Fostering Dialogue or Monologue? Estonian Party Websites During the 2009 European Parliament Elections. Issue 2 (2nd July 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Toode, Ülle
• Is Part Of: Journal of political marketing. Volume 15:Issue 2/3(2016)
• Page Start: 120
• Page End: 148
• Publication Date: 2016-07-02
• Subjects: deliberative democracy -- e-campaigning -- elections -- Estonia -- party websites -- web 2.0; Campaign management -- Periodicals; Political campaigns -- Periodicals; Marketing -- Political aspects -- Periodicals; 324.7305
• DOI: 10.1080/15377857.2016.1151111
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1537-7857

Abstract

Abstract : This paper presents data from the analyses of political party web pages during the 2009 European Parliament elections in Estonia. It examines the presence and absence of web 2.0 features on the sites and aims to find out whether interactivity-based applications are used by parties to increase participation and to foster deliberative politics. Estonia as a small ex-Soviet country has emerged after the Soviet Union collapse as one of the most advanced e-societies in the world. Therefore, Estonia is chosen as a case study to explore whether and how decision makers use web 2.0 elements for fostering Habermasian dialogue between the citizens and the power holders in the society where technical obstacles for deliberative politics do not exist any longer. The results show that the Estonian parties still focus on the one-sided or top-down model of communication, based on web 1.0 features, even though all conditions for deliberation from the technical and infrastructural side in Estonia are fulfilled. The paper concludes with a discussion on the possible reasons parties might not be interested in using web 2.0 elements in their web campaign and how it might be linked to the conditions where citizens' participation and interest in politics is low. There is also emphasis on the need for further systematic comparative research in order to draw conclusions on the changes in the online campaigning and political communication process in the era of cyber-democracy.