Public administration and political management. Political management and political management

The definition of management in the literature is interpreted as the process of managing human resources. At the same time, the interests of the effective use of these resources are pursued to achieve the goals of regulating relations in social, economic, political and other structures. In other words, management is a complex of influence on specific bodies (specific individuals) in the presence of special methods and tools to achieve goals.

The general principles that are present in business management are applied in different areas of life in accordance with their specifics. So, for example, management is applied in At the same time, management concerns both the subjects and objects of the sphere, and decision-making processes and the assessment of the consequences of their implementation.

Political management is a whole management system. It includes scientific and creative analysis of development directions, consequences, development of recommendations for management and ensuring their implementation in practice.

Management" allows you to consider the conceptual side of the processes of functioning of the modern system of power. In addition, the use of this concept makes it possible to make specific attempts to improve the management of processes. Political management allows you to direct the movement of society towards a civilized political system, designing new types of management. At the same time, models are built on the principle of constructivism, professionalism, competence with a focus on humanistic values.

Political management, being a system in the first place, is a marketing analysis of the properties of the political market. On the basis of analytical data, an image of a “commodity” corresponding to reality is created, which is a party, leader, organization, and so on.

An integral component of such management is the political support of business activity. As well as the study of socio-cultural and political factors that influence this activity.

Management in the sphere of power also involves mastering the art of working with organizations and people, which is based on the aesthetic, moral, and ethical norms of the existing society.

Political management includes public relations as well as professional lobbying.

Management in the sphere of state power has a close relationship with the decision-making process. when creating, it goes through certain stages:

  1. Analysis of the situation in which a decision is required.
  2. Development of the project, program.
  3. Approval and acceptance for execution of the development result.
  4. Solution implementation.
  5. Investigation of real opportunities to enhance the positive consequences of implementing the decision.

It should be noted that the decision-making process to a large extent depends on the regime of power. Totalitarian and authoritarian systems of government imply special principles. They are characterized by closeness and authoritarian-bureaucratic technology. In such conditions, decisions are made by a limited circle of people, without the use of a comprehensive analysis of various information. At the same time, neither the opposition nor public opinion is taken into account.

As historical experience shows, these can be very effective in emergency economic conditions: during acute crises, wars, during the overcoming of man-made, natural disasters. However, with the dominance of such methods, political power is inevitably identified with coercion.

Political management.

Political management is one of the most important tools for purposeful, conscious, systematic regulation of the system of social relations, as well as the search for new ways to include people and their interests in the process of transforming life. Today's political manager must not only organize and coordinate the activities of various state, political or public organizational structures to realize their mission, but also make socially significant decisions and implement them in such a way that it does not destroy, but helps the life of the whole society or its individual communities. Governance is an important and integral part of the political life of society. With its help, both large-scale tasks of coordinating political, economic and social processes in society, as well as smaller tasks related to the achievement of specific goals and objectives, such as: gaining the trust of the masses, winning elections, resolving conflict situations, etc., are solved. Managerial relations in politics are diverse.

1. Definition of political management

Management is inherent in all organized systems: physical, biological, social. With its help, the integrity of these systems is achieved, their qualitative specificity is preserved, reproduction and development is carried out. The main feature of social, including political systems is the presence of two types of management in them. The first type of management is systemic, it represents objectively operating social mechanisms or processes that encourage people to reproduce system elements, structures, functional connections in their actions. Within the framework of the political system, such main processes-mechanisms are political socialization, institutionalization, legitimation, within the framework of a separate political organization - mutual role expectations, group norms and value orientations.

In practice, system management looks like the subordination of people to society, culture, external and internalized, i.e. deeply assimilated personality, norms, rules, values. This type of management is also called the self-organization of the system, thereby emphasizing the presence in each system, including the political one, of internal mechanisms that ensure its reproduction.

The specificity of social systems - societies, institutions, organizations, groups - is the presence in them of the second type of management, which exists in the form of a conscious directed activity of people pursuing their own goals, capable of creating structures, making decisions and influencing each other. The presence of this type of governance distinguishes social systems from all others. It introduces subjectivity into management relations, makes them more complex, depending not only on system requirements, but also on the individual characteristics of the people involved in the management process.

Management related to the sphere of politics includes the entire set of management processes that arise in the field of political power relations. The following main types of management in politics can be distinguished:

a) management relations that arise between public officials and state bodies acting as a subject of management, on the one hand, and the population or its individual groups, on the other. This type of government is usually called public administration, because its subject is the state, its institutions and officials. It distinguishes as a special segment - public administration, which includes the whole variety of administrative activities carried out by executive authorities (government, ministries, departments and other state institutions).

The main feature of public administration is that it is based on the right of "legitimate violence", i.e. the subject of management has the authority, the necessary status resources for the implementation of management decisions. In modern society, public administration is carried out mainly in the form of the creation by the relevant bodies and institutions of norms that are depersonalized in nature and exist in the form of laws and other general regulations. Public administration in modern society is multi-level and extremely complex, primarily due to the unusually expanded number of various state organizations and institutions.

b) managerial relations that develop within state and political organizations in order to streamline their activities, increase work efficiency. Its peculiarity is that managerial relations are limited to the framework of individual organizations (state institutions, political parties, etc.), which gives this type of management many similarities with the management of economic organizations. Management in state institutions and political organizations is also based on the ability of the subject of management (the leadership of a state institution, the leading bodies of the party) to rely on status resources, on the right to create norms that are generally binding on members of this organization.

c) managerial relations, where the subject (political organization, pressure group, statesman) cannot rely on the right of “legitimate violence” and on his status resources to achieve the goals set, cannot adopt a law or other order that becomes binding, and therefore forced to resort to other forms and methods of influencing the intended object of control. This type of managerial relations is called political management or political-technological management.

So, political management is a special type of management in politics, when the subject of management, striving to achieve a certain goal, is deprived of the opportunity to create generally binding norms and rely on the right of "legitimate violence", i.e. either to the right of state coercion, or to a status right in a political organization.

2. Types of political management

Political management allows you to solve various problems. Initially, the same people were engaged in solving all these diverse tasks. However, the increasing importance of political management in the modern political process has led to the differentiation and professionalization of activities in this area. People specializing in solving various problems of political and technological management appeared.

Currently, we can talk about the following main types of political management:

1. Image-making or creation of an image, image of a statesman, politician, attractive to the masses;

2. Corporate political image-making or the formation in the mass consciousness of a recognizable positive image of a state institution, political organization, party;

3. Electoral technologies as a systematic organization of the election campaign;

4. Political branding (brand - trademark) or the introduction into the mass consciousness of recognizable symbols, meanings, images that, in accordance with the goals of the subject of political and technological management, can unite, unite people or, on the contrary, divide them into rival groups. A political brand is a kind of marker that allows using one word, phrase or symbols to indicate that people belong to a particular political group and the place they occupy in the political space. For example, such marker words as "communists", "democrats" allowed Russians at the end of the 20th century. to divide society into those who stand for the renewal of the country and those who oppose this renewal. Political brands, with their skillful promotion, turn into symbols that unite people, so we can say that the main meaning of political branding as a type of political and technological management is the formation of a political, social identity in the interests of the subject of management;

5. Technologies of political unions as an activity focused on involving their political allies and opponents in solving the set tasks;

6. Technologies for regulating and resolving political conflicts, involving the search for ways and means to reduce political confrontation and political tension in society;

7. Lobbying technologies, which are activities aimed at influencing public officials who make management decisions.

The listed types of political management differ in the goals that the subject of political management can set. Achieving each such goal will require the subject to develop different strategies. So, when forming the image, the political manager directs efforts to form the image of a particular politician, creating a benevolent attitude towards him of the general population; when regulating conflicts - to search for common ground in the views of the opposing sides, etc.

At the same time, the division of political and technological management into various types is rather arbitrary. In practice, one and the same subject of management often has to solve various problems, for example, to create a recognizable image of a political organization that is understandable to the population and at the same time form the image of a strong, competent, caring for the needs of an ordinary person, the leader of this organization. Lobbying technologies include, as a rule, not only the search for opportunities to influence government decision makers, but also the formation in the eyes of the public of the image of an interest group as a force fighting for the country's prosperity.

The interweaving of types of political and technological management, their complementarity become possible due to the fact that they are based on the general principles of organizing managerial interaction, common technological methods for achieving the set goals.


Knowledge of the mechanisms of political control is a condition for survival in the modern world.

Considering the diversity of socio-political disciplines, it should be noted that, as educational practice shows, the teaching of most disciplines is not limited to a presentation of their foundations only, but has a clear inclination, especially in political science, to topics in applied political science, which allows, in essence, to remove concerns about eclecticism.

Of course, it is still too early to say that future engineering graduates will work in political consulting firms, but nevertheless, today none of these agencies can do without the help of engineers.

Political management is one of the types of managerial relations in politics that allows solving such tasks as strengthening the authority of a statesman or political figure: creating favorable conditions for the activities of a state institution or political party by constructing an attractive image in the mass consciousness, the formation of electoral preferences of the population; creation of political unions and blocs; influencing opponents in political conflicts, etc. The significance of these tasks is not in doubt even for a person who is not experienced in politics. Obviously, in order to effectively govern the country, its leaders must enjoy authority among the citizens, that in order to win elections, you need to win the sympathy of voters; in order to get out of a political conflict situation with dignity, one must be able to influence one's rivals.

The listed political tasks cannot be solved by traditional management methods - by making binding decisions, by creating norms, rules or laws, by forcing people to comply with the decisions made by managers. Is it possible to issue a decree obliging citizens to respect and love their president? Is forceful pressure on voters in democratic countries conceivable? World practice more and more convincingly shows that even in resolving political conflicts one cannot rely solely on force, other methods and methods of influencing the opposite side are also needed.

A feature of political management is that within its framework, the subject of management, striving to achieve its goals, does not use the right of legitimate violence, the status resources of political power, it does not engage in rule-making, does not create laws and other generally binding regulations. He uses specific techniques and methods, achieving such changes in the views and behavior of many people that suit his interests and his political goals.

The type of managerial relations described above in the most general terms has existed in political practice for a long time. It can be said that it is as old as politics itself. The ruler of any state has always sought to increase his authority, and his advisers actively helped him solve this problem. When solving state affairs, situations have always arisen when the most far-sighted politicians preferred to act not by force, but by cunning, not forcing, but seducing the masses. The work of the great Florentine thinker N. Machiavelli "The Sovereign" can be considered as one of the early manuals on practical political management, because this book provides specific advice to the ruler, who cares about his authority or, speaking more broadly and in modern language, about his image.

However, until the middle of the twentieth century, political management existed only as a practice of political management.

In order for political management to turn into a science capable of supplying interested people with knowledge that allows them to solve the problems of constructing the image of a political figure, forming electoral preferences, creating a favorable information environment for a political organization, etc., on a fundamentally different basis, there had to be serious changes in the system of scientific social knowledge. The development of sociology, psychology, political science, and management sciences created the prerequisites for the transition from the notion of political management as the lot of dodgy loners to the notion that political management can become an object of scientific knowledge, the development of which should help achieve various political goals.

Political management in modern society is represented by various types of management activities: organizing and conducting an election campaign, political image-making, making political alliances, finding ways out of a conflict situation, lobbying, etc. Each type of political management has its own specifics in building a management strategy and tactics. However, all these types are united by the fact that the subject of management, striving to achieve a certain political goal, is deprived of the opportunity to create universally binding norms and rely on the right of "legitimate violence", he is forced or considers it more accurate and correct to apply special techniques and methods for solving his tasks, to use various political technologies. Thus, despite the differences in political goals, all types of political management are based on some general trends and principles for organizing managerial interaction.

Management is an important and integral part of the political life of society. Management allows you to solve both large-scale tasks of coordinating political, economic and social processes in society, as well as smaller ones aimed at achieving specific goals and objectives, such as gaining the trust of the masses, winning elections, resolving conflict situations, etc. Managerial relations in politics are diverse. In this chapter, we have to get acquainted with the features of political management and the place that it occupies in the life of modern society.

In order to better understand what place political management occupies in the system of political management, let us first single out its most general types. The first type of management in politics is substantive. It represents objectively operating social mechanisms or processes that encourage people to reproduce in their actions systemic elements, social structures, functional connections. With the help of substantive management, the integrity of the political system is achieved, its qualitative specificity is preserved, its reproduction and development are carried out. Within the framework of the political system, such main processes-mechanisms are political socialization, institutionalization, legitimation. In practice, substantive management looks like the subordination of people to the norms and rules adopted in a given society, as an orientation to the values ​​of culture, including political ones.

The relational type of management (from the French relation - relation) exists in the form of subject-object relations, when it is possible to clearly distinguish those who manage and those who are the object of management, i.e. must comply with management decisions. The presence of this type of management distinguishes social systems from all others, because it exists in the form of a conscious, directed activity of people pursuing their own goals, able to make decisions and influence each other, and therefore, it depends on the individual characteristics of the people involved in the management process. .

This feature of the relational type of management is both its strength and its weakness. Its strength lies in the fact that a person is able not only to reproduce previously established connections in the system, but also to change them, improve, initiate innovations, and accelerate development. His weakness lies in the inevitable mistakes of a person, and most importantly, in the perseverance that he can show when implementing erroneous managerial decisions.

The main feature of public administration is that it is based on the right of "legitimate violence", i.e. the subject of management has the authority, the necessary status resources for the implementation of management decisions. In modern society, public administration is carried out mainly through normative regulation, i.e. through the development and adoption by the relevant bodies and institutions of laws, decrees, orders and other normative acts. Public administration in modern society is multi-level and extremely complex, primarily due to the unusually expanded number of various state organizations and institutions.

In order to better understand the specifics of political management, we first clarify what political goals are set and what tasks are solved within its framework.

1. Strengthening the authority of a state or political figure. Authority for a politician is significance in the eyes of the population, it is the trust and support of the broad masses, it is success in politics, it is an opportunity to implement various political tasks. Even Niccolo Machiavelli wrote: "If the sovereign relies entirely on fate, he cannot withstand its blows." And the great Florentine is developing a whole program of actions aimed at increasing the authority of the ruler. Modern politicians, especially those whose powers are determined during elections, perhaps even more need the support of the population, so for many of them this task is extremely important.

2. Creation of favorable conditions for the activities of a state institution, political party, public organization by constructing their attractive image in the mass consciousness. Any state institution is interested in the fact that citizens see it as a competent government body. Only in this case, his managerial decisions will be perceived in society as important, as requiring execution. Each political organization, in order to win in an acute competitive political struggle, needs the support of voters, but for this it needs the masses to see in this organization a consistent defender of their interests, to trust it. That is why it is almost impossible for political organizations to seriously count on political success without solving this problem.

3. Expansion of the number of supporters of a particular state or political program, political project. A common place in discussions about political, economic and social reforms in our society has become the thesis about the difficulties of implementing managerial decisions. One of the main reasons for this is the resistance of the masses, frightened by the transformations and more than once deceived, to innovative programs and projects. Therefore, it is necessary not only to work out in detail the nature and sequence of regulatory and legal changes, but also to influence the perception of these changes, to influence people's expectations, their value orientations and moods. Awareness of this need leads to the transformation of this task into one of the important areas of activity for all subjects of politics in modern societies.

4. Formation of electoral preferences of the population. Elections to state bodies are an integral feature of democracy. Practically all political forces and parties have already understood the enormous significance of this task. Tough competition forces them to constantly improve the technology of fighting for votes.

5. Creation of political unions, blocs. The policy of alliances and agreements helps political actors to solve complex problems. However, the achievement of each political union is the result of complex and painstaking work to influence one's future partners, where practically nothing is solved through the use of force, but skillful maneuvering, a jeweled impact on the motivation of potential allies, is required.

6. Influence on political opponents, as well as on opponents in political conflicts. The political conflict is distinguished by the intransigence of the parties, often aggressiveness and a clear unwillingness to play by common rules. Political conflicts destabilize society, sow enmity between its participants, and paralyze the economic and social development of the country. That is why it is so important to find ways to resolve political conflicts. A way out of the conflict cannot be ensured by forceful methods.

This requires the use of special technologies for managing conflict situations.

7. Influencing decision makers. Modern societies are extremely differentiated, with various social groups striving for articulation and protection of their interests. One of the ways to defend group interests is to organize pressure on state bodies and public officials. The forms and methods of such pressure are diverse, they are constantly being improved. And no matter how we treat this phenomenon of modern political life, it is a reality that cannot be ignored.

8. Mobilization of the masses for political support. In order to solve specific political problems, political actors often require a demonstration of mass support, for example, holding pickets, protests, rallies, marches, etc. The organization of mass demonstrations is relevant not only for the opposition, but also for the ruling forces, if the latter wish to show the level of people's confidence in the policy being pursued. In a democratic society, people cannot be forced to take to the streets, but they can be persuaded, encouraged to do so. That is why this task belongs to the sphere of political management.

The importance of these tasks for various subjects operating in the field of political relations is obvious. In modern society, it is impossible to achieve significant political results if at least some of these tasks are not solved in everyday practice.

The specificity of all these tasks lies in the fact that for their implementation the subject of management cannot use power, cannot issue a decree or adopt a law, cannot resort to coercion. The object of managerial influence is outside the zone of status subordination to the subject of management, i.e. he is not obliged (by law, by establishment, by status) to love or hate a political leader, in the secret voting booth he is free in his choice, he cannot be forced to refrain from spreading rumors about the arbitrariness of the bureaucracy in this or that state institution, he can join to any political organization permitted in the country, etc.

We have already said that within the framework of political management, the subject of management cannot resort to violence, is deprived of the right to create generally binding norms and apply sanctions to those who do not comply with them, he must use such methods of influencing people in order to change their behavior, which exclude the use of direct coercion, physical violence. This is the specificity of political technologies.

Political technologies are a means of skillfully influencing people's motivation, their consciousness and subconsciousness, these are ways that encourage people to act in accordance with the interests of a political subject, but at the same time maintain their sense of freedom of their choice, the naturalness of their actions. These techniques ensure the introduction of new ideas, values ​​into the mass consciousness, the formation of new attitudes, beliefs, and among them there are many that can be called manipulative.

So, political management is a special type of management in politics, when the subject of management, striving to achieve a certain political goal, is deprived of the opportunity to create generally binding norms and rely on the right of "legitimate violence" and therefore is forced to apply special techniques and methods for solving their problems, use a variety of political technologies.

Political management has been around for a long time. In almost all historical societies, the rulers were forced to solve the problem of increasing their authority, expanding their influence on the general population, and competing groups and clans were always looking for ways to effectively influence their leaders, kings and emperors. However, only in modern society does political management acquire a large-scale character. This is due to a number of important processes that developed rapidly in the 19th-20th centuries.

A feature of modern industrially developed democratic societies is their entry into the postmodern stage, which is distinguished not only by a change in the socio-political conditions of life, but also by serious shifts in the system of value orientations. A study of dozens of modern countries, conducted under the guidance of the American scientist R. Inglehart, led to the conclusion that "an important component of the postmodern shift is a shift that leads to a decrease in the significance of any kind of power and authority." The revealed trend of a sharp decrease in the action of the so-called authoritarian reflex in stable democracies further contributed to the actualization of politicians' interest in special forms and methods of influencing the masses.

The process of democratization of society found its expression in the affirmation of the principle of separation of powers, in the election of the main state bodies, in the equality of all citizens before the law, in the priority of human rights over the rights of the state, in a multi-party system, etc. The development of democracy led to a sharp narrowing of institutional opportunities for arbitrariness and violence on the part of the authorities. Being limited by the law in their actions, public officials and other political figures could not help but turn to the theory and practice of political management to strengthen their authority and influence, to implement their plans and decisions.

Political management in its modern form owes much to election campaigns. In the course of the election campaign, technologies for influencing the masses were created and perfected. After all, no matter how blasphemous it sounds, but the mass, capable of influencing the choice of a particular candidate, had to be managed so that it did not notice the guiding influence, so that every person who came to the polling station always had the feeling that he was acting independently that his choice is free. Election campaign management is one of the most popular types of political management.

In the 20th century, major changes are taking place in the life of many societies. The processes of democratization, the restriction of the actions of senior state officials by law, the proclamation of the inviolability of the rights and freedoms of the individual, the change in the value of the orientation of the population, the entry into the political arena of parties and other socio-political organizations require serious adjustments in the ways of achieving political goals. The previously widespread methods of state, coercion, outright violence no longer correspond to the new realities.

The contradiction between the objectively urgent need to reduce the share in the policy of explicit forms of violence and coercion, on the one hand, and the need to provide; effective management of the affairs of society, harmonization of the interest of various social groups and strata - on the other. In such a situation, there could not have been an increase in the interest of various political forces in a special type of managerial relations - in political management.

Rice. 1. Social prerequisites for increasing the role

political management

Political management made it possible to solve political problems without physical violence, made it possible to increase the efficiency of public administration without the repressive mechanism of sanctions (Fig. 1). The development of electronic media created additional technical possibilities for this.

Currently, we can talk about the following main types of political management: political image-making, political PR, electoral management, political branding, regulation of political conflicts, lobbying, political alliances and agreements. Let's briefly describe each of them.

Political image-making(from English image - image and making - creation, production) is one of the oldest types of political management. Even in historically early societies, the image of the ruler was carefully created and guarded by his advisers. The main task of this type of political management is to make the image of this or that politician, statesman attractive to the masses, which would ensure the support of the population for his actions.

Electoral management occupies a special place among other types of political management. Its main purpose is the organization and conduct of election campaigns. Since elections to state bodies are held regularly in democratic countries, and competition in these elections is extremely intense, the interest of politicians in electoral management is increased. This circumstance is also reflected in the literature: many times more scientific and journalistic works are devoted to the organization and conduct of election campaigns than to any other type of political management.

Political branding(brand - trademark), or the introduction into the mass consciousness of recognizable symbols, meanings, images that, in accordance with the goals of the subject of political management, can unite, unite people or, on the contrary, divide them into rival groups. A political brand is a kind of marker that allows using one word, phrase or symbols to indicate that people belong to a particular political group and the place they occupy in the political space. For example, such marker words as "communists", "democrats", allowed Russians at the end of the 20th century to divide society into those who advocated the renewal of the country, and those who opposed this renewal.

Political brands, with their skillful promotion, turn into symbols that unite people, so we can say that the main meaning of political branding as a type of political management is the formation of political identity in the interests of the subject of management.

The regulation of political conflicts requires special skills and abilities. This type of political management is focused on finding ways and means to reduce political confrontation and "political tension in society.

Lobbying activity, aimed at influencing public officials in order to make a decision in the interests of the lobbying group, has all the features of political management and is one of its types: The lobbying group intrudes into the sphere of political power relations, but does not have status resources of power , the legal right to dictate their will to the ruling subjects. She is forced to look for specific ways and methods of influencing the motivation of decision makers.

We single out as a special kind of political management the policy pursued by various parties in order to create alliances and reach agreements with other organizations. The policy of alliances and agreements has its own characteristics, therefore this type of political management cannot be reduced to any of the others previously mentioned.

One of the important types of political management in modern conditions is political PR. (PR - public relations (English), or public relations. We use the adjective "political" in the singular, because the English abbreviation PR is pronounced as "PR", and the use of the plural with this word is not accepted. Since the concept Since “political PR” is interpreted ambiguously, below we will dwell in more detail on the origin of this term and its interpretation.

Georgy TANOV

POLITICS AND POLITICAL MANAGEMENT: TO THE DEFINITION OF CONCEPTS

The article discusses the history of the emergence of the term "politics", its components, and also reveals such a concept as "management" and "political management".

The history of occurrence of the term "politics" and its components are considered in the article. In addition, such notions as management and political management are also revealed in the article.

Keywords:

politics, management, political management; politics, management, political management.

The concept of polity1 is associated with various institutional dimensions of politics associated with the main political institutions - the legislative, executive, judicial authorities, the institution of parliamentarism, the constitution, the traditions of self-government, etc. This concept comes from the ancient Greek concept of "polis" - a city-state. Most often, the concept of polity is associated with the form of government, the system (social or state), the structure of the state. It is currently used as a synonym for the modern state and everything that refers specifically to the state - the political system, political institutions, politics, power, etc.

The concept of policy2 has a somewhat different meaning, the meaning of which is best conveyed by such words as policy, line of conduct, attitude, course, strategy. It is clearly seen that it reflects more the process and technological aspects of politics, while the concept of polity is more in line with its structural and functional content aspects. The concept of policy is also best suited and interfaced with such concepts as methodology, rules, principles, norms, standards, etc.

And finally, the concept of politics3 is associated with the methods of conducting politics, the art of governing, political life itself, in particular the party activities of the leadership, the style and principles of behavior, relations in a certain area that are connected with politics.

The content of the essence of politics is also expressed in its goals and values, in the motives and mechanisms for making various political decisions, and finally, in the very problems that it is designed to solve. The political process reflects the complex, fundamentally subjective and conflict nature of political activity, its existence as relations between various states, political institutions, social groups, organizations, etc.

It should be emphasized that the role and place of politics in society as a special sphere of social life is determined by its three most important properties4:

Gerkulesovich - Chief Specialist-Expert of the Department of Legislative Support for the Activities of the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation [email protected]

Universality, i.e. the all-embracing nature of politics, the ability to influence any aspect of life, to be present and exert its definite influence on all elements of society, relationships, events, processes;

1 http://lingvo.yandex.ru/polity/

2 http://lingvo.yandex.ru/policy/

3 http://lingvo.yandex.ru/politics

4 http://www.gumer.info/bibliotek_Buks/Polit/Dict/15.php

The penetrating power of politics, which means its possibility of unlimited penetration into all directions and directions of people's social life;

The attribution of politics in relation to non-political social phenomena, relations and spheres, the ability of politics to be combined with any other types of activity of a person and society.

In modern political science there are many different directions and approaches, methods of political research. Along with the paradigms that have become traditional - behaviorism, structural functionalism, cultural approach, etc. - relatively new approaches are successfully developing, such as the geopolitical paradigm, the "ecological" approach (focusing on the historical and genetic factors of political development), political feminism (focused on research gender factors in politics, the position of women in society, etc.), postmodernism, etc.

Describing the methodological foundations of political science in the first period of the development of political science, the American political scientist D. Easton1 noted: “Political scientists proceeded from the assumption of almost complete correspondence between constitutional and legal regulations concerning the rights and privileges of holders of public office, and their real political actions.” In general, this period can be designated as institutional. Political science at that time had a fundamentally normative character.

The appearance of the behavioralist trend has become a genuine revolution in political science, since behavioralism puts political facts at the center of scientific research. Mid 1960s - early 1970s marked by a crisis of the behavioral approach. In 1969, D. Easton2 proclaimed a new, postbihevioral revolution in political science. The essence of this revolution was to overcome the ideology of empirical

1 Easton D. System analysis of political life. - M., 1965.

2 Easton D. New revolution in political science // Socio-political journal, 1993, No. 8.

rism, which was characteristic of behavioralism, as well as to pay more attention to value orientations in political processes, without which it is fundamentally impossible to understand their meaning and direction. The post-behavioral approach, in its essence, advocated that the behavior and professional activities of politicians and political scientists should always be based on fundamentally scientific knowledge, universal values, high morality and humanism. In fact, this revolution in political science is directed against the political principles of N. Machiavelli, who asserted in political actions the primacy of success, the effectiveness of political activity, regardless of the methods and means of achieving them - success at any cost and by any, incl. immoral and criminal methods.

Note that in modern political science this post-behavioral approach best meets both the realities of the modern world and the requirements of a truly scientific study of political processes and phenomena.

The next concept that needs to be defined in its main meanings and contents in our work is the concept of political management. But first - a few words about management (management), which literally translates as management, management, organization. According to the authors of the American Encyclopedia of Professional Management3, the starting point for the development of modern management should be considered 1886, when businessman G. Towne spoke at a meeting of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers with a report "The Engineer as an Economist". In this report, for the first time, the problem of the need for management as a professional specialization and scientific discipline was raised. It should be noted that the emergence and development of management functions are associated with the division, specialization and cooperation of labor, with technical progress, with the socialization of production. It is no coincidence that the outstanding economist of the previous century A. Marshall4 singled out management (about this

3 http://www.akademout.ru/referates/18/2.php

4 Marshall A. Principles of economic science. - M., 1993, vol. 1-3.

process will be discussed in more detail below) into a separate factor of production along with the three traditional ones - capital, labor and land.

Management as a whole is understood as the process of managing a company, which means a special professional organizational activity, which is aimed at achieving certain intended goals in the course of any economic activity of a company operating in market conditions by rationally transforming the resources of this company (capital, materials, technology, information, labor resources) and the external environment in the processes of interaction with it. Here, it should be emphasized that the term "management" is used in relation to the management of only economic activities, while to describe management for the sake of achieving other, fundamentally non-economic goals, as a rule, other terms are used - organization, management and administration.

A special type of management is political management1, which includes the development of strategic goals and tactical guidelines, mechanisms for influencing the administrative state structures, legislative and executive authorities on the development of society. It should be especially noted that the fundamentally important content of political management lies in the fact that “this is a special type of political management, in which the subject of management, striving to achieve a certain political goal, is deprived of the opportunity to create universally binding norms and rely on the right of “legitimate violence” and therefore is forced to apply special techniques and methods for solving their problems, use various political technologies for this. In view of the foregoing, political management includes political image-making and branding, PR, electoral management, regulation of political conflicts, lobbying, the practice of concluding political alliances, etc.3

1 http://www.gumer.info/bibliotek_Buks/Polit/Dict/12.php

2 Pushkareva G.V. Political management. - M.: Delo, 2002.

Other works emphasize4 that, in a broad sense, political management covers all management of the processes of direct and representative democracy, international political relations, as well as managerial approaches to public administration (new public management). In a narrow sense, political management

This is the theory and practice of managing mass political campaigns and political processes of the influence of civil society on the state. Since this concept is central to our entire study, we will dwell on the analysis of its content in more detail.

We have already said that in one form or another, political management as a special type of managerial interaction, characterized by the desire of one side to influence the other, without resorting to violence, coercion, but by acting with more sophisticated methods and means, is represented in any society, it constitutes a stable component of political life. Recognition of precisely this nature of understanding the essence of political management makes it unique and inimitable each time in its own way, since these are its specific manifestations, which are found in the peculiarities of lobbying the interests of a certain group or political party, forming the image of a statesman or reconciling conflicting parties.

The study of political management is currently carried out by political scientists, sociologists, and psychologists. Each of the listed groups of scientists has its own field of scientific activity. Political scientists consider political management as an applied political science, as its basic direction, where the theory and practice of political life are directly connected.

When we talk about political management as an object of study, we mean the whole variety of these managerial relations, manifested incl. in those specific actions

4 Smorgunov L.V. Comparative Political Science in Search of New Methodological Orientations: Do Ideas Mean Anything to Explain Politics? // Polis, 2009, No. 1.

steps taken by their real participants in a particular country, in a particular time period. However, it is simply impossible to describe political management in all its specific historical manifestations. The activities of people who reproduce these political managerial relations are too diverse, mobile, and unique. It is important to identify in these relations that stable, repetitive, which will allow a deeper understanding of the logic of these relations. In other words, we now have to define the subject of study of political management.

The subject of scientific research generally indicates what is to be studied in this object. Since any social object, incl. and ours - political management - is unusually complex, multifaceted and can be considered from different angles, then mismatching ideas about the subject field of the theory of political management are quite possible. The choice of the subject of research is influenced by two main factors:

The purpose of knowledge, its practical significance (for what purpose do we want to gain knowledge about this object);

Theoretical and methodological position of the researcher (what knowledge and how we will receive).

It is these two factors that make it possible to single out the most important, essential in an amorphous moving object, which affects both the depth of its description and the use of the acquired knowledge for practical purposes, in solving managerial problems. The first factor sets the direction of the study, the second - allows you to formulate a conceptual apparatus, identify relationships, describe internal processes. Let us consider how, under the influence of these two factors, the subject field of scientific knowledge about political management is singled out.

There is a strong opinion that knowledge about management processes is of purely applied, practical importance, that it is intended for solving specific management problems. From such

kind of statements it follows that the study of management processes should be aimed at studying specific situations and developing appropriate recommendations. This is certainly true. But, in our opinion, it is impossible to confine ourselves to solving only this scientific problem. Scientific knowledge about political management should include both general theoretical knowledge about the nature, specifics, forms of development of this management process, and applied knowledge about the conditions and ways to solve a specific management problem. Only relying on general theoretical concepts, one can increase the angle of view on ongoing events, better understand their internal trends, which is extremely important for the development of technological techniques and methods, for the design of technological activities, for the transition from the practice of direct response to a changed situation and adaptation to activities, aimed at transforming objective reality itself.

So, political management requires both theoretical knowledge about this managerial process, and applied knowledge that allows developing practical recommendations for solving a specific managerial problem. Together they make up a kind of iceberg, where the massive underwater part is a set of theoretical concepts that explain the nature, specifics of this special type of relationship that develops in the field of politics, and the visible, surface part is the skills and abilities of knowledge, explanation, and study of specific situations implemented in management practice. .

Comparison with an iceberg well reveals the perception of the work of specialists - political managers that has developed in society, when they are only credited with the professional ability to find a solution in a specific managerial situation and does not take into account that the search for this solution can be effective only if the political manager is able to rely on a solid baggage of theoretical knowledge.

The concepts of "political management" and "political management" are often used interchangeably. However, each of them has its own history of origin and its own semantic nuances, so political management should not be perceived as a Russified version of political management.

Political management, firstly, is understood as macromanagement, as an integrating effect on all spheres of society in order to maintain its integrity and sustainable development. A. I. Solovyov notes that "the distinctive features of political management demonstrate the orientation of the state towards solving tasks vital for society, carried out within the framework of maintaining territorial integrity, sovereignty, security, stability, etc." .

Secondly, political management, according to its purpose, is defined as a way to establish value guidelines for social development. Its main function, as T. E. Dubatova writes, is "the determination of the strategic and tactical goals of the development of society."

Thus, the concept of "political management" is used to refer to those types of managerial relations that arise in connection with determining the prospects for the development of society as a whole. In fact, we are talking about the controlling impact of politics on society, primarily in the person of the state, capable of developing strategies for the economic, social and cultural development of the country, taking into account the interests of various social groups.

Close in meaning to this understanding of political management are the categories of "state policy" and "public policy". Public policy is understood as "a form of integrated, joint activity of authorities and administration to put forward and implement long-term goals both in society as a whole and in its individual areas in the direction of optimizing relations between the state and society, maintaining social stability and the most complete realization of collective interests" . Public Policy ( public policy ) is interpreted as a process of participation of citizens in the adoption of state decisions that are of vital importance for society.

The subject field of political management is limited to managerial relations that arise in the political sphere. The tasks solved with the help of political management are focused solely on maintaining (changing) the political institutional order and on obtaining the opportunity for political actors to occupy advantageous positions in the space of political relations. The subject of political management is not the issues of social and economic development of society, the growth of the welfare of citizens, migration processes, etc. These and many other issues of social development are resolved within the framework of state and public policy, as well as public administration. Political management is a way for participants in political interactions to regulate political processes and organize political campaigns in order to expand political influence.

Management relations in politics are diverse, they differ in the goals and objectives set by political actors, but in the ways of achieving results, methods of organizing the management process, etc. Any diversity needs to be classified, to highlight certain common features and properties that allow us to detect certain classes of phenomena that have common sets of features. Moreover, the more complex the phenomenon under study, the more grounds arise for its internal differentiation. The need to identify the types of political management is caused not only by research interest, but also by practical tasks, in particular, the search for optimal ways to organize managerial influences, and the definition of effective technologies for political influence.

The first, basic basis for the classification of political management is subject of management or the type of problem being solved. On this basis, three types of management in politics can be distinguished: state regulation of political processes, management of political campaigns, management in political organizations (Fig. 1.1).

Rice. 1.1.

The first type of political management is purposeful influence of the state on political processes in order to give them certain properties and qualities. Political processes as interrelated actions of people ensure the functioning and development of the political system of society. Various actors are trying to influence political processes, but only the state has the exclusive ability to regulate this type of relationship in society. It can adopt generally binding norms, laws that determine the procedure for the interaction of citizens in a particular segment of the political sphere. It is also endowed with the right of legitimate enforcement of these norms. We will talk about this type of political management in Chap. 3.

The second type of political management is political campaign management is a management activity initiated to achieve specific political goals. Such goals may include: victory in elections, the creation of a political party, the formation of a positive image of a political actor, lobbying for a specific bill, reducing protest activity in connection with the adoption of an unpopular government decision, etc. The specificity of this type of management lies in the fact that in order to achieve the goals of a political campaign, the subject of management cannot rely on the status resources of power, cannot change the normative order by issuing a decree or passing a law, and cannot resort to coercion. In this type of political management, management technologies are of particular importance, allowing them to influence citizens who are not formally subordinate to the subject of management. This type of political management is devoted to most of the textbook.

The third type of political management is management in political organizations - represents the activity of the leadership of these organizations, focused on ensuring their political effectiveness, on the fulfillment of their functions and obligations. An example of such management can be the activities of the leadership of a political party or socio-political organization to ensure the efficiency of the relevant structure, to mobilize members of this organization to achieve program goals, to solve the set halls. Since the state is a political institution, then management relations in each government department, organization can also be attributed to this type of management.

A feature of the third type of management is that management relations are limited to the framework of individual organizations operating in the political sphere, which gives this type of management many similarities with the management of organizations created in other areas of society, primarily in the economy. The management of political organizations is based both on the skillful impact on the motivation of members of these organizations, and on the ability of the subject of management (leadership of a political party, government department, other political organization) to rely on the status resources of power, on the right to create norms that are generally binding for members of this organization and apply sanctions. against those who violate these rules.

In modern science, a situation has developed when the first and third of these types of management in politics have become the focus of other disciplines. Thus, the state management of political processes is considered as part of state regulation and management, even if it has its own specific features. Since the institutionalization of such a branch of scientific knowledge as public administration is being completed by now, all issues related to the administrative activity of the state inevitably fall into the orbit of this science.

Management in political, including state organizations, is based, as noted above, on the general principles of management, a theory developed to optimize the management of organizations operating in a market environment. And only the management of political campaigns is generally recognized as a special political type of management, the study of the subject field of which is not claimed by representatives of other management disciplines.

The consequence of the situation, when certain types of management in politics were in the focus of the study of related scientific disciplines, was broad and narrow interpretation of political management. In a broad sense, this concept refers to all types of management in the political sphere. This understanding of political management allows you to combine all the diversity of managerial relations in politics within a single concept.

At the same time, the management of political campaigns was the subject of particular interest of researchers and politicians-practitioners. It was behind this type of management that the narrow understanding of political management. In accordance with this approach, political management is defined as management, the distinguishing features of which are:

  • setting goals, the achievement of which allows a political actor to strengthen his political positions, expand his influence, gain access to the status resources of political power;
  • the subject of management lacks status resources of power and the right to create generally binding norms in achieving these goals;
  • the inability to rely on coercion and the right to "legitimate violence" in the process of managerial influence;
  • the use of special technologies that involve the impact on the motivation of those persons on whom the achievement of goals depends.

The listed qualities are possessed by the types of political management shown in fig. 1.2.

Rice. 1.2.

In the categorical apparatus of modern scientific knowledge, there are other concepts denoting specific types of managerial influences in the political sphere, for example, "political marketing" and "political PR". In this regard, it is important to compare the meanings of these concepts with the concept of "political management".

  • State policy / ed. A. I. Solovyova. M.: Publishing House of Moscow State University, 2012. S. 54.
  • Dubatova T. E. The role of forecasting in political management // Political management. M .: Publishing house of the RAGS, 1998. S. 15.
  • Solovyov A.I. State Policy // Political Science: Lexicon / ed. A. I. Solovyova. S. 70.
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