Political Campaigns

Intuition beats calculation? Narratives and Practices of Strategy and Professionalization in Electoral Campaigning in the German States

by Marcel Lewandowsky

Paper on the occasion of the annual conference of the International Association for the Study of German Politics (IASGP), London, May 21-22, 2012.

Elecciones Presidenciales en Guatemala y Nicaragua

by Pedro Abelllan Artacho

The ART of Involving Young People in Politics: Maine's "A Rising Tide..." Campaign Training Program as a Model

by James Melcher

Paper presented at the 2006 Annual Meeting, American Political Science Association, Philadelphia, PA, 2006.

Estratégias de Comunicação Política Online: Uma Análise do Perfil de José Serra no Twitter / Political Campaigns and Online Strategies: The case of the 2010 Brazilian Elections

by Francisco Paulo Jamil Marques

Co-authored with Fernando Wisse and Nina Matos. Published in Revista Contemporanea. vol.09 – n.03 – setembro-dezembro 2011.

Title in English: Political Campaigns and Online Strategies:
The case of the 2010 Brazilian Elections. Text in... more Title in English: Political Campaigns and Online Strategies:
The case of the 2010 Brazilian Elections. Text in Portuguese. Abstract in English: This article examines some of the main changes that Brazilian elections have faced thanks to the new media. More specifically, it studies how the candidate José Serra (PSDB, Brazilian Social Democracy Party) used Twitter over the 2010 presidential race. The text analyzes the new behaviors perceived once the digital media play an important role in getting votes. Are there new methods to run political campaigns? Or indeed one sees the continuity in the ways to reach voters? The study investigates the messages (tweets) posted by José Serra (@ joseserra_) during the 15 days before the 2nd round of presidential elections (17 to October 31, 2010). The empirical sample is based on the 221 messages posted by the candidate in the chosen period of time. On the one hand, we can say that the use of Twitter becomes important (a) to promote the public image of Serra; (b) to build a network with thousands of users willing to support him; and (c) to stimulate informal styles of interaction. On the other hand, it becomes evident that electoral strategies, even on Twitter, remain constrained by traditional conceptions of political marketing. KEYWORDS: Democracy. Elections. Internet. Online Campaigns. Twitter.

A Gendered Blogosphere? Portrayal of Sarah Palin on Political Blogs During the 2008 Presidential Campaign

by Amy Bradley

published in Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly

Moving through Discourses: An Assessment of the New Zealand 2005 Election Televised Leaders' Debates

by Geoffrey Craig

Political (Ir)Responsibility: Analysis of Election Promises and Results of Serbian Governments After the Year 2000.

by Jakov Bojovic

Published in the collection of papers of the "School of Political Philosophy and Democracy dr Zoran Djindjic" (Belgrade, Serbia)

This paper concerns political (ir)responsibility in Republic of Serbia after the year 2000. Author compares... more This paper concerns political (ir)responsibility in Republic of Serbia after the year 2000. Author compares pre-election promises of political parties which have formed the governments and results that were achieved afterwards. Only the parliamentary elections have been analyzed, leaving out president and local elections. In the concluding remarks, author offers possible reasons for which political irresponsibility appears in such broad manner. Also, author claims that a certain degree of political responsibility is one of the conditions of a transition from minimal to liberal democracy.
Key words: political responsibility, elections, political promises, democracy.

Nasty or nice? Explaining positive and negative campaigning in Taiwan.

by Jon Sullivan

Co-authored with Eliyahu V. Sapir. Published in The China Journal, 67: 149-68 (2012)

In this article we examine the campaign behaviour of Taiwanese election candidates with a view to what it reveals... more In this article we examine the campaign behaviour of Taiwanese election candidates with a view to what it reveals about the health of Taiwan’s democracy. The objective of this article is to answer this question and to explain the strategies behind candidates’ decision-making. Why (and under what conditions) do candidates attack their opponents  instead of promoting themselves? Why do candidates choose ideological themes as the focus of their campaign, or decide to go after their opponents’ personality? Using general theoretical propositions about campaign behaviour, we test our explanatory models empirically on a sample of over 400 unique TV and newspaper advertisements from four Presidential and three Taipei mayoral elections. Contrary to impressions that negative and unseemly campaign behaviour is inherent in the political culture, or a symbol of the immaturity of Taiwan’s democracy, our findings demonstrate that Taiwanese election candidates act in ways that are strongly consistent with their counterparts in other democracies.

A Idéia de Democracia em Perspectiva: Crise, Avanços e Desafios / The idea of democracy in perspective

by Francisco Paulo Jamil Marques

Title in English: The Idea of Democracy in Perspective: A Study on the Core Values of Our Democratic Systems. Text and... more Title in English: The Idea of Democracy in Perspective: A Study on the Core Values of Our Democratic Systems. Text and Abstract in Portuguese: Este trabalho procura estabelecer uma polêmica com a idéia, defendida por um conjunto de autores, de que as democracias contemporâneas estariam em crise, sobretudo devido a problemas como corrupção; falta de confiança nos partidos políticos e na eficácia das instituições do estado; apatia e cinismo da esfera civil, dentre outras questões. Tomando a perspectiva de que as práticas democráticas não podem ser vistas de forma unitária - isto é, ao falar de democracia, deve-se ter em mente aspectos tão diversos como a busca pelo aperfeiçoamento de liberdades, direitos, transparência e, inclusive, dos mecanismos de participação -, o argumento é construído no sentido de se reconhecer os méritos e as conquistas políticas obtidas nas últimas décadas em áreas como, por exemplo, a proteção a minorias ou o fortalecimento dos dispositivos de accountability. Reforça-se, em outras palavras, a premissa de que democracia deve ser vista como um projeto em construção; que enfrenta dificuldades peculiares em determinadas sociedades (é o caso de nosso País, marcado por uma tradição patrimonialista); e que tais dificuldades, muito embora necessitem ser enfrentadas, não são motivos suficientes para se apontar uma crise . Ao mesmo tempo, o ensaio alega que um dos princípios caros à idéia de democracia, a saber, a participação política dos cidadãos, não obstante ser visto com reserva por determinadas tendências teóricas, também precisa ser considerado um componente essencial para se afirmar a consistência de um regime de governo fundamentado na idéia de soberania popular..

Sobre a Comunicação Político-Partidária na Internet: Um Estudo dos Informativos Digitais do PT e do PSDB / Political party communications on the Internet: a study of the digital newsletters of the PT and the PSDB

by Francisco Paulo Jamil Marques

Title in English: Political party communications on the Internet: a study of the digital newsletters of the PT and the... more Title in English: Political party communications on the Internet: a study of the digital newsletters of the PT and the PSDB. Text in Portuguese. Abstract in English available: The purpose of this work is to evaluate how Brazilian political parties use their newsletters distributed by e-mail, which are intended to provide opinion-forming information for citizens with access to the Internet. The main question here is how President Luís Inácio Lula da Silva s administration is characterized in two specific newsletters: the first, called Informes PT, produced by the leadership of the Partido dos Trabalhadores (Workers Party) in the Chamber of Deputies; the second, called Diário Tucano, published by the leadership of the PSDB (Brazilian Social Democratic Party), which opposes President Lula's administration in Congress. At certain points, the argumentative dispute about certain issues extends beyond the floor of Congress, reaching the Internet through party websites and newsletters. The news and opinions set forth in the aforementioned newsletters is analyzed to ascertain to what extent these two main Brazilian parties use the Internet as another instrument to compete for citizens votes and political support. The main conclusion is that the conventional media (such as radio and television) still receives the major portion of attention and investment by Brazilian parties and their media consultants, who have yet to learn how to deal with a medium that can provide more interactive opportunities for political participation and discussion..

Internet e Eleições 2010 no Brasil: Rupturas e continuidades nos padrões mediáticos das campanhas políticas online / Internet and Elections in Brazil: A study on the transformations of political campaigns over the last years

by Francisco Paulo Jamil Marques

Co-authored with Rafael Sampaio. Revista Galáxia, São Paulo, n. 22, p. 208-221, dez. 2011. Keywords: internet; democracia; representação; eleições; campanhas online, internet; democracy; representation; elections; online campaigns.

Title in English: Internet and the 2010 elections in Brazil: disruptions and continuities on the mediatic standards of... more Title in English: Internet and the 2010 elections in Brazil: disruptions and continuities on the mediatic standards of online political campaigns. Text in Portuguese. Abstract in English: This paper aims to identify some of the contemporary transformations in Brazilian online campaigns by analyzing three factors: (1) the new possibilities of providing political information, (2) the availability of mechanisms for participation and (3) the use of tools directed to improve accountability in electoral contexts. Paradoxically, such transformations have proven to be a kind of trend that directs how consultants manage online campaigns. In this sense, once the candidates – in case they wish to legitimize their political positions before their electorate – watch themselves being forced to offer the users abundant political information, as well as mechanisms of intervention and accountability, we consider this scenario and stand by the idea that improvement demands aimed at democracy as a whole end up being transferred to deputation candidates themselves.

Another Shooting In Cowtown

by Thomas Benson

Implicit Communication Theory In Campaign Coverage

by Thomas Benson

Supermercado político y democracia

by Luis F. Sánchez

Publicado originalmente en Revista Mexicana de Comunicación, Número 92, Mayo, 2005

¿cómo afecta el marketing político a la democracia? Un lugar común, al que parecen dirigirse ciertos autores como el... more ¿cómo afecta el marketing político a la democracia? Un lugar común, al que parecen dirigirse ciertos autores como el principal problema de la aplicación del marketing político durante los procesos electorales, es el relacionado con el contenido de las campañas electorales. Es una tesis que establece que la democracia está siendo reducida a unos procesos electorales competidos pero con escaso o nulo debate de ideas y propuestas políticas, en los que los partidos y candidatos sustentan las campañas políticas no tanto en sus propuestas y planteamientos ideológicos, sino en torno a las características carismáticas de los candidatos, procurando seguir casi siempre las pautas del mercado político.

Kampagne versus Dialog? NGOs, Web 2.0 und die Weiterentwicklung kommunikativer Strategien

by Ingmar Hagemann

A map drawn in sand: Twitter data and the structure of political campaigns

by Andreas Jungherr

Andreas Jungherr and Pascal Jürgens (2011) ‘A map drawn in sand: Twitter data and the structure of political campaigns’. Presentation at the Düsseldorf Workshop on Interdisciplinary Approaches to Twitter Analysis (DIATA11), Düsseldorf, Germany on 14-15 September 2011.

One tweet at a time: Mapping political campaigns through social media data

by Andreas Jungherr

Andreas Jungherr and Pascal Jürgens (2011) ‘One tweet at a time: Mapping political campaigns through social media data’. Paper presented at the 6th ECPR General Conference: European Consortium for Political Research, Reykjavik, Iceland on 24-27 August 2011.

Data collected from internet platforms provide researchers with new insights into human behavior online. As stated by... more Data collected from internet platforms provide researchers with new insights into human behavior online. As stated by the Computational Social Science (Lazer et al., 2009) and Digital Methods (Rogers, 2009) research programs these data also offer more general insights. Recently the microblogging service Twitter has become a popular tool for users to comment on political campaigns. The automatic collection of these messages is possible since users usually include a campaign specific #keyphrase. Users not only comment on politicians or parties but also post links to news articles and blog posts. This allows researchers to map campaigns: The frequency of twitter messages containing a campaign specific #keyphrase allows researchers to map the intensity of a given campaign over time; the frequency of words contained in campaign specific twitter messages allows researchers to map topics dominating specific campaigns during specific time frames; links to news content allow researchers to understand what elements of the media environment dominate the public discourse. We demonstrate this potential by analyzing twitter messages commenting on one of the most controversial recent public discussions in Germany, Stuttgart 21. The basis for this analysis are twitter messages by the 80.000 most active German twitter users collected through the Twitter API during 2010. Using all messages containing the keyphrase #s21 we map the development of the public discussion with regard to message frequency over time, dominating keywords in campaign specific messages, and media content prominently linked in campaign specific messages.

Predicting elections from the most important issue: A test of the take-the-best heuristic

by J Armstrong

Co-authored by Andreas Graefe.

We used the take-the-best heuristic to develop a model to forecast the popular two party vote shares in U.S.... more We used the take-the-best heuristic to develop a model to forecast the popular two party vote shares in U.S. presidential elections. The model draws upon information about how voters expect the candidates to deal with the most important issue facing the country. We used cross-validation to calculate a total of 1,000 out-of-sample forecasts, one for each of the last 100 days of the ten U.S. presidential elections from 1972 to 2008. Ninety-seven percent of forecasts correctly predicted the winner of the popular vote. The model forecasts were competitive compared to forecasts from methods that incorporate substantially more information (e.g., econometric models and the Iowa Electronic Markets). The purpose of the model is to provide fast advice on which issues candidates should stress in their campaign.

list of links, Andrés Ginestet and his work in the net

by Andrés Ginestet

list of links for a search about Andrés Ginestet in the net and his transdisciplinary academic/art/politics activities

links links

The Polarizing Influence of Fragmented Media: Lessons From Howard Dean

by Benjamin Warner

Co-authored with Ryan Neville-Shepard

This article argues that digital media, by fragmenting people into ideologically homogeneous interest groups,... more This article argues that digital media, by fragmenting people into ideologically homogeneous interest groups, polarizes society. Further, this polarization risks the transformation of agonistic
political engagement into antagonistic ideological combat. As evidence of this danger, the authors examine the case of Howard Dean’s 2004 presidential primary blogs. In these blogs, a rhetorical vision emerges of a dramatic fight between Dean’s heroic supporters and the villainous Republicans, media elite, and Democratic challengers. Examples from Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign blogs are offered as a counterpoint to the antagonism found in Dean’s blogs. The authors argue that the type of political drama evident in the Dean blogs invite antagonism that undermines cross-group cooperation and thus weakens democratic culture.