GLOBAL NARRATIVES AS A MECHANISM OF STRATEGIC INFORMATIONAL INFLUENCE

This article examines global narratives as a key mechanism of strategic informational influence in contemporary international politics. The subject of analysis is the semantic constructs that shape interpretive frameworks of international reality, establish cognitive models of perception, and function as instruments for legitimizing political actions. The aim of the study is to comprehensively explore the structure, typology, dissemination mechanisms, and institutionalization of strategic narratives within the global informational environment. The methodological foundation of the research is an interdisciplinary approach that combines discourse analysis, framing theory, semiotic interpretation, and critical geopolitics, enabling the identification of both the substantive and structural characteristics of narratives. The relevance of the problem is driven by the paradigm shift in international influence from military and economic power toward dominance in the realm of meaning. In the context of hybrid challenges, cognitive polarization, and the erosion of global consensus, strategic narratives serve not merely as communicative tools but as instruments for constructing political reality. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the systematization of global narrative typologies (geopolitical, civilizational, ideological, and sustainable development narratives) and in revealing their role in modeling political behavior, shaping alliances, and legitimizing the actions of international actors. The analysis demonstrates that strategic narratives are formed as coherent historical constructions with internal logic, aimed at shaping a worldview framework for perceiving reality. The case study of U.S. (liberal international order) and Chinese (Community of Shared Future for Mankind) narratives illustrates the conflict and competition between global meaning-making projects. The practical significance of the research lies in its potential application for designing strategies in public diplomacy, information security, and media policy. The conclusions emphasize that global narratives are not only tools of communicative influence but also structural elements of a new world order architecture, in which the struggle for interpretation becomes a struggle for power within a post-realist information environment.