Digital transformation of political sphere: an analysis of Western theories

The purpose of the article is to identify the features of Western theories concerning the problems of digital transformation of political processes. The authors use the principles of the hermeneutic method, which is necessary to identify and analyze key ideas and the specifics of Western theoretical constructions explaining the mechanisms of digital transformation of the political sphere and its specific political processes. The hermeneutic method is combined by the authors with the techniques of critical discourse analysis of academic literature. By systematically sorting and evaluating the key propositions and internal tensions of major theoretical clusters, covering five aspects - power politics, state, democratic participation, political propaganda, and international relations - a systematic examination of Western theories concerning the digital transformation of political processes is conducted. These theoretical constructs, while demonstrating their insights, also reveal some common characteristics and limitations. The conclusions emphasize that many Western theories implicitly follow the philosophy of technological determinism, tending to portray digital technologies as a kind of transformational force with an internal and almost autonomous logic. This can lead to an underestimation of the regulatory role of political, economic and social institutions in the application of technology, ignoring the sustainability of politics itself, human subjectivity and the multiplicity of ways of global development. This study is not only aimed at mapping the current situation in Western theoretical constructs, but also seeks to identify common boundaries of explanatory ability and potential blind spots in order to lay the foundation for the search for a more balanced and objective analytical framework between technological accelerationism and political reflection. The authors also propose analyzing profound changes in political sphere through the category of digital transformation, rather than just digitalization. The study confirmed the author's assumption that Western theories, considering the political sphere within the framework of the usual category of digitalization, describe more fundamental, far-reaching consequences for government and politics, in fact, addressing the problem of digital transformation of political processes. However, further steps in the analysis of the digital transformation of the political sphere and its processes are limited by the technological determinism of Western theoretical constructs, which means the need to rethink such theories and their terminological tools.