Political Campaigning and Communication

This book provides a new analytical perspective on the strategies, membership and communication management of political parties in Poland. The authors address why some political parties have managed to strengthen and survive while others have failed to do the same. The research was carried out in the years 2016–2018, when Poland started to be seen more and more as a weakening democracy.

This volume employs a comparative approach to cast light on representation and representative processes from a communications perspective. It focuses on online constituency communication, aiming to provide a perspective from which to empirically study the changes taking place in the relationship between citizens and their representatives. The (hyper)mediatisation of politics and society is here considered a relevant enabling factor, because it creates the conditions leading to change in the nature of democratic processes. The chapters discuss Podemos, the Lega, Law and Justice, and the Five-star Movement as good examples of this phenomenon.

Populist and nationalist forces have emerged as bottom-up and top-down entities aiming to embody the will of the people, or to push for democratic processes to be more inclusive. Until now, however, the intersection between populist and nationalist discourses and the related question of representation have been largely ignored. By analysingthe transformations that have taken place in MPs’ communication practices in non-election periods, the contributors illuminate how social media is affecting MPs’ communication and examine the strains in the relationship between executives and legislatures that populist and nationalist parties exploit.

The book examines how US media, public opinion, interest groups and think tanks respond to US Presidents’ attempts to market their foreign policies in the MENA Region. The scope of the analysis extends from the war on terror to the so-called Arab Spring. It focuses on some case studies including the Arab-Israeli conflict and the Iran nuclear deal. The book fills a gap in the literature pertaining to analyzing US foreign policy in the MENA area from a political communication perspective rather than from IR or a political-theory angle, which remains the dominant literature. In so saying, the book will appeal to students, researchers as well as thinks tanks and policy makers.

This book provides an in-depth analysis of the voting criteria of selectors in Greek political parties’ leadership elections, focusing on open and semi-open primaries. It examines seven multi-candidate leadership contests organised by the centre-left PASOK, the centre-right New Democracy, and the radical left SYRIZA during 2007 – 2023, from the theoretical perspective of the Stark model and the three ordered selection criteria. Drawing on polling evidence and interviews with candidates, party officials and their aides, the book argues that the model helps explain the results of Greek parties’ six in seven leadership elections.

This book analyses visual expressions of populism in France to provide new insights into contemporary political communication. It focuses on images produced by the Rassemblement National and la France insoumise – parties on the far right and far left respectively – as part of their political campaigns. The author explores issues such as representation, symbolism, the power of narratives, dystopian imagery and counterculture, throughout posters and social media. It highlights the strategies of these parties, particularly in relation to the use of the themes of resistance, revolution and patriotism. The book is a valuable resource for academics, students and practitioners who seek to better understand populism in France and beyond.