Public Policy and Online Media in Central Asian Countries: From Interaction to State Control | South-Russian Journal of Social Sciences
Public Policy and Online Media in Central Asian Countries: From Interaction to State Control
Vol. 24 (2023) No. 2, Public Politics
Vol. 24 (2023) No. 2
Public Politics

Public Policy and Online Media in Central Asian Countries: From Interaction to State Control

Salimov D.M.
Saint-­Petersburg State University
ORCID ID 0000-0002-6697-0902
PDF (Russian)
https://doi.org/10.31429/26190567-24-2-78-94
https://doi.org/10.31429/26190567-24-2-78-94

How to Cite Array

Salimov D.M. (2023) Public Policy and Online Media in Central Asian Countries: From Interaction to State Control. South-Russian Journal of Social Sciences, 24 (2), pp. 78-94. DOI: 10.31429/26190567-24-2-78-94 (In Russian)
Submission Date 2023-02-12
Accepted Date 2023-03-25
Published Date 2023-07-31

Copyright (c) 2023 Диловар Мирзомуддинович Салимов

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Abstract

The article examines the role of online media in legitimizing public policy in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The communication aspects of public policy function as a system for adjusting the political climate to the social environment and are a crucial prerequisite for executing contemporary management processes. The paper analyzes the formation process of network media and communities, as well as their impact on political management in these countries. Several politically significant documents are analyzed and their legitimation through public discourse in online media is presented. This study reveals the practices of regulating information flows in online media, including both legal and non-legal methods of horizontal and vertical control implemented in these countries. The study is based on the scientific notion that in Central Asian states, regime policy validity becomes crucial, with stability indicated by the presence of authority mechanisms for information influence on public policy subjects and models of online media political positioning. In Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, this process is accompanied by the development of the idea of ideological unification of power and online media. This idea is based on public discussion of important societal issues, aimed at finding solutions that can help stabilize the social and political situation in both countries. This also takes into account the fact that online media in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan operate on the basis of these countries’ legislation, which increases the potential for their inclusion in the sphere of influence of the censorship and control system. This fact indicates that the Tajik and Uzbek authorities provide a model for online media relations that can support the emergence of a public space while upholding both direct (vertical) and indirect (horizontal) control. This model contributes to the formation of an information space where all rules are dictated by current regimes.

Keywords

network media, horizontal control, vertical control, public policy, network society, public administration, political regime, political censorship, information security

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