Conceptual, Institutional and Ethical-Legal Foundations
Abstract
In the context of increasing transnational professional mobility and growing institutional instability, traditional mechanisms of professional recognition demonstrate limited applicability. State and supranational systems primarily focus on administrative standardization and function within relatively stable legal regimes, whereas digital platforms of professional self-presentation provide visibility and network presence without institutional accountability or evidentiary verification. As a result, professional identity — particularly in journalism, academia, and creative industries — becomes fragmented and vulnerable in transnational settings.
This study introduces and conceptually analyzes Amerpass as an authorial model of non-state professional identification oriented toward reputational and evidentiary fixation of professional status beyond state sovereignty and commercial platform logic. Amerpass is conceptualized as a soft-institutional mechanism combining documentary form, multi-source verification, and distributed institutional responsibility while maintaining strict separation from legally binding status categories.
The research provides a comparative analysis of Amerpass alongside supranational standardization systems and commercial professional networking platforms, identifying their structural limitations under conditions of institutional rupture and transnational mobility. Particular attention is given to risks and constraints inherent in non-state models, including issues of trust, commercialization pressures, and limited scalability, which are interpreted not as deficiencies but as structural conditions of conceptual sustainability. The empirical foundation of the study derives from the analytical reassessment of prior non-state professional identification initiatives within a national context and their transformation into a transnational conceptual model. Amerpass is positioned not as a finalized institution but as an evolving research framework contributing to the interdisciplinary discourse on new forms of professional legitimization in a transforming global order.
Keywords:
professional identity; transnational mobility; non-state accreditation; digital reputation; Amerpass; Europass; LinkedIn; institutional rupture; soft institutionalism
Author: Igor Leonov
Independent Researcher
Founder of the Amerpass Project
United States
ORCID: 0009-0004-3645-6031
Reviewers:
- Alexandra Voronina — ORCID: 0009-0004-3155-9824
- Yurii Savchuk — ORCID: 0009-0005-3147-5425
- Oleh Tytarenko — ORCID: 0009-0008-9343-0427
- Khrystyna Nedeva — ORCID: 0009-0005-1135-9582
DOI: pending
Full Text (PDF)
Amerpass_Non_State_Transnational_Professional_Identification_LeonovFull Text (PDF) Russian language
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