Global Political Campaigning: A Worldwide Analysis of Campaign Professionals and Their Practices

Fritz Plasser

Feb 2002 · Bloomsbury Publishing USA

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Plasser examines the changing practices of election campaigning worldwide. Based on data of an indepth survey of campaign managers and political consultants from 43 countries, he provides insights into the professional role definitions and strategic orientations determining the future of electioneering in media-centered democracies.

The first section gives a state-of-the-art overview of the international literature and modernization theories describing and analyzing the ongoing process of modernization and growing professionalization of electioneering around the world. The second section deals with the topic of an Americanization of campaign practices in countries fundamentally different from the United States from a diffusion point of view. A special focus is the role of U.S. overseas consultants in influencing and modifying campaign practices in foreign countries based on indepth interviews about the professional experiences of leading figures of the Americans overseas consultancy business. The third section deals with central features of campaign practices from a comparative perspective and provides information and data about the media infrastructure and political culture indicators for 50 countries as well as a detailed comparison of country-specific campaign regulations, party system features, and campaign styles. The fourth section focuses on the results of Plasser's Global Political Consultancy Survey among 592 campaign professionals from 43 countries. The results of this first worldwide survey offer insights into professional orientations, role definitions, and practices of campaign managers and political consultants throughout the world. The fifth section discusses different area- and country-specific campaign styles from a comparative perspective. The final chapters present a global typology of distinct campaign styles across the world, summarize the central findings, and link them to the ongoing debate about the future of electioneering in media-centered democracies. An essential research tool for scholars, students, and other researchers involved with comparative electioneering, political management, and political communication.

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FRITZ PLASSER is Professor of Political Science at the University of Innsbruck and Director of the Center for Applied Political Research in Vienna. He has been author, co-author, or editor of 21 books and has published widely on campaigns and elections from a comparative perspective.

GUNDA PLASSER is Senior Research Advisor with the Center for Applied Political Research. She previously worked as an international research manager for a large marketing research company in Vienna, Austria, where she specialized in East Central and Eastern Europe.