Political communications : Lecture course

МИНИСТЕРСТВО НАУКИ И ВЫСШЕГО ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ РФ
№ 4443
УНИВЕРСИТЕТ НАУКИ И ТЕХНОЛОГИЙ МИСИС
ИНСТИТУТ БАЗОВОГО ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ
Кафедра иностранных языков и коммуникативных технологий
Е.В. Андрюшина
POLITICAL COMMUNICATIONS
LECTURE COURSE
Курс лекций
Рекомендовано редакционно-издательским 
советом университета
Москва 2024

УДК 811.1/.8
 
А66
Р е ц е н з е н т
канд. полит. наук, доц. Л.В. Бондарева
Андрюшина, Евгения Владимировна.
А66  
Political communications : Lecture course : курс 
лекций / Е.В. Андрюшина. – Москва : Издательский 
Дом НИТУ МИСИС, 2024. – 168 с.
Курс лекций имеет целью ознакомление читателей с историей 
развития зарубежной и отечественной политической коммуникативистики, спецификой данной научно-прикладной области 
знаний, субъектами политических коммуникаций, их типами 
и формами, перспективами использования коммуникативных 
технологий в современных условиях. Особое внимание уделено 
государству как актору современных политических коммуникаций в современных условиях, моделям взаимодействия государства и СМИ, гражданских структур. 
Предназначен для обучающихся в магистратуре по направлению подготовки 45.04.02 «Стратегические международные 
коммуникации», а также всех, кто интересуется вопросами как 
маркетинговых форм политической коммуникации (реклама, 
PR), так и пропаганды, агитации, манипулятивных коммуникативных технологий в целом, их эволюции, актуальным трендам 
развития.
УДК 811.1/.8
Е.В. Андрюшина, 2023
НИТУ МИСИС, 2023

СОДЕРЖАНИЕ
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Lecture 1. The theoretical foundations 
of political communications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Research paradigm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Genesis of research. Classic concepts of political 
communications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Genesis of research. Modern concepts of political 
communications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Russian tradition of political communications research . . . . . . 22
The evolution of public administration systems 
under the influence of political communications 
. . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Lecture Review Questions  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Lecture 2. Types of political communications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Marketing types of political communications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Non-marketing types of political communications . . . . . . . . . . 38
Lecture Review Questions  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Lecture 3. State information policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Features of information policy as a direction 
of state activity 
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Features of the Russian information policy 
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Directions for building and maintaining 
a positive image of Russia  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Features and main stages of a positive image 
of Russia’s formation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Lecture Review Questions  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Appendix 
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
“Fireside chats”  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
2007 Putin Speech and the Following Discussion 
at the Munich Conference on Security Policy  . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Doctrine of Information Security 
of the Russian Federation 
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
3

INTRODUCTION
The theory of political communications is, on the one hand, 
a fairly developed scientific direction, on the other hand, it is 
constantly being transformed under the influence of the challenges due to the current stage of social and technological development. The development of modern communication technologies is changing social relations, social and political orders 
in all countries and at the global level. The ongoing information 
revolution is changing approaches to what is considered true, 
and whether this “truth” is needed as a kind of moral and behavioral guideline. Today, new questions about the extent 
to which political communications penetrate people’s daily 
lives, determining some models of perception of reality and the 
behavior of citizens, how the state is changing, and many issues 
require rethinking. 
In this textbook, we will not ignore the traditional plots 
of political communications’ study. So, first we will give an overview of the classical concepts of the 20th century, then we will 
consider modern approaches and problems in the study of political communications from the perspective of foreign and Russian 
communicative studies. Further, the author believes it important to consider the issue of transformation of the basic socio- 
political institution, the state and, in particular, the public administration system, under the influence of modern trends in the 
transition to the information society and the electronic state.
The course of lectures is intended for graduate students 
who do not specialize in political sciences. 
Within the framework of this work, a special focus is made 
on the features of the Russian information space, the problems 
and prospects of its evolution. Attention is also paid to modern 
Russian practices for implementing information policy, counteracting negative information impact, as well as the prospects 
for embedding Russian media in the global information space 
and the possibilities of maintaining a positive image of Russia 
today.
4

The textbook is provided with appendices that include the 
most successful examples of the implementation of political 
communications between the population and a political leader (some of Roosevelt’s “Fireside chats”), V. Putin’s speech at 
a Security conference in Munich in 2007 (this speech can be 
called a turning point in relation to Russia with Western democracies, since Putin harshly criticized the unipolar world 
led by the United States, the ways the United States pursues 
its national interests to the detriment of international law and 
the sovereignty of other states, as well as the orientation of the 
Russian Federation towards its own national interests). The applications also contain the current Doctrine of Information Security of the Russian Federation.
5

LECTURE 1. THE THEORETICAL 
FOUNDATIONS OF POLITICAL 
COMMUNICATIONS
Key Terms: political communications, theory of mass society, magic bullet theory, “five elements model”, circular model of communication, theory of two-stage communication, media theory, post-truth, managerial approach, 
network approach, electronic concepts of the state.
Research paradigm
According to researchers from the United States, where 
communication courses have been taught at universities 
since the 1930s, at the end of the last century there were 
about 250 different theories and 126 definitions of communication. Today, the information stage of development, the 
significant development of information technologies and 
means of communication only contribute to an even more 
diverse perception and reflection on the part of the scientific and expert community and contributes to the emergence 
of an increasing number of subdisciplines in the study of political communications.
Studies of political communications are a mosaic of often contradictory and interdisciplinary theoretical ideas, approaches to their understanding, structure, and role in social 
relations. However, the first thing that gives disequilibrium 
to research is the specificity of political communications and 
politics as a public sphere in general.
Firstly, the main problem that each researcher solves for 
himself is whether political communications are an all-encompassing paradigm for the study of any political processes or are 
they specialized theories devoted to the consideration of specific phenomena of political life. In the first case, the communicative approach is a general philosophical framework and it explains any processes, including not only political ones, through 
6

the prism of communications. Many foreign and Russian researchers were adherents of this approach (N. Wiener, N. Luhmann, D. Easton, G. Almond, K. Deutsch, A.A. Migolatiev, 
Yu.V. Irkhin, A.I. Solovyov).
Understanding political communications as a set of specific 
applied concepts allows using specific mechanisms and technologies to research and achieve practical goals in such areas without making global generalizations as election campaigns, promotion of state policies and projects, information support for 
the activities of state bodies, etc. In other words, such an umbrella nature of subdisciplines devoted to the study of specific 
areas of political communications allows them to be quite clearly specified and separated. In this case, it is easy to interpret 
the content of specific subdisciplines. For example, election 
campaigns as an applied political science discipline involves 
the study of political communications involved in election campaigning. Information support of certain directions and actions 
of the state, representatives of the political elite, state bodies 
involves the use of technologies to maintain legitimacy and order. Media content research focuses on the interaction between 
politics and the public. 
Secondly, the difficulty in defining the concept of “political communication” also lies in the fact that its constituent elements – “politics” and “communication” – themselves are objects of study of various scientific disciplines, and within the 
framework of these scientific disciplines are studied from many 
different perspectives and from point of view of different theoretical approaches. (Otfried Jarren, Patrick Donges: Politische 
Kommunikation in der Mediengesellschaft. Eine Einführung. 
VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften).
So, some researchers consider political communications 
as relations about politics. (“Creating, sending, receiving and 
processing messages that have a significant impact (direct 
or indirect) on the policy” (N. Wiener); “Communication that 
is carried out by political factors, is directed at them or refers 
to political actors and their actions” (Winfried Schultz).
7

Other authors have a broader understanding of political 
communications and interpret their role in society differently 
(distribution of power, ideologization and symbolization of reality, etc.). “The process of transferring political information, 
which structures political activity and gives it new meaning, 
forms public opinion and political socialization of citizens, 
taking into account their needs and interests” (A.A. Migolatiev); “A specific type of political relations through which 
the subjects dominating in politics regulate the production and dissemination of socio-political ideas of their time” 
(Yu.V. Irkhin).
Within the framework of this manual, we assume that political communications are of universal importance for society 
as a whole, since politics is inclusive, that is, it is able to penetrate into all spheres. Practice proves that in the face of increasing environmental uncertainty, increasing risks and crises, the importance of politics is still extremely relevant. And 
this means that political communications as the basic elements 
of this comprehensive sphere, as the “nerves” of modern society, inevitably form the essence of any social relations. In the 
modern world, any phenomenon, any action can be politicized 
and mediatized.
Genesis of research. Classic concepts 
of political communications
Since the beginning of the 20th century, the study of the media in modern society stands out as a separate field of research. 
Interest in this issue is gradually increasing both in connection 
with the addition of new channels of mass communication (radio and film), and in connection with the increased importance 
of propaganda during the First World War. 
The basis of political communication study was the theory 
of mass society (H. Arendt, E. Durkheim, E. Canetti, G.Le Bon, 
C. Mannheim, S. Moskovichi, H. Ortega y Gasset, D. Riesman, 
G. Spencer , Z. Freud, H. Blumer, H. Lasswell, J. Clapper, 
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W. Lippmann). The masses become the main social unit, which 
raised the question of how to manage it. Making a distinction 
between the masses and the crowd, H. Blumer noted that:
1. The mass is formed from representatives of the most 
diverse social, cultural, racial, professional, etc. population 
groups.
2. The masses are composed of anonymous individuals.
3. Interaction and exchange of experience between members of the mass is minimal, since they are physically separated 
from each other.
4. The masses lack an organizational structure and, unlike 
the crowd, they cannot act in concert.
The main tool that unites people to the masses is the mass 
media. Since the masses have no social organization, leadership 
system, traditions, statuses and roles, they cannot be considered a society. The reactions of the masses are less aggressive, 
but just as elementary as the reactions of the crowd. That is 
why the products of the media and everything related to mass 
culture are produced in the simplest possible way.
Understanding the features of mass society development 
in the 1920s, together with research on propaganda, the 
role of stereotypes in shaping public opinion, created fertile 
ground for the emergence of the first political communications’ concepts. 
In particular, the essence and role of stereotypes was studied by one of the pioneers of communication science – Walter 
Lippmann. Thus, he believed that public opinion was the sum 
of stereotyped mass opinions about the event, far enough from 
the true state of affairs. Stereotypes played a decisive role not 
only in the perception of political information, but also in the 
coverage of political events by journalists. The passive role 
of society and the presence of primitive reactions to information among recipients was taken as a basis by Harold Dwight 
Lasswell, what was formulated in the framework of the magic 
bullet theory.
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The magic bullet theory is one of the earliest theories in the 
field of mass communication. It was put forward by Lasswell 
after World War I, in the 1930s. During this period, various 
types of media (radio, films, advertising) gained immense popularity, which grew at a rapid pace. Accordingly, the significant 
influence of the media on people’s behavior seemed obvious 
and, in some cases, extremely frightening. Thus, advertising 
in newspapers and magazines markedly increased consumer 
demand in America, attracting even budget-conscious people 
to extravagant department stores; President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s radio talks, known as “fireside chats”, inspired millions of citizens to support his New Deal policies after the Great 
Depression; Adolf Hitler used the media to spread Nazi propaganda in Germany, uniting German society under Nazi control. 
To the casual observer, people really seemed powerless to resist 
the messages that came from the media.
Communication within the framework of this theory is like 
a magic bullet, in front of which the viewer is defenseless: this 
“bullet”, flying from the communicated message to the human 
brain, instantly “lights up” the recipient like an “electric light 
bulb” and has a direct impact on his ideas, feelings, knowledge 
or motivation. The basic principles of bullet theory can be expressed as follows:
 
• since people’s actions are not influenced by social ties and 
are guided by uniform instincts, people perceive media messages in a similar way;
 
• the media message is directly “injected” into the “circulatory system” of society, like liquid from a syringe;
 
• media messages are created strategically to achieve certain desired responses;
 
• the impact of media messages is immediate and powerful, 
capable of producing significant behavioral changes in people.
Thus society is powerless to escape the influence of the media.
In the period between the two world wars and in the mid 
1950s, the interest in the study of political communications had 
been growing, and this was due to several reasons. First, be10