COGNITIVE SOVEREIGNTY AS A STRATEGY FOR ENSURING STABILITY UNDER CONDITIONS OF GLOBAL INTERCONNECTEDNESS: CONCEPTUALIZATION AND OPERATIONALIZATION

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Abstract

This article examines the conceptualization and operationalization of the concept of 'cognitive sovereignty' in relation to the task of ensuring state stability under conditions of global interconnectedness. Unlike existing interpretations, which reduce cognitive sovereignty primarily to information security or technological independence, in this work it is defined as society's structural capacity for the autonomous production, critical evaluation and transmission of meaning at all levels — individual, institutional and state. The methodological foundation consists of a theoretical synthesis of the concepts of the network society (Castells), 'regimes of truth' (Foucault), soft power (Nye), surveillance capitalism (Zuboff), epistemic injustice (Fricker), cultural flows (Appadurai) and postcolonial criticism (Spivak). Three systemic threats have been identified: semantic intervention through the media and algorithmic environment, digital colonialism as an asymmetry of infrastructural control, and epistemic dependence as the structural impossibility of independent knowledge production. As a counter-strategy, the concept of 'open selectivity' is proposed and substantiated; this concept presupposes the existence of a stable core of values that functions as society's 'semantic immune system'. The concept is illustrated through an analysis of the language and education policies of Kyrgyzstan and other Central Asian states. It is concluded that cognitive sovereignty is a necessary condition for both internal stability and equal participation in global dialogue. The research findings are applicable in the fields of political philosophy, digital policy and post-Soviet studies.