| Abstract [eng] |
Politics is closely related to communication; politics as a process takes place through communication which is crucial during political election campaigns, their main task being to achieve or to hold power. Political campaigns essentially are communication campaigns based on a particular communication strategy – a part of the general strategy of the political activities. Communication strategy is one of the factors in the election success. Communication strategy is determined by general political strategy, personality of the political leader, his or her last professional experience and expectations of the electorate. The crucial points of the strategy are working towards the main goal and having ideas meeting the electorial expectations, in harmony with the political leader’s public image and messages which are being communicated. The objective of the master thesis is to analyze the formation and implementation process of the communication strategy used by a political leader trying to achieve a power position. As an example, we analyzed the communication strategies of four election campaigns (during 1997 – 2004) of one of the most successful politicians in Lithuania, Arturas Paulauskas, who managed to hold the political power even at those times when he was lacking citizen support. The communication strategy used by A. Paulauskas is focused on external communication with citizens and internal communication with politicians, depending on political goals – to achieve or to keep the power. Changes in his communication strategy are also based on his political goals and his positions as a leader. During 1997 – 2000 elections, when A. Paulauskas tried to get to power, he was using active and intensive communication strategy involving direct contacts with electors and politicians, as well as commercials. The image of the leader he was aiming to create was that of a young reformer, a populist. The image and communication changed when A.Paulauskas gained an official position: from populist to statesman; from active communication with citizens to internal communication. As a result, the citizen support declined and in order to hold his position the leader had to seek help from the political agreement. To sum it up, in postmodern societies, where political power is legitimated by people, the most reliable way to gain and keep the power is the citizen support that could be achieved using active direct communication, especially considering the audience segmentation which prevails nowadays. Consequently, the direct active communication with electorate should become the base for communication strategies of the political leaders trying to attain the power to rule. |
