The Use of Internet Technologies for Mobilizing the Voter Base: Features, Subjects and Prospects

Abstract

The article analyses the role of internet technologies in the process of voter base mobilization. One of the consequences of the reforms carried out in Russia will be mediatization of the electoral process. Modern approaches to understanding electoral mobilization are based on classical elitist concepts and the theory of mass society. Such perspective fails to identify individual actors of mobilization impact and analyze their own strategies. The author suggests a different way of looking at the problem: from the perspective of the neo-institutional approach. “Mobilization impact” can be interpreted as a form of subject-object interactions between different participants of the electoral process. The author identifies three main goals of mobilization interactions: attracting new supporters, encouraging a specific form of political activity, and prompting the choice of a certain position in the ballot. The author’s other objective is to assess the pattern of Internet technologies usage in the process of electoral mobilization. In the conclusion, the author pinpoints possible tendencies in the development of the voters’ Internet mobilization technologies. The perspective suggested by the author allows him to draw conclusions about what forms work with voters will assume as a result of the development of Internet communication technologies.