Development of public policy network communications in modern political systems

Размещено на http://www.allbest.ru/

DEVELOPMENT OF PUBLIC POLICY NETWORK COMMUNICATIONS IN MODERN POLITICAL SYSTEMS

Alla Girman,

PhD in Political Science,

Associate Professor of the Department of International Economic Relations,

Regional Studies and Tourism,

University of Customs and Finance, Ukraine, Dnipro

Natalia Kodatska,

PhD in Sociology,

Associate Professor of the Department of International Economic Relations,

Regional Studies and Tourism,

University of Customs and Finance, Ukraine, Dnipro

The article presents the dynamics of transformation of network characteristics of modern society, related to changes in the quality and structure of communications, which are expanding and differentiating in the public space integrated with the Internet. The ways of development of information and communication technologies in all spheres - social, political, economic, cultural, which are conditioned by the network logic of development of social subjects are analyzed. The analysis of the actual researches concerning problems of formation of the new model of organization of socio-political space in which horizontal network communications dominates and many different actors involved in the transformation of public policy, as well as the role and importance of network structures possessing high potential for self-organization and mobilization. The peculiarities of functioning of the Ukrainian political system, which, on the one hand, reflect the global trends of network public policy formation, are considered; on the other hand, existing social networking practices are not always linked to increasing public resources and developing democratic foundations of politics. The author draws attention to the dominance of informal political communication practices, the imitation of publicity, the formation of clan politics and the patrimonial political system that characterize the destructive potential of social networks. policy network communication political

The article provides a theoretical substantiation of the concept of "Internet in public regional policy", which allows to expand the paradigmatic field of political science, as well as to apply the network method to the analysis of Ukrainian public policy, which makes it possible not only to explain new socio-political phenomena, but also to define new vectors development of the modern political system of Ukraine based on the principles of democratic participation and cooperation of the state and civil society. The effects of the Internet of communications through the penetration of network society into public policy and its actions, which is multidimensional in nature and manifested as changes at different levels, causes the emergence of innovative mechanisms that reproduce its new type, namely network public policy.

Key words: information and communication technologies, internetazation, social life, state development, network society, public space.

РОЗВИТОК КОМУНІКАЦІЙ МЕРЕЖЕВОЇ ПУБЛІЧНОЇ ПОЛІТИКИ В СУЧАСНИХ ПОЛІТИЧНИХ СИСТЕМАХ

Проаналізовано шляхи розвитку інформаційно-комунікативних технологій у всіх сферах: соціальній, політичній, економічній, культурній, - що зумовлено мережевою логікою розвитку соціальних суб'єктів. Проведено аналіз актуальних досліджень, що стосуються проблем формування нової моделі організації соціально-політичного простору, у якому домінують горизонтальні мережеві комунікації та з'являється безліч різноманітних акторів, котрі беруть участь у перетворенні публічної політики, а також зростають роль і значення мережевих структур, які володіють високим потенціалом самоорганізації й мобілізації. Розглянуто особливості функціонування української політичної системи, що, з одного боку, відображають глобальні тренди формування мережевої публічної політики; з іншого - наявні практики соціальних мереж, не завжди пов'язані з нарощуванням ресурсів публічності й розвитком демократичних основ політики. Зауважено щодо домінування неформальних політичних комунікаційних практик, імітації публічності, формування кланової політики та патримоніальної політичної системи, що характеризують деструктивний потенціал соціальних мереж. У статті теоретично обґрунтовано концепт «інтернетизація в публічній регіональній політиці», що дає змогу розширити парадигмальне поле політичної науки, а також застосувати мережевий метод до аналізу української публічної політики, що дає можливість не лише пояснити нові соціально-політичні явища, але й визначити нові вектори розвитку сучасної політичної системи України, заснованої на принципах демократичної участі й співпраці держави та громадянського суспільства. Визначено ефекти інтернетизації комунікацій через проникнення мережевого суспільства в публічну політику й дії на неї, що має багатоаспектний характер та проявляються у вигляді змін на різних її рівнях, зумовлює появу інноваційних механізмів, котрі відтворюють її новий тип, а саме мережеву публічну політику.

Ключові слова: інформаційні та комунікаційні технології, інтернетизація, соціальне життя, розвиток держави, мережеве суспільство, громадський простір.

INTRODUCTION

The intensive development of information and communication technologies causes profound shifts in all spheres of life - social, political, economic, cultural, which is caused by the network logic of development of social subjects. Likewise, «public regional policy» at the present stage of social development as an essential category acquires new properties and characteristics related to the changing nature of social interactions. This is due to the penetration and intensification of the use in all spheres of life of information and communication technologies and the formation of a new type of sociality - a network society. At present, the network characteristics of modern society are being transformed, related to the change in the quality and structure of communications, which are expanding and differentiating in the public space integrated with the Internet. This, in turn, promotes the formation of non- institutionalized forms of political subjectivity (new social movements, civic journalists, non-profit organizations), as well as various hybrid forms of political institutions (network political parties) and multilevel forms of networked public administration (European Union partner, open government).

Concepts of information society, the role of network structures and network communications in the transformation of various spheres of social life, including political, are reflected in the social and philosophical theories of D. Bell, M. Castells, E. Toffler [1]. Reflective aspects of the network logic of transformation of public policy space, which determine the processes of constructing new identities and the formation of new social movements, are considered in the works of a number of researchers: D. Della Porta, M. Diani, D. Makadam, M. Zald [2]. Most authors point out that information becomes the most important resource of power and management, and the information sphere - a matter that permeates the entire socio-political space.

The Purpose of the Article. The purpose of the article is to determine the main factors for the development of modern information and communication technologies and to reveal the determining directions of functioning of network public policy.

Research Methodology. The purpose of this study determines a comprehensive approach to the use of theoretical, empirical, empirical-theoretical, analytical research methods and sectoral methods of social communications, the network method as well as the concepts of the information society to public policy analysis.

RESULTS OF THE RESEARCH

In the modem political systems of the countries of Western Europe, the Middle East, the CIS, which have significant differences in socio-economic, political, cultural, public-state development, there are points of growth and influence of network communication activity on the process of public policy reproduction. Social networks based on horizontal interactions not only change the traditional organizational structures of civil society, but also form the basis of a new institutional design for public policy. This development of information and communication technologies promotes public policy beyond the traditional space for the political process and broadens the possibilities for building, including in the online space, a new architecture for the participation of actors in the system of state and municipal government [3]. The application of networked public policy principles, mechanisms and technologies in practical policy and public administration creates conditions for innovations not only in the political sphere but also in all spheres of social life.

The Ukrainian political system, on the one hand, reflects global trends in network public policy formation; on the other, there are social networking practices that are not always related to increasing public resources and developing democratic political foundations. The dominance of informal political practices, the imitation of publicity, the formation of clan politics and the patrimonial political system characterize the destructive potential of social networks and Internet communications. At the same time, the constructive activity of network communities in Ukrainian public policy contributes to the expansion of the «corridor of opportunities» for the formation of a full-fledged system of public policy in Ukraine. The network approach was actively introduced into political science, sociology, economic science, cognitive science, and communication theory in the late 1990s. A number of empirical studies of different social networks operating in the regions of modern Ukraine have shown that the study of political institutionalization of social networks is impossible without studying the process of social networking in public policy and the formation of network communities as a political actor [4]. Scientists consider that the formation of political subjectivity of social networks goes through three stages, two of which involve group forms of inclusion in the political life of society. In the first stage - latent - there is an immersion of social networks in political reality through the individualization of networks by actors and unreflexive assimilation by the personality of a set of situational social roles and behavioral standards in the sphere of politics. The second stage of social networking involvement in politics, defined as subcultural positioning of network communities, is closely linked to such social mechanisms as identity / identification, socialization, and internalization. At this stage, the formation of political and cultural patterns, typical for the environment of certain network communities, regulate the political behavior of individual actors. The third stage of inclusion of social networks in politics is related to the political institutionalization of network communities, which is provided by the mechanism of conversion of resources of open and closed network communities into political capital. At the third stage of development of the network approach - 2000"s - the concept of network management (governance) has accumulated new tendencies of the intemetazation of communications, which was reflected in the new content of public administration, its organizational and technological component related to public influence and participation community in making public decisions [5]. At the present stage, the network approach is in the fourth stage of its development, within which network policy theory is formed. Integrating the theories and concepts that have arisen in previous periods, network policy theory views the network as a variable in policy production, using the categorical apparatus of a network approach to research and evaluate the structural, functional, procedural, resultant and managerial components of public policy.

A network society is the resultant vector of the development of the information ecosystem, where knowledge and information flows play a decisive role. The effects of the intemetazation as a result of the penetration of network society in public policy and actions on it are multidimensional in nature and manifest as changes at different levels, causing the emergence of innovative mechanisms that recreate its new type - network public policy. These processes, primarily influencing the transformation of the information-discursive space, change the format of structures and processes in the activity-activist, institutional and administrative dimension of public policy. To date, a global information and communication environment has been formed, enclosed in a technological framework of a model based on the system integration of digital processes of information processing and transmission, which, through continuous introduction and improvement of network communication technologies, produces new forms of individual and collective information mechanisms, dissemination of new knowledge. With the help of the intemetazation, public space is expanding, as the Internet includes not only information and communication services, but also the social environment, independently engages in the consumption, production and distribution of content. The integration of the Internet (online space) into the public realm is driven by the digital nature (willingness and openness to change) and the network ethos of political communications [6].

Network communication becomes a systematic source of reproduction of the political sphere, determining the format of political relations. At the same time, the effect of network expansion of public space creates certain conditions for the exclusion of certain categories of citizens from the new system of network political communications, limiting their arsenal of inclusion in publicity by traditional methods. The global information and communication space of a network society is open to conceptualization by individual and collective actors who need their own virtualized public spaces. The conceptualisation of the individual by his or her own social world with projection into the political sphere is considered in the context of his reflective involvement in the public space.

In modern societies, social energy and political influence accumulates primarily at horizontal levels of communication in the public sphere, connecting different local communities, which in turn include other communities and networks. It should be noted that public space is reformed not only from below by active actors, but also from above through purposeful design. Reflective involvement of the individual and his autonomy in the construction of public space caused the effect of network transformation of civil society, which results in the binary opposition «state - civil society», united by the phenomenon of power, expressed in political and non-political forms [7]. So now civil society is a relationship of power rooted in social networks. Civil society becomes an environment for self-support relationships, in which various informal networks of solidarity are interwoven with various forms of mutual support and mutually beneficial associations.

Civil society becomes a product of the integration of symbolic-semantic and structural forms of social organization on the basis of horizontal-network connections existing within the given national community, which guarantees the historical continuity of the state"s development. In other words, the Internetization of civil society causes a crisis of the traditional system of political representation, which does not reflect the interests of those social groups and communities that have emerged as a result of network transformations in the social and economic spheres of society. In modern public policy there is a change in «the very patterns of political representation and public participation», related to the effect of network reversing adaptation of traditional political institutions and structures of networked civil society [8]. On the one hand, the traditional hierarchical structures of political institutions are beginning to mutate as they experience difficulties with the emergence of many power centers and the dispersal of information; they begin to adapt to the network forms of organization of power, acting in accordance with the logic of network communications.

CONCLUSIONS AND PROSPECTS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH

As modern political practice demonstrates, the actualization of the political subjectivity of network communities occurs spontaneously in the context of the crisis (turbulence) of the political system and contributes to the expansion of access of network communities to public policy resources, while widening the boundaries of the scope of national public policy as a whole. Modern researchers characterize global trends as being empirically captured by the effects of non-linear, diverse political development, and which over time become highly turbulent, intense [9]. The nonlinear logic of network society development determines the processes of diversification of political practices and institutional forms, including the system of public administration. The effect of the internetization of public communication is directly linked to the multidimensional network changes in the space of public policy, where the tools of political power, influence and control are scattered among various actors, including individuals and collectives. Under the influence of the internetization, public administration becomes multilayered and multilateral. Network management, assuming the presence of a global level is carried out on a fundamentally new basis. The involvement of many public policy actors in the common achievement of political goals and public governance is linked to networking and its coordination aimed at creating conditions for cooperation.

The state in network management becomes a coordinator, creating conditions for public involvement through regulatory, financial and communication tools, aiming to influence subjects" motivation to join efforts to solve common problems [8]. Involvement of citizens in the implementation of public decisions is directly related to the technologies of cross-sectoral interaction (transparent budget, social order, funds of territorial development, various technologies of social investment) and invariant technologies of public participation (public negotiations, public expertise, public control, public discs). The involvement of citizens in publicity links the communicative power of civil society with the political and managerial cycle, thereby significantly limiting the autonomy of the state. An important characteristic of network public administration is its design, which creates the conditions for the constructive participation of various public policy actors in the practice of public administration. The state, initiating the diagnosis of public policy, initiates and moderates project and expert networks, shaping the institutionalization of public impulses of networked civil society in public administration practice.

However, it should be said that the formation of networked public regional policy in modern political systems is still an unfinished project of non-linear development, in which the institutional, procedural and technological components of policy acquire network, synergistic characteristics, supplanting the practices of traditional public policy. In the institutional environment, new organizational forms and practices of various network structures emerge, which should be further explored by public communications.

REFERENCES

1. Della Porta, D., Diani, M. (1999). Social Movements: an Introduction. Oxford: Blacrwell (in English).

2. Information and Communications for Development 2009: Extending Reach and Increasing Impact (2009). Washington: World Bank (in English).

3. McAdam, D., McCarty, J. D., Zald, M. N. (2004). Comparative Perspectives on Social Movements: Political Opportunities, Mobilizing Structures and Cultural Framing. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press (in English).

4. Graber, D. (1981). Political Languages. Handbook of Political Communication. Beverly Hills, L.: Sage Publications (in English).

5. Grieswelle, D. (1998). Rhetorik und Politik: Kulturwissenschaftliche Studien. Mьnchen: Minerva (in German).

6. Meadow, R. G. (1990). Politics as Communication. Norwood (New Jersey): Ablex Publ. Co. (in English).

7. Mashchenko, I. H. (2006). Entsyklopediya elektronnykh mas-media. [Encyclopedia of electronic media], Vol. 1. Zaporizhzhya: Dyke Pole (in Ukrainian).

8. Poltrack, D. F. (2012). The Outlook for the Broadcast Networks. Retrieved from: https://www.cbscorporation.com/wp-content/uploads/legacy_corp/mce_files/UBSFinal-With Notes-dp-12-6-10.pdf (in English).

9. Yatchuk O. (2018). Interaktyvne telebachennya: sotsial'no-komunikatsiyni modeli ta tekhnolohiyi. [Interactive Television: Social Communication Models and Technologies]. Dnipro, UMCF (in Ukrainian).

Размещено на Allbest.ru