POLITICAL COMMUNICATION AND ITS MANAGEMENT: EVOLUTION OF CONCEPTS, THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS AND KEY APPROACHES

Abstract

The article examines the evolution of political communication as a social phenomenon in the context of historical transformations. The author analyzes the key stages of political communication development from primitive forms of interaction to modern digital strategies of influence on public consciousness. Particular attention is paid to the formation of communication practices in ancient Greece and Rome, where the foundations of rhetorical art, public speaking, and manipulative influence on the audience were formed. In the Middle Ages, political communication was under the control of church institutions, which determined the specifics of broadcasting government messages through sacred symbols. With the changes in the socio-political systems of early modernity, new channels of information transmission were actively formed, from the Gutenberg printing to the formation of the first newspapers. In modern times, communication between the government and the population became more systematic, and tools of propaganda, manipulation, and institutional legitimization emerged. In the twentieth century, political communication acquired the features of mass and technology, and since the beginning of the twenty-first century interactivity and digitalization. The article examines political communication as a form of managerial interaction based on feedback between the subject and the object of influence. The author considers governance as a special case of communication aimed at changing the state of society or institutions. The role of communication laws in building an effective political discourse is analyzed. Particular attention is paid to the laws that determine the dynamics of communication: mirror style, dependence on effort, growing audience impatience, emotional impact, etc. Examples from political practice (Trump, Obama, Zelensky, Millay) are given to illustrate the application of these laws. The article may be useful for researchers, students, political analysts, and anyone interested in the evolution of political influence mechanisms and the role of communication in shaping power relations.