Geopolitical agendas and internationalization of post-soviet higher education: Discursive dilemmas in the realm of the prestige economy

Communicating the means and ends of internationalization can be daunting amidst competing agendas in higher education. This paper examines how elite global journals in social sciences deal with discursive dilemmas while addressing geopolitical agendas in the internationalization of post-Soviet higher education. In particular, this paper seeks to understand how the “prestige economy” agencies have shaped explanations of problems of the Soviet legacy in disparate national contexts of post-Soviet higher education. Under the growing resurgence of Russian imperialism, the study delves into claims and concerns of social scientists from post-Soviet republics, who remain on the periphery of the global “prestige economy,” as well as in the subaltern position to the geopolitical agendas championed by the Russian government. While examining the research on geopolitics in the internationalization of divergent systems and institutions of higher education in the region, the paper also tries to shape a more nuanced analysis of the under-investigated tensions within the post-Soviet world. Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.