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No 3 (2021): Цифровизация политики

СОСТОЯНИЕ ДИСЦИПЛИНЫ

13–36 164
Abstract

Technological changes taking place under the flag of digitalization affect not only the sphere of technology itself. Digitalization is not a politically neutral process, a simple means of increasing labor productivity. It has a decisive influence on all spheres of life of modern society, creating additional conditions for their networking. The network architecture of emerging relations includes not only social and political agents, but also the technical objects themselves, which begin to perform the functions of mediators in interaction. There is a pessimistic and optimistic direction in assessing the ongoing transformations and the role of the technical component in them. Some politicians and scientists talk about a new cybernetic totalitarianism, while others believe that in modern conditions not only challenges arise, but also prospects for more meaningful and effective development are being formed. The article focuses on one important aspect of the topic related to the relation of digitalization, its inclusion in the public administration system and the emerging problems of public governability. Trends in the impact of digitalization on public governability are considered, four models of network governability efficiency are analyzed: interactive, contingent, multidimensional, socio-technical. Particular attention is paid to the problem of cooperation between government and citizens, which ensure the effectiveness of governance based on co-governance networks.

37-53 161
Abstract

The work aimed to study the peculiarities of the subjectness of the phenomenon of digital communication in the context of intensive digitalization of key spheres of life of modern society, as well as to identify the prospects and threats of introducing self-learning neural network algorithms and artificial intelligence technologies into communication processes unfolding in the social and political sphere. One of the study's key objectives was to identify scenarios of possible social changes in the context of society digitalization and the traditional social practices transformation in terms of the emergence of new digital subjects of mass public communication that form the pseudo structure of digital interaction between people. As a methodological optics, the work used the method of discourse analysis of scientific research devoted to the implementation and application of artificial intelligence technologies and self-learning neural networks in the processes of socio-political digitalization, as well as the method of critical analysis of current communication practice in the socio-political sphere. At the same time, when analyzing the current practice of digitalization in foreign countries, the case study method was used. In turn, to determine the scenarios for the transformation of traditional social space and social practices, the method of scenario techniques and scenario forecasting was applied. As a research result, it was concluded that the introduction of technological solutions based on artificial intelligence algorithms and self-learning neural networks into contemporary socio-political communication processes creates the potential for the problem of identifying the subjects of communicative acts in the socio-political sphere of the contemporary society life. Based on the results of the study, it is shown that artificial intelligence and self-learning neural network algorithms are increasingly being implemented in the current practice of contemporary digital communications, forming a high potential for information and communication impact on the mass consciousness of technological solutions that no longer require self-control from human operators. The work also concludes that in the current practice of social interactions in the digital space, a person faces a new phenomenon - interfaceization, within which self-communication stimulates the universa- lization and standardization of digital behavior, creating, disseminating, strengthening, and imposing special digital rituals. The article proves that digital rituals blur the line between digital avatars' activity based on artificial intelligence and the activity of real people, resulting in the potential for a person to lose their own subjectness in the digital universe.

54-71 155
Abstract

Around the World, public policy is experiencing the growth of e-participation - ICT-based ways of interaction on public matters between state and general public. These may include online-consultations or participatory decision-making. Despite the scholars’ effort to extensively study the phenomena, we still know little of e-participation. This review article seeks to compile what do we know of e-participation at the moment and how does it compare to traditional ways of public participation. It was showed that both traditional and digital participation are contradictory. The former is often resisted by bureaucracy and does not enjoy much of people’s attention. The latter offers some solutions but brings new challenges. We further conclude the need for continuous studies of e-participation, offering the venues for the academic community.

ИДЕИ И ПРАКТИКА

72-111 137
Abstract

How does the state security system evolve under the influence of the artificial intelligence technology? To answer this question, an empirical model is proposed. The model evaluates the state security system (by the example of the USA) using the security consistency parameter, which estimates how the state perceives threats (indicator of threats) and whether the state has the necessary capabilities to counter them (indicator of capabilities) in relation to the artificial intelligence technology. The model (as well as the conceptualization of the artificial intelligence technology in the context of the security domain) provides evidence of how security transformations occur. It serves as a tool for studying the corresponding changes and assessing the state security system. It is necessary to indicate the limitation of the study: we do not consider direct military applications in the field of automation and algorithms (artificial intelligence technology). The validation of the empirical model has been undertaken using the case of the USA (eight-time intervals are subject to analysis, namely: 1999, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2012, 2015, 2017, 2019). With the development of the technology itself, the “interest” of the state and the definition of threats, as well as the rapid growth of the capabilities of the artificial intelligence technology (coincides with the years of maximum progress in computing power and the introduction of new algorithms) are growing, and since 2012, the dynamic has been linear, since more new “discoveries” have contributed to evolutionary rather than “revolutionary” growth trajectory. The developed model is scalable. This feature may be useful in the empirical security studies: the artificial intelligence technology within the model can be replaced with other types of digital technologies (for example, big data, cloud computing or 5 g connection technologies, etc.); thus, empirical models of security consistency under the impact of other technologies can be developed. The approach proposed allows to under- take cross-country comparisons with respect to specific types of digital technologies and their interactions with the security domain.

112-141 175
Abstract

The article presents the results of a study of Internet communications of Russian political parties at the start of a new electoral cycle in 2021. The research is interdisciplinary in nature and based on the following methodological approaches: post-behaviorism, implicit cognitive science, Predictor Mining. The empirical strategy includes a combination of methods: SMA, eye tracking and focus group interviews. During the implementation of the oculometric analysis, a protocol developed for evaluating the productivity of a combination of psychosemantic procedures and computer registration of a person's gaze during the 2018 election campaigns was selected to build a battery of visual stimuli. As a result of the study, the following features of respondents' perception of the Internet content of political parties are recorded: the main line of spectral opposition in the views of the Russian electorate is associated with the antagonism of such political parties as “United Russia” and “Yabloko”; to a greater extent, at the time of the study, the electorate of “new parties” that achieved success in the regional elections in 2020 is mobilized; the reliance of “new” political parties on public opinion leaders becomes one of the basic tools for implementing their electoral tasks, etc. The proposed in the study methodology for attestation of Internet content can be in demand by political parties to improve the content and psychotechnological characteristics of their information flows in social media. The use of the developed methodology for applying oculometric analysis for the certification of Internet content will allow party actors to improve the targeting technology in cooperation with the electorate.

РАКУРСЫ

142-160 141
Abstract

The basic research question of the undertaken empirical analysis is the question of the relationship between loyalism and oppositionism, activeness and passivity in the process of forming strategies for civic participation of Russians. Within the framework of the theoretical review that precedes the applied analysis, the authors systematize a significant layer of special studies on the concept, essence, factors of formation and typology of strategies for civic participation. On this basis, the author's method of empirical research of Russian civic activism is proposed. The basic method for collecting factual data is the All-Russian Mass Survey of Russians, represented by territory of residence, gender and age of respondents (N = 1600 people). The clustering method (K-means, SPSS Statistics 26.0) of the survey database identified 12 types of civic participation of Russians. Two indicators for the typology were used: the intensity of civic participation and the modality of the attitude towards the current government. Significant results of the study are the identification of the proportion of representatives of each cluster and the establishment of the relationship between belonging to the type of civic participation and the value and socio-demographic characteristics of Russians. It has been established that the oppositional attitude of Russians' civic attitudes is associated with their pragmatic guidelines, striving for liberal values, high readiness to participate in political and civic actions in online and offline formats, perception of civic activity as a platform free from state participation. The study shows the absolute dominance of a detached neutral position with a relatively insignificant spread of active loyalist and critical positions in the society of the Russian Federation. On the one hand, this indicates the absence of a high potential for protest activity in Russian society. On the other hand, a rather small share of active loyalists in Russian society can limit public consolidation around the official course of the current government. As a research perspective, the author substantiates the need for cybermetric measurement (using big data tools) to support the Russian user audience of external and internal protest-oriented disintegrating information flows, and the degree of approval of constructive consolidating flows aimed at the formation of loyalist sentiments in society, as well as dynamic and discursive characteristics. these information flows.

161-182 161
Abstract

The article is devoted to the analysis of a modern tool of political participation in the Internet as hashtags. The study is based on the narrative analysis and the theory of banal nationalism (both in the interpretation of M. Billing and in the vision of J. Fox). The narrative analysis, provided in the article, is considered from the viewpoint of a practice-oriented approach, which is aimed at direct social interaction. The core element of this interaction is a person (in a given case, a representative of an ethnic group) who simultaneously experiences the influence of ethnically significant symbols and creates them. The narrative appears here as a result of the appreciation of ethnically significant symbols in the minds of people. This happens through the analysis of events that have taken place or are now taking place within or around the ethnic movement (including with the help of political myths associated with the history of this ethnic group). The purpose of the article is to study the place and role of hashtags in the development of national movements (a case study of the Kryashens' movement). The author seeks to identify the position of hashtags in relation to such units of analysis as “ethnically significant symbols” and “narrative”. The study talks about hashtags as a new enough tool for political participation. The Kryashen front was opted as an example because the discursive practices are quite well developed within this community. The article provides a detailed overview of the existing Kryashen hashtags and gives their classification based on the types of hashtags proposed by Alice Daer, Rebbecca Hoffman and Seth Goodman. The study pays special attention to the theory of banal nationalism and emphasizes that the functionality of hashtags can be explained quite well by this theory. In conclusion, the author proposes a table of models of Kryashen hashtags with key characteristics (type of hashtag, type of recognition, interpretation of banal nationalism according to M. Billing or J. Fox, the hashtag's role in the movement) and highlighted patterns for the Kryashen movement.

КОНТЕКСТ

183-204 245
Abstract

Referring to the traditional interpretations of “public policy”, the author substantiates the need for analytical correction of its content on the basis of identifying universal parameters of publicity, reflecting a special format of open (public) relations between the state and society. In this context, there are three social spaces of the public sphere, each of which determines the possibilities of implementing the course of citizens ' participation in the management and strengthening the social orientation of government policy. The features of the implementation of such a variant of state public policy in modern Russia are briefly outlined.

205-228 167
Abstract

The article analyzes the ethics of social networks and its relationship with political identity. Two dimensions of the ethics of social networks are identified - the ethics of users and the ethics of platform owners. Using the example of political communication and the actions of social networks during the US protests in 2020, the transition from a procedural ethics based on ensuring freedom of speech and the equivalence of all types of identity to an ethics of protecting oppressed classes and groups is considered. The trends of different ethical assessments and reactions of users and owners of social networks in the same situations in the same political context, arbitrary denial of equal access to political communication to users and politicians due to disapproval of their political identity are revealed. Such ethics are not universal, are applied selectively and can damage the democratic foundations of any society, especially in the context of the growing unlimited power of the owners of communication platforms.

ПЕРВАЯ СТЕПЕНЬ

229-250 116
Abstract

The article presents theoretical and methodological foundations for the application of the spatial-econometric approach in electoral processes. The analysis based on spatial-econometric approach that underlies an assumption about interdepen- dence of processes occurring in adjacent objects. Theoretical framework of research is devoted to social-political assumptions that allow to explore the existence of interdependence of political processes occurring in neighboring objects. Empirical research is accomplished on local constituencies data from all parliamentary elections that took place in Russia in 1995-2016. The research involves addressing the concept of spatial autocorrelations - Moran, Geary and Getis - Ord indices. The research focuses on issue about the degree of spatial differences between regional and local voting. The results of research demonstrate that there is a high spatial interdependence in local voting in Russia. A comparative analysis of spatial autocorrelation on local and regional levels demonstrates that the municipal districts are most prone to spatial interdependence. This finding allows to trace a hidden tendences on local level of elections. Such differences between local and regional spatial autocorrelation identify that regional political regime can be an obstacle on the way of restraining the territorial distribution of local communities with similar electoral behavior. Finally, the research proves that the role of place is significant in Russian electoral space.

251-270 145
Abstract

The European Union (EU) has been advocating a strategy to assert its digital sovereignty for a relatively long period of time. This attempt, however, runs up against a range of obvious problems and obstacles, such as a united Europe's dependence on foreign technologies and services and the inadequacy of investments made to support its industrial policy (in particular in the digital sphere). The EU is trying to overcome these problems with an ambitious strategy, the “European strategy for data”, which will enable the Union to navigate in an international context characterized by a substantial lack of a global data governance system, but the efficiency and effectiveness of the strategy can only be assessed in a few years' time. According to the author of this paper's point of view, to achieve its policy objectives, the EU must pay attention to safeguarding the competitiveness of its companies, pursuing policies that, in defending the right to privacy and security of European users, are clear and harmonized. At the same time, the EU must implement policies that are able to redistribute the wealth produced in the digital field, countering the current dangerous concentrations of wealth and power in the hands of a few oligopolistic companies.

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ISSN 1998-1775 (Print)