The use of “soft” power by Great Powers: mechanisms of influence to the national states

In modern times, we are witnessing the gradual fragmentation of the global world into macro-regional systems. In such systems, several states unite under the leadership of a powerful regional state. In the future, such regional systems will fight for the status of the power center of the global world, based on their economic, political and military parameters. Against the background of such fragmentation of the geopolitical space, a potential aggressor must take into account that he will have to fight not with a specific country, but with an entire regional system, and the military or economic power of such a regional system may be equal to or even superior to the same indicators of the aggressor. According to experts in international relations, hard power methods can be acceptable when a threat to the national security of a state arises, when hotbeds of conflict appear near its borders, and in other cases, however, it is necessary to be extremely careful. Taking into account all these factors, it is possible to see that the policy of “soft power” is gaining increasing relevance. We will briefly consider the essence of this strategy below.

"Soft power", which is considered a resource and a special tool of foreign policy that allows for the latent management of international processes, has acquired unprecedented relevance in the era of globalization. International processes, as well as individual countries and regions of the world, act as objects of latent management. Such latent management has its own unique characteristics: First, the influences of the governing party turn into the motivations of the governed party, and secondly, the formal institutions, methods and levers associated with management are eliminated. Under the influence of the globalization process, the geopolitical space is transformed, new hierarchical systems are created (as examples of such systems, we can cite new poles, centers of power, regional powers), completely new geopolitical axes are formed. Under all these listed conditions, it is necessary to formulate foreign policy, taking into account the existing realities, and create new tools and methods to achieve the goals of the state and country. The “soft power” strategy creates opportunities for countries with limited and traditional resources of influence to secretly influence international processes, such as states that are not members of the UN Security Council, do not possess nuclear weapons, or are geographically located on the periphery. In a multicentric and multipolar world, any country, regardless of its place and weight in the global hierarchy, gains the opportunity to intervene in humanitarian processes taking place in its region or even on a global scale by using “soft power” methods effectively and intelligently.

In our time, the primary source for studying the essence of the concept of “soft power” is the prominent researcher Joseph Nye and his research in this field. According to the concept developed by Nye, “soft power” is considered to be the total power of the three resources of the state. This includes the culture, political ideology and foreign policy of the state. Here we are in favor of approaching this term in a broader sense. “Soft power” is the sum of the internal and external factors of the state. We can list the following as aspects attributed to external factors [16]:

-Authority in foreign policy and international affairs

-The country's geopolitical status and place in the global hierarchy

-Civil status (all countries have a national culture, but not all countries are considered heirs to any particular civilization)

-Political and economic model of state development

-The state's development strategy and the ability to implement it in practice

-The country's information resources, its place on the Great Communication Highway, the role it plays, and an indicator of communicative mobility.

The following parameters can be cited as examples of internal (socio-cultural) factors:

-Ideology

-Lifestyle, quality of life and standard of living

-Values (including the national idea)

• -The mentality of the nation

  -The country's culture (art, literature, film industry, theater, show business)

  -Creative potential of the state (the ability to create ideas and technologies, including the creative power of the nation).

In the “soft power” that manifests itself in a concentrated form, the national idea of the country and the mission it carries in the global world are reflected. The set of listed factors is considered to be important components that ensure the effectiveness and attractiveness of the country's image. True, we should note one nuance here that there is still no clear idea about the relationship between the concepts of “image” and soft power, in this regard, it would be appropriate to touch upon ideas from two points of view here. According to the first of these ideas, “soft power” is considered as the main tool for creating an image. According to the second idea, the image itself is one of the main components of “soft power”. The difference between these categories is that “soft power” is a strategy of action and activity, while the image is an image that emerges in the process of mutual social relations, as well as on the basis of the implementation of this strategy. We can also define “soft power” as a means of influence. From what has been said, it is possible to conclude that the essence of “soft power” is the set of opportunities for a country to exert influence based on the attractiveness and effectiveness of its own image. The essence of “soft power” manifests itself in the following forms [11,p.23]:

• - Using intangible assets to pursue its interests and strategies in the global world

• - A means of achieving a desired result through peaceful means in foreign policy

• -    Non-violent pursuit of national interests in the global world

The possibility of implementing "soft power" is based on the principles of sympathy, attractiveness, charm, and voluntary participation. One of the most important tactical tasks of "soft power" is to create attractiveness, for which the effective use of the country's image and the correct orientation of this image to the controlled object are essential.

The strategic goal of "soft power", taking into account all of the above, is to motivate the controlled object to act and implement political decision-making through influence. The main tools of "soft power" are considered to be the following:

-Information flow

• - Political PR addressed to a foreign audience

  -Global marketing

  -Determining the country's position in the global hierarchy

• -The language of the country and how popular this language is in the world

  -Public diplomacy

  -Tourism, sports and cultural exchange

  -Education system and student exchange

  -Ability to wage information warfare

  -Migration policy, national diaspora, intercultural dialogue [11].

As a result of the effective use of "soft power" tools, it is possible to create the illusion of mutual interest, trust, confidence, respect, and understanding, and it is on these foundations that the state's political and humanitarian influence on the processes taking place in the world or in a specific country arises.

It is obvious that there are serious differences between the concepts of “soft power” and hard power and their application. In order to understand the essence of the “soft power” category more deeply, it is quite useful to analyze them. Thus, the methods of influence with “soft power” are: voluntary participation of the state that is the object of influence in foreign policy measures of another state, the adoption of common goals and the creation of the illusion of achieving a common result, the creation of intensive communication flows. Hard power methods are based on armed violence, and also include methods such as economic pressure, blackmail through political, energy, raw materials, food and other means, and the purchase of national and political elites. Another developed Western state, Germany, is distinguished by its preference for other methods in the application of soft power. Currently, work is being carried out on the popularization of the German language and culture as the main direction of cultural policy. One of the organizations playing a leading role in solving these tasks is the Goethe Institute. This organization has 142 representative offices in 92 countries around the world, thus it is rightfully considered one of the largest cultural and educational institutions in the world. The main activities of this institute are to hold various events aimed at popularizing the German language and culture, for example, we can cite German language courses, conferences, seminars and forums. The Institute also has a large book fund, a database on politics, economics, culture. Germany's scientific environment and education system are also of great importance in terms of "soft power". The German university system is considered one of the most advanced and, most importantly, accessible systems not only in Europe, but also in the world. Unlike the USA and Great Britain, higher education in Germany is free of charge, which attracts people from different countries. Currently, the main work related to German higher education institutions falls to the German academic exchange service this organization is called DAAD (Deutscher Auslaendische Austaausch Dienst). This organization, founded in 1925, has very few analogues in the world. Although it is a public organization, it has diplomatic status and operates 130 representative offices in 67 countries around the world. Along with DAAD, another organization that operates in the scientific field is the DFG the German Research Society (Deutsche Forschungsgesellschaft). This institution is mainly engaged in financing the majority of scientific research projects involving foreign students and is one of the largest grant organizations in Germany. The total amount of grants awarded during the year varies between 1-2.5 billion euros. We can cite international foundations as other institutions involved in the implementation of Germany's "soft power" policy. Although these foundations are often tied to specific individuals and companies, they play a unique role in the implementation of Germany's foreign policy.

The People's Republic of China, one of the world's largest states, also prefers "soft power" methods in international organizations and in relations with its neighbors. The modern Chinese leadership understands very well that culture is becoming a decisive factor in increasing the power of the state and forming the creative power of the people in a globalized world. The action plan put forward at the recent congresses of the Communist Party of China regarding the development of "soft power" makes cultural development a necessity. The Olympic Games held in Beijing indicated that China is determined to take serious steps in this area. We can also cite the huge "Expo"

exhibition held in Shanghai as an example of China's increasing "soft power" through such events. In addition to such image campaigns, China also carries out complex measures to increase its regional and global influence. China's activity in regional organizations such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and ASEAN is a clear indication of this. Also, unlike Western countries, the Chinese leadership provides its assistance unconditionally, does not put forward conditions related to the humanitarian rights of citizens, state governance, and only demands that official relations with the Taiwanese administration not be established. One of the successful steps taken by the Chinese leadership in the application of “soft power” is the “Confucius Institute”. This institute was created with the aim of spreading the Chinese language outside the country, and by the end of 2010, 322 institutes and 369 classes were operating in 96 countries and regions of the world. However, no one doubts that this institute is a huge political project of China. However, China’s “soft power” is still very weak and great efforts must be made to achieve serious successes. Unlike Africa, the Middle East and Latin America, the USA, Europe, Japan and South Korea still have a cold attitude towards China [110].

As for Russia’s use of “soft power”, it should be noted that Russia is known in Western information sources more for its use of military force (the events in Georgia in 2008 and Crimea in 2014), as well as for its aggressive energy diplomacy [2,p15]. It is emphasized that the policy pursued by Moscow is far from the principles of “soft power”. However, in reality, Russia prefers to use “soft power” to maintain its presence in countries close to it. In this case, cultural, religious, and Russian-speaking population factors are used as important mechanisms of influence. Despite the collapse of the USSR in 1991, the creation of an organization such as the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) showed that Moscow is interested in maintaining close relations with the former Soviet republics. According to many political scientists, the creation of the CIS was a means of maintaining economic and political relations with Moscow’s former allies. Close neighbors will always remain a priority political direction for Russia. However, both Russian and foreign authors show that although Russia in certain cases uses the Russian language and the Russian-speaking population as a means of “soft power”, the lack of a developed strategy in this area is having its effect. Although factors such as culture, media, religion, and the Russian language are seen as “soft power” tools separately, they are not combined into a single concept. Along with traditional power, we can say that Russia pursues a “soft power” policy, but Russia’s “soft power” does not meet the requirements of classical “soft power”.

Mechanisms of influence on nation states. We have briefly reviewed the main strategies used by great powers in connection with the application of “soft power”. All these methods, strategic and tactical preparations are designed primarily to be implemented against relatively weak, globally secondary states, as well as states that pursue an independent policy and do not intend to submit to other states. Here, first of all, we should touch on such a nuance that the cultural and social attractiveness of “soft power” is characterized by the spread of mass culture in the modern era. Such mass cultures penetrate the territory of other states, attract people's attention and gradually, imperceptibly, become part of the daily life of the population. In this regard, we can cite the opening of fast-food restaurants operating on the basis of national cuisine in the territory of other states, the distribution of popular films of any country in the world, and the introduction of certain national products to world markets. Soft power is applied internationally through popular music or design, PR technologies, and advertising technologies. At the same time, the widespread use of commercial brands and the implementation of international television and radio broadcasts indicate a readiness to use soft power in the long term. The Olympics, the football world championships, and other major sporting events also attract attention in this regard. The attractiveness of any political model is conveyed to the broad masses of the population through official diplomacy, international media, and public diplomacy. The effective use of a wide range of tools belonging to the “soft power” arsenal, from diplomacy to electronic information media, is in the focus of attention of major powers [8].

In modern times, the services of international financial institutions are often used to control the economies of nation-states. The International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, and other such financial institutions, by participating in the implementation of large economic projects, also try to control the economies of nation-states. “Soft power” can manifest itself not only in economic, but also in areas such as military-technical cooperation and military diplomacy. Thus, through the “soft power” strategy, the consciousness of both the population and the political and economic elite of nation-states is influenced, and their thinking is directed in the right direction.

In some cases, the services of various non-governmental organizations are also used, and such organizations are financed by foreign grants in order to penetrate society. Taking all this into account, we can list the most common methods among the mechanisms of influence on nationstates:

• - Dissemination of informative and analytical materials prepared in the appropriate direction by the NGO expert group through the media;

• - Involving various elements serving the appropriate ideological direction in educational programs, training specialist and administrative personnel;

• - Humanitarian activities, especially the implementation of local humanitarian programs, measures to "buy the loyalty" of any group of the population;

• - Cases of directly participating in the political life of the country through NGOs, as well as directly financing the media and political parties [7].

It should be borne in mind that in many regions and states the role of NGOs is quite large, and this is primarily due to economic reasons. States with a deficit in the foreign trade balance are dependent on any source of foreign currency, so it is easier to finance the media and non-profit organizations of such states. Such situations lead to the fact that in some cases NGO employees have the opportunity to live a better life than employees working in the administrative and academic spheres of that state. Thus, more highly qualified, capable personnel, especially young people, are attracted to the NGO sector, where their thoughts and values are directed in appropriate directions. Also, in cases where the state's financial capabilities are weak, NGOs take on certain social functions, thus the ability of non-governmental organizations to influence the activities of state and political institutions increases many times over. This opens up wide opportunities for the states that finance them to apply "soft power" against that country.

But the point is that the world's leading powers do not hesitate to divide nation-states, to plunge them into chaos and anarchy in order to implement their plans on a global scale, and before such activities, they fully and effectively use the arsenal of "soft power". An analysis of the recent color revolutions in the Middle East and the former USSR shows that the implementation of "soft power" and covert action strategies occurs in the following sequence:

• - At the initial stage, the aggressor's main efforts are aimed at destabilizing the socio-political and economic system of the country chosen as the victim, for this purpose a large-scale systemic crisis is created and the state is put into a state of "managed chaos". Thus, the ruling elite becomes an enemy for the country, and the political regime becomes vulnerable to external pressure. At this time, the main attention is focused on creating a "center of power" in the form of the opposition in the country chosen as the victim, such opposition forces are even ready to engage in armed struggle. In order to solve this issue, the aggressor country finds supporters among the elite of the victim country and uses them as executors in the transformation of the political system.

• -    Then, the main direction of the aggressor's geopolitical activity is aimed at cultivating a force that declares itself as an opposition center and is capable of controlling power during a change of government.

• -    In the third stage of the geopolitical attack, the aggressor, relying on the opposition political forces that he sees as the basis of the future state structure, begins to create a new state policy in the victim country. Recently, such cases have been repeatedly encountered in various regions of the world. For example, we can cite the state-building attempts carried out by the United States and its allies in the territories of the former Yugoslavia, Georgia, Iraq, Afghanistan and Ukraine.

• -    In the decisive, fourth stage, the territory is captured geopolitically, during which the aggressor takes control of the state institutions by forming, training, and equipping the power and administrative structures of the victim state.

Since 2011, the world has witnessed another wave of color revolutions, called the “Arab Spring.” Researchers have studied the comprehensive and aggressive use of “soft power” tools in these color revolutions. Western states used various scenarios in the information-network type war they waged against countries they considered useless to them. If Tunisia and Egypt played the role of test scenes in this play, in Libya we have already witnessed the first real battle scenes of this war. In the Balkan Peninsula, Afghanistan and Iraq, Washington strategists were mainly trying to establish regimes of strategic interest to the United States and the West, using force and other methods for this purpose. However, the situation in Libya was fundamentally different. The West, using factors of chaos and social entropy, aimed to replace leaders who had once been educated in the USSR with a new generation. Washington and Paris believed that the time had come to bring technocrats with a Western mentality to power, and through these technocrats, plans were being made to oust Russia and China from the Near and Middle East. [26] The supporters of the American theory of controlled chaos prefer the “soft power” option to achieve their goals, and also try to benefit from the destruction of nation-states in the following ways:

• - The United States does not intend to ensure political and social stability in entire regions of the planet at the expense of huge economic and military expenditures, and such an idea cannot be the goal of US policy;

• - It is possible to realize America's national interests more cost-effectively and flexibly by using "soft power" tools, thus America can become an island of stability in a world plunged into political chaos;

• -    The United States supports changes in the former Soviet Union and the Arab-Islamic world and does not prevent crises from emerging;

• -    According to Washington, it is possible to undermine the socio-political transformation of states considered problematic by applying information, political, and psychological technologies at the most critical points;

• -    It is not necessary to prevent states from sliding into instability, it is better to transform the international system through its disintegration, and it is precisely such a path that is in line with the national interests of the United States.

As can be seen from the above, the West prefers to intervene in the affairs of nation-states through “soft power” rather than brute military intervention in order to ensure its global hegemony. In many cases, these effects are more pronounced after the occurrence of color revolutions. After the Ukrainian revolution of 2014, it became clear that while the US and the EU worked with the masses of the people through “soft power” tools, Russia worked with a small group of the Ukrainian elite through classical diplomatic means. This is where the secret of the West’s victory over Russia in Ukraine is hidden.

Thus, the US and its allies do not intend to use “soft power” as a peaceful diplomatic tool at all; they see “soft power” tools as weapons for waging war. The defeated country becomes an economic, financial, political, military, scientific-technical and information-cultural appendage of the aggressor, and is forced to act under its influence in international organizations. In order to put other states in such a victim state and exploit their scientific-cultural and economic resources, it is considered more profitable and expedient to use “soft power” tools of various purposes, not military forces. The human losses, tragic changes, and the loss of actual control over their sovereign rights caused by the defeated country are of absolutely no interest to the great powers. All this makes it necessary for nation-states to prepare their own strategies against the use of various types of “soft power”.

In conclusion, we can note that in the globalized world, the rapid development of information technologies and the achievements of scientific and technical progress are already putting armed intervention and threats on an international scale into the background. This trend is primarily manifested in the policies of states that seek hegemony. Developed Western states, as well as other regional superpowers, are increasingly using the so-called "soft power" tools to influence nationstates, seize their financial, economic, and raw material resources, and turn them into their subordinates in international organizations.

“Soft power” primarily refers to a set of political, economic, scientific, informational and other factors. At the beginning of the 21st century, the vast majority of work on the theory of “soft power” was done by American researchers. This is natural, since when America’s claims to hegemony did not coincide with its military and economic power, they resorted to other means to realize these claims. The color revolutions currently observed in various regions of the world can be considered a clear manifestation of the “soft power” methods used against nation-states. The “Arab Spring” and other “color revolution” technologies that we have witnessed in recent years have actually proven to the whole world that “soft power” methods have a sufficiently destructive potential. Like other nation-states, the Republic of Azerbaijan’s study of such “soft power” tools and its readiness for them should become an important element of national security.

Peaceful protests and "color" revolutions

Among the factors determining the geopolitical landscape of the globalizing world in the modern era, the application of various new technologies is attracting attention. The latest achievements of scientific and technological progress, the rapid development of information technologies have also had a unique impact on the system of international relations, giving rise to new trends that did not exist before, or opening up opportunities for the new application of methods known since ancient times.

Currently, we are witnessing the application of "color" revolution technologies in many regions of the world. Such revolutions are used to interfere in the internal affairs of independent states, bring regimes that are beneficial to them to power, and thus take control of the economic, political and military spheres of any state. The application of these technologies, developed and prepared in the brain centers of major powers, in many cases leads to tragic consequences for nation-states. The changes of power that have occurred in states such as Georgia, Ukraine, and Serbia in recent years have not been remembered as positive changes for the peoples of these countries. The series of revolutions that began in 2011 and were called the "Arab Spring" not only were calculated to reformat the Middle East region, but also brought wars, destruction and disaster to the region. These changes, which resulted in the displacement of millions of people, killings, the disintegration of families, and the displacement of entire nations, are the products of "color" revolutions. Carefully planned "color" revolutions by Western countries are developed on the basis of long-term strategic moves and brought to their logical conclusion.

One of the most widespread methods used in the application of "colorful" revolution technologies is peaceful protests. Such actions, more commonly known in the West as non-violent resistance, peaceful resistance, are designed to paralyze the activities of government structures, discredit the ruling regime in the world and in the country, and lose its moral support. Then, by applying other means of "colorful" revolution technologies, the ruling regime is once and for all discredited and removed from power. The leading role in the implementation of all these plans is assigned to the appropriate organization of peaceful protests and their coverage in the media. We will try to examine the role that peaceful protests play in the occurrence of "colorful" revolutions, in general, the essence, philosophy and application of peaceful protests in modern times.

Peaceful protests, their essence and application. The concept of peaceful protests, non-violent resistance, has been gaining popularity in recent times. The fact that this term has become operational, especially among political scientists, and its use in describing social and political events can be considered one of the new trends in the modern world. It is possible to show that there are many reasons for such a situation. First of all, we should take into account that the increasing trends in violence in the world, along with the mass killings taking place in many regions, as well as the ideas of well-known thinkers and philosophers, as well as the alienation of human character to violence, have an impact on the widespread spread of this term.

In almost all cultures of the world, it is possible to find elements of violence and nonviolence, as well as traditions of peaceful resistance to evil. Over the course of the development of mankind, violence has become a certain form of social development for many centuries, and protests have also arisen within society against this situation, at least tendencies to not participate individually in violence, to distance themselves, and to go into internal exile have been observed. The idea of peaceful resistance to oppression was promoted in ancient religious books. In particular, such calls are more common in the doctrines of Christianity. However, over the centuries, methods of non-violent resistance have become more refined. The great Russian writer L. Tolstoy changed the principle of “non-resistance to evil” to the principle of “non-resistance to evil with violence” and thus completely renewed the essence of peaceful protest actions. Also, the idea of peaceful resistance, which was based on ancient Eastern sources, reached its peak in the person of the great Indian philosopher and educator Mahatma Gandhi. This great figure, who achieved worldwide support for the struggle of the Indian people against British imperialism through peaceful protests, achieved the independence of his country [45].

But unfortunately, when we talk about peaceful protests in modern times, we do not see the ideas of resistance against evil in a philosophical sense. In the 20th century, peaceful protests, developed by Western political technologists, sociologists and psychologists, have become a dangerous weapon aimed at applying “soft power” and carrying out “colorful” revolutions in independent states. Having learned the destructive power hidden within peaceful protests, great powers try to use this power as they wish to change regimes that do not serve them [134, 22].

At this point, a specific question arises: what methods can be used during peaceful struggle? At first glance, it may seem that there is no question of the use of force during peaceful protests (after all, resistance is shown by non-violent methods), but we should note that force is also used in the implementation of peaceful protests. Despite the idea of peaceful protests being carried out under the guise of self-expression in a democratic society, and calls for citizens to be of good will and protect their rights, in many cases they end in violence, and at the same time force the ruling regime to take violent retaliatory measures.

It would not be an exaggeration to say that there are special organizations “specialized” in the implementation of peaceful protests prepared by Western countries. Such organizations have been preparing strategic plans for non-violent revolutions for a long time. One of such organizations, which has become famous all over the world, was the Serbian youth organization “Otpor”. In the fall of 2000, it was this organization that was entrusted with playing the leading role in the fall of the Milosevic regime. At that time, hundreds of thousands of young people considered themselves supporters of this organization and enthusiastically participated in its events. However, after completing its work in Serbia, the organization did not disband, but on the contrary, new tasks were set before it. Currently, the “Otpor” youth movement is busy fulfilling the function of the headquarters of instructors for “color” revolutions. Thanks to the methods developed in this organization, citizens of other countries are taught to avoid violence and fight against the ruling regime using peaceful protest methods. The fact that citizens of countries such as Zimbabwe, Maldives, Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, Venezuela, Lebanon use their theoretical advice reveals the true nature of such organizations. It is no longer a secret to anyone that they are provided with the highest level of financial and organizational support and media support by Western countries. Srca Popovic, one of the leaders of the Serbian “Otpor” movement, was included in the list of 100 most prominent thinkers in the world by the influential American magazine “Foreign Policy”. Apparently, he was given such a high award in return for the brilliant demonstration of the methods of this organization during the “Arab Spring”.

The activities of the Otpor organization are of particular interest to the former Soviet republics, especially the countries of the South Caucasus. It is no coincidence that these countries are in the sphere of interest of the great powers, and the struggle for the South Caucasus, the example of Georgia in using "color" revolution scenarios, is well remembered by everyone. The Otpor organization, financed by funds such as the Soros Foundation, the International Republican Institute, the National Democratic Institute, Freedom House, and the United States Agency for International Development, is especially active in the countries of Eastern Europe.

It should be noted that the peaceful protests that are said to have been created on the basis of Gandhian philosophy no longer have any connection with Gandhian teachings. The methods of peaceful resistance developed in the secret laboratories of American special services are cutting off the heads of nation-states like deadly weapons. Philosophy has long since faded into the background in peaceful protests, humor and other means that immediately attract the attention of the media have become the main idea, in short, trends that were considered abnormal have been accepted as the norm.

During the 20th century, methods of peaceful resistance were tested and improved. Such developed methods allow achieving the desired effect in a very short period of time. True, the time required for peaceful actions to have an effect may differ from country to country due to certain objective and subjective factors. If in Poland it took 10 years (1980-1990), in West Germany it took a few weeks (1989), in El Salvador and Guatemala it took two weeks (1944). While it took several months to defeat the Shah, who had established a powerful militarized regime in Iran, it was possible to overthrow the Philippine dictator Marcos in a few weeks in 1986.

Along with the above-mentioned philosophers such as L. Tolstoy and Mahatma Gandhi, public figures and politicians such as Lech Walesa and Nelson Mandela have also gone down in history as prominent figures of peaceful protests. However, when talking about the methods of peaceful protests, it is first necessary to recall the theoretician Gene Sharp, who presented the method of 180 peaceful protests against the ruling regime in his book “From Dictatorship to Democracy”. Seeing that new requirements had already emerged in the planning of protests expressing dissatisfaction in the marketing era, Gene Sharp put forward the idea of the relevance of developing brands and symbols for the sake of unity [26].

The main goal of peaceful protests is stated to be the overthrow of the existing regime and the establishment of a democratic system through non-violent means. We can classify the goals that peaceful protests seek to achieve as follows:

• - Protection of constitutional foundations, democratic values of society, and civil rights and freedoms;

• - Organizing broad, peaceful civil resistance against authoritarian-police and totalitarian government;

• - Formation of modern mechanisms of political competition;

During peaceful protests, organizers operate in the following directions:

• - Organizing protests against the authorities' anti-democratic initiatives;

• - Providing citizens with objective or falsified information hidden under the guise of objectivity;

• - Collaboration with civil society, thus involving more citizens in political and public life;

• - Implementation of cultural and educational events aimed at increasing the civic activity of young people;

• - Effective distribution of power in society.

• J. Sharpe, along with his pamphlet “From Dictatorship to Democracy”, is also the author of a three-volume work “The Politics of Peaceful Action”. His works mainly serve as a textbook for the overthrow of authoritarian regimes. These methods are applied with great success, especially during “color” revolutions, and are kept under control by certain circles. It should be noted that Sharpe and his followers, primarily the retired American Colonel RL Helvey, who worked on the ideas of peaceful resistance created by M. Gandhi, worked on the universalization and instrumentalization of these ideas. In fact, in essence, these ideas were elevated from philosophical

views to the level of technology. Their works reflect the most diverse methods that can be used to change political (in his own words, authoritarian) regimes. According to Sharpe, “peaceful struggle” means the distinction between religious or moral “non-resistance” or pacifism from non-violent struggle [34. p. 78]. Here we are talking about opposing the authorities, refusing to obey. Therefore, this technology is applied in the political sphere and its target is indicated as political power. The main goal of the struggle conducted by this method can be indicated as taking control over state institutions from the dictatorship. According to American technologists, initiative and offensive tactics are necessary during political protest, but at this time, tendencies to engage in political dialogue and make concessions to the regime are considered unacceptable. Sharp developed 198 different methods of non-violence, which he divides into 5 main parts:

• - Peaceful protests and protest methods;

• - Methods of refusing social cooperation;

• - Methods of refusing political cooperation;

• - Methods of refusing economic cooperation;

  -Peaceful intervention methods [23].

Each of these 5 sections lists up to 30 different methods. Sharp believes that in order to achieve political success, it is not enough to choose one of these numerous methods of struggle, it is necessary to use a flexible combination of different methods. The leading element of peaceful protests is considered to be the isolation of the political regime from the police, special services, army and administrative apparatus. Undermining confidence in the “undemocratic” regime is considered the main tool for changing power. According to R. Helvin, in order to reduce the effectiveness of repression, those leading peaceful protests should attract representatives of the power structures and other officials to their side, create in them an opinion that the opposition does not consider law enforcement officers as enemies if they help the resistance movement. R. Helvey writes about this: “Military victory is achieved by undermining the enemy’s potential or breaking his will to fight. In this case, peaceful struggle differs from military conflict only in that it simply uses completely different types of weapons. Just as artillery has fundamentally changed the nature of wars since Machiavelli’s time, technology has allowed us to change the methods of conducting peaceful conflicts. Computers, Internet access, mobile and satellite phones, encryption programs, television and radio are the main weapons of peaceful struggle [28].”

It is interesting that J. Sharp calls his strategy “political jujitsu”, emphasizing that in this case the opponent’s power is used against him. Because here we are talking about a special process, “this process is carried out during peaceful struggle, the balance of forces changes. Violent repressions against people who peacefully resist, creating negative reactions directed towards the opponent himself, weakening their positions in power and further strengthening peaceful resistance. This can only happen if violence is met with peaceful resistance, not violence or refusal to fight [134].”

But Sharpe notes that in some cases, limited violence against a dictatorship is also necessary. Anger and hatred directed at the regime can lead to an explosion among the population. In addition, some groups, although they understand the important role of peaceful protests and peaceful resistance, may not agree to stop violent activity. In such cases, it is not necessary to abandon political disobedience.

The methodology of peaceful resistance developed by Sharpe and his followers has repeatedly shown itself to be quite effective. Many ideas have been put forward regarding the secret of this success. According to some experts, the reason for the success of the technology created by Sharpe is that, on the one hand, this strategy is a typical example of “soft power”, and on the other hand, under certain conditions, it allows “soft power” to be used in conjunction with traditional “hard power” mechanisms, turning it into, so to speak, “smart power” [31].

Based on this theoretical foundation, created on the principles of peaceful protests and nonviolent resistance, the United States was able to carry out coups in many foreign countries as early as the 1970s. At the beginning of the 21st century, this theory was modernized and modified to meet the requirements of the time, becoming an important component of the “color revolution” scenarios implemented in Eastern Europe and the Middle East. For this reason, it is considered more appropriate to study peaceful protests in the context of “color” revolution technologies.

"Colored" revolutions and the application of "colored revolution" technologies. It is already obvious that "colored" revolutions have become one of the phenomena of the modern era. "Colored" revolutions that have taken place in a number of states have created a completely new geopolitical reality in terms of quality. The conditions for the occurrence of such revolutions usually arise in countries where, although conditions are created for the functioning of democratic institutions, there are opportunities for large-scale manipulation of the electoral process and the victory of the opposition is not allowed, in short, authoritarian or relatively authoritarian countries are meant. Examples of such countries include Ukraine, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan in the CIS. The conditions in the countries where "colored" revolutions took place, the factors leading to these revolutions, the influence of external forces, as well as the analysis of the post-revolutionary situation are of considerable interest, since the political, social and economic instability that has arisen in countries where "colored" revolutions have taken place can sometimes last for years.

It should be noted that until recently, “color” revolutions were also called “velvet” revolutions. This term is considered a product of the 20th century. Such new-type revolutions are usually characterized by the fact that they are carried out peacefully, without the clash of major social forces, and with the use of modern technologies. It is also possible to see how the state, if sensitive points are found, remains defenseless against attacks in the cultural and spiritual spheres [34].

Sometimes there is a misconception in society and among researchers that “color” revolutions are only the result of the activities of special services. However, special services only carry out the task as executors of political orders. Also, the strategy of the “velvet” revolution is not limited to capturing the “cultural core” of the state. Although this is an important task, such revolutions are also carried out by taking complex diplomatic, intelligence, cultural and economic measures. Such measures are designed to find existing weak points in the state structure and change the existing regime by peaceful means.

Work on the technologies of the “colorful” revolution was completed in the 1980s. This technology, developed by the United States and its allies, was supposed to allow peaceful regime change and overthrow of power in various countries. Over the past 10-15 years, this technology has been improved with extreme precision and reliability, and has been successfully applied in Eastern Europe, the former USSR, and the Arab countries [14].

“Orange” revolutions, a special type of “color” revolutions, attract attention as a special type of power changes taking place in the post-Soviet space. “Orange” revolutions do not only end with a change in the ruling elite of the state and its geopolitical direction, but in general fundamentally change the basis of the legitimacy of the country’s statehood. Even the location of the source of legitimacy is changed, thus this source of legitimacy is transferred to a sponsor country outside the country, or rather to an aggressor country, to the space that is the core of the world capitalist system. Such a profound change in statehood leads to changes in terms of civilization [27].

It is necessary to touch upon an important point here. “Colored” revolutions are not considered revolutions because no socio-economic formation change has occurred in the country. It is necessary to distinguish between the classical concept of revolution formed in the minds of people and velvet revolutions. The recent changes in neighboring countries have shown that this is nothing more than a mere change of elites.

Revolutions are usually initiated peacefully by the opposition, thus limiting the state's ability to see the danger. The state does not react to signals that would normally lead to taking sufficiently serious measures. For example, while during armed uprisings the opposition is resolutely prevented from receiving financial assistance from abroad, during peaceful protests the authorities simply cannot react to this, thus financing the opposition is easily carried out.

The reason for this is clear. Usually, countries where “color” revolutions are carried out do not have full rights over their sovereignty. For them, the opinion and attitude of hegemonic foreign states to the issue is of great importance. It is in this regard that the leadership of nation-states sometimes hesitates, not responding appropriately to the actions of the opposition in order to maintain relations with Western states. However, states with true sovereignty have a kind of immunity against the technologies of “color” revolutions. In countries where the police disperse illegal rallies and do not take into account how the “world community” will react, the likelihood of color revolutions occurring is, as a rule, extremely low. The state has the ability to respond to and cope with a “peaceful protest”, and in such a case, we can confidently say that the revolutionary attempt has already ended in failure [55].

The lack of skills to deal with unarmed crowds paralyzes the work of civil servants. Secondary issues, such as how to deal with the opposition, seem more important to them than fulfilling their duty to the state. When crowds seize state buildings, the authorities cannot react, because it is believed that using force against the crowd is contrary to the principles of democracy. The state voluntarily renounces not only legitimate succession, but also fails to fulfill its duty to maintain elementary security rules and stability.

The peaceful actions of the opposition not only weaken the state, but also divide society. When the authorities react violently, a large part of society begins to sympathize with the opposition, so it is impossible to prevent a process that is dangerous for the state.

Based on the recent events in the post-Soviet countries, we can identify the following technological scheme of color revolutions. If we are talking about seizing power, changing the existing regime, then the initial stage of preparation is the study of the candidacy of a new leader. The reasons for this are also known, because creating the image of any person is cheaper and more convenient than creating the image of a political party. That is why the West insists on the transition from a parliamentary form of government to a presidential form of government in the states subject to it. Then the technologies of manipulating human consciousness are turned on. Since these technologies are quite effective, it is possible to create an attractive image of the future president from a person whom no one knows in a few months. However, they usually choose not complete strangers, but rather well-known people and begin to train one of them in this image. First, an opposition leader is selected who is close to the Americans in his way of thinking and is internally alien to the authorities. Such a person must be “committed to democratic values and the ideals of freedom.” But in order for this not to be seen as just a pre-election ploy, this person must also be financially committed to Western values, for example, he must marry an American woman (we can cite Kostunica, Saakashvili, Yushchenko as examples of such politicians) or he must have studied in the United States or Europe for a long time (Saakashvili). The “signs of civilization” must then take such a place that it is impossible to separate them from these elements [54]

The second element of these technologies is the creation of a territory within the country where the opposition candidate can receive unconditional support. In Ukraine, such territories were the Western region and Kiev, and in Georgia, primarily Tbilisi. Here, the authority of the elected president is not recognized in advance.

The third issue is the introduction of several simple stereotypes into people's minds that seem to be absolute truths. Examples of these include “patriots against aristocrats” (France, 1793), “religious people against American devils” (Iran, 1979), “people against criminal authorities” (Ukraine, 2004). Here the well-studied law of manipulation speaks for itself: repeated repetition of any formula instills it into the human brain. From now on, regardless of which direction the consciousness leads a person, these stereotypes will have their effect on human behavior. Even if the human brain rejects this formula, the subconscious mind already prevents the work of consciousness.

Elements that lead to "color" revolutions. Revolutions of this type usually do not happen overnight, unexpectedly. For this, instability must be systematic, a crisis of social and national relations, a degradation of life support, security and cultural systems, a rapid change in mass thinking are necessary. The maturation of all these crisis situations and their transition to a new qualitative change is the result of strategic political choice.

Especially in modern theatrical society, elections are considered an important ritual. The struggle for power and the elections that have turned into a spectacle awaken the masses, strengthening their feelings of fear and a tendency to dramatism. It is precisely the change of power on the basis of elections that weakens the state, which creates the basis for postmodern revolutions (the events in Serbia, Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan are clear evidence of this). Moral or direct violence has become an important part of these elections. We can witness this in the face of former colonial countries, as well as post-Soviet countries. Therefore, with the occurrence of such revolutions, not only the power is changed, but also a completely new people are created, albeit for a short time. In the consciousness of the emerging masses, it is as if the cultural values that belong to their society and have been historically formed are erased, and new values taken from another society are transferred to them [27].

One of the main postulates of the “colorful” revolutionary technologies is the creation of a “new people”. For example, when the USSR collapsed, the concept-symbol of “new Russians” was introduced into the mass consciousness. Also, the main role in the creation of many revolutionary situations is played by the incitement of aggressive nationalism.

Tactical aspects and technologies of "color" revolutions.

Since "color" revolutions are a complex process, their implementation is divided into different phases and parts. Here we will briefly look at such tactical preparations:

• I.    Initial stage. During this stage, the process of preparing the internal opposition takes place. Intellectuals, workers, peasants and other population groups are united in the form of certain associations. The main goal here is to create the core of political parties and attack groups. Also, internal weak points are found, discrediting and weakening the state power. When creating opposition movements, the national and political characteristics of the state structure are carefully studied. If there is a military dictatorship in the country, the opposition party at the initial stage does not have a political orientation. They can be formed in ecological, religious, sports or historical directions. For example, in China, it is easier to unite people with sports or historical slogans. After this, the process of attracting people from different strata begins. The media, military personnel, police officers, and individuals from political and business circles are involved in opposition activities. If the state is totalitarian, has strong special services and a reliable army, then political struggle is completely excluded at the initial stage, since political structures that have not yet been strengthened can be destroyed. In particular, the process of involving students in the process, the creation of student organizations, and work is underway to transform them into a strong political force.

• II.    The second stage includes the following:

• - Legalization of the opposition;

• - Unification of opposition political forces;

• - Creation of a single center—the opposition leadership;

• - Development of unified political and economic visions for the future of the country;

• - Obtaining the support of leading political groups;

• - Bribing most of the local media executives, thus organizing a campaign for harsh criticism of the regime.

• 3.    Active transformation stage. We can list the goals set in this stage as follows:

At the second stage, it is important to unite all opposition organizations under the leadership of a single Center, which should be headed by the Leader of the opposition. Because in the active phase of the revolution, the need to coordinate all activities and events arises. At this stage, the media plays a very important role. Suffice it to say that the main role in the revolution that brought Mikhail Saakashvili to power was played by the Rustavi-2 TV channel. A few days before the coup d'état, this TV channel showed an hour and a half documentary about the overthrow of the Slobodan Milosevic regime. The brilliant performance of the opposition, rallies, protests, flags, a clenched fist on a white background had a great impact on the population already the next day there were flags in the square with the image of a clenched fist on an orange background.

• -Creating chaos and instability in the country, confusing the country's leadership, and demoralizing the armed forces and special services;

• -Sabotaging all measures taken to resolve the crisis, thus creating favorable conditions for the overthrow of the current regime;

  -Organizing a change of government through democratic elections or a "velvet" revolution.

It is at this stage that rallies and demonstrations sweep the entire country, peaceful actions begin, and the scale of these events gradually increases. Leaders of a large number of political parties and organizations join the process, the emergence of a sufficiently large number of political leaders creates an atmosphere of chaos, and it becomes difficult to assess the balance of power in society. This acts as an important factor forcing the authorities to enter into a dialogue with the opposition movement [14].

After that, events can unfold in two scenarios. According to the first scenario, power passes into the hands of the opposition peacefully, on the basis of parliamentary and presidential elections. The revolution that took place in Poland reached its logical conclusion in this form. In the other scenario, the government does not want to give up control of the state. In this case, the mass, led by opposition leaders, seizes strategically important objects for the state power, thus creating parallel power structures, and ultimately the levers of state control pass into the hands of the opposition. We can cite the former Yugoslavia as an example of this type of change of power [42]. Usually, “velvet” revolutions are carried out when the population is dissatisfied with the government due to economic factors. “Velvet” revolutions are possible only if the army and special services are neutralized. The mechanisms of such operations have been worked out to the smallest detail. The most commonly used classic option is to accuse the special services of crimes against their own people or of seizing power. In accordance with some conditions of their activities, special services sometimes have to use illegal methods of work they carry out unauthorized wiretapping, searches, surveillance, etc. This is considered an unavoidable necessity in the interests of the state, and members of the opposition often accuse special services of this.

One of the important points in the technologies of the “color” revolution is the ability to control the crowd, to direct it to predetermined objects. Technologists in the West understand very well how the crowd becomes a formidable and irresistible force. Another feature is that the leaders of the “color” revolution are usually high-ranking officials who have been dismissed from their posts for some time before the revolution. The leaders of the “orange” revolution in Ukraine were former Prime Minister Viktor Yushchenko and Deputy Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. The revolution in Kyrgyzstan resulted in the coming to power of former Prime Minister Kurmanbek

Bakiyev and Foreign Minister Roza Otunbayeva. The leaders of the “rose revolution” that took place in Georgia were Mikhail Saakashvili, former Minister of Justice, and Zurab Zhvania, Speaker of the Parliament. It is no longer a secret to anyone that “color” revolutions are carried out with the support of foreign non-governmental organizations and various foundations. American foundations played a major role in financing the revolutions that took place in the former Soviet space. Examples include SEED, the International Republican Institute, Freedom House, and Internews Network [41]. As a result, it can be noted that the pursuit of political, economic, and military interests by major powers in various regions of the world is often accompanied by the overthrow of regimes that do not satisfy them. Towards the end of the 20th century, the most widely used and increasingly popular means of carrying out such coups were the technologies of “color” revolutions and peaceful protests, which are an important component of these technologies.

Conclusion

Throughout the history of human development, the ideas of non-violent struggle against oppression and evil have made people think. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the ideas of prominent thinkers such as L. Tolstoy and M. Gandhi about non-violent resistance interested not only philosophers. Throughout the 20th century, the think tanks of Western countries developed scenarios of peaceful resistance and seizure of power by non-violent means. All these scenarios are ultimately applied in the implementation of “color” revolutions. Certain conditions are required for the successful completion of “color” revolutions. This includes factors such as interference in the electoral process and preventing the victory of the opposition, despite the existence of existing democratic institutions. For such revolutions to take place, factors such as financial assistance from foreign donors, dissatisfaction of the population with the economic and political course of the government, the position of special services and the army, and the side on which the media and big business representatives help are of decisive importance. Finally, we can note that “color” revolutions are not revolutions in the classical sense, but rather a change of power.