POLITICAL CONSULTING STRATEGIES FOR POLARIZED SOCIETIES BASED ON NETWORK ANALYTICS

Abstract

The relevance of this research is due to the ongoing transformations of the political and information environment, where digital platforms have become the main channels of political communication. In this environment, the polarization of public opinion is increasing which is manifested through the formation of information bubbles, the growing role of emotional content, and the amplification of cognitive biases. Polarization not only complicates the interaction between different ideological groups, but also creates risks of social instability and radicalization of certain segments of the population, which makes the study of effective political consulting strategies as an extremely relevant. The aim of the article is to develop and justify the strategies of political consulting for polarized societies by applying a set of methods that unclude network analysis for determination the central role of nodes and identification of сorrelations between clusters, content analysis to assess thematic dominants and the tone of political messages, social media analytics to collect and process large amounts of data on users behavior, as well as a comparative analysis of consulting strategies to evaluate their effectiveness under different levels of polarization. The results of the research demonstrate that the integration of structural and content-based approaches contributes the effectiveness of political communications, reduces social conflict, and creates prerequisites for more constructive dialogue between different groups. The proposed strategies of targeted communication, strengthening inter-cluster connections and adaptive content policy have practical significance not only in the national content, but also in international regional conditions, taking into account globalization, regionalization processes, and the transformation of the international system, which form new challenges and opportunities for modern political consulting.