“Soft power” tools in the USA and the Russian Federation

Introduction. In this article, Russian Federation’s public diplomacy (hereinafter - the RF) and the public diplomacy of the United States of America (hereinafter - the USA) are considered as one of the main tools for implementing the principles of modern “soft power”. Today, the importance of implementing certain areas of public diplomacy of the RF is significantly increasing, which is primarily determined by the current contradictory international situation. It is necessary to emphasize that public diplomacy’s certain areas are in the process of formation, however, a comprehensive study of these areas will reveal the weaknesses and strengths of public diplomacy as an effective tool for the implementation of Russian and American “soft power”. It is important to refer to the American experience of building public diplomacy, as a country with advanced experience in this area, as the public diplomacy has become a key tool of U.S. foreign policy in recent years. Methods. The comparative method makes it possible to compare the practices of implementing public diplomacy, the demonstration of “soft power” of the RF and the USA, and also helps to identify the mechanisms of public diplomacy’s influence on international processes in the formation of “soft power” strategies. This method allowed us to establish that the mechanisms for public diplomacy’s implementing and “soft power” realization are identical. Documents’ content analysis of the describing of the RF and the USA foreign policy peculiarities helped to determine the mechanisms and principles of the implementation of “soft power” under consideration by the states. Analysis. Public diplomacy’s activities analysis of the RF and the USA public diplomacy, its relationship with the principles of “soft power” is connected with the search for common and distinctive features of the considered types of diplomacy, comparing it with the “soft power” concept. Attention is drawn to the fact that many public diplomacy’ functions intersect with the tasks of “soft power”, identifying the characteristic features of a joint vector in the “soft power” implementation in the context of the RF and the USA diplomacy. Results. As the study’s result, it was found out that public diplomacy is one of the most important tools of the “soft power” demonstration of the RF and the USA soft power demonstration. Such definitions as “public diplomacy” and “soft power” were distinguished in the article. The approaches of domestic and foreign researchers for understanding public diplomacy from the points of the RF and the USA, as well as directions of its activities, were alsodetermined. In this article, Elena F. Parubochaya identified the characteristic differences Russian interpretation of the terms “public diplomacy”. The author revealed the connection between public diplomacy of the RF and its “soft power”. Kenneth J. Kovach paid attention to the instruments of the USA modern public diplomacy.