№ 2 - 2004
Solovyov A.I.
Political Discourse of Mediacracies: Problems of the Information Epoch

Inquiring into modern political practices in the context of the information epoch setting in, the author introduces the concept of mediacracy as a particular mode of power organization conducive to the turning of informational relations into a key mechanism of determining the format of political dimensions and of securing interaction between the power and society, and analyzes specific features of the Russian version of mediacratic usages. According to his conclusion, Russian mediacracy has a protodemocratic character. At the same time, the expanding interaction with postdemocratic-type mediacracies has already caused, as is demonstrated in the article, most intensive inner “fermentation” of Russian political culture, which may in due course turn it from the most routine into the most efficient component of political development. Further advancement along this way, as the author supposes, holds real historical prospects in store for our country, and may rid future generations of Russians of facing the danger of finding themselves in a “fourth world”.