Political Science of the 21st Century  Cover Image

A XXI. század politikatudománya
Political Science of the 21st Century

Author(s): Norbert Merkovity
Subject(s): Politics / Political Sciences
Published by: MTA Politikai Tudományi Intézete

Summary/Abstract: The changes in the political science do not appear only at the end of last century. My opinion is that the changes originate from 1952 when Dwight Eisenhower presented the world’s first political campaign video. That was the first scenic fusion between political marketing and political communication. O f course at that time only few homes were equipped with television sets. If we admit that Hungary, at the beginning of 1900s had a very high level of illiteracy, yet the country was in the age of ’Gutenberg galaxy’, we can also admit that in 1952 the United States stepped into the information age. If we want to describe the contemporary political science we need to redefine the triangle of polity, politics and policy. All the three of them obtain a new approach in the 21st-century political science. Polity needs to recognize global digital organizations like Google. Politics gets more attention amongst the users of digital technologies. Researchers of policy have to reroute their scope of analysis to digital sources of information. In the old media the political communication works in multipoint-end determination. In this century in the new media it is transformed into multipoint-multipoint relation. When everybody obtains the new media platforms, politicians need to adapt to the new conditions (for example the digital divide does not only evolve between North and South, but also among aldermen of a city). The very moment politicians find their way to using those platforms, political researchers must also be present and ready to analysis.

  • Issue Year: 2007
  • Issue No: 2
  • Page Range: 147-151
  • Page Count: 5
  • Language: Hungarian