PMF 15 Abstracts and Speaker Biographies
Abstracts
Walid ABOU-KHALIL & George AOUN
Does the Political Candidate’s Quality Lead to Satisfaction? Transposition of the
SERVQUAL Model to Politics: Case of the Loyal Lebanese Voter
As many studies concluded that marketing concepts are applicable to political marketing and
that a political candidate could be considered as a product, satisfaction in politics should stem
from a voter’s comparison of perceived political performance with expectations of
performance. In this way it is parallel to consumer satisfaction, expressed when a product or
service meets or exceeds expectations. The SERVQUAL, developed to measure this, has
been used extensively in marketing studies.
The instrument evaluates the consumer’s
expectations for a service and then perceptions of the service supplier on five dimensions:
empathy, assurance, responsiveness, reliability, and tangibility. However, to the best of our
knowledge this model has not been used previously to assess political marketing. In the first
phase of the present study, two focus groups in Lebanon were employed to transpose
questions from the SERVQUAL to ones appropriate to political satisfaction. In the first, eight
academics and professionals in political marketing were given a thorough grounding in the
SERVQUAL and then suggested new questions. In the second, eight representative Lebanese
voters helped clarify wording. The result was a modified SERVQUAL in English, French,
and Arabic of 21 questions to assess candidate dimensions of: physical characteristics (scored
only on perceptions), trustworthiness, helpfulness, self-confidence, and empathy (scored on
the SERVQUAL model of differences between expectations and performance). The second
phase of the study was a survey of 150 persons who indicated that they always voted for the
same candidate (loyal voters).
Dimension difference scores were compared to overall
satisfaction with the candidate. Satisfaction was significantly correlated with trustworthiness,
helpfulness, and empathy. However, expectation scores alone accounted for significance on
all four of the difference dimensions.
That is, actual performance by a candidate was
irrelevant to satisfaction; degree of satisfaction was instead a function of low expectations.
Voter characteristics made little difference to either satisfaction or candidate ratings. It was
concluded that the modified SERVQUAL denominated POLQUAL, could prove to be a
useful instrument in political marketing research.
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Cristian ANDREI
The Underdog Campaign: The Case of 2014 Presidential Elections in Romania
The recent presidential elections in Romania (2014) created some media sensation around the
large mobilisation of voters and the big number of people endorsing the Facebook profile of
the winning candidate in the final days of the campaign. For many, it looked like a sudden
acknowledgement of the impact of the new online means of communications and it also
erupted in theoretical and empirical disputes over the reasons why more than one million new
voters decided between the first and the second round to go and vote.
The paper explores how events in previous years and the perception of politics in Romania
have kindled an electoral momentum against the incumbent prime-minister, the defeated
candidate in the elections. An important consideration is made on the issue of anti-politics.
The study will refer other author’s findings in precedent articles on how political marketing
concepts work in Romanian politics. Data from surveys, focus-groups, online statistics and
media coverage – all from the campaign period – will be employed in the research.
Ayse ANIL and Nihat Kamil ANIL
Political Marketing Agenda in Turkey: 2015 General Elections
General elections will be held in Turkey on June 7, 2015 to elect 550 Members of Parliament
to Turkish Grand National Assembly. 31 political parties and several independent candidates
will compete in June 7 Election, but only 3 + 1 parties namely Justice and Development Party
(AKP-ruling party from 2002), Republican People's Party (CHP-Main opposition party),
Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), and as + 1 Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP- Kurdish
nationalistic party) will take seats in the parliament because of using the D'Hondt method,
a party-list proportional representation system. In order to return MPs to parliament, a party
needs to gain more than 10% of the vote nationwide, meaning that parties may win the most
votes in certain areas but not win any MPs due to a low result overall. The public opinion
polls show that HDP is on the edge of the razor.
AKP seems to be the clear favourite of the election after its three consecutive victories in
2002, 2007, and 2011 general elections and 2014 the first Presidential election. However,
June 7, 2015 Election will be the first election for AKP without its charismatic leader Recep
Tayyip Erdogan who is now the President of Republic of Turkey. He strongly supports both
his party’s proposal to transform Turkish parliamentary system into a presidential regime and
AKP leader Ahmet Davutoglu although the President have to be a neutral person according to
the constitution.
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For the system transformation, the constitution requires that the draft proposal to change the
articles of the constitution can only be accepted by a three-fifths majority (330 out of 550
MPs) of the total number of seats in the parliament by secret ballot. The average of 10 recent
polls suggests that AKP will get roughly 43% (310MPs), CHP 27% (141MPs), MHP 17%
(96MPs), and HDP 9,6% (0MPs). If HDP gets 10%, then AKP will have 43% (265MPs),
CHP 27% (136MPs), MHP 17% (88MPs), and HDP 10% (61MPs).
June 8, 2015 will show us whether the system will be transformed from the parliamentary
system into a presidential system or not and the effectiveness of the political party leaders’
communication to the public?
Noha BAKR
Political Marketing & the Arab World
The Arab world has been moving towards change in successive events since the beginning of
2011. This change resulted in successful, semi successful revolutions and failed States. It
started in Tunis, where dozens were left dead and President Ben Ali escaped with his family
to Saudi Arabia. The events in Egypt, which began on 25 January 2011, came to a semi end
on 11 February 2011 when President Mubarak stepped down, to be followed by another
popular appraisal supported by the military that ousted the first democratic elected president,
and was followed by a road map that is almost attained. Regional bloody revolutions in
Yemen, Syria, Libya, resulted in the three states categorized as failed states. The domino
effect continues to be accompanied by serious unrest in Bahrain, which its revolution was
contained and other Arab regimes made quick reforms to absorb their national's anger.
The Arab revolutions, was highly characterized by the use of technology where social
electronic media and traditional media like Al Jazeera have clearly played an important part in
marketing and organizing the political views of the opposition1. In fact the opposition behind
the eruption of these revolutions has used western political marketing techniques. The impact
of communicating and organizing through Facebook, Twitter, blogs, and YouTube, was
highly remarkable. For instance, between 11th January and 10th February 2011, there were 34
million participants in the Egyptian revolution on Facebook across 2313 pages, where 9815
participants got 461 thousands commentaries.2 During the period between 10th January and
1
Noha Bakr, The Egyptian Revolution, in Monica Wohfled ed, Change and Opportunities in the Emerging
Mediterranean, University of Malta, 2014
2
Green, Duncan (2011, 17 February). What caused the Revolution in Egypt? The Guardian. Available at:
http://www.guardian.com.
3
10th February, 93 million tweets on the revolution were exchanged within Egypt, and
between Egypt and the outside world.3
This paper intends to indulge in investigating the debate going in the Arab world regarding
one simple issue which is: Are the Arab revolutions born or made?4 And if these revolutions
were made by external forces, or internal forces, or both, what were the political marketing
techniques that were used to attain the revolutions? And are these same political marketing
techniques capable in helping Arab countries to attain democracy in their transitional justice
phase? Further questions are to be addressed such as to what extent has extremist terrorist
groups used western political marketing techniques to recruit and spread their terrorist
ideologies worldwide? To Answer these questions the paper seeks to elaborate on the
theoretical definition of the concept of political marketing, as related to marketing strategies
and tactics being practiced by political leaders, political parties, independent candidates,
parliamentary candidates, and non-state actors. Techniques of how campaigns and anticampaigns are designed upon which to attract audience based on promises delivered during
the campaign. Finally the paper will investigate the ability of these political marketing
techniques to attain democracy in the Arab world which is characterized by high level of
illiteracy, poverty, and hard security grip. The methodology adopted in this paper will be
investigating literature, applying quantitative and qualitative analysis, in addition to
monitoring the use of internet with its different mechanisms in political marketing in the Arab
world, through Facebook, blogs, Twitter, use of smart mobile phone techniques, such as
Whats App, Line, Viber & Tango.
Veysel BATMAZ
Is Everything We Know About Politics Changing? CHANGES IN VOTING
BEHAVIOUR IN TURKEY: Comparative Analysis of Two Elections in Turkey: 1999
vs. 2015
As opposed to a wide belief that voters (electorates/constituents) are the main fertilization
ground of modern democracy, the main whereabouts of politics is in the media for a long
time. In fact, we can easily show evidence how media play the most important role in politics
starting from James Madison’s dictum as the Fourth Estate and pencilling the First
3
Ghietas, Gamal (2011, March 8). Scientific Analysis of the Revolution through the Internet. Al- Ahram Weekly
(3-9 March 2011). Available at: http://www.weekly.ahram.org
4
Dr. Mamoun Akroush, Political Marketing's Role in the Arab World Revolutions, 01-Apr-2012
Talal Abu Ghazaleh Graduate School of Business Magazine, 01-Apr-2012
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Amendment of the American Constitution. So the assumption is that politics this sort is a
mediated action and do not necessarily reflect the independent choice of voter citizens. The
paper’s main question is that is this so?
As we make analyses of voter behaviours to political campaigns taken place in the media, for
the most time we inadvertently or naturally neglect the voter capabilities of how they are
siphoning the media’s political content cognitively and act upon it expressively. Thus, to test
this widely shared belief, the main hypothesis of the analysis is that voters are heavily
dependent upon what they have been exposed in media when they decide how they cast their
votes. In this paper, two elections have been analysed in terms of media exposure and voters
actions in Turkey: 1999 and 2015. Each of these elections depicts crucial points in the
political life of a country which has multiple interruptions of military interventions in the
democratic process. And more importantly each of these elections shows how democratic
process can be overturned drastically by voters’ independent actions.
Under this framework, these two elections have been compared in terms of media coverage of
political campaigns and election polls. Although the comparison has been dealt with many
distinct data sets, the relationship of media and voting behaviour has been shown empirically.
The empirical tests had found that contrary the upfront acceptance as the media is the main
power which dictates votes where to vote, the elections analysed had shown that, voting
behaviour is not much dependent on media and the hypothesis of the analysis is rejected. The
results have also been analysed in terms of traditional and new media’s roles on political
behaviour.
Joseph BEN-UR
Foreign Involvement in Domestic Politics – the Case of US-Israel Relationship
Regarding the Nuclear-Powered Iran
This reviews the political marketing efforts made by two closely related nations, the US and
the state of Israel. These two countries are engaged in exchanges of political marketing efforts
to influence each other to agree on a possible strategy for negotiating an agreement with Iran
on its nuclear power program. Although it is clear that these two countries have different
visions of their own relation with Iran, both short and long term, each attempts to influence
the other to accept its own goals and strategies. In addition, there are internal political
conflicts in regard to managing the relations with Iran in each of these countries. This
situation provides an opportunity for each of these countries to use marketing efforts to
interfere in domestic affairs of the other and influence the county’s internal and foreign
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policies.
The study looks into the internal political map of each of these countries and the
effect of the foreign political effort to influence one another internal conflicts and national and
international policies. The paper covers the motives of each of the two countries, the partisan
opposition in each, the interference in each other’s internal affairs, and the effect of the
process on the short-term and possible long-term relation between the two countries. The
paper also covers a larger political sphere that includes other nations that are to sign the
negotiated agreement on Iran’s nuclear armament. News items were collected through May
2015, and their content was analysed to provide information regarding each political
stakeholder’s motives, strategies, and activities in this political sphere.
Ieva BERZINA
Russia’s Grand Strategy in V. Putin’s Rhetoric
The annexation of Crimea and escalated military conflict in Eastern Ukraine in 2014 came as
a surprise and even a shock for many Western foreign policy and military leaders and experts.
But was Russia’s reaction to Ukraine’s changed geopolitical course to the West so
unpredictable? The aim of the paper is to build an understanding about Russia’s grand
strategy as it was presented in most significant V. Putin’s speeches from 2007 till 2014. The
research method being used in this paper is qualitative content analysis. The ideas expressed
by V. Putin are structured in five major dimensions of analysis: global geopolitical situation;
military, political, economic, and ideological. The major finding of the paper is that despite
the aggressive Russia’s behaviour in international arena, its grand strategy can be
characterized as defensive realism. It centres on the critique of current international system
dominated by the United States, and calls for the respect of Russia’s interests that is rather an
indication weakness, not strength.
Milena DRZEWIECKA & Wojciech CWALINA
“The Late Leader”: Influence of Leader’s Death on his (and Party) Evaluation
Why do we admire dead leaders more than if they are alive? Could we use leader’s death as a
marketing tool in a party campaign? Within these questions we open a discussion on leader’s
legacy and its influence on party image creation, showing data from own research on leader’s
death influence on his and party evaluation.
We tend to view dead people (especially leaders) more favourably than their living
equivalents. The so called “death positivity bias” has been observed in case of business as
well as political leaders. People show the death positivity bias even in impressions about
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politicians who were ineffective. Death seems to cement leader’s legacy, which assures with
sense of pride and identity, tends to foster group cohesiveness and involvement. To motivate
and inspire party members and voters, parties could use stories and anecdotes describing the
leader’s vision and personality. The legacy of John F. Kennedy, Charles De Gaulle, Lech
Kaczyński or Nelson Mandela serve as examples here. Within business area, examples
provide Walt Disney Company or Apple, each emphasizing the founder’s vision. Such myths
are of certain value in marketing campaigns and might help in party (organization) image
creation and candidate (product) positioning.
The conducted research aimed to check, how death of political leader with different
leadership style influences perception of his integrity and competence (two fundamental
dimensions of people evaluation). It has been found that dead politicians were rated more
favourably than their living equivalents, however not in case of leaders with negative
influence on a group climate. Voters show to praise positive climate building leaders.
It confirms that it is not enough to portray leader’s actions as competent, while people tend to
focus on leader’s morality. Therefore leader’s moral (or not) behaviour, even if not in focus
during his life, after his death might serve as a blessing (or curse) for his party.
Ulrich M. JANSSEN
The People in the Focus: Aspects and Considerations in Building Political Relationships
Between Foreign Militaries and Local Civilians Within the Context of Military
Operations
Since the end of the Cold War the character of conflict has changed in many ways and keeps
on changing. Asymmetric strategies and new forms of military engagements replaced
traditional warfare to include its linear escalation into nuclear conflict. At the end of the 20th
century, a revolution in information technology accompanied by enhanced connectivity
suddenly gave people an option for unrestricted exchange of information allowing them to
share ideas around the globe in near real-time. As a result, the first decade of the 21st century
has seen growing political separatism and violent extremism that characterize an increasing
level of dissatisfaction and call for political change in many countries around the world.
We’ve seen the Arab Spring and other so-called Orange Revolutions taking place in and
around Europe.
Facing civil unrest or other forms of peaceful or violent resistance, affected governments
regularly call on their own or even foreign security forces to protect the status quo and help
resolve the conflict. To be successful in this kind of behavioural rather than territorial conflict,
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the military is required to adopt a different approach to conflict resolution than it was used to
in traditional warfare. Understanding the nature of the conflict, understanding the local
narrative rather than countering it, understanding the people and their motivations, and finally,
creating a win-win situation have become the imperatives in modern times crisis prevention
and conflict resolution.
The presentation will discuss the aspects and planning considerations in building political
relationships between foreign militaries and local civilians in the context of military
operations.
Marina KAYUMOVA
Cultivation of Image of Public Organizations and Local Authorities in Central Asian
Mass Media
The mass media has been shaping public opinion in Central Asia with varying degree of
success. According to cultivation theory, it is imperative to distinguish between "heavy
viewers" and "light viewers", however, in the context of Central Asia it is more appropriate to
differentiate between urban and rural viewers. In most cases, urban viewers are bilingual and
besides their local language they can understand sources in Russian which enable them a basis
for comparison. Most rural viewers, on the other hand, have both limited Russian language
skills and access to Russian speaking channels. Therefore, cultivation of image of public
organizations and local authorities may have a different effect on urban and rural dwellers
within the same Central Asian country. While the Russian mass media is heavily controlled
and biased, for many Central Asians it serves as a more credible source than their local mass
media outlets. This happens due to the more critical nature of Russian channels vis-a-vis local
television programs. This paper attempts to examine the difference in cultivation of image of
public organizations and local authorities between rural and urban dwellers and Russian and
non-Russian speakers in a broader sense. In addition, the paper will reflect on the construction
of social reality in Central Asian countries after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Gabriella KERESZTURI
The Impact of Social Media on Online Political Engagement Using Sentiment Analysis
in the 2014 Romanian Presidential Elections
The purpose of the present paper is to conduct sentiment analysis on discussions that took
place online via social media during the 2014 Romanian presidential elections in order to
understand the context and role of online engagement. Content analysis will also be used to
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establish the important events that triggered discussions on social media. The period of
monitoring social media via Brandwatch rages from the presidential electoral period 15th
October 2014 to 30th of November 2014. Up to date there is a lack of research on the impacts
of social media on online engagement as well as on sentiment analysis in presidential
elections in academic studies. Therefore it is hoped that the study will contribute to increasing
knowledge about the usage of social media in democratic countries especially in the case of
elections, when the output of this conversation should gain votes cast. The present research
should also aid political organisations in understanding what types of conversations they
should be generating with the help of social media, how these conversations should be
managed and monitored.
Emine Tugba KOCABIYIK
An Investigation of Voter Attitudes and Behaviours in the 2015 Turkish General
Election: Comparative Analysis of Immigrant Turks Residing in the USA and HomeCountry Voters
The purpose of this paper is to understand the interactions between the immigrant voters and
the host country’s political culture and consequently political resocialization’s effect on
reshaping immigrants’ voting attitudes and behaviours.
The data is being collected from a sample composing of both immigrant Turkish voters
residing in the USA and home-country voters in order to analyse and compare their voting
intentions and behaviours on the basis of the 2015 Turkish General Election.
As immigration comprises crucial economic, social and political issues in contemporary
public policy forums all around the world, the results of this paper will obviously provide
useful implications both for governments and campaign strategists.
Sergiy KURBATOV & Alla MARCHENKO
The Demands For "Saviours" and "Traitors" in Ukrainian Social Media: What is the
Price?
In our text we shed light upon the binary opposition - “saviours” and “traitors” which became
extremely popular in media discourse of Ukraine in connection to its recent and on-going
tensions. Our content and discourse analysis is based on three top-blogs on Facebook taken
just after formal final of Euromaidan and one year after: namely, Arsen Avakov, Semen
Semenchenko and Dmitry Tymchuk’s blogs in March-May 2014 and February-April 2015.
We analyse the role of new media makers in creating and propagating this ambiguous
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dichotomy and its complements, at the same time following the logic of our research
questions. Who is positioned as traitor/saviour and what are the reasons for that? What are the
mechanisms of such positioning? Does the image of saviour/traitor undergo change and why?
What are the outcomes of such shifts on the political market? What is the price of being on
any pole, or is there anything between saviours and traitors? We assume that military period
in Ukraine has brought no less military interpretations of “saviour” and ”traitor” which are
entirely different from the vanishing “peaceful” interpretations. Existing interpretations, we
argue, may be placed within the areas of personal responsibilities, general moral issues and
the field of patriotism, provoking different social consequences.
Marius LAURINAVICHIUS
The Influence of Cliques Upon Russian Foreign Policy: The Case Study of Crimea
Annexation and War in Eastern Ukraine
“The Russian authorities do not comprise a strict vertical structure, ruled by one person. The
vertical image is nothing more than a propaganda cliché. The Russian authorities are a
conglomerate of clans and groups which compete with one another for resources and power.
Putin's role in this system remains the same – that of an arbiter and moderator. And it is an
influential one – he, at least during conflicts, has the final say”, - this is how the real Russian
authorities were described in 2012, after Putin became President again, by Minchenko
Consulting (a centre owned by Yevgeny Minchenko, a prominent Russian political
consultant), which conducted a large study and interviewed over 60 various experts and
people in close relations with the authorities.
The case study of Crimea annexation and war in Eastern Ukraine can serve as the best
example of the same being true not only for domestic, but for Russian foreign and security
policy, as well.
Though at the end of the day Crimea annexation could be considered as a consensus of all
Russian political and economic elite, it is worth pointing out that there was no clear plan
(especially in terms of implementation) visible even at that point. And a clear division
between different power groups in Russia could be seen from the very beginning of the war in
Donbass.
Regardless of which groups’ or political leaders’ position would be analysed, if it is done
thoroughly one can clearly see at least two quite opposite approaches to the issue of Ukraine
in the minds of Russian elite. That was the situation from the very beginning and it continues
in the same manner up to current time. To put it in a slightly simplistic way, one part of the
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elite advocated creation of Novorossia and even a full-scale military intervention to achieve
this goal from the very start, while the other side simultaneously fought for the control of
Ukraine by soft power, an idea which later was transformed into the so called Minsk
agreements.
That is why a proper examination of this case study of Crimea annexation and war in Eastern
Ukraine could lead to better understanding as to how power system in Russia really works,
who are the main power brokers, how they interrelate and compete with each other and what
could be anticipated if the one or the other group even publicly declares their intentions, such
as a “preventive Baltic occupation”, for example.
Tetyana MALYARENKO
NOVOROSSIA OR OCCUPATION? A Comparative Analysis of Russia’s and
Ukraine’s Policies Toward ‘Temporarily Occupied Territories’ of Eastern Ukraine
In this paper I compare policies of Russia and Ukraine toward ‘temporarily occupied
territories’ of Eastern Ukraine5 (Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic)
with particular focus on the links between politico-informational campaigns and military
tactics which both conflict sides employ on every stage of the conflict escalation.
My field research in the zone of armed conflict in Eastern Ukraine provides empirical support
for the following arguments. First, I argue that as a regionally focused power Russia is
interested in a stable and friendly neighbourhood. Stability can be achieved either by ‘soft’ or
‘hard’ power or a combination of both. Ukraine is an important neighbourhood for Russia,
thus, Russia is interested in a predictable, secure and managed Ukraine. This goal can be
supplemented through the export of a (friendly) political regime (Main message of Russia’s
campaign in Ukraine is: ‘We need ALL pro-Russian Ukraine’). Second, in Ukraine Russia
uses a set of different tools in order to destabilize the socio-economic and political situation
within the country in order to weaken the current pro-Western government and exchange the
current elite for a more pro-Russian counterpart. Russia uses destabilisation instrumentally in
order to avoid unfriendly stability (a pro-Western political regime) and to achieve friendly
stability (a pro-Russian regime). Third, Russia employs a comprehensive approach to
destabilisation, including diplomatic pressure, economic and trade wars, informational and
media campaigns, terrorism, societal destabilisation and military occupation. Establishment of
the DNR and LNR was one of Russia’s destabilisation tools. Fourth, dramatic flight of the
5
As they are defined in the Ukrainian legislation
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people of Donetsk and Luhansk (in particular, usually pro-Ukrainian middle class,
entrepreneurs, urban intellectuals and professionals) changed both demographic and sociocultural characteristics of ‘temporarily occupied territories’ significantly and pre-determined
the character of public support for DNR and LNR. On the other hand, from the very
beginning Ukraine’s policy toward population of ‘temporarily occupied territories’ has been
confrontational. Ukraine’s current politico-military strategy is built on realistic assumptions
about the impossibility of winning a war, but also it excludes any compromise on the status of
occupied territories and federalization of Ukraine. Kyiv intends to separate war-affected
territories from the territories controlled by the Ukrainian state through economic and
transport blockades. If the main message of Russia’s strategy is: ‘We need ALL pro-Russian
Ukraine’, the main message of Ukraine’s strategy is: ‘Leave us alone’. Kyiv’s main task is the
minimization of Russia’s influence on all unoccupied parts of Ukraine.
Evgeny PASHENTSEV
The Strategic Role of Communication Management Tools in Political Conflict in
Venezuela
The modern political conflict in Venezuela has deep social roots and influenced by many
domestic and international factors. The communication management (CM) tools played an
important role in its development. CM is above all the professional management of target
groups by means of communications. CM gives new opportunities to influence on politics and
the economy and to build the long-term stable mutually beneficial relations between the
different political and social groups or on the other countries’ governments. But CM of the
antisocial reactionary circles, political regimes is totally subordinate to the destructive aims of
the information warfare: to influence, disrupt, corrupt or usurp adversarial human and
automated decisions-making and finally paralyze or emasculate the democratic institutions,
the citizens’ participation.
The paper aims to analyse the new opportunities and the new risks that CM’s usage gives in
political conflict in Venezuela under the presidencies of Hugo Chavez and Nicolas Maduro,
concrete techniques which make possible the false but professionally fabricated information
or factoids dominate and to some extent manage the public consciousness, the role of external
factors in the psychological warfare in the country.
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Andris PETERSONS
Persuasion Principles and Technics Used by the New-Elected Members of the Latvian
Parliament in their Social Media Accounts During the Election Campaigns in 2014
Politicians attempt to persuade their voters during election campaigns by using their own
principles and techniques of persuasion. The paper explores these principles and techniques of
new-elected members of Latvian Parliament (Saeima) in 2014. The theoretical base of
research is built on (1) Robert Cialdini’s six principles of influence: reciprocity; commitment;
social proof; liking; authority; scarcity, (2) Jacques Ellul ideas about the formation of men’s
attitudes and ethics, (3) B.J. Fogg findings in the modern persuasive technologies. There are
two methods of empirical research – the content analysis of the parliamentarians’ social media
accounts on Facebook or local social media Draugiem for the period from September 4 to
October 4, and two expert interviews. The result of persuasion in this research is measured by
getting the parliamentarian’s mandate, and author will find evidence how both ethics and
variety of technics effect the result.
Lilia RAYCHEVA and Mariyan TOMOV
The Facebook Image Of The 2013 Social Protests In Bulgaria
The contemporary technologically determined information and communication environment
is not only facilitating users’ participation in the process of generation and dissemination of
content, but it is also creating new opportunities for democratic citizenship. A variety of texts
on new communication characteristics (Carpentier, Castells, Deuze, Fidler, Friedman,
Jakubowicz, Jensen, Lash, Patriarche, Todorov, etc.) offer multiplex approaches to this
phenomenon, elucidating the interrelations between the audiences, the traditional and the
social media.
The proposed text will discuss some major political and social implications of the new roles
of the audiences viewed through the prism of the media activism in Bulgaria. It is based on
comparison of two case-studies, focused on recent social events in the country that had
significant political effects. The first one, triggered by the high electricity bills, is connected
with disapproval of the living standards. Although it resulted in resignation of the acting
government in February 2013, the cost of electricity has not changed. The second one has
moral purpose – for sustaining the democratic standards. On June 14, about 10,000 people
summoned spontaneously via the social networks to protest against the Parliament for the
non-transparent appointment of a controversial media mogul and MP as a head of the State
Agency of National Security. Although the Parliament withdrew the appointment
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immediately, since then (nearly eight months) hundreds of activists are every day out in the
streets protesting against other controversial measures of the government. Both events
enjoyed extensive mainstream media coverage.
The aim of the undertaken research is to outline the Facebook image of these two large social
protests, using the Wolfsfeld, Segev & Sheafer’s (2013) methodology.
Using a content analysis of the comments from the two national most-active Facebook groups
and a hashtag, a major finding of the conducted research was that the comments were
designed in such a way as to motivate users to get involved in the protests and to participate in
online as well as in offline activities. Another conclusion was that the Facebook users’ trust in
traditional media in the country (tied to politics and business) declined over time when
compared to social networks and alternative online media. A number of in-depth interviews
with the organizers of the online actions were also conducted. The analysis of the responses
displayed that the organizers used Facebook to express mainly their anger against the social
and political system, as well as to convey information, to state an opinion, to exchange ideas
for further reactions and to put pressure on politicians. Finally, the comparison between the
two case-studies, focused on recent social events in the country is discussed in terms of their
significant political effects.
Jolán ROKA
Power Politics in Post-Soviet Societies
The paper will focus on the seventh democratic parliamentary election campaign (since the
change of regime in 1989), on the visual aspect of the campaign strategies of the different
parties involved in the election campaign of 2014 in Hungary, on the consequences of the
reform of the election law (being just one-round with a reduced number of MPs that could be
elected). The governing party (Fidesz-KDNP) won the election with two-thirds parliamentary
majority on April 6th 2014 (similarly to 2010) without having a strong opposition.
The second term of the governing coalition started with radical changes. Orbán Viktor, the
Prime Minister of Hungary, who began his political career in the late 1980s „with a strong
anti-Soviet stance”, announced „Hungary needs Russia for energy sources and to export
Hungarian-made products” (http://www.rfert.org/content/russia-hungary-energy. Retrieved on
May 21, 2015) As a result Vladimir Putin (Russian President) paid a visit to Budapest on

Wolfsfeld, G., Segev, E. & Sheafer, T. (2013). Social Media and the Arab Spring: Politics Comes First. The
International Journal of Press/Politics, pp. 115-137
14
February 17, 2014 to start negotiations about a gas supply agreement to Hungary. It meant
that the Hungarian government made the first step towards being Russia’s closest allies in the
EU. This event provoked massive protest among Hungarians and also in the member states of
the European Union.
The Hungarian government continues going against the legislation of the European
Parliament. The Hungarian Prime Minister was harshly criticized on the EP’s plenary session
in May 2015 for organizing a national consultation on immigration and terrorism and also for
proposing death penalty in Hungary. Due to these „improper” actions the Hungarian Prime
Minister earned the stigma of a „provocateur” in the EP.
There is a growing protest against the anti-immigrant rhetoric, the corruption, the policy for
underfunding education, healthcare of the Hungarian government.
The present paper plans to discuss the current social, political situation in Hungary, and the
European debate about the disputable policies of the Hungarian government.
Naim RRUSTEMI
KLA: The Political Transformation from Guerrillas to Government
This paper explores the dynamics of transformation of freedom movements from its
embryonic development stage of Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) to guerrilla’s formation,
civil-military transformation, political party, and to a government. In case of KLA, various
factors listed in previous research, creation of liberation army guerrillas cannot fully explain
Kosovo case. Historic factors specific to Kosovo context are more and relevant then the
history of the evolvement of KLA and their leadership itself. This explains the hesitancy for
KLA to be internationally accepted and be part of the dialogue, why the people of Kosovo
have accepted open hearted despite extreme suppression by the Serbian police and army
forces, while KLA cells have been formed in absence of known leadership. In addition, much
turmoil and rumours was spread by Democratic League of Kosovo, leading political party
with the vast majority of votes, on KLA and their connection thus creating uncertainty of who
these people are. The least KLA is most easily accepted as the final stage of the evolution of
Kosovar people quest for freedom, thus is an idea deeply ingrained in beliefs for freedom.
The paper investigates the transformation from a guerrilla movement with a stated goal for
freedom and independence of Kosovo, to losing the sight of the economic revival of the
country by the government led by KLA ex-commanders in favour of self-interests by
influencing state institutions decision making processes. This paper examines politics of
Kosovo in which ex-commanders of the KLA have taken control of government and public
15
policy making institutions. It explores the impact of KLA leadership and their impact on the
way of doing politics, their relationship between the inner groups, traditional authorities and
civil societies.
While post-independence environment had advantage of easement on implementation of state
building and reconstruction projects they are contested when the newly created state
institution become corrupt and their leaders become predatory. Albeit constant requests for
realignments because of the enormous pressure given by USA and European Union in
adopting western governance standards and balancing political and security agendas, they
managed to survive politically. Thus, the quests for the primacy in the past, at the times of
KLA, are used for creating means for representation of the will of people for freedom and as
such for a new state. After six years, on year 2014, since the independence of Kosovo, as the
consequence of the economic development uncertainty one central among other issues, the
talk between Kosovo and Serbia are opened. And, the dialogue is led by the KLA!
Dmitry RUSHCHIN
Public Diplomacy and "Soft Power" in Russia
Any state has a broad spectrum of national interests, forcing to use almost the entire Arsenal
of means of external policy for their implementation. A set of tools to achieve external
priorities is wide enough. The traditional instruments of the external policies include politicaldiplomatic,
economic,
military forces.
Public
diplomacy
is
comparatively
new
instrument. The term "public diplomacy" appeared at one of the main talent foundries of the
US State Department – Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. If initially the term was
understood as a euphemism for propaganda, but today it implies a well-developed multichannel two-way communication between the societies of different countries.
Right now a complex of tools and methods to achieve foreign policy goals and objectives by
means of information and cultural resources is well known because of books and articles
of American political scholar, one of the classics of the Theory of International Relations
Joseph Nye [1]. According to him, 'soft power" is the ability to achieve results through appeal
instead of violence or bribery. So called "soft power" is an important resource for improving
the effectiveness of diplomacy.
In February 2012 in the article “Russia and the Changing World” Vladimir Putin
characterized soft power as a matrix of tools and methods to reach foreign policy goals
without the use of arms but by exerting information and other levers of influence [2]. One can
see a difference between the definitions offered by J. Nye and V. Putin, which is far from
16
being stylistic: the American political scholar points out attractiveness as the key element of
the notion, while the Russian politician is focused on the levers of influence.
The role of public diplomacy in the overall context of the diplomacy of the modern state is
considered in the collective monograph, published at the School of International Relations of
St. Petersburg State University [3].
In connection with the evolution of the global communication context (the cheapening of
communication technologies, the spread of the Internet and New Information Technologies),
the great powers are no longer the only actors that can disseminate information worldwide. As
a consequence, the ability of each actor to influence the global information space has
decreased. In the changed conditions of the state are forced to engage non-state actors in
public
diplomacy.
Public diplomacy, focused on the "rivalry", the displacement of one point of view target
audience through the active promotion of other, not always achieves its goals. As a result
there is an increased interest in public diplomacy-oriented "cooperation", i.e. bilateral
cooperation aimed at fostering an atmosphere of trust and joint decision-making.
The increase in the number of actors in the world politics and the growing influence of nonstate actors, combined with the changing international communication systems has led to the
emergence of the concept of new public diplomacy.
In the new public diplomacy of non-state actors can play not only comparable to the state, but
sometimes more important role. In this regard, an increasing number of states have actively
interacted with non-state actors to improve the effectiveness of its public diplomacy.
Russia was no exception to revitalize public diplomacy, and in the last few years, we have
seen consistent development of the national system of interaction with the societies of other
countries: reforming the Information Agency "RIA-News", Radio "Voice of Russia",
"Roszarubezhtsentr" (now "Rossotrudnichestvo"), the creation in 2005 of the TV channel
"Russia Today" and specialized in the popularization of Russian language and Russian culture
Fund "Russian World", and large-scale international projects: a summits of the G8, G20
etc. In addition, "Rossiyskaya Gazeta" publishes monthly tabs overseas in Washington Post,
The Daily Telegraph, Le Figaro, as well as leading publications in Argentina, Bulgaria,
Brazil, India, Spain and Italy with a total circulation of several million. In Moscow until 2014
was published the English language edition of the Moscow News, and until 2012 Russia
Profile. Among the measures aimed at optimizing the interaction with the societies of other
countries, also include the cooperation of the Russian leadership with American PR Agency
Ketchum, "Valdai Meeting" of Russian leaders with foreign political scholars, the Winter
17
Olympic Games in Sochi 2014 and Soccer World Cup 2018, and much more. Finally, in
January 2010, according to the orders of the Russian President the Russian International
Affairs Council, which aims to help international expert cooperation, and the Fund for Public
Diplomacy Support named after A. M. Gorchakov were created.
RT (founded as "Russia Today") is a most popular Russian "soft power" project. RT is a
Russian state-funded television network which runs cable and satellite television channels, as
well as Internet content directed to audiences outside the Russian Federation. RT
International, which is based in Moscow, presents around-the-clock news bulletins,
documentaries, talk shows, and debates, as well as sports news and cultural programs about
Russia. RT operates as a multilingual service with channels in three languages; the original
English language channel was launched in 2005. The Arabic language Rusiya Al-Yaum was
launched in 2007, while its Spanish language channel RT Actualidad was launched in 2009.
RT America (since 2010), and RT UK (since 2014) offer some locally based content for those
countries.
All of these actions clearly demonstrate the importance of public diplomacy in contemporary
world politics and the Russian interest in developing their own system of communication with
foreign audiences. However, theorists and practitioners recognize that, despite increasing
efforts, the Russian public diplomacy is far from perfect, and the ongoing search for possible
ways
of
its
optimization
presents
makes
the
study
highly
relevant.
Russian public diplomacy in the new Millennium remains predominantly traditional public
diplomacy, because of tools, focused on the cooperation and involvement of non-state actors
are substantially less than the tools used during the cold war. Russia, like other countries,
seeks to ensure that its perception of the international community has created a favourable
context for its foreign policy, contributed to the development of the country and benefit its
citizens. However, the attitude towards it today, due to a number of factors still does not meet
expectations.
There is a phenomenon of the absence in Russia of a system of public diplomacy as an
integral mechanism in which there is a strategy, effective coordination, methods of assessing
effectiveness. Today Russian public diplomacy has virtually no instruments of cooperation
with non-state actors in public diplomacy. The Russian government actively increasing the
number of channels of communication with foreign societies, but in fact the Russian society
in this process practically does not participate, which negatively affects the system of public
diplomacy in General [4].
18
The modern Russia is repeating the mistakes made by the USA on the stage of the revival of
public diplomacy immediately after the tragedy of 11 September: increasing the number of
one-way communication channels with virtually no dialogue with foreign societies.
Therefore, optimization of the Russian communications with foreign societies should include
the establishment of such systems, as well as comprehensive rethinking public diplomacy as
an instrument of cooperation based on bilateral dialogue, with the active involvement of nonstate actors. Right now because of the Ukrainian Crisis the role of the public diplomacy
should be especially large.
[1] Joseph S. Nye, Jr. Public Diplomacy and Soft Power. // The ANNALS of the American
Academy of Political and Social Science 2008; 616; 94, Joseph S. Nye, Jr. Soft Power. //
Foreign Policy, No. 80, Twentieth Anniversary (Autumn, 1990), Joseph Nye. Soft power and
European-American relations. // Free thought-XXI, No. 10, 2004.
[2] Vladimir Putin. Russia and the Changing World. // Moscow News. 27 February
2012. http://www.mn.ru/politics/20120227/312306749.html
[3] D.N. Baryshnikov, R. V. Kostyuk, S. L. Tkachenko. The Effectiveness of Diplomacy. St.
Petersburg: VVM, 2009.
[4] See: Alexey Vladimirovich Dolinsky. Modern Mrchanisms of Cooperation in the
Framework of Public Diplomacy. Ph.D. Theses. Moscow, 2011. Alexey Dolinsky.
Cand.Sc.(Ped.), Junior Research Fellow, Moscow Lomonosov University. What is Public
Diplomacy, and Why Russia Needs It? http://russiancouncil.ru/en/inner/?id_4=913#topcontent
Nino RUSIDZE
The Future of Political Marketing
Today, individuals, companies, cities, regions all try to market themselves, create the product
that will sell itself, sell in the best manner of this word. Brand, brand creation, branding is one
of the frequently used term in business field. Modern capitalistic market created monster
called ‘Brand’, already, it was not enough, just to spend time, energy and finances on research
and development. Competitive market made it more and more complicated to gain profit just
on product oriented policy. That was the moment when great marketers, with the cooperation
of phycologists start to work on something greater that just product or service is, it needed to
be more that pretty, useful or pleasuring, it needed to become essential attribute of life, in
order to touch values and emotions of the consumers. Answer for this challenge was brand
establishment, now companies started to create and sell lifestyle. New era has begun,
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competition of lifestyles. We all know it, all of us already experienced it, when we buy
something we imagine ourselves better in it, with the significant place in the certain society.
To bring the simplest example it would be the ‘battle’ of Apple, Samsung and Android users.
To go farther we should talk what kind of lifestyle comes with just buying simple red Ferrari.
All this happened with the business market, but how the political market responded to the
challenge of the new era. We talk about era or globalization, of information flow, which has
never been so fast. States with its representatives started to realize that branding of the
country is as essential, in order to gain world political power, as diplomatic relations.
Unbranded countries started to have difficulties in order to attract economic and political
attention. Which started to lead to the loss of political power. States as the companies started
to create the ‘product’ which would be customer friendly and credible. While talking about
the power of the brand, we should never forget that sometimes by the help of the great brand
builders, right brand can surpass the actual product as a company's central asset.
Individualizing of itself becomes the key concept for the state brand builders, media
revolution made each state to think about the reputation, image and about the mass conception
of the country. Old style political actors started to be left behind, traditional diplomacy
simultaneously lost its central place in the relations of the states, main political actors realized
that they needed to become not only good politicians but also good brand asset managers.
‘Their tasks will include finding a brand niche for their state, engaging in competitive
marketing, assuring customer satisfaction, and most of all, creating brand loyalty.’ Countries
started to use PR, AD campaigns not only to introduce itself and increase interest of tourist,
but also to send international political massages (like each military advertisement do mainly).
By the help of the representatives, run everyday popularization of their countries, sometimes
even propaganda. Brand product placement and ideology spread become very common for
each and every state. Process has successfully started in the western part of the world. USA is
the true leader of the field at this right time, but in this interesting process, we see how
western Europe gains its advantages and even better, how eastern Europe and post-soviet
countries started to use all this political lobby groups (which are one of the most important
pillar for the state brand building and goal achieving process), and big marketing consultancy
companies. From my point of view, traditional diplomacy is losing its power, with a time,
political marketing which already has a great significance in the field, will replace already
worn out diplomatic relations and will bring it on a whole new level. That is one of the main
reasons why after gaining my bachelor degree in marketing I decided to continue my master
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for international relations. Mix of this two will give the absolute power over the international
world diplomacy playground
Sergei A. SAMOILENKO, Elina ERZIKOVA, Sergey DAVYDOV & Alexander V.
LASKIN
The Practices of Character Assassination: Russian and U.S. News Coverage of the 2014
Airplane Crash in Eastern Ukraine
On 17 July 2014 a Malaysia Airlines’ Boeing-777 flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur
with 283 passengers and 15 crew members on-board crashed in the Ukraine, close to the
border with Russia. The crash occurred during the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian war in
Donbass, in an area controlled by the Donbass People's Militia. Soon after the accident, both
pro-Russian and Western media channels immediately started an aggressive war of words of
finger-pointing and blame directed toward the other party for the tragedy. Most Western
sources immediately concluded that the plane was shot down by pro-Russian insurgents using
a Buk surface-to-air missile fired from the territory which they controlled. The Kremlin, on
the other hand, blamed the Ukrainian government.
In the competition of political agendas for influence and persuasion, every narrative makes
sense based on the plot coherence and context logic. This can be expressed throughout its
temporal sequence (past, present and future), emplotment, the logic of character's actions, and
attributed roles and moral frameworks or themes (Cobb, 2013). During a crisis there is always
a need for credibility of the messengers in order to win over the publics at the expense of the
opponent.
This requires various parties in conflict to utilize communication platforms for two different
purposes, such as promoting own credibility and legitimacy, as well as simultaneously
attacking and delegitimizing the opponent(s). We will call these efforts character
assassination, which is a deliberate and sustained effort to damage the reputation or
credibility of an individual (Icks & Shiraev, 2014). The term could also be selectively applied
to social groups and institutions.
This paper seeks to understand if mainstream broadcasting media of two countries with
opposing political agendas – Russia and the United States – use character assassination tactics
in their coverage of the Malaysia Airlines crash in the midst of the Ukrainian conflict in July
2014. If so, what are types of the attacks used? How can these findings be interpreted in our
analysis of the role of media in crisis situations? The findings are believed to offer new
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perspectives regarding the use of propaganda techniques in the 21 century and suggest new
ideas for counter-strategies.
Leon SCHIFFMAN and Elaine SHERMAN
Political Polarization in America Today: its Implications for the Up-coming U.S.
Presidential Election
Our paper discusses the growing trend in American with regard to "political polarization" and
its implications for the upcoming U.S. Presidential election strategies. Particular focus will be
on the influence of this trend on targeting voter segments with regard to social issues,
communication strategies and voter trust. Our paper begins with an overview of what is
"ideological consistency" and how it's impacting polarization in the United States.
"Ideological consistency" with regard to political polarization has been described in the
literature as those Americans who hold liberal or conservative views across a wide range of
value dimensions. Our paper presents an overview of some of the recent literature findings on
this topic.
One of the outcomes of this rising "ideological consistency" is its impact on the strategies of
the two major parties: Republicans and Democrats. In America Democrats and Republicans
are more ideologically divided than in the past. These views have also been linked to stronger
dislike for the opposing party and its perspectives. The increased antipathy for the views of
the opposing party has led to a rise of extremists who think the opposing party is "a threat to
the well-being of the country." With the greater shift of views to the left or right has come a
re-entrenchment of these beliefs with more reluctance to socialize or listen to those with
opposing views or even live in the same neighbourhoods. This is particularly true for those
with consistently conservative views. In addition, with the rise of political polarization
between conservatives and liberals have come more entrenchment of their views on social
issues such as homosexuality, and immigration, and more criticism of business, and support
for government intervention.
There are many implications of this theme for political marketing strategies. Some involved in
the upcoming election need to seek ways to effectively communicate with these polarized
groups who are using different media, trusting different sources, and are forming different
perceptions on potential presidential candidates. In addition, in recent studies on ideological
consistency the impact of this trend is noted in various potential voting groups who participate
in various political activities such as working for campaigns, and contributing money to
22
campaigns. There are other implications of this topic on other areas of political marketing,
such as political branding which will be explored.
Greg SIMONS
Policy and Political Marketing: Promoting War as a Policy
Theorists over the centuries have characterized war as politics by another means, from Sun
Tzu to von Clausewitz. This is an external dimension in understanding the nature of war as a
means to compel an opponent to do something that they would not ordinarily do. However,
given the current political age, there are internal political considerations. Individual battles are
won by military means, however, wars are won or lost politically. There is a critical need for
governments and politicians to garner public support lo launch and/or to continue a war. To
try and achieve this end, politicians and governments tend to try and built emotionally based
political relationships with publics.
Within the context of the political communication used, there is a strong reliance on the use of
pathos in order to induce an emotional response. The use of positive and negative emotions is
intended to prime and cue an audience. It is not only a communication, but a call to action.
And there are observable offensive and defensive components to the political rhetoric.
Negative emotions are used from the point of view of the logic of aversion or avoidance of
something negative, and positive emotions are used according to the logic of attraction.
An offensive part of the rhetoric is intended to market and persuade the target audience of
supporting a particular policy proposition or idea. This rhetorical aspect is guided by the use
of pathos. The defensive component is designed or intended to act as a defence against
criticism or doubt among the intended target audience, it uses logos to try and win over that
audience.
Sorina SLUSAREC & Cristian ANDREI
The Online Mobilisation in Romania’s Presidential Campaign
Following a continuous decline of traditional media (newspapers and TV), by 2014 the online
reached a maturity level in Romania. For politics and elections it was the turning point
moment when mass politics became visible and impacted the process.
The presidential campaign (2014) is widely presented as the first in Romania where the online
played a determinant role in shaping the final results and offered a decisive push for the
winning candidate. The paper goes beyond this labelling, explains what happened in contrast
to previous elections in Romania and explores the premises that made possible this success.
23
The paper will debate how the choices made by the candidates regarding the use of online and
new media, but also about other means of communications, such as the campaign debates,
have fuelled the electoral mobilisation. Of a core interest is the way the general strategic
profile communicated by each of the candidates was positioned or not towards an onlineoffline cleavage of the public.
The paper will refer to media sources, survey data but also to public and private interviews
with staff members of the winning candidate, Klaus Iohannis, the incumbent President of
Romania.
Dmitry STROVSKY
Modern Regional Political Trends in Russia and the Specifics of their Coverage in the
Media
The political landscape of modern Russia is determined by several key trends. They include
strengthening of the powerful vertical, the limitation of the possibility for public discussions
on the most urgent issues of the day, the lack of criticism towards the President of Russia, etc.
All this is leading to a certain agenda in the Russian media, which is absorbed by clear
servility towards political decisions and actions of the Kremlin.
Similar symptoms seem to be obvious beyond Moscow. In recent years all governors have
become appointed by the Russian President, and therefore their decisions are subordinated by
the Kremlin and on this basis rated loyally from regional and local media. The same situation
manifests itself in evaluations of presidential envoys. This confirms the analysis of the content
of five print media in Ekaterinburg. For five months of 2015, from January to May, 494
articles that mentioned the names of the Yevgeny Kuivashev, the governor of Sverdlovsk
region, and Igor Kholmanskikh, the presidential envoy in the Ural Federal district, have been
published. Of them 386 articles were positive, 84 neutral and only 24 held different problems.
Simultaneously, direct criticism of these leaders from all five publications was absent, so were
almost no claims evaluating the activities of these political figures.
Thus, the Ekaterinburg press creates a more optimistic picture of reality than it actually exists,
and this essentially repeats the scenario proclaimed by Moscow mass media. This situation
fully confirms the dependence of most media on political interests of the ruling authorities
and, consequently, an inability of journalists to become the conductors of non-partisan
information regarding the institutions of power and the most significant events in Russia.
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Ivan SURMA
Digital Diplomacy: Objectives, Methods and Target Audiences
The paper presents modern techniques of reaching political audiences through “digital
diplomacy”, which on the one hand, provides new opportunities for the implementation of
international politics, and on the other, imposes special requirements on its members. The
paper examines the consequences of the growing influence of the Internet on global politics,
including the possibility of large-scale public opinion manipulation.
One of the negative consequences of rapid development of information and communication
technologies is the emergence of new forms of international conflicts, including information
and network warfare. The paper presents a new form of public diplomacy, gives a brief
overview of digital diplomacy and shows its mechanism of influence on foreign audiences. It
is shown that there is an inverse relation between the diplomatic and public offices (a new
phenomenon of the modern information society). The author also stresses the role of social
media in shaping public opinion, which puts forward specific requirements for how
information is supplied on the official pages of diplomatic offices in social networks. The new
format of close cooperation between the public and diplomatic agencies makes the modern
diplomacy public on the one hand and less restrained on the other. The ongoing technological
revolution complicates the interaction between the participants of international relations, but
at the same time the use of digital technologies in the field of diplomatic activity opens up
new possibilities for “soft power” policies.
Ülle TOODE
Populism - Danger or Opportunity for Modern Democracy?
Observation in the recent years has shown increasing economic and social inequality in most
Western-style welfare states and it has become especially evident within the European Union
(EU). In addition to the austerity policy implemented in various areas in Europe the economic
problems has become a political crisis. Over sixty years after World War II, the democratic
foundations in the EU are under heavy criticism from populist movements. Their popularity is
being maintained in part thanks to the social concerns related to the socio-economic
instability, immigration issues, but also due to the trends of political elitism and corruption. In
the context of these tensions a rapid increase of populism in political campaigning both
among right and left-leaning parties in many European states has been observed (Kriesi and
Pappas, 2015).
25
The presence of a strong populist discourse has also emerged during the 2015 general election
campaign in Estonia - a post-Soviet country which entered the EU in 2004. The field of
political marketing has long cast its eye on the rise of populism in recent decades. At the same
time, there are fewer studies on former post-Soviet societies and a modest number of wider
researches conducted on non-Western territories.
The purpose of this explorative study is to analyse the context and conditions of the rising
trend of populism in Estonia. In addition, it tries to place this phenomenon on the landscape of
recent research and to better understand if, and to what extent, populism might have been
interacting with the current Europe wide economic and migration crisis in Estonia.
As a case study the paper takes a closer look at the 2015 parliamentary election campaign
held in Estonia. For the analyses a multimodal discourse-analytical framework of the populist
framing of the political slogans and messages alongside non-verbal persuasion methods used
by Estonian party leaders is used. The paper concludes with a wider discussion on whether the
increasing populism is a challenge or threat to democratic system and draws attention to the
need for further comparative research in this field.
Roman VAKULCHUK
Foreign Involvement in Domestic Politics: the Case of International Consultants in
Central Asia
Since independence Central Asian states actively involved international organizations for
advising in implementing economic and political reforms and participated in political
marketing. Over time international consultants have played an increasingly important role in
shaping decision-making and reform agendas. However, their participation and real influence
on domestic politics have been largely overlooked by scholars. This paper will assess the role
of international consultants in influencing domestic politics of Central Asian states and
illustrate how this translates into political relationships among various domestic actors,
persistence of old and emergence of new political actors. The paper is based on primary
sources in the form of 46 interviews conducted with public officials and international
organizations operating in the region. It also draws on the analysis of official documents of
international organizations.
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Svetlana VINOGRADOVA
Modern Political Technologies: Old Content of New Forms and Vice Versa
Political analysts believe that during the movement of society in time we can observe two
interrelated phenomena. The first refers to the introduction the new content in the old political
forms, the second relates to the filling of new forms of old content. For example,
democratization could become a cover for the return of totalitarianism, and the preservation or
restoration of the monarchy, on the contrary, can open the way for modernization. From our
point of view, the conclusion of the political analysts one could use in the case of political
technologies.
It is supposed that political technologies are a relatively new phenomenon in the world of
politics. Political technologies use different types of impact on individuals and social group.
But whether all these forms are of a fundamentally new character? One of the important
components of political technologies is a news management. As the core of news was usually
considered a fact, which reflects event, phenomenon or process, with defined spatial and time
coordinates (what, where, when). This concept seemed to be well established. But actually its
interpretation is often changed and continues to change today. For example, in the view of
postmodernists, we live in a world of simulacra – images, which have no counterpart in
reality, the existence of which was also questioned. It is noteworthy that the notion of
"simulacrum" is also not new: its appearance is correlated with age of antiquity. But
nowadays it often takes on a political meaning and serves to form an illusory picture of the
world, or the production of mythologized reality. It serves as a prerequisite for manipulation
of human consciousness. Manipulation can lead those or other political forces to victory,
which actually would be a historic defeat.
Does it mean that the political technologies are forced to constantly run in a circle, and new
forms of implementation of these technologies must remain only a shell of the old
manipulative content? It seems that to regain political technologies in the world of social
reality can political marketing. The more completely and accurately will be studied political
market, the more effective will be the impact on political behaviour of people. The distortion
of reality, replacing facts with simulacra may lead to errors, which can occur in the distant
future. Of course, political marketing is not a panacea to overcome the negative phenomena
associated with political technology. However, he has great potential in terms of
"rehabilitation" the scientific understanding of modern political reality.
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Biographies
Dr Walid Abou-Khalil is an assistant professor, head of the Marketing department and
director of the MBA IP program at the School of Business and Management of Saint-Joseph
University in Beirut. He holds a PhD in marketing from Paris 1 University Panthéon Sorbonne (France). He teaches strategic marketing, political marketing and quantitative
research methodology. Dr. Abou-Khalil’s research interests include consumer behaviour,
voting behaviour and political marketing. His most recent publication is: ‘L’application de la
trilogie Segmentation-Ciblage-Positionnement en marketing politique’, Proche-Orient Études
en Management no. 26 (2014).
Cristian Andrei is a political consultant and researcher in political science and political
marketing. His professional practice covers a wide range of political marketing applications,
from polling and strategy to media services and campaign management. His research interests
are political marketing development, campaign strategies, electoral systems, electoral
behaviour and the impact of media messages.
Professor George Aoun is a Professor at Saint Joseph University in Lebanon and Associate
Dean of the Business School. He teaches Strategic Marketing, Organizational change and
research methods. He holds a PhD in Marketing from Dauphine University (Paris) and is a
visiting Professor in both Sorbonne and Dauphine Universities (France). His most recent
publications include ‘Marketing International et Facteurs Culturels’, Le Professeur de
Management à 360°, Vuibert, Paris (2014); ‘Intergenerational Transmission Between
Generations and Ethical attitude: The Case of Lebanon’, Proche-Orient Études en
Management no. 25 (2013); ‘Managing diversity in the workplace’, Small and Medium-Sized
Enterprise & Entrepreneurship Review, Volume 5 issue 1 (2013).
Noha Bakr received her BA & MA from AUC. In 1987, she received a Bachelor in Arts with
honours majoring in Political Science, and in 1991 she earned a Masters in Arts Majoring in
Middle Eastern Studies. She was granted her PhD in the Interdisciplinary field of
International Relations, and International Organizations from Cairo University in 2007.
Noha is a distinguished Alumni of the American University in Cairo & distinguished Alumni
of National Defence University of Washington DC, Alumni of SWAMOS Program of War
Studies, Columbia University, and attended communication and integration program at
Lafarge University. Currently, she is Assistant to the Minister of International Cooperation, in
28
charge of economic cooperation with Canada and the Americas, where she works
on providing public policy including policy briefs, white papers, policy outlooks, information
reports and viewpoint statements directed to policymakers on socio – economic and
political domain, on the economic cooperation between Egypt, the Americas & Canada. She
had previously the experience of working in Multinationals, as she earlier held the position of
the Communication Director of Lafarge, which is number one cement producer world wide.
In addition to being a civil servant, she has been an adjunct Professor, in the Political Science
Department at the American University in Cairo since 2006 till now, teaching International
Organizations & Human Rights. Also, she supervises post graduate studies to Malta
Diplomatic Academy.
Noha has headed different
panels as
a speaker & participant in
conferences, workshops, and programs, on the national, regional, and international level. She
lectured in various academic platforms such as the NATO Defence College in Rome, The
International Institute of Humanitarian Law in San Remo, Moscow State University, Perm
University, Malta Diplomatic Academy and Diplomatic Institute at the Egyptian Ministry of
Foreign Affairs. She has international academic and policy oriented Publications
focused on the field of security, and international organizations. Furthermore, she worked as
an Independent Consultant to the UNDP on projects focused on Democracy in North Africa.
Noha’s devoted activities on the civil society and community service level were manifested in
being a volunteer contributor of a weekly article in Al-Ahram Al-Iktisady publication for two
years, and a contributor to Beyond periodical issued by former United Nations
employees. Furthermore, she is a member of the Egyptian Council of Foreign Affairs, board
member of the Arab Network for Tolerance, member of the Egyptian International Economic
Forum, and a guest in different media programs providing her descriptive & analytical input
to the current events .
Professor Dr. Veysel Batmaz, as a Fulbright Scholar, had worked with Professor George
Gerbner when he was attending the Annenberg School for Communications at the University
of Pennsylvania (MA’85) on media cultivation and television effects. He has then worked as a
consultant and campaign manager on various political communication projects in Turkey with
Dr. Erhan Göksel at VERSO-Social Research Centre. Presently, he is continuing political,
marketing and social research. Writing weekly in the Internet on current media problems and
political developments in Turkey, he has widely published on media, notably, Television and
Family in Turkey (with Asu Aksoy, 1995), Me and Society-Introduction to Social Psychology
(with Galip İsen, 1985 and 2002), Television Effects on School Children in Morocco (1985),
29
“I am Cultivating Enemies Against Media” (Karakutu Yay. 2003), Darkening (Karakutu Yay.
2003), Right Cannot Be Said in the Wrong Media (Naos Yay. 2004) and several others. He
also translated Arif Dirlik’s and George Gerbner’s writings into Turkish. He has been
participating in the Ekaterinburg conferences on communications over the past ten years
which has been organized by Professor Dimitry Strovsky of Ural Federal University.
Presently, he is a professor of communication research at the University of Istanbul-Faculty of
Communications and CEO at the Department of R&D in Education at Beykent University.
Dr. Joseph Ben-Ur is a Professor of Marketing, Marketing Management, and Consumer
Behaviour at the University of Houston-Victoria, USA. Prior to joining the UHV faculty, he
held academic positions at several universities including the University of Wisconsin
Milwaukee, the University of Alaska and DePaul University. He earned his PhD in 1987 from
the University of Illinois. In addition to marketing, Dr. Ben-Ur has studied economics and
information technology. With his background in information technology and marketing, he
became one of the initiators of the Technology Special Interest Group of the American
Marketing Association. Dr. Ben-Ur has published in several academic journals including
Management Science, Energy Economics, Psychology and Marketing, The European Journal
of Marketing, Journal of Business and Society, Journal of International Business and
Economics, European Journal of Management, and International Journal of Business
Research. Additionally, he has presented his research in advertising strategy, global branding,
pricing, e-commerce, relationship marketing, and political marketing in the U.S., Europe, and
Asia. His work in political marketing includes publications on polling and political marketing
strategies. His research highlights the potential that certain marginal differences between
voters offer presidential candidates in terms of their support base and communication
strategies. Dr. Ben-Ur is senior editor of the Journal of Political Marketing.
Dr. Ieva Bērziņa, Senior Researcher, Centre for Security and Strategic Studies, National
Academy of Defence of the Republic of Latvia. Obtained her PhD in political science,
comparative politics from University of Latvia. Doctoral thesis was aimed at comparing
Western political consulting techniques with Russian political technology, and exploring their
impact on political campaigning practice in Latvia. Current research interests cover such
interdisciplinary areas as Russia’s Information Warfare, ‘Colour Revolutions’, Rhetoric of
Political Leaders, Political Marketing, and Strategic Communication.
30
Milena Drzewiecka is a psychologist (M.Sc.) and political news journalist (M.A.). She is a
PhD candidate in psychology at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities (SWPS) in
Warsaw, Poland. Her current research focuses on political and business leadership
preferences, election behavior and political candidate image creation. These are also the
fields, in which she teach at University of Social Sciences and Humanities (SWPS). Her
interests include also media influence and public communication. She worked over eight
years as a political reporter and parliamentary correspondent in Polish Public Television TVP,
covering news from Poland. Currently she works for a foreign studio of German Public
Television ZDF, being responsible for Poland and Baltic states. In her academic publications
(mostly written in cooperation with Wojciech Cwalina), she favours to combine theoretical
and practical framework of political marketing and media relations. She is a member of
International Society of Political Psychology and Polish Society of Social Psychology.
Ulrich M. Janssen is a Lieutenant Colonel in the German Army. He holds a Master’s in
Economics from Hamburg University and is a graduate of the George C. Marshall European
Center’s Program in Applied Security Studies. He has attended the Strategic Communications
Master Class at the University of Cambridge as well as the Information Operations PostGraduate Course in the U.K. For several years he served as a course director, instructor, and
supporting speaker at the NATO School in Oberammergau, Germany. He has many years of
experience in the field of arms control and verification.
Marina Kayumova has an MPhil in Innovation, Strategy and Organization from the
University of Cambridge (UK) and MA in International Relations from the European Institute
(France). She is currently a consultant at the World Bank and affiliated researcher at Central
Asian Development Institute. Her main research interests include energy security, migration,
gender issues, EU-Central Asia relations, EU affairs, telecommunications & ICT regulations,
innovation policy and strategic marketing. Her previous assignments include work in George
Washington University, GSM Association, European Parliament and Patent Office.
Emine Kocabiyik received her Ph.D. in Marketing at Istanbul University in 2013 and holds a
Master Degree from the University of Bologna, Italy. She is an assistant professor of
International Marketing and Trade Department at Gediz University, Turkey. One of her
project proposal in Political Marketing is awarded a grant by The Scientific and
Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) and subsequently in January, 2015
31
she started to work with Professor Bruce I. Newman as Visiting Researcher of Marketing at
DePaul University, USA. Dr. Kocabiyik’s research mainly focuses on marketing
communications, specifically examining intercultural differences in the processing of ad
cues. Her current research project includes the use of political marketing for the improvement
of democracy in Turkey.
Sergiy Kurbatov, PhD, is a head of department of leadership and institutional development at
Institute of Higher Education, National Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of Ukraine and
affiliated researcher at Centre for Russian and Eurasian Studies, University of Uppsala,
Sweden as well as Junior Fulbright alumnus (2003-2004, Brown University, USA). Among
his main research interests are transformation of university education in the context of
globalization, internationalization, quality assurance in education, university rankings. He
served as a national expert at Bologna Evaluation Project (University of Twente, Netherlands,
2009) and since 2014 is a member of IREG Audit Team. Also, Sergiy Kurbatov is actively
involved in the process of analyzing the problem of political and social transformations in
Ukraine. His current publication include book: Phenomenon of University in the Context of
Temporal and Spatial Challenges, University book, 2015. – 262 p. and papers: The Mission of
Contemporary
University
Through
the
Lenses
of
Time
and
Space
-
http://journals.hnpu.edu.ua/ojs/phylos/article/view/2548; Before Massification: Access to
University Education in Soviet Ukraine in the 1950s-1980s// International Review of Social
Research, 2014, vol. 4(2).- P. 75-86.; Music of the Revolution: For Whom the Bell Tolls
(together with Alla Marchenko) // Baltic Worlds, 2014, Vol. VII: 1. – p. 45-48.
Marius Laurinavičius has a degree from the Institute of International Relations and Political
Science of Vilnius University and is currently a senior analyst for Vilnius based Eastern
Europe Studies Centre, a Lithuanian think-tank working on Eastern Partnership countries and
Russia. He is invited to join Centre for European Policy Analysis (CEPA) in Washington
D.C. and will start his job as a Fellow in-Residence there from September 1, 2015. His main
research interests include Russian elite studies as well as Russian domestic and foreign policy,
Eastern and Central Europe, European security. He is currently working on a project called
“Putin’s Russia” which aimed at the research and explanation of power system in Russia and
the process of decision making in Kremlin. He spent 22 years of his professional career in
journalism working as a foreign editor and deputy editor-in-chief for the biggest Lithuanian
daily Lietuvos Rytas. He has experience in TV journalism being a host for a weekly political32
analytical show on Lietuvos rytas TV for one year and working as a News director for the
same TV station. Back over the years working as journalist Marius Laurinavičius has become
Lithuania’s leading foreign and security expert. His many contributions have been recognized
by Lithuanian political leadership as well, as he received several official awards for his
contribution for Lithuanian foreign policy.
Tetyana Malyarenko is Professor of Public Policy at the Donetsk State University of
Management, Ukraine. Her main research areas of interests include societal and economic
aspects of security in transition states, human security and good governance, social conflicts
and civil wars. Dr. Malyarenko has held visiting professorship at the Wilson Centre for
International Scholars, Washington DC, University of California Berkeley, the Institute for
Peace and Conflicts, University of Granada, the University of Tromso and the University of
Gothenburg. Dr. Malyarenko’s publications to date include five books and over fifty journal
articles and book chapters. Her research has been funded by the Jean Monnet Programme of
the European Union, the NATO Science for Peace and Security Programme, DAAD, US
Department of State, Carnegie Corporation of New York and Open Society Institute. Since
2009, she is academic co-director of OSI-HESP Regional Seminar for Excellence in Teaching
‘Contemporary Conflict as an International Security Threat’ (co-director with Prof. Stefan
Wolff, University of Birmingham). Tetyana Malyarenko holds a Master Degree from Donetsk
National Technical University, a Candidate of Science Degree in Economics (equivalent to
Ph.D.) from Donetsk National University of Economics and Trade (thesis title: ‘Strategic
Planning and Management of Competitiveness’, on materials of research of the heavy
machine-building and armaments industries of Ukraine) and a Doctor of Science Degree in
Public Policy (equivalent to habilitation) from Donetsk State Management University (thesis
title: ‘Preventing Social Conflicts: The Mechanisms of Governance and Security of the
State’).
Alla Marchenko has a candidate dissertation (equivalent to Ph.D. in Sociology) from Taras
Shevchenko National University of Kyiv (Ukraine) and is currently an Associate Professor of
the Department of Methodology and Methods of Sociological Research at the Faculty of
Sociology at this University. She is also an Associate Researcher of Laboratory of
Comparative Social Research (Higher School of Economics, Saint-Petersburg, Russian
Federation). Her main research interests include comparative research, civic engagement and
historical sociology. She has published numerous articles on these subjects, e.g.: Sergiy
33
Kurbatov, Alla Marchenko (2013). Diversification of The “Late Soviet”: Attitudes to Mikhail
Gorbachev in The Mirrors of History Textbooks // The Ideology and Politics Journal / PostSoviet Order between the Tradition and Modernity Issue 2 (4). - pp. 4-28; Alla Marchenko
(2014). Comparisons of Civic Engagement in Europe: Evidence from European Values Study
// Slovak Journal of Political Science, Vol. 14, № 4. - pp. 331-360; Alla Marchenko (2014).
Euromaidan and Moral Issues in Ukraine: Unveiling the Ambiguous Relationship // Societal
and Political Psychology International Review. - Volume 5. Issue 1(2), 2014. - pp. 5-18.
Bruce I. Newman (Ph.D.) is Professor of Marketing and Wicklander Fellow in Business
Ethics in the Department of Marketing, Kellstadt Graduate School of Business at DePaul
University, USA. He has held visiting scholar positions at several universities, including
Stanford University, the University of California-Berkeley, and more recently at Meiji
University in Tokyo, Japan. His publications have appeared in top academic journals,
including the Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Business Research, Psychology &
Marketing, among others, as well as in chapters in several handbooks on the subjects of
political marketing, political communication and persuasion and social marketing. Bruce has
published 14 books, some of which have appeared in Chinese, Korean, Hungarian and Italian.
He is the author of The Marketing of the President (Sage, 1994); editor of the Handbook of
Political Marketing (Sage, 1999); and more recently, co-author of A Cross-Cultural Theory of
Voter Behaviour (The Haworth Press, 2008) and Political Marketing: Theoretical and
Strategic Foundations (M.E. Sharpe, 2011). He is the founding Editor-in-Chief of the Journal
of Political Marketing, now in its fourteenth year. Dr. Newman is a recipient of the Ehrenring
(Ring of Honour) from the Austrian Advertising Research Association, and advised senior
aides in the Clinton White House in 1995-1996 on communication strategy. Dr. Newman is a
frequent contributor to the media, appearing on both national and international talks shows
including NPR and BBC, among others. His Op-Ed articles have appeared in a broad range of
publications, including the Chicago Tribune, The Christian Science Monitor and on
CNN.com. Dr. Newman has been invited to give Keynote Addresses in over 20 countries.
Bruce is Principal of Newman & Associates LLC, a consulting firm specializing in consumer
research, image management and marketing strategy.
Evgeny N. Pashentsev is a professor at Lomonosov Moscow State University, the Faculty of
Philosophy and a visiting professor at the Presidential Academy of National Economy and
Public Administration (Moscow). Pashentsev is a head of MA programme on Modern and
34
Contemporary History of Europe and North America at the Moscow Teacher’s Training
University. Director of the International Centre for Social and Political Studies and
Consulting. The coordinator of the international research and expert network on the
communication and media management of the EU and Russia relations. Partner of the
European Association for Viewers Interests, Brussels. A member of the advisory board at
Comunicar Journal (Spain). Presentation of papers at the 35 international conferences and
seminars for the last years ( Moscow, London, Birmingham, Sofia, Varna, Macao, Helsinki,
Stockholm, Uppsala, Madrid, Milan, Rome, Lueven, Prague, Braga, Vienna,
Valencia,
Istanbul, Leeds, Cracow, Caracas etc.). Member of Russian Writers Union, Russian Public
Relations Association, Russian Association of International Studies, The European Public
Relations Education and Research Association (EUPRERA, Brussels), Central and East
European International Studies Association (CEEISA, Prague, coordinator of the Section
“Communication management in modern politics and business”), Academician of Russian
Academy of Natural Sciences. Author/co-author of 36 books published in Russian, English
and Spanish.
Associate Professor Andris Petersons (Dr.sc.soc.), Dean of the Communications Faculty
Turiba University. Awarded - “Golden Button” from Latvian Association of Public Relations
Professionals for contributions to public relations education. Honoured by the Latvian
Ministry of Education and Science for innovative approaches in pedagogy and education
advancement. Former business journalist -15 years in TV and print media. Press secretary for
National Human Rights Office in Latvia and Riga Central Market. Member of jury of “Baltic
PR Awards”. Founder (2005) and main organizer of widely-acclaimed, international, studentfocused ''Workshop of Dynamic Thought'‘. Organizer of numerous academic conferences on
communication and CSR. Extracurricular: Reading history and philosophy, avid MTB biker
and marathon runner.
Lilia Raycheva, PhD is Professor at the Radio and Television Department of the Faculty of
Journalism and Mass Communication of the St. Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia. She
has served as Vice-Dean for Scientific Research and International Affairs (1998-2001) and
Head of Radio and Television Department (1999-2001). For seven years she has also served
as a member of the Council for Electronic Media - the regulatory authority for radio and
television broadcasting in Bulgaria (2001-2008) and as a member of the Standing Committee
on Transfrontier Television at the Council of Europe (2005-2008). She has been extensively
35
published. She is the author of 4 books, of numerous scientific publications and the editor of
14 books. Her main scholarly interests include communication and media studies, audiovisual, and political communication. Her professional authorship portfolio includes a large
number of TV programs.
Dr. Jolán Róka has CSc from the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Since September 1,
2001, she was appointed a Professor, Head of Communication and Media Studies, Associate
Rector for International Relations at the Budapest College of Communication and Business.
Currently she is a professor of communication and media studies, and also the editor in chief
of the yearbook “Annales” and of the journal “Communication, Media, Business” at the BKF
University of Applied Sciences. In addition, she has been a guest lecturer at the Századvég
Political School and at the European McDaniel College, Budapest. She lectures on the history
of mass media, theory of communication, cross-cultural communication, nonverbal and visual
communication, interpersonal communication, and political communication. She is the
Grantee of Széchényi Professor Award. She is the author or editor of twelve books and more
than 80 journal articles, book chapters and has been awarded several national and
international grants, including an IREX Grant to University of Pennsylvania, Annenberg
School of Communications and a Fulbright Grant to Texas A&M University, Faculty of
Journalism. She has been the member of several international research teams on political
communication and marketing, and also on journalism.
Dmitrii Rushchin - Associate Professor of Chair of the Theory and History of the
International Relations of School (Faculty) of the International Relations at St. Petersburg
State University.
Education and degrees: In 1984 he has finished with honor from the Faculty of Journalism at
Leningrad State University with assignment of qualification "Journalist", "The Translator
from English language". The Candidate of science in History (Ph.D. in History in 1990,
postgraduate study of Historical Faculty at the University in 1987 – 1990). In 1994 - 1996 he
was a doctoral candidate of Chair of World Politics of School of the International Relations at
St. Petersburg State University. In 1997 he was trained under STEEP program at the
Manchester business school (Manchester, Great Britain).
Academic appointments: is an Associate Professor of Chair of the Theory and History of the
International Relations of School (Faculty) of the International Relations at St. Petersburg
State University (full-time), since September, 2011. Courses taught: <Basics of the Theory
36
and Practice of World Journalism>, <Organizing of Press Service: International Experience>,
<Electronic Media and Political Life of Society>, <Systems of Decision-making in Foreign
Policy>, <Systems of the International Relations in the 20th century> etc. Carrying out of
seminars on the <Basics of the Theory of the International Relations>.
He has a wide experience of the organization of seminars, summer and winter schools,
courses and other short-term programs of improvement of professional skill of experts and
mid-career training. In 1995 – 2009 he was a director of Winter School PR and the
International Summer School of Journalism of Faculty of Journalism at St. Petersburg State
University. In 1991 – 2009 he was an educator of Chair of Sociology of Journalism, and then
Chair of Radio and Television of the Faculty of Journalism at St. Petersburg State University.
In 1995-2012 he was a teacher of Preliminary courses of Faculty of Journalism at St.
Petersburg State University. Courses: «History of Russia», «Information Programs at Radio
and Television», «Working of Television Journalists in Extreme Situations».
In June 2011 – September 2012 he was` an Associate Professor of the Chair of Psychology,
Pedagogies, Akmeology (now Chair of Humanities) of Humanitarian Faculty at Smolny
Institute of the Russian Academy of Education, Course: «Global Studies and Noosphere».
Executive Director of the Center for Russian Political Culture at the Institute.
In 2010-2012 he was an Associate Professor of Chair of the Theory and History of the State
and the Law of Faculty of Law at St. Petersburg named of V.B. Bobkov Branch of the
Russian Customs Academy (part-time). Courses: <History of the Domestic State and the
Law>, <History of the State and the Law of Foreign Countries>, <Basics of the Theory of the
State and the Law>.
In 1997-2011 he was an Associate Professor of Chair of History and General Economic
Theory of Economic Faculty at St. Petersburg Institute of Mechanical Engineering. Courses:
<National History>, <History of Economy>, <Public Relations>.
Professional affiliations: Member in the Union of Journalists of St. Petersburg and Leningrad
Region, the International Federation of Journalists (Brussels, Belgium) and the St. Petersburg
Philosophical Society. Former member in the International Press Institute (Vienna, Austria).
The coordinator of the group on "Journalism and communications" of the Russian
Communicative Association (RCА).
The speaker and the participant of many International and Russian conferences and seminars
(including the USA, Great Britain, Sweden, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Denmark,
Finland, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Poland, Latvia, Ukraine and other countries).
37
Research Interests: The author of 80 scholar and also numerous popular publications. Areas of
scholar interests are the following: the international relations, global studies, mass
communication, journalism, public relations, and history of Russia.
Skills: The organization and holding of conferences, schools, seminars, trainings. Usage of
Internet technologies. Carrying out of scholar researches and realization of collective scholar
projects. The international cooperation in the field of science and education. Consultations.
Sergei Samoilenko is a public relations instructor in the Department of Communication at
George Mason University. He is the past president of the Eurasian Communication
Association of North America (http://www.ecana.us/) established to facilitate former Soviet
Union-related communication research, education and its practical social application in Russia
and the US, and promote joint projects between scholars from Russia, CIS and Baltic states
and their North American counterparts. Sergei's professional service is focused on bridging
academic and professional communities in the areas of crisis communication, public relations
and Eurasian studies. He developed and held numerous workshops and webinars on strategic
communication in the US and internationally. Sergei’s new research focuses on issues in
character assassination and reputation management in public relations. For additional
information contact the author at sergeisamoilenko@gmail.com or visit his page at
https://gmu.academia.edu/SergeiSamoilenko.
Leon Schiffman
Dr. Leon Schiffman is the J. Donald Kennedy Endowed Professor of Marketing at the Tobin
College of Business, of St. John’s University. His research interests have focused on a wide
variety of consumer behaviour research topics, corresponding to the preparation of a coauthor (i.e., Dr. Joe Wisenblit) consumer behaviour textbook, currently in its 11th edition.
Most relevant for this conference, I have also pursued the examination of “voters interest and
dynamics” of young and elderly voters. In terms of his own background, Dr. Schiffman holds
an MBA and Ph.D. from the Baruch College of the City of the New York, where he taught for
more than 25 years. While, a faculty member at Baruch College, Dr. Schiffman chaired the
Ph.D. preparations for more than 25 students, and served as a member of the students’
defence committee of another 15 to 20 students studying for a Ph.D.in some other
specialization. The following is a “samples” of relevantly research publications:
Schiffman, L Thelen, S. T., & Sherman, E. (2010). “Interpersonal and Political Trust:
Modeling Levels of Citizens' Trust,” European Journal of Marketing, 44(3), 369-381;
38
Sherman, E., Schiffman L. and Thelen, S "Young Voters' Trust of Information
and Media Sources: The 2008 U. S. Presidential Election," Journal of Political
Marketing (October-December 2012) 1, (4), 246-265; Schiffman, LThelen, S. T., & Sherman,
E. (2010). “Interpersonal and Political Trust: Modeling Levels of Citizens' Trust,” European
Journal of Marketing, 44(3), 369-381; Sherman, E., Schiffman L. and Thelen, S "Young
Voters' Trust of Information and Media Sources: The 2008 U. S. Presidential Election,"
Journal of Political Marketing (October-December 2012) 1, (4), 246-265.
Elaine Sherman
Dr Sherman is currently the Director of Hofstra/ News 12 Polls where she has been doing
public opinion polls for News 12 Cablevision for the past 26 years. Her academic teaching
includes many years as a Professor of Marketing and International business at Hofstra
University in New York. In addition she has been a consultant for various aspects of
marketing for a variety of corporations. .She has a Ph.D.in Business and (M.A.)\ Major:
Business from the City University of New York: and Masters of Business Administration
from Hofstra University, (New York). While teaching various aspects of marketing and
consumer behavior, both graduate and undergraduate, her many research interests include
various areas of political marketing. She is a Senior Editor of the Journal of Political
Marketing. Dr. Sherman has presented at over 100 conferences worldwide on a variety of
marketing topics. Several recent presentations at political research forums including recent
appearances in Bucharest, Romania, Budapest, Hungary, and Thessaloniki. Greece. Some of
her published articles on political marketing include (Young Voters' Trust of Information and
Media Sources: The 2008 U. S. Presidential Election" Journal of Political Marketing, ( 2012)
(Sherman, E., Schiffman, L., & Thelen " “Interpersonal and Political Trust: Modeling Levels
of Citizens' Trust”, S. T.” European Journal of Marketing (2010) Schiffman, L., Thelen, S.
T., & Sherman, E),, Impact of Trust on Candidates, Branches of Government and the Media
Within the Context of the 2004 U.S. Presidential Election”. Journal of Political Marketing
(2008) Sherman, E., Schiffman, L., & Thelen, S. T.” “ Trusting Souls: A Segmentation of the
Voting Public,” Psychology and Marketing Schiffman, L., E. Sherman, and N. Kirpalan (2002
)and Political Marketing Research in the 2000 U.S. Election,” Journal of Political Marketing,
(2002).
Dr Greg Simons has a PhD from the University of Canterbury (New Zealand) and is
currently a researcher at the Uppsala Centre for Russian and Eurasian Studies (Uppsala
39
University, Sweden), CRiSMART (Swedish Defence University) and a lecturer at the
Department of Communication Science (Turiba University, Latvia). His main research
interests includes diverse applications of communication within international relations, such
as public diplomacy and soft power, crisis communication, and the interaction between
communication and politics within the context of armed conflict. He has published numerous
books on these subjects, such as Simons, G. & Westerlund, D. (Editors), Religion, Politics
and Nation Building in Post-Communist Countries, Farnham: Ashgate, 2015 and Simons, G.,
Mass Media and Modern Warfare: Reporting on the Russian War on Terrorism, Farnham:
Ashgate, 2010. He has been published in various academic journals that include the European
Journal of Communication, Demokratizatsiya, Public Relations Review and the Journal of
Place Branding and Public Diplomacy. In addition, he has also done assignments for the
Council of Europe and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
Sorina Slusarec is a political consultant and researcher in political science and political
marketing. Her professional experience in political marketing is grounded in research activity,
both qualitative analyse and polling, and also as a campaign consultant, advising on electoral
communication and copywriting. Her research interests are political communication,
quantitative and qualitative research in political science, political marketing development.
Professor Dmitry Strovsky is professor in media history at the Ural Federal University and
since 2014 is VAK professor. He has a PhD in media history from the Journalism Faculty of
Moscow State University. His second thesis (doktorskaya dissertatsya) defended in 2002 was
focused on Russian political traditions and their reflections in the media. Strovsky’s main
scientific interests are concentrated around historical and contemporary development of the
Russian media. He is also gravely interested in the theory of mass communication, including
public relations and propaganda, and their applications in Russia. Strovsky has published a
few books and numerous articles on these issues in Russian and English. Since 2012 he is an
expert on media evolution in the BRICS countries following his contribution in the
book Mapping BRICS Media (ed. K. Nordenstreng & D. Thussu, Routledge, 2015). Strovsky
regularly participates in international conferences and workshops on media matters, and over
the last ten years delivered lecture courses at universities of Finland, Sweden, the USA,
China, Mongolia and some other countries. He was awarded with many international
fellowships including Fulbright scholarship (2005). In addition to this, he is a columnist for
40
the Ural version of Novaya gazeta, the only opposition edition in the contemporary Russia. A
new book of his journalistic essays initially published there is going to be released shortly.
Prof. Ivan V. Surma has a PhD from the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs of the Russian Federation and is currently a member of the Advisory Board of the
Financial Market Committee of the State Duma of the Russian Federation and is a member of
the Board of the Union of Lawyers of Moscow and a researcher and corresponding member of
the Academy of Natural Sciences and a lecturer at the Department of Public Administration
and National Security (Diplomatic Academy of the MFA of the Russian Federation). He is a
visiting professor at the Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public
Administration (Russia) and is a honorary professor of the British Business Academy and a
head of the MBA program (Corporate Governance). His main research interests includes
diverse applications of communication within international relations, such as public
diplomacy and soft power, digital diplomacy, information technology in the forecasting and
analysis, strategic management and marketing communications and innovative methods of
conflict analysis. He is author and co-author of the several books on these subjects, such as:
The modern world and geopolitics (2015), 21st Century: Crossroads of the World
Policy (2014). He has been published in various academic journals that include the Vestnik
MGIMO-University, Public administration E-Journal of the Lomonosov Moscow State
University, Journal of Foreign Legislation and Comparative Law, National Security, Politics
and Society and etc.
Roman Vakulchuk is a senior research fellow at NUPI. He holds a PhD degree in economics
obtained from Jacobs University Bremen, Germany. His main geographical specialization is
Kazakhstan, other countries of Central Asia and Ukraine and he publishes on economic
transition and integration, climate change, trade, infrastructure and transport, business climate
and business culture, as well as state capitalism in emerging markets. Vakulchuk has work
experience as a project leader and expert within research projects organized by among others
the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the MFA and the Research Council of
Norway. Roman also worked at the oil company Shell in Germany. He speaks English,
Russian, Ukrainian, German and French.
Svetlana Vinogradova
Professor, PhD (History), Doctor of Political Science
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Education and degrees:
Doctor of Political Science, St Petersburg State University, July 1993
Ph.D. in history, Moscow State University, December, 1977
Diploma in Journalism, Leningrad State University, June 1972
Academic appointments:
1975 – Senior lecturer, Leningrad State University, Faculty of Journalism
1986 – Associate Professor, Leningrad State University, Faculty of Journalism
1996 – Professor, St. Petersburg State University, Faculty of Journalism
2000 – Professor, St. Petersburg State University, School of International Relations,
Department of World Politics.
2001 – present time – full professor, Head of the Department of Theory and History of
International Relations, St Petersburg State University, School of International Relations
2011 – Present time – Head of the Master degree programme “Public Relations in the Sphere
of International Relations”.
Research Interests
Theory of International Relations, Geopolitics, Chronopolitics, International
Communications, Psychology and Sociology of Mass Communications
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