3. Significance of the study

In recent years, relatively intensive researches could be observed on the field of political and the Internet communications. However, it must be admitted that most of them investigates the internet either from the perspective of sociology, psychology, journalism, or in terms of other areas of political communication theory. Two main problems occurs the discourse of “political communication in the Internet” researches:

1. The novelty and ambiguity of the effects in universal distribution of the Internet in the world;

2. Studies on the field of political communications in the Internet characterized by patchiness and fragmentation.

Looking more closely on practical aspect of the problem, there are a number of particular factors that need to be assessed, like information availability, serving special populations, online service delivery, democratic responsiveness, democracy enhancement through interactive features, and citizen trust in government. The most basic question concerns the availability of information, which is a basic feature of democratic government. Being able to go online and view government reports and databases helps citizens understand what the public sector is doing and how government officials are performing their basic duties. This process contributes to the political culture and political participation among public. Service delivery is another aspect of “electronic government” evaluation. For many people, being able to access services online is one of the most desirable aspects of electronic government. Democratic responsiveness refers to the degree to which “electronic government” improves a system’s capacity to respond to ordinary people. The shared advantage of search engines, email contact information, and interactive features is the empowerment of the common person in his or her dealings with the public sector. Democracy enhancement refers to the ability of technology to improve democratic performance beyond responsiveness. This could range from simple things such as placing audio or visual materials online (such as broadcasts of hearings or speeches) to more interactive mechanisms that allow citizens to vote, make comments on proposed government rules, or personalize web-sites to their particular interests.

All these factors find their reflection in the most popular form of political communication on the Internet in Russia– web sites (Vershinin, 2001) due to several reasons - the site can accommodate any number of materials; there is no time or space constraints; person can go directly to the audience, avoiding the media; anyone could achieve substantial savings in the delivery of information to all parts of the world; information is easily updated. There is no need to print brochures and other materials; the media and other users gain access to the materials offered 24 hours a day (Wilcox, 2004). The above mentioned properties of the Internet make this channel of political communication attractive to use and to investigate.

This study will be a significant endeavor in analyzing the role of the internet in the political process in modern Russia. This study will also be beneficial to the students and public politicians when they employ effective ways in reaching the public and looking for effective feedback for their actions. By understanding the needs of the ordinary people and benefits of communication in the Internet, public politicians could change the effectiveness of political communication, and as a consequence, the political system as a whole. Moreover, this research will provide recommendations on how to organize and evaluate the idea of “e-government” in Russian social reality, which could support the understanding of political reality, attracting more people into political life and improve the political culture.