Higher Education as an Instrument of "Soft Power": Opportunities and Limitations for Russia

The theme of the current research refers to the sphere of contemporary international relations and aimed at investigating the practical use of soft power. The soft power instruments are considered more efficient compared to the military-power methods for the majority of states. Among the most significant soft power instruments, higher education is seen as the core one. Possibilities and limitations of its proper use may be observed for each country depending on historical and cultural context. The paper answers the question regarding peculiarities of higher education implementation in order to apply soft power for political purposes. The conceptualization of soft power has been demonstrated, its major components and indicators have been distinguished and analyzed with the employment of institutional approach. The methods of comparative analysis utilized are productive tools for identifying the differences in political strategies with regard to the various states. The final part is focused on the opportunities and barriers of Russian soft power tool. The results anticipated lead to identifying appropriate strategies in order to achieve its effectiveness. Possible ways of putting the theory into practice may be developed further.