Parties, Candidates and Citizens On-Line - Åbo Akademi

pursuit of executive office, policy-advocacy and pursuit of internal democracy, efficiency
and cohesion. Some scholars (Nord 1997; Strömbäck 2002; 2005) have also recently
argued for the inclusion of a fourth arena – the media arena – in this typology. The
argument for this is based on the increasing importance of media in modern politics (cf.
Blumler & Gurevitch 1995; Swanson & Mancini 1996). According to these scholars,
maximization of positive publicity would be a distinctive goal in this arena. However, one
can strongly question this view. Sjöblom (1968, 30) defines party strategies as “the use of
available means with the object of attaining certain goals…”. Positive publicity per se
would therefore appear much likelier to be a means for achieving the goals in the other
arenas, for instance vote maximization, rather than an end goal itself.
A party seeking to maximize its votes places high emphasis on different forms of
propaganda and campaigning (Sjöblom 1968, 206). Office seeking and policy advocating parties
mainly work in the parliamentary arena. The office seeking party seeks to maximize its
control of political office, while the policy advocating party aims at maximizing its
influence in specific areas of public policy (Strom 1990, 567). Tailored standpoints
constitute the main strategic tools for achieving influence in the parliamentary arena
(Sjöblom 1968, 258). The fourth party goal – internal democracy, efficiency and cohesion –
focuses on the participatory aspects of party communication (Römmele 2003, 13). Apart
from general ‘member management’ strategies, bi-directional communication is relatively
highly emphasised (Löfgren 2001, 30; Sjöblom 1968, 195). It is, however, necessary to
realise that most parties pursue all of these goals in different degrees. As noted by Strom
(1990, 570), “Pure vote seekers, office seekers, or policy seekers are unlikely to exist”. The
boundaries of one party may contain several goals – both internal and external – which
need to be balanced (Kitchelt 2001, 276).
As mentioned earlier, several scholars (e.g. Gibson et al. 2003a, 67; 2003c; Löfgren
2001; Löfgren & Smith 2003; Römmele 2003) contemplate whether party internet activity
could be linked to their overall goals. According to Römmele (2003, 12), the vote-seeking
party would mostly use the web in the same manner that it uses traditional media to
maximize its votes (cf. Gibson et al. 2003c; Löfgren 2000, 16; 2001, 31-32). Top-down
information and broadcasted messages are the main uses of the internet. Interactive
features are seldom used and are, as Löfgren points out (2000, 15), usually regarded as a
means for monitoring public opinion rather than for promoting participation (cf. Gibson
et al. 2003c; Römmele 2003, 13). Office-maximizing parties are also expected to mainly use
the web for top-down communication. Some coalition seeking parties could also make
use of targeted information in order to adjust their appearance and appear suitable for cooperation
with specific parties (Römmele 2003, 13). Concerning policy seeking parties,
Römmele (2003, 14-15) perceives the internet as mainly being used as a channel for
informing the broad audience of its policy standpoints and also to target specific groups
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