways through which media reconfigures nonmarket influences facing MNEs, including legitimacy arbitration, geopolitical narrative, sentiment cascades, and shaping liabilities of foreignness and origin across interconnected home, host, and global arenas. We advance media literacy as a form of corporate soft power that enables MNEs to sense media-driven threats, seize narrative opportunities, and reconfigure communication structures as part of an integrated nonmarket strategy and corporate diplomacy. By repositioning media as a constitutive force rather than a peripheral communication channel, we present a foundation for understanding how MNEs develop their capacity to anticipate media-driven risks, manage legitimacy across borders, and adapt nonmarket strategies under geopolitical and ideological uncertainty.

The article analyzes some aspects of the "soft power" of Russian books in the context of the hybrid war against Ukraine. An analysis of the content of anti-Ukrainian publications in Russia shows that their essence and content contain special techniques and methods of manipulative influence on both Russians and the population of foreign countries. This is manipulation, disinformation, the spread of rumors and myths. The example of individual publications shows how the history of the emergence and development of Ukraine, the national liberation movement of the Ukrainian people against the century-old Russian expansion, myths about the persecution of the Russian-speaking population, especially in the Donbass and Crimea, are falsified. These and other similar manipulations became the basis for the gradual militarization of the public consciousness of the population of the former USSR and today's Russia throughout the 20th century, they formed a constant thirst for the seizure of more and more lands, for "awareness of one's greatness".

This article reconsiders sport’s role in diplomacy by examining how cricket functions as a source of coercive leverage in contemporary India–Pakistan relations. While much scholarship views sport as soft power or a confidence-building mechanism, India has, since 2012, refused to resume bilateral cricket with Pakistan, while multilateral tournament arrangements have increasingly adapted to preserve its participation. The article argues that India’s dominance within global cricket – rooted in market size, revenues, and institutional influence – has enabled a pattern of sustained denial. By restricting access, conditioning participation, and reshaping tournament arrangements, this pattern imposes financial, symbolic, and reputational costs without overt confrontation, illustrating how sport can function as a form of quiet coercive leverage in asymmetric relationships.

ABSTRACT While soft power continues to be an influential idea in public diplomacy, the complex realities of a multi-polar world necessitate an examination not just of how nations gain soft power, but also how they lose it. How does a country traverse the spectrum of credibility gain and loss? How can the ontology of this progression be captured into a relevant epistemology? Taking an interdisciplinary, case study approach, and drawing inspiration from public diplomacy, sociology, and psychology, this paper presents a theory of reputational vulnerability, which facilitates risk assessment and understanding of the intersecting dynamics of political polarisation and reputational erosion.

ABSTRACT This paper examines the internationalisation of sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) through investments in elite sports teams abroad, applying Comparative Institutional Analysis (CIA) to uncover both economic and political motivations. While sports ownership offers stable revenue streams and global commercial opportunities absent in Gulf domestic markets, it also functions as a soft power tool, enabling states to embed themselves in host economies, repair reputations, and project legitimacy. Mapping the cases of Qatar Sports Investments (QSI), Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), and Abu Dhabi United Group (ADUG) onto the IMF/Santiago Principles shows distinct institutional logics: QSI as a development fund driving diversification and nation branding, PIF as a stabilisation and reserve investment vehicle hedging oil dependence while embedding Saudi capital into global sport governance, and ADUG as a saving fund building a multiclub empire for long-term wealth preservation. The analysis extends CIA scholarship by demonstrating that SWF ownership of sports teams is not merely financial but strategically political, reflecting governments’ nonbusiness objectives and discreet power. Building on this, the paper develops a nascent theory of ‘sovereign sport-statecraft’, offering a typology of SWF sport investment logics and outlining policy implications for host governments, international sport governing bodies, and civil society.

ABSTRACT Globalisation has intensified international student mobility, encouraging states to frame overseas scholarships as strategic investments in national development and institutional capacity-building. By examining the motivations and expectations of the Indonesian National Police (INP) in assigning officers’ postgraduate study at world-class universities through the Indonesia Endowment Funds for Education (LPDP) scholarship scheme, this study marks a notable shift from INP’s long-standing common practice for officer postgraduate education from utilising national universities to universities in developed countries. Guided by human capital and soft power theory in navigating expectancy theory of motivation, the study employs a qualitative design using narrative analysis and triangulated data from policy documents, elite statements, and scholarship awardees’ interviews. Findings indicate that the programme is driven by intrinsic motivations related to human capital enhancement and institutional regeneration that coexist with extrinsic goals of nation-building and national competitiveness, while soft power outcomes remain unevenly realised despite strong human capital institutionalisation.

In the context of the transformation of international relations and increasing sanctions pressure, the Caspian region acquires strategic importance for the Russian Federation. The relevance of the study is due to the need to rethink the role of the Caspian Sea not only as a resource base but also as a key node of the Eurasian transport and logistics architecture and a space of regional security. The purpose of the article is to identify key trends in the formation of the international legal regime of the Caspian Sea and the specifics of implementing Russia's national interests in the fields of transport, energy, and security. The study is based on a qualitative analysis of strategic documents of the Russian Federation (National Security Strategy, Foreign Policy Concept) and international legal acts. Institutional and comparative political analysis of the strategies of the Caspian states was applied, as well as a structural-functional approach to assess the potential of the INSTC (North-South Corridor). It has been established that the Convention of 2018 formed a unique legal regime that excludes non-regional military presence. It is shown that the interaction between Russia and Iran is becoming a driver for the development of alternative logistics routes. Risks associated with attempts by external actors to influence regional stability through «soft power» tools have been identified. It is concluded that the Caspian region is transforming from a peripheral zone into a system-forming element of Greater Eurasia. The prospects of Russian policy are linked to deepening infrastructural integration and strengthening collective security mechanisms, which requires a comprehensive approach to the development of border territories.

Timor-Leste, the first new nation of the 21st century, faces a paradox. Although it achieved diplomatic milestones, joining the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 2025 and the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2024, the government is facing a critical domestic crisis: the “resource curse” of dwindling revenues (Scheiner, 2022). Desperate for survival, the nation-state has adopted a pragmatic strategy of securing support from various international actors. This paper discusses China’s growing presence in this strategy, examining it not merely as a geopolitical alignment but as a multi-layered process. Timor-Leste actively engages with China’s “Global Initiatives” triad, utilizing infrastructure projects under the Global Development Initiative (GDI) and aligning with the broader narratives of the Global Civilization Initiative (GCI) and Global Security Initiative (GSI). This approach is explicitly endorsed by President Ramos-Horta in the 2024 Joint Statement between China and Timor-Leste (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China, 2024). This research note argues that Timor-Leste’s diplomacy transcends strategic “hedging” (Cheng-Chwee, 2008), by providing an overview of strategic infrastructure projects such as Tasi Mane; soft power instruments ranging from medical teams to education; and the economic impact of Chinese migrants. Instead, the author posits that it is a state-building “patchwork”: a desperate yet pragmatic accumulation of external support designed to maintain autonomy amidst great power competition.

The influence of Türkiye’s foreign strategy far exceeds what its national size would normally predict, making it a particularly notable manifestation of strategic autonomy in twenty-first-century international politics. Türkiye has put this strategic autonomy into practice in several ways: by pursuing transactional diplomacy to recalibrate relations with its traditional Western allies; applying realist approaches to deepen its involvement in the Syrian crisis; engaging in parallel strategic bargaining with the USA, Europe, and Russia in the Black Sea region; and projecting both hard and soft power beyond the Western world. This paper argues that as the structural factors and systemic environment shaping Türkiye’s practice of strategic autonomy undergo accelerated change, its foreign strategy will further illuminate how middle powers influence global governance and international politics. More broadly, it points towards a longer-term trajectory marked by the decentralisation of power both internationally and regionally, together with a renewed prominence of realism.

Nollywood, the Nigerian film industry, releases close to 2,500 titles a year and ranks second in the world by output, behind India and ahead of the United States in some years. How far has Nollywood become the center of filmmaking in Africa, and how does the film diplomacy it carries travel to global audiences? The study draws on Joseph Nye on soft power, Daya Kishan Thussu on media contra-flow, and Simon Anholt on nation branding, and it uses Michael Porter's value chain and diamond model as business tools to read Nollywood as a commercial system and a diplomatic instrument at once. The design is mixed methods. A qualitative comparative case study sets Nollywood against Hollywood, Bollywood, and the Korean Wave, and a quantitative layer reads industry indicators and the Brand Finance Global Soft Power Index across the four countries. The finding is twofold. Nollywood already anchors African cinema by volume, distribution reach, and continental cultural pull, so the first answer is clear. Its diplomacy, by contrast, works mostly through market-driven diffusion rather than a coordinated state programme. The quantitative reading sharpens this: Nigeria produces the most films of the four yet sits 77th on the 2025 Soft Power Index, while Korea, producing far fewer titles, sits 12th, which shows that raw output does not convert into measured influence without orchestration. That organic character gives Nollywood standing as a Global South voice, yet it leaves the diplomatic value under-used next to Korea's governed model.

ABSTRACT This article critically examines China’s expanding economic engagement in Africa and its implications for China’s image and social acceptance across the continent. Employing soft power theory as its analytical lens, it explores how infrastructure projects, trade partnerships, and cultural diplomacy – including educational exchanges and strategic media efforts – interact with diverse African responses marked by both developmental gains and persistent socio-political frictions such as labor disputes, environmental concerns, and neo-colonial perceptions. The analysis reveals African agency as central to these dynamics, with local actors actively negotiating Chinese influence amid evolving financial strategies and geopolitical competition. Findings demonstrate that while economic initiatives yield tangible benefits, enduring social legitimacy hinges on transparent cultural integration rather than material investment alone. By bridging economic statecraft and grassroots contestation, this study illuminates the complex pathways shaping sustainable China-Africa relations in a multipolar era.

The study examines Taiwan’s efforts to match and counter Beijing’s charm offensive in the Czech Republic in the period of 2019–2023 using the framework of soft power and economic diplomacy. The analysis shows how Taiwan carefully matched China’s public diplomacy efforts in the region and filled gaps to counter fear of fallout with Beijing. The efforts by Beijing and Taipei to generate soft power are then assessed through an analysis of opinion polls within the Czech Republic, showcasing Taiwan’s comparative success and China’s failure to win over the Czech public. These efforts are further examined to understand the larger goals Taiwan’s charm offensive could serve in the Czech Republic and the EU.

The rapid evolution of Information Technology (IT) has fundamentally reshaped the architecture of international relations, enabling new forms of diplomacy, governance, and transnational cooperation. Cyber diplomacy has emerged as a critical domain where states, international organizations, and non-state actors engage in negotiating norms, securing cyberspace, and managing digital interdependence. This article examines the intersection of cyber diplomacy and global governance, focusing on how IT functions as both an enabler of soft power and a regulatory challenge for sovereign states. Using a qualitative analytical and comparative methodology based on secondary sources, the study explores cybersecurity diplomacy, global governance frameworks, and digital statecraft within institutions such as the United Nations (UN), International Telecommunication Union (ITU), and World Trade Organization (WTO). Special attention is given to Nepal’s e-Government initiatives, cloud security challenges, and e-readiness assessments as empirical case studies. The article further integrates the author’s prior research on information systems audit, cloud security, and digital governance readiness to highlight the practical implications of IT governance in developing countries. The findings suggest that effective cyber diplomacy requires a hybrid approach combining technical resilience, institutional capacity, and multilateral cooperation. The study concludes with policy recommendations for strengthening digital sovereignty, trust-building, and inclusive global governance mechanisms.

The creative economy has become a strategic pillar of Indonesia's national development agenda, with the film industry recognized for its dual capacity as cultural soft power and internationally tradable commodity. Yet despite a rapidly expanding domestic market recording 122 million cinema-goers in 2024 Indonesia's film export performance remains marginal relative to the size of its industry and the performance of regional competitors. This study analyzes the comparative advantage and export competitiveness of Indonesian film exports over 2015 - 2024, benchmarking against Japan, South Korea, and Thailand. Secondary time-series data sourced from Trade Map are analyzed using the Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA) index and its symmetric transformation, the Revealed Symmetric Comparative Advantage (RSCA) index. Independent sample t-tests statistically verify inter-country differences in export values. RCA values for Indonesia ranged between 0.0007 and 0.0232 across the entire study period wholly below the threshold of 1 indicating no comparative advantage. RSCA values remained consistently negative and approaching -1, confirming the absence of structural export competitiveness throughout the decade. Statistical tests confirmed significant differences (p < 0.001) between Indonesian film exports and those of all three comparator nations: Japan (mean USD 4,738,340 thousand), South Korea (mean USD 909,763 thousand), and Thailand (mean USD 10,226 thousand), against Indonesia's mean of USD 1,540 thousand. These findings reveal a structural disconnect: Indonesia's film industry is domestically powerful but internationally marginal, constrained by underdeveloped international distribution infrastructure, concentrated export markets, and insufficient export-oriented policy. Strategic interventions in distribution diversification, a collective trading house mechanism, and cross-ministerial export coordination are proposed.

ABSTRACT Globalization and International Relations are closely connected as both deal with complex interactions and power dynamics. Economic competition is nothing new, but actors also compete for prestige and reputation, the domain of soft power. How do globalization and soft power intersect and interact? The answer is often implicit. This paper argues that soft power ‘runs on’ globalization’s connectivity channels, such as people-to-people interactions, and digital and physical infrastructure, enabling or stifling dynamics of attraction. It aims to clarify how tightly connected globalization is to patterns of attraction and influence, and the significance of mastering but also damaging these interactions.

Design and evaluation of a smart inline micro-hydro power plant for fluid transmission networks with adaptive control and self-cleaning capabilities

Diplomacy in the age of AI: Legal and strategic approaches to techno-nationalism, regulatory soft power and the AI chips race

This article presents a comparative analysis of strategic media narratives about Russia in Arabic-language mass media, focusing on three international television channels: RT Arabic, Al Jazeera Arabic, and BBC Arabic. The empirical basis of the study consists of news materials published in 2023, a period characterized by intensified geopolitical transformations and the growing role of media in international political communication. The relevance of the research is determined by the increasing significance of Arabic-language media as instruments of soft power and information diplomacy, employed by states to shape interpretations of foreign policy processes and influence international public opinion. Despite the existence of studies addressing Russia’s media image, there remains a lack of comparative research examining the evaluative orientation of media discourse within the Arabic information space. The methodological framework combines quantitative content analysis with elements of discourse analysis. More than 1,700 news items mentioning Russia directly or indirectly were monitored, from which 99 representative materials were selected for in-depth analysis. All texts were classified according to tonal orientation-negative, neutral, or positive-based on thematic framing, lexical markers, and narrative strategies. The findings reveal significant differences in the representation of Russia, determined by institutional affiliation and editorial policies of the analyzed media outlets. The study concludes that Arabic-language media function as active actors in international political communication, contributing to the construction of competing narratives regarding Russia’s role in contemporary global affairs.

An adaptive column-level smart power optimizer with hybrid sensing and black-winged kite algorithm for rooftop PV systems under non-uniform irradiance

Adaptive Reinforcement Learning for Dynamic Optimization of Sustainable Smart Power Grids Under Uncertain Conditions