Political Technologist

In political science and practice ^[3], political technologists are often referred to as representatives of related professions, due to the fact that professions in the sphere of political consulting began to separate relatively recently.

The political technologist is distinguished from the political consultant by the degree of integration into the political campaign. The political strategist is the actual leader of such a campaign, and the consultant acts only as an adviser to the candidate or campaign headquarters ^[4] . If a political consultant is engaged in consulting , then a political strategist is marketing ^[5] . In some Romance languages, political consulting itself is usually called political marketing ( French Marketing politique , Spanish Marketing político ) .

In a narrow sense, “political technologists” ^[6] are called political experts, in whose professional competence consulting, creative and management are combined - that is, the main directors and architects of political processes. Often, such experts call themselves “political PR specialists”, “practical political scientists”, but few of them have specialized education in the specialty of “Public Relations” or “ Political Science ”. In Russia, even leading universities such as Moscow State University and the Higher School of Economics began to graduate specialists with a specialization in "political technology" recently ^{[ when? ]} . Political technologists specializing only in the preparation and conduct of election campaigns are called electoral technologists ^[7] .

According to the nomenclature of political professions of the International Association of Political Advisers (IAPC) ^{[8], the} term “political technologist” in the narrow sense corresponds to the English profession . Political strategist ^[9] . In recent years, the terms strategist ^[10] , political strategist , political strategist ^[11] have also been used in Russia.

In the broad sense, the political consortium in Russia and other post-Soviet countries calls itself the consortium that unites people whose vital interests, values ​​and aspirations are built around the practical implementation of political technologies, political campaigns , including election campaigns . Most of them are systematically or periodically involved in the organization of political activity, mainly elective. Political consultants, election technologists, political lawyers and writers, managers of the election campaign and its individual areas and projects, leaders and regular participants in campaign groups belong to such electioneer specialists ... The Electoral Association of Political Technologists ^[12] rates the leading experts every two years electoral experts from Russia and neighboring countries.

The profession of political strategist has been known since ancient times. Already in primitive societies there were priests, experts in rituals, suggestion, manipulation of the opinions of the crowd, etc. In ancient Greece, thanks to the art of sophists , methods of public polemics, argumentation, logic, elective technologies were developed, legal mechanisms were improved in ancient Rome, and institutions were created allowing you to manage various political processes. A letter from Quint Thulius Cicero (younger brother of Marc Thulius Cicero) “A Brief Instruction for the Consulate” is still a valuable tool for preparing candidates for elected posts ^[13] . The treatise of the famous Renaissance political strategist Niccolo Machiavelli, The Sovereign , gave impetus to the development of modern political technologies.

The most sought-after political strategists in democratic societies . With the advent of modern electronic media, companies specializing in providing services in the field of political technology began to appear. In the United States, the first such company, was created in the 30s of the 20th century. The first Russian firms of political strategists and political consultants were created in the early 1990s, and bore the names of the famous foreign counterparts predecessors “Bakster group” and “Niccolo M” .

Political technologists (political strategists) have a complete list of knowledge necessary to determine and implement the and tactics of the campaign of a politician (party) to form the necessary public opinion, image and other political conditions for victory, the assessment of their work always lies in the practical plane. The task of the political strategist is to achieve political goals, most often it is ensuring passage to the elected authorities. At the same time, political tasks are not limited to elections and election campaigns . Part of the tasks of the political technologist is to ensure harmonious and effective relations with state authorities and lobbying for a position that is advantageous for the customer, both in the public information field and in a narrow group of decision-making elites.

“Political strategists become regular participants in political processes and the interaction of political actors, and professionalism becomes a determining condition, a factor in achieving the rationality and efficiency of political processes, reducing costs in the activities of political actors on the way to their desired political goal.” ^[14]

- N. S. Silvacheva

In transition societies, the attention to political technologies and the specialists who embody them is great. This is largely due to the objective role of political strategists in the functioning and formation of democratic systems. So, according to the British publication "Open Democracy" ^[15] :

“Thanks to political technologies,“ soft authoritarianism ”in countries such as Russia remains soft, and the Kremlin will most likely give it preference, abandoning full-blown despotism ... Therefore, political technologies will remain a characteristic feature of post-Soviet politics in the foreseeable future”

- "Open Democracy"

The political strategist’s sphere of activity includes the development and implementation of media strategies, the conduct of election campaigns and campaigning , as well as the creation and implementation of strategies and technologies for organizing public movements, parties, and the implementation of civic initiatives ^[16] . In the modern world, the importance of indirect and non-violent methods of solving political problems is growing. Their modern tools were practically worked out by the prominent Indian political strategist Mohandas Gandhi ^[17] .

The community of political strategists is closed enough for communication, which gives rise to many myths in the public mind ^{[18] [19]} . In the Russian political technology environment, many jokes and tales have developed ^[20] .

Every year, Russian political strategists hold their meetings at which they discuss topical workshop issues in an informal setting ^[21] . As a rule, they take place on the second Sunday of May - on the day of the political technologist (on the birthday of Nikollo Machiavelli ). Professional holidays are also considered the Day of Political Consultant (February 24) and the Day of PR Specialist (July 28). Since 2012, in cooperation with the National Perspectives Foundation, forums have been held for political professionals. The first of them was held in Sochi, the second was held in Suzdal in November 2012, the III Forum ^{[22] of} political professionals was held on November 22-24, 2013 in Yaroslavl ^[23] .

Political strategists (Political strategist) are members of international, national, and interregional associations of political consultants and political marketers. Russia is represented in the International Association of Political Advisers (IAPC) by Igor Mintusov (a member of the Boards of Directors of IAPC ^[24] and EAPC ^[25] ) and Alex Buzov ( ^[26] ). Five Russians are members of the European Association of Political Advisers (EAPC) ^[27] . In March 2014, Russian political consultants united ^[28] into the National Professional Association (RAPK).

• International Association of Political Consultants
• European Association of Political Advisers
• American Political Counseling Association
• Russian Association of Political Consultants
• Association of Latin American Political Consultants
• Brazilian Association of Political Advisers
• Asia Pacific Association of Policy Advisers
• Canadian Association of Political Advisers
• Association of Spanish Political Advisers
• Association of Argentinean Political Consultants
• German Association of Political Consultants
• Italian Association of Political Advisers
• Association of Policy Advisers of Asia
• Association of Professional Political Consultants of Ukraine

The II Congress of the Russian Association of Political Consultants was held March 13-14, 2015 at the President Hotel (Moscow) ^[29] . The general theme of the Congress is “Features of a single voting day on September 14, 2014 and the main trends of the upcoming elections of 2015” ^[30] . Leading Russian political consultants, EAPC President Nechati Ozkan and former IAPC President Bo Croquig took part in the Congress.

• Egorova-Gantman E., Mintusov I. Political Consulting. - M. , 2002.
• Joseph Napolitan. Electoral game / The Election Game and How to Win it. - M. , 2002.
• Malkin E., Suchkov E. Fundamentals of electoral technologies and party building. - M. , 2003.
• Matveychev O. Ears wave a donkey. The amount of political technology. - M. , 2008.
• Poluektov V. Field and manipulative technologies. - M. , 2003.
• Pushkareva G. Political Management .. - M. , 2002 ..
• Jacques Segela. National characteristics of the hunt for votes. So do the presidents. - M. , 1999.
• L. Fabius, A. Emmanuelli and J. Lindeperga (edition). Political Marketing. Practical advice. Translation from French .. - M. , 1993.