Online political communication as a method of fundraising ; Politinė komunikacija internete kaip lėšų rinkimo būdas

Abstract

The scientific problem of this dissertation is formulated by asking the question: what is the relationship between the competitive position of political parties and the use of functions of online fundraising communication? Purpose of the research – to identify the specifics of functions of the online fundraising communication carried out by political parties of Lithuania and its correlation with the competitive situation of the political parties. The newly developed theoretical framework makes it possible to analyse the specifics and functions of online fundraising communication undertaken by political parties as well as verify the normalisation hypothesis in the new context – fundraising communication; that also makes it possible to find out how the disparities of the competitive position of political parties existing beyond the internet are manifest in their communications for fundraising online. The research suggests that differences in the competitive position of the Lithuanian political parties also manifest in the fundraising communication these political parties carry out online: the political parties holding a better competitive position are more active in using the functions of participation and delivery; a better competitive position shows a more active use of various online communication tools and their functions for fundraising. Therefore, the online fundraising communication carried out by political parties of Lithuania shows indications of normalisation.