Old and new discourses in Emerging States: communication challenges of the digital age

ABSTRACT In this paper, we introduce a collection of articles included into thematic issue on multicultural discourses in ‘Emerging States’. Along with discussing challenges all multicultural and multiethnic societies are facing under ongoing digitalization process (digital divide, challenges to ethnic and community media, etc.), we focus on several themes that deserve further investigation by scholars. Among those are current communication and media policy aimed at supporting offline and online activities of cultural, linguistic and ethnic groups in ‘Emerging States’ as well as intercultural communication; social, political, economic, technological and cultural transformations ‘Emerging States’ evolved in twenty to twenty-first centuries and the way these transformations influenced cross-cultural communication and people’s identities from a cultural discourse studies perspective; digital communication as a dimension of ‘soft power’ in ‘Emerging States’, and many other topics.