American voters will be empowered by this revealing, behind-the-scene expose of the marketing strategies and tactics political candidates use to win their hearts, minds, donations, and votes. Branding the Candidate: Marketing Strategies to Win Your Vote was written to empower voters to become sharper, more informed political consumers. It does that by taking a close look at political marketing strategies, especially those used by the Obama presidential campaign, which took marketing to a new level of sophistication. Specifically, the book discusses the creation of the Obama brand; how the Obama campaign used database-driven, political microtargeting and high-tech digital media to reach various market segments; and the campaign's development and implementation of new political fundraising techniques. The book also discusses how a candidate who is created as a "brand" must cope with the challenges of "brand management" once in power. Finally, the authors counsel voters on how to arm themselves against the branding and marketing techniques that will be employed by candidates in the 2012 election, and they reflect on what the widespread extension of these techniques to the political process means for American democracy. "Promise meters" with which to evaluate candidate campaign promises and marketing strategies Charts and tables that summarize information about political marketing, including presidential campaign slogans, political fundraising regulations, and results Sidebars highlighting campaign quotes and calling out key points Enlightening, chapter-by-chapter summaries of lessons learned to empower voters to resist political campaign marketing manipulation

Sweden has often been described as a democratic forerunner, with one of the world's most stable party systems and with a well-functioning parliamentary system. However, the political landscape in Sweden has undergone a rapid change in recent years. The institutions of the political system - not least political parties - appear from a historical perspective to have become partly dysfunctional. The previously stable party system has become unstable. Consequently, it has become more difficult to form governments, and more difficult for governments to govern. The famous culture of consensus has been replaced by a harsher and more confrontational political climate; the tone in political debate has become more aggressive. During the so-called `golden age' of the party system, which lasted for a few decades from the middle of the twentieth century, parties could successfully mobilize broad and well-defined social interests with strong collective identities. Now, other conditions apply that have dramatically changed the role of parties in the democratic process. Parties have gone from being member-based popular movements to becoming professionalized voter-orientated campaign machines. Short-sightedness and a focus on median voters mean that the established parties have become increasingly similar, and populist parties have had great success in recent decades as a consequence. This volume, aimed at political scientists and those interested in discussion and analysis of Swedish political party dynamics, focuses on political parties in Sweden, how they have changed and what the changes mean in a wider sense.

This book analyses the arrival of emerging and traditional information and technology for public and economic use in Latin America. It focuses on the governmental, economic and security issues and the study of the complex relationship between citizens and government. The book is divided into three parts: * 'Digital data and privacy, prospects and barriers' centers on the debates among the right of privacy and the loss of intimacy in the Internet, * 'Homeland security and human rights' focuses on how novel technologies such as drones and autonomous weapons systems reconfigure the strategies of police authorities and organized crime, * 'Labor Markets, digital media and emerging technologies' emphasize the legal, economic and social perils and challenges caused by the increased presence of social media, blockchain-based applications, artificial intelligence and automation technologies in the Latin American economy. This first volume in a two volume set will be important reading for scholars and students of governance in Latin American, the protection of human rights and the use of technology to combat crime and the new advances of digital economy in the region.

This volume explores the shifts in how civil disobedience has come to be theorized, defined, understood, and practised in contemporary politics. As social activism takes increasingly global forms, the goals of individuals and groups who view themselves as disobedient activists today can be defined in broader cultural terms than before, and their relationship to law and violence can be ambiguous. Civil disobedience may no longer be entirely nonviolent, its purposes no longer necessarily serve progressive or emancipatory agendas. Its manifestations often blur the lines established in "classic", philosophically justified, and self-regulatory forms as epitomised in mass nonviolent protests of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King and theories of Arendt, Rawls and Dworkin. How civil disobedience operates has changed over the years, and this volume unpacks its many contemporary lives. It discusses new theoretical and political dilemmas and paradoxes through empirical cases and practical examples from Europe, the United States, and South Asia, which enables a "mirroring" perspective for the challenges and complexities of civil disobedience in different parts of the world. Bringing together innovative and introspective perspectives on people and protests in contemporary political contexts, this volume will be of great interest to scholars and philosophers of political science, international relations theory, political philosophy, peace and conflict studies, sociology, and cultural studies.

Very topical, hoping to publish not long after the anniversary of the Capitol Riots. Offers multiple readings of a single event, and a variety of methodologies. Offers a strong balance between well-established paradigms for analyzing political contexts and recent theorizations of new/social media.

This book explores how leading news media responded to the 2008 financial crisis and its aftermath, showing how journalists regularly framed discussions about post-crisis regulatory reform in ways that reinforced the same market liberal policy paradigm that had ushered in the crisis. Drawing on an analysis of nearly three years of news coverage and on interviews with journalists who covered the financial crash for major media groups, Adam Cox demonstrates how this framing of issues, often focusing on the costs of tighter regulation rather than the preventive benefits, formed the basis of a post-crisis narrative in the United States that undermined the role of the state, despite the wreckage that had just occurred. He looks at how state actors, think tanks and the financial industry worked in concert to encourage such a narrative, ultimately lending support to a market liberal worldview that was being seriously challenged for the first time in decades. While highlighting journalists' ability to resist agenda-building efforts by powerful actors, this book offers a methodology for considering media narratives based on quantitative analysis of framing patterns. News Media and the Financial Crisis is aimed at students and researchers working at the intersection of communications, journalism, political economy and public policy.

Political parties are an established feature of contemporary democratic politics. For decades, parties have organised government, competed in elections and influenced the way society is run. Yet despite their importance, the status of political parties in society is presently unclear. On the one hand lambasted as duplicitous, self-interested, dogmatic organisations that are in decline, on the other they have been proclaimed as resurgent bodies that are attracting new levels of membership and support. The reimagined party offers unprecedented insight into public views of parties in Britain. Exploring public perceptions and desires, Katharine Dommett finds that far from rejecting parties, there is ongoing support for party democracy. The book presents evidence of a desire for change in party ethos, introducing the idea of the re-imagined party to explore perceptions of party representation, participation, governance and conduct. Using a mixed-method approach, and presenting hitherto unseen data, the book casts new light on citizen's desires for parties today. -- .

This volume places the spotlight on the role different media and communications systems played in informing the public about the pandemic, shaping their views about what was happening and contributing to behavioural compliances with pandemic-related restrictions. Throughout the pandemic, media coverage has played an important role in drawing attention to specific messages, influencing public risk perceptions and fear responses. Mainstream media and other electronic communication systems such as Facebook and WhatsApp have been pivotal in getting pandemic information out to the public, thereby influencing their beliefs, attitudes and behaviour and engaging them generally in the pandemic as stakeholders. In this timely volume, author Barrie Gunter considers how people reacted to this coverage and its contribution to their understanding of what was going on, including the influence of fake news and misinformation on public beliefs about the pandemic, from anti-lockdown protests to the "anti-vaxx" movement. In addition, looking at how government messaging was not always consistent or clear and how different authorities were found not always to be in harmony or compliance with the messages they put out, Gunter examines the harm done by presenting different publics with ambiguous or conflicting narratives. Drawing out important communications strategy lessons to be learned for the future, this is essential reading for students and researchers in psychology, public health and medical sciences and for policymakers who assess government strategies, responses and performance.

Social Progress and the Authoritarian Challenge to Democracy examines the authoritarian challenge to present-day democracy through a framing of social progress theory and the idea of the social contract. Building on the author's previous work, this book discusses whether social progress is linear and on a continual upward trajectory to human betterment, or if there are peaks and troughs along the way. More importantly, it questions that, if social progress exists, is it compatible with social and environmental sustainability? At the outset the book introduces the concepts of social contract theory and the idea of human social progress, long considered to be settled conditions, now ripe for further examination. Each chapter carefully analyses the contemporary struggle between democracy and authoritarianism, using examples from the USA as a foundation to discuss and compare democracies from around the world encountering the pressures of rising authoritarianism, including anti-immigration, xenophobia and anti-institutionalism. It argues that if the climate crisis is to be urgently addressed as required, the rise in authoritarian thinking, with its focus on maintaining power and the creation of individual wealth, presents a challenge to both our societal foundations and environmental sustainability. Highlighting and analysing topics of critical importance to today's society, this book will have widespread appeal to academics, researchers and postgraduate students throughout the social sciences including sociology, political science, philosophy, environmental sustainability and development studies.

This volume places the spotlight on the role different media and communications systems played in informing the public about the pandemic, shaping their views about what was happening and contributing to behavioural compliances with pandemic-related restrictions. Throughout the pandemic, media coverage has played an important role in drawing attention to specific messages, influencing public risk perceptions and fear responses. Mainstream media and other electronic communication systems such as Facebook and WhatsApp have been pivotal in getting pandemic information out to the public, thereby influencing their beliefs, attitudes and behaviour and engaging them generally in the pandemic as stakeholders. In this timely volume, author Barrie Gunter considers how people reacted to this coverage and its contribution to their understanding of what was going on, including the influence of fake news and misinformation on public beliefs about the pandemic, from anti-lockdown protests to the "anti-vaxx" movement. In addition, looking at how government messaging was not always consistent or clear and how different authorities were found not always to be in harmony or compliance with the messages they put out, Gunter examines the harm done by presenting different publics with ambiguous or conflicting narratives. Drawing out important communications strategy lessons to be learned for the future, this is essential reading for students and researchers in psychology, public health and medical sciences and for policymakers who assess government strategies, responses and performance.

Extremely well written and organized in an accessible way without talking down to the reader, drawing the reader in with its conversational, exploratory style. Provides a unique, brief set of conceptual tools (the five principles) that is pulled through the entire text to help make sense of the broader field of political communication. Excellent use of examples and case studies that illustrate major concepts, including framing and media effects. A multi-perspective approach (political elites, journalists, etc.), valuable for analyzing power dynamics in various media environments. Deals extensively with the role of media in war, peace, and terrorism, adding important international coverage alongside domestic media politics in elections. Integrates discussion of new media alongside coverage of traditional media for a comprehensive understanding of contemporary political communication. * Puts forth a balanced argument that prompts students to stay focused on the political context in which the media is operating. New to the Second Edition Up-to-date coverage of major political events in the last decade, including the landmark US elections of 2016 and 2020. Devotes more attention to the "hybrid media system" that has developed over the last decade, providing a greater balance between traditional "news" and social media in particular. Includes more cross-national research, especially in non-Western and non-democratic countries. Refines the five principles of political communication to better reflect contemporary media trends. Covers key emerging topics including misinformation and threats to democratic institutions, new forms of political engagement, and the economic base of the various forms of media.

Foregrounding street art in the capital cities of Cuba, Haiti, and Puerto Rico, this book argues that Antillean street artists diagnose the "impossible state" of the arrested present (colonized, occupied, or under dictatorship) while simultaneously imagining liberated futures and fully sovereign states. Jana Evans Braziel launches a comparative study of art, politics, history, urban street cultures, engaged citizenships, and social transformations in three Antillean capital cities-Havana, Cuba; Port-au-Prince, Haiti; and San Juan, Puerto Rico-of the Greater Caribbean. The book includes a photo documentary archive of street art, murals, and installations by key muralists in these cities: Yulier Rodriguez Perez, "Jerry" Rosembert Moise, and Colectivo Morivivi (Chachi Gonzalez Colon, Raysa Rodriguez Garcia, and Salome Cortes). Braziel offers art historical and geopolitical analyses of the urban street art in their cities of production, underscoring street art as political, economic, and environmental engagements (and not as exclusively aesthetic ones) with urban space and street life. The book will be of interest to scholars working in art history, Caribbean studies, Latin American studies, and urban studies.

This book is written for contemporary students, translating difficult theoretical and empirical insights into language they can understand. It clearly demonstrates the application of theory to the analysis of contemporary digital media and politics. Suitable for both undergraduate and graduate courses and modules in media and communication studies, cultural studies, sociology, and political science. Clear two part structure with chapters first addressing 'Theories' of fascism, followed by 'Applications', which includes case studies on Trump's Twitter use and far-right digital media communication.

The Presidential Election of 2020: Donald Trump and the Crisis of Democracy places the election of 2020 within the context of the Trump presidency, a chaotic and tense time in American politics and a dangerous one. The election is analyzed in depth and its meaning for the state of American society is made clear. A major theme in the book is a critique of Donald Trump's leadership, his incompetence in office, his appeal to followers and the danger this has proven to represent. Among other things, he was accused of mental instability during his presidency. Yet he received the second highest vote total in American history, exceeded only by winning candidate Joe Biden's. Trump was impeached twice for his actions in office but both times not held responsible for what he had done by a Republican-controlled Senate. The election is placed in an on-going context. It was followed by strenuous attempts by Trump and associates to have states reverse their results and declare him the winner and by the Trump-organized seditious assault on the Capitol in which five people died. The objective was to force Vice President Mike Pence, who was chairing a Joint Session of Congress, normally a formality, to instead reject the Electoral College vote outcome. Pence would not do it. His life and that of Speaker Nancy Pelosi were threatened by the rioters. The threat of a coup, a new development in American politics, and one led by Trump and others who share his views, remains. Meanwhile President Joe Biden in his efforts to reconstruct America has introduced the most ambitious policy agenda since the New Deal.

Introduces the basic theories and analyses the cultural construction of populism regarding radical democratic theory and empirical studies. The author builds a bridge between radical democratic and ideational approaches on populism with examples and studies that emphasise European radical right populism, alongside US, Latin American and Asian cases. The future of populism is discussed in regard to Covid-19 pandemic and Donald Trump's fall in the US presidential elections in 2020 that together with above-mentioned global megatrends and with the development of media and communication environment set conditions for the 2020s populism.

This book explores and interrogates a diverse variety of popular and culturally relevant American science fiction films made in the first two decades of the new millennium It offers a ground-breaking investigation of the impactful role of genre cinema in the modern era The book interrogates some of the defining critical debates of the era via an in-depth analysis of a range of important films It places one of the most popular and culturally resonant American film genres broadly within its rich social, historical, industrial, and political context, Brings together an international team of authors Offering new insights and perspectives on the cinematic science fiction genre, this volume will appeal primarily to scholars and students of film, television, culture and media studies, as well as anyone interested in science fiction and speculative film

This book reveals how Al Jazeera and its news coverage became a force for change politically, socially and culturally in the Middle East in general, and the Arab world in particular. It explores pre-Al Jazeera and post-Al Jazeera representations of humanitarian crises and identifies a potentially significant partnership between the news organizations and humanitarian actors. By tracing the evolution of the news network, the book sheds new light on how Al Jazeera effected change in the Global South. The research identifies a significant relationship between Al Jazeera's news coverage and the ability to forecast international humanitarian actions, politically and militarily. It also explores the potential for continued partnership between humanitarian actors and news organization to identify crises in their early stages. Lastly, the book examines the distinct, original lexicon developed by Al Jazeera for humanitarian affairs and shows how the network influenced international media stylebooks and changed humanitarian coverage on key global issues. A compelling examination of Al Jazeera's news operation that will be of interest to students and scholars of media studies, political communication, journalism and news reporting, international politics and the media, and Arab media.

Investigating art practitioners' responses to violence, this book considers how artists have used art practices to rethink concepts of violence and non-violence. It explores the strategies that artists have deployed to expose physical and symbolic violence through representational, performative and interventional means. It examines how intellectual and material contexts have affected art interventions and how visual arts can open up critical spaces to explore violence without reinforcement or recuperation. Its premises are that art is not only able to contest prevailing norms about violence but that contemporary artists are consciously engaging with publics through their practice in order to do so. Contributors respond to three questions: how can political violence be understood or interpreted through art? How are publics understood or identified? How are art interventions designed to shift, challenge or respond to public perceptions of political violence and how are they constrained by them? They discuss violence in the everyday and at state level: the Watts' Rebellion and Occupy, repression in Russia, domination in Hong Kong, the violence of migration and the unfolding art activist logic of the sigma portfolio. Asking how public debates can be shaped through the visual and performing arts and setting taboos about violence to one side, the volume provides an innovative approach to a perennial issue of interest to scholars of international politics, art and cultural studies.

This book investigates news use patterns among five different generations in a time where digital media create a multi-choice media environment. The book introduces the EPIG Model (Engagement-Participation-Information-Generation) to study how different generational cohorts' exposure to political information is related to their political engagement and participation. The authors build on a multi-method framework to determine direct and indirect media effects across generations. The unique dataset allows for comparison of effects between legacy and social media use and helps to disentangle the influence on citizens' political involvement in nonelection as well as during political campaign times. Bringing the newly of-age Generation Z into the picture, the book presents an in-depth understanding of how a changing media environment presents different challenges and opportunities for political involvement of this, as well as older generations. Bringing the conversation around political engagement and the media up to date for the new generation, this book will be of key importance to scholars and students in the areas of media studies, communication studies, technology, political science and political communication.

This book critically examines the role and politics of humour and the performance of power in South Asia. What does humour do and how does it manifest when lived political circumstances experience ruptures or instability? Can humour that emerges in such circumstances be viewed as a specific narrative on the nature of democracy in the region? Drawing upon essays from India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, this volume discusses many crucial historical and contemporary themes, including dance-drama performances in northern India; caste and stand-up comedy in India; cartoon narratives of citizens' anxieties; civic participation through social media memes in Sri Lanka; media, politics and humorous public in Bangladesh; the politics of performance in India; and the influence of humour and satire as political commentaries. The volume explores the impact of humour in South Asian folklore, ritual performances, media and journalism, and online technologies. This topical and interdisciplinary book will be essential for scholars and researchers of cultural studies, political science, sociology and social anthropology, media and communication studies, theatre and performance studies, and South Asian studies.

This book critically examines the role and politics of humour and the performance of power in South Asia. What does humour do and how does it manifest when lived political circumstances experience ruptures or instability? Can humour that emerges in such circumstances be viewed as a specific narrative on the nature of democracy in the region? Drawing upon essays from India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, this volume discusses many crucial historical and contemporary themes, including dance-drama performances in northern India; caste and stand-up comedy in India; cartoon narratives of citizens' anxieties; civic participation through social media memes in Sri Lanka; media, politics and humorous public in Bangladesh; the politics of performance in India; and the influence of humour and satire as political commentaries. The volume explores the impact of humour in South Asian folklore, ritual performances, media and journalism, and online technologies. This topical and interdisciplinary book will be essential for scholars and researchers of cultural studies, political science, sociology and social anthropology, media and communication studies, theatre and performance studies, and South Asian studies.

An international collection of essays by leading academics, artists, writers, and curators examining ways in which the global tragedies of our century are being negotiated in current theatre practice Includes discussion on how dramaturgy and performance today have tackled specific forms of crisis that seem inherent to the 21st century Includes essays, provocations, interviews, original works, and diaries by theatre artists

This book examines the visual-sexual turn in social media discourses in the field of online activism with a particular focus on the extraordinary protest years of 2018-2020. Presenting a socially engaged theory of "tit-for-tat media" and including case-studies on activist movements such as the Euro-American alt-right, the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong, and revolutionary artists in China, this study reveals how visual cultures, including gendered or sexualized imagery, are utilized to influence public perception. By presenting in-depth explorations of online ethnography, interviews with activists and studies of the political histories and urban protests-environments, the volume uncovers how local artists, netizens and citizens are using media and digital imagery in contemporary activism. Covering a broad spectrum of social media content, from hyper-cute manga and cartoons to satirical pornography and sexualized hate-speech, it will be of huge interest to students and scholars of media and communication studies, political communication, sexuality and gender studies.

Provides both students and researchers with an inclusive survey of environmental communication research from around the world, featuring scholars from Africa, Latin American and Asian countries. Includes theoretical, methodological, and practical chapters for a comprehensive introduction to the field. Uniquely, each chapter brings together authors from various countries to develop a truly international overview of the issue covered in the chapter. This novel approach opens up a conversation across countries and breaks geographic and disciplinary boundaries.

Rhetoric, Media, and the Narratives of US Foreign Policy: Making Enemies studies the process of communicating threats to the US public and explores when and why the American public believes another country or regime is a threat. Through a comparative and historical study, the author focuses on how the media environment enables and constrains rhetorical strategies deployed to construct, reproduce, and change narratives about a threat. Recent literature on threat inflation, securitization, and critical security studies returned to the concept of "threat." Building on this renewed conceptual attention, this book examines why and how policy makers and other public figures, in particular the President, convince the public about a threat and will be of interest to students and academics in the disciplines of political science, international relations, foreign policy, security studies, and contemporary history.