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Файл:Political communications. Lecture course. Курс лекций
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In general, the most promising vectors for the development
of modern Western political communication studies are the
study of the processes of erasing differences between interpersonal and mass audiences through narrowly focused and broadcast broadcasting due to the development of big data, social networks and computational social science (Joseph N. Cappella), the
ambiguous influence of artificial intelligence (AI) on the nature
of communications. Therefore, “significant personalization and
targeting opportunities are not without ethical issues. Following the concept of AI for the public good, the authors systematically explore the ethical issues of deploying AI for mass personalization of communication content from a multi-stakeholder
perspective. Conceptual analysis reveals interdependencies and
contradictions between ethical principles that advocate the need
for a basic understanding of the inputs, functioning, actions and
results of AI. Through this form of AI literacy, people can be empowered to interact with and handle mass personalized content
in a way that promotes personal and public good while preventing harm” (E. Hermann). Another popular area of research is
a study of aspects of gamification as a tool and a way to achieve
the goals of personalized political communications. Gamification
is not just about points, levels and leaderboards. It can be used to
increase the degree of involvement, including political and social
people in social processes. Such effective gamification is based
on an innovative approach that relies on user engagement techniques such as utility, interactivity, social media, and personalization (M. Hajarian and P. Diaz).
In the conditions of information wars, in which many
modern states are involved, Russian and Western researchers of political communications are busy with issues of the socalled post-truth. This phenomenon is used to denote reactions
formed by information to events, and information may not be
true, fake. Nevertheless, in the mass consciousness, it is the reaction from the post-truth that is the basis for the perception
of the object of the message and the development of an appropriate attitude towards the subject of information, news.
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The current discourse in the field of political communication research is determined by such contours as choice of a scientific school for studying political communication which will
become the basis for conceptualizing this area, the impact
of new information technologies on political participation or
civic engagement (taking into account the role of information
technology, social networks in initiating political protests, the
role of global and national media in an attempt to change political regimes, including the so-called color revolutions). Besides a deeper understanding of the interdependencies between
media, public opinion, civic participation and political governance/ public administration at the national and transnational
levels is needed.
Russian tradition of political
communications research
The Russian tradition of studying political communications
developed in a unique way due to the specific historical path
of development of statehood (the Soviet era with the predominance of communist ideology and the prevalence of exclusively non-mass types of political communications, a sharp change
in the political regime and discourses in the late 1980s and early 1990s with the active introduction of marketing political
types, a return to a pro-state model in the relations of power
structures with the media, citizens and other subjects of the information space from the mid-2000s to the present).
If in the 1950s in the United States and Western Europe
the field of communication research was already at the stage
of institutionalization and quite a lot of experience in conducting empirical research in the field of political communication
(primarily political propaganda) was accumulated, then in the
USSR the concept of “communication” had not yet received
widespread and despite the various practices of promoting Soviet propaganda to the masses, there was no communication
in the theoretical and scientific discourse. However, in the con-
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text of the liberalization of the political regime and the growing interest of social scientists in the problems of the state and
political structure in the 1960s, Soviet socio-humanitarian
knowledge was strongly influenced b – became the basis for
describing the entire social system of Soviet society and its political sphere. Soviet social scientists paid special attention to
the problem increasing the political activity of the individual,
which should was to promote “education, as well as self-education of the broad mass of members of society”. The main institution of public social control, the regulator of social relations
and the organizer, educator and propagandist in the system
of Soviet political and power relations was journalism. The profession of a journalist was recognized as ideological, and the organization of production and distribution of the press was recognized as a matter of national importance. By the end of the
1970s, a special direction began to take shape in the structure
of the general theory of journalism, considering the political
aspects of the press. Along with the general theory of journalism and political theory, the sociological study of the phenomenon of public opinion was actively developed.
The situation in the scientific world and in the education
system began to change radically in the late 1980s and early 1990s. There was a systemic transformation of the state and
the very practice of organizing political communication. Transformations of the socio-political regime, the establishment
of a multi-party system, real political competition gave rise to
a systemic transformation of political communication in the
country. The main factor in this transformation was the transit
of Western technologies for organizing communicative interaction with mass audiences, what American researchers called the
Americanization of political and media processes.
In the mid-1990s, Russia was among the countries that discovered the possibilities of professional organization of political
communication. Large-scale election campaigns (Duma elections
in 1993 and presidential elections in 1996) have demonstrated
the full power and significance of professionally organized po-
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litical communication. In Russia, an intensive westernization
of all social processes, including political-communication and
mass-information processes, has unfolded, and the American
experience in the development and implementation of political
campaigns turned out to be extremely in demand. In the 1990s,
many structures providing assistance and support to election
campaigns and PR services actively appeared and functioned.
Thus, the technologies of marketing political communications
(political marketing, political management) are being widely developed. The export of Western technologies for organizing the
political process and political information campaigns was accompanied by the formation of a professional community specializing in providing a wide range of communication services related
to the political sphere. Russian specialists in organizing practical political communications began to create their own professional associations. (Association of Political Consulting Centers,
Russian Association for Public Relations, …). In the 1990s, political consulting became the most demanded area of PR activities, political technologists, their publications and implemented
projects were in the sphere of close attention of the professional
community of public relations specialists.
With the election of V. Putin as President of the Russian
Federation, a new era begins in the development of the theory and practice of political communications in Russia. Trends
in strengthening state power, centralization, and the abolition
of the election of the heads of Russian regions from 2004 to 2012
have significantly reduced the demand for political consultants.
At the same time, the isolation of the proper communicative
research discourse began. The first textbooks on the sociology
of communication and communication theory appeared. Several
textbooks on general communication theory have appeared. It is
noteworthy that since the 2000s, communications in Russian scientific discourse have been developing mainly within the framework of precisely political communications.
At present, domestic political communication science has
accumulated a huge stock of scientific knowledge that it can
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reveal to the world academic community. Of course, the range
of promising problems is wide. In the research field of the theory of journalism and mass communications are the following
problem-thematic areas:
• the concept of the political market, the tools of political
marketing and the practice of organizing political marketing
communications;
• non-marketing communication tools and practice of organizing propaganda campaigns;
• political journalism in the implementation of political
goals;
• political aspects of mass communications;
• media communications and civic engagement;
• the influence of the Internet and new communication
technologies on the political.
In view of the extremely volatile geopolitical situation and frequent precedents of information confrontation between modern
Russia and Western countries, special attention in the theory and
practice of political communications is paid to the problems of information security of national segments of the Internet space, Internet technologies for destabilizing political regimes, including
the features of their application in modern practice, as well as issues of manipulation of public consciousness in the Internet space,
including technologies and tools for manipulating public opinion
in the Internet space. Separate attention of researchers is drawn
to social networks and the blogosphere as tools for destabilizing
political regimes, as well as the features and practical experience
of using social media in color revolutions.
The evolution of public administration
systems under the influence of political
communications
In the modern world, the main form of social life is the
state, which evolves under the influence of internal and external factors. Without going into an analysis of theoretical ap-
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proaches to interpreting what a state is, we note that within the
framework of this textbook we interpret it as a socio-political
institution that has certain features: territory, sovereignty,
population (connected with the state by citizenship relations),
state power (which ideally should be both legal and legitimate),
tax collection, the possibility of legitimate coercion (in other
words, only the state has an army, police, penitentiary institutions, etc.), the existence of government and administration.
The last sign is directly related to the question of how exactly
the state interacts with its citizens in a daily format, realizing the functions of control and management. In other words,
the public administration system is the arena where the priorities and will of the political elites, who make de cisions mainly in a closed non-public way, regardless of the type of political
regime (democratic or non-democratic), are combined with the
public activities of the state to build and maintain communications with the population by informing, provision of services
(including public goods). That is, the public administration system is a real relationship between citizens and representatives
of the state, primarily civil servants. It is here that the public
goals and priorities of the state are embodied in practice in different ways. Next, we will trace the methods and goals of the
actors of political communication in different models of mod-
1
ern
public administration (Managerial approach, Network ap-
proach, Electronic concepts of the state).
Modern models of public administration, which began to
th
take shape in the second half of the 20
century, were preceded
by classical ones based on the Weberian tradition. Thus, within the framework of the institutional classical approach, the
public administration system was a rigid hierarchy of the state,
which built communications with the population based on topdown information flows with minimal or no feedback.
1
Should be noted that the modern state is relatively young, as it was
formed no earlier than the 19th century.
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Since the middle of the 20th century, in the context of the
development of democracy and market relations in Western political systems, the demands from the population to increase the
efficiency of the state, the nature of communications between
the political and administrative elite and citizens has changed.
The prerequisites for such transformations were: growth in the
number of civil servants, their low qualifications, lack of motivation of civil servants, growing budget deficit, reduced confidence on the part of the population to representatives of the
political elite and the state as a whole. During that historical
period, there was a rapid development of business in prosperous Anglo-Saxon countries, and above all in the United States,
where mass communications based on persuasive manipulative
technologies contributed to an increase in demand for goods
and services. Thus, in terms of efficiency, the commercial sector clearly outperformed the conservative and rigid public administration system, which did not have time to transform to
the new realities of commercialization and democratization. It
is at this moment that ideas arise about the transfer of management models from the business sector to the public administration system. The introduction of a Managerial approach
into the public administration system from a theoretical point
of view was possible due to the fact that the private and public sectors are similar, they are influenced by the same factors.
Thus, within the framework of this paradigm, the following innovations were introduced:
• customer orientation, expanding the area of responsibil-
ity of government agencies due to new areas of citizens’ needs;
• market assessment of the activities of state agencies, competition between public and private structures for better performance of functions that were previously exclusively public;
• privatization of many areas of state activity;
• decentralization based on the principle of subsidiarity;
• client-oriented approach;
• changing types of responsibility (legal, financial, demo-
cratic, political, ethical).
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New Zealand, Australia, USA, Canada, Great Britain took
a course for privatization, transition to targeted grants, termination of some ministries. Administrator came to the Manager’s place! In general, the Managerial approach in public
administration is based on the active use of marketing political communications to understand the needs of society, which
contributes to the transformation of the audience into an actor of political communications and ultimately leads to further
democratization of political regimes.
In practice, all modern states to varying degrees (and with
varying effects) borrow elements of the Managerial approach
in their public administration systems.
At the end of the last and the beginning of this century, the
Network approach in public administration acquired particular
development, and communications are a basic element in understanding the processes of formation and functioning of networks and the whole society. The premise for understanding
networks is that networks are a form of organization that based
on relations and communications of state structures with different actors (business associations, parties, civil sector structures), networks are self-managed groups arising around some
issues and based on resources. Members of the network are
linked by common goals; share the same values, trust. Network
functions include ensuring broad access of citizens to the formation of state policy, exchange of information, negotiations,
exchange and mobilization of resources, coordination and cooperation in the process of policy implementation.
In general, the Network approach can also be considered as
a condition for further democratization of political systems,
since communications are built on the basis of mutual respect
for the goals and interests of network participants. In world
practice, quite a few particular concepts of the Network approach have been implemented today. Therefore, “Governing without government” concept suggests joint participation
of representatives of the state and society, equality of statuses
of the state and society, information openness of the state. UN
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“Quality governance” concept is based on cooperation and joint
work of the government and citizens, the rule of law, transparency of power and decisions, operational efficiency and responsiveness of the government, focus on consensus, equality and
non-discrimination, efficiency and effectiveness, accountability of the government to citizens. Since the 2000s, the “Good
governance” model has been implemented in the countries
of Northern Europe. The main provisions of this theory are as
follows:
• networks are auxiliary in nature, the main thing is to
change the nature of the political system;
• the state serves citizens, not consumers;
• the state adheres to the rule of law and the protection
of equal rights;
• serving society is not one of the state’s strategies, it is
the state’s mission;
• the state is one of the players in the sphere of public power and does not bear full responsibility for all sectors of social
development;
• public interest is not a concomitant product of public administration, but its essence;
• establishing trust-based and strong communications is
the basis for forming state policy;
• decision-making based on discussion only (deliberative
practices);
• the state is guided by rules and procedures that ensure
the actual participation of citizens in governance;
• the main criterion for the effectiveness of the state is the
trust and well-being of citizens.
In other words, with a network approach based on marketing forms of political communications (which will be discussed
in the next lecture), the line between political and administrative elites and the masses, civil society is practically erased. All
members of the network are active actors in political communications, the purpose of which is to achieve common interests
and compromises, to implement deliberation in practice.
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The modern information stage of social development and
the widespread quantitative and qualitative development
of communication technologies have led to the development
of the practices of an electronic, digital, smart state. Together
they can be combined into Electronic concepts of the state. The
general principles of the approach are:
• changing the process of forming state policy, taking into
account the use of information technologies;
• transforming the monocentric model of service commu-
nications into a polycentric one;
• transfer of additional authority to lower levels of man-
agement;
• changing the functions of the state-focusing on processing information flows and establishing sustainable contacts
with different audiences.
In general, electronic concepts of public administration are
associated not only with the introduction of new communication
technologies in the processes of interaction between citizens and
the state, but also with a change in the state itself. It is forced
to be more open and accountable to the population, to specific
individuals, who in real time get the opportunity to communicate with government officials and even control their activities
(which gave the development of the theory and practices of a mobile state, a smart state). Thus, the introduction of new technologies contributes to the further democratization of political
systems. Other benefits of e-government include reducing the
time to receive services, receiving services “under one roof”, reducing the cost of public administration, increasing transparency of public administration, reducing administrative corruption,
erasing differences between urban and rural populations, reducing the cost of controlling the activities of state agencies.
Within the framework of electronic theories of public administration, the following areas of communication can be distinguished:
1) interaction of state bodies at various levels, which in-
volves ensuring the compatibility of standards for storing
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