In the thesis the thorough study of the peculiarities of the development of the global media world-system in the post-bipolar period has been carried out. The place of the media sphere in modern international political discourse is described, globalization and regionalization as parallel trends of the development of the global media system are analysed. The role of the mass media as the instrument of foreign policy communication is revealed, the key role of cross-border mass communication media as the component of implementing the soft power of actors in international relations is shown. Considerable attention is paid to the study of Ukraine’s place in the global media system, and to the features of the evolution of the international vector of state information policy.
The scientific novelty of the obtained results is that this research is one of the first in the national science, in which the key theoretical and applied issues of functioning of the global media world-system as an important factor of the development of the system of international relations are comprehensively clarified and systematized.
It has been shown that in the bipolar period the issues of international communication have been reflected in the political discourse both of the UN and UNESCO, and in the post-bipolar world this direction was intensified due to the awareness that the development of communications and ICT is an element of international security, taking into consideration the key role of access to information and knowledge as the foundation for sustainable development, as well as threats that involve the use of state and non-state actors in international relations of ICT and mass communications, particularly as a means of destabilizing international and regional security systems.
It is shown that the formation of the global media world-system is directly related to two parallel trends in the development of the international system, namely globalization and regionalization. The first trend is largely due to the emergence of global mass communication media, which, in fact, allowed to talk about the emergence of the global media system. The second trend is related to the expressive processes of political and cultural gravitation at the macro-regions, which has a significant impact on the development of the media sector. On the basis of author’s framework, the analysis of all regional media systems was carried out, their specific features were shown, and it was revealed that today the European, Arabic and Latin American regional media world-systems are definitely formed. The first one being attributed to the “centre”, the Arabic to the “semi-periphery”, and the Latin-American rather to the “periphery” of the global media the world-system; the key factors ensuring the integrity of these systems are political or cultural (in particular, linguistic and religious) unity.
It is proved that in the post-bipolar world mass communication plays a critical role in foreign policy, and it is thanks to the cross-border mass communication media that made a full-fledged realization of activity known as public diplomacy possible. It is proved that the role of the global media system in the foreign policy strategies of the world leading countries is determined by the fact that this system has become an environment in which both the “public” part of diplomatic practice is implemented directly and “auxiliary work” for supporting foreign policy activities, including promotion of required agenda and influence on public opinion abroad. Countries that implement the pro-active policy of expansion into the global media world-system can be considered the countries of the “centre” of this system.
It was revealed that the international vector of Ukraine’s information policy during all years of independence had neither systemic nor realistic character. In particular, the capacity of international broadcasting was completely ignored; the potential of the public diplomacy, including media and cultural diplomacy, was unclaimed, and strategies for forming the international image of the state were declarative and partly idealistic in nature. In fact, there was no comprehensive activity on proactive expansion in the global and European media world-systems, creation of mechanisms of influence on public opinion abroad. In general, redefining the role of public diplomacy and the role of state strategic communications has only taken place in recent years. In this dissertation the set of author’s recommendations for increasing effectiveness of the process of Ukraine’s entry into the global media world-system has been developed.
