Voting in Old and New Democracies examines voting behavior and its determinants based on 26 surveys from 18 countries on five continents between 1992 and 2008. It systematically analyzes the impact on voting choice of factors rooted in the currently dominant approaches to the study of electoral behavior, but adds to this analysis factors introduced or reintroduced into this field by the Comparative National Elections Project (CNEP)-socio-political values, and political communication through media, personal discussion, and organizational intermediaries. It demonstrates empirically that these long-neglected factors have significant political impact in many countries that previous studies have overlooked, while "economic voting" is insignificant in most elections once long-term partisan attitudes are taken into consideration. Its examination of electoral turnout finds that the strongest predictor is participation by other family members, demonstrating the importance of intermediation. Another chapter surveys cross-national variations in patterns of intermediation, and examines the impact of general social processes (such as socioeconomic and technological modernization), country-specific factors, and individual-level attitudinal factors as determinants of those patterns. Complementing its cross-national comparative analysis is a detailed longitudinal case study of one country over 25 years. Finally, it examines the extent of support for democracy as well as significant cross-national differences in how democracy is understood by citizens. Written in a clear and accessible style, Voting in Old and New Democracies significantly advances our understanding of citizen attitudes and behavior in election settings.

When it comes to elections, campaigns matter. And despite the ever-increasing role of volunteers and amateurs, modern American political campaigns are a professional affair. Understanding how they are run and how campaign strategies are set requires an in-depth analysis of what political consultants do, from opposition research to public opinion polling and from directing media strategies to mobilzing voters--with fundraising a priority at all stages. At all levels of the electoral arena, modern, sophisticated campaigns cannot hope to be effective without the guiding disciplines of professional consultants. This thoroughly updated edition of Dennis W. Johnson's classic text, originally titled No Place for Amateurs, highlights the growing importance of social media, targeting and analytics, Super PACs and dark money in a post-Citizens United world.

Voting in Old and New Democracies examines voting behavior and its determinants based on 26 surveys from 18 countries on five continents between 1992 and 2008. It systematically analyzes the impact on voting choice of factors rooted in the currently dominant approaches to the study of electoral behavior, but adds to this analysis factors introduced or reintroduced into this field by the Comparative National Elections Project (CNEP)-socio-political values, and political communication through media, personal discussion, and organizational intermediaries. It demonstrates empirically that these long-neglected factors have significant political impact in many countries that previous studies have overlooked, while "economic voting" is insignificant in most elections once long-term partisan attitudes are taken into consideration. Its examination of electoral turnout finds that the strongest predictor is participation by other family members, demonstrating the importance of intermediation. Another chapter surveys cross-national variations in patterns of intermediation, and examines the impact of general social processes (such as socioeconomic and technological modernization), country-specific factors, and individual-level attitudinal factors as determinants of those patterns. Complementing its cross-national comparative analysis is a detailed longitudinal case study of one country over 25 years. Finally, it examines the extent of support for democracy as well as significant cross-national differences in how democracy is understood by citizens. Written in a clear and accessible style, Voting in Old and New Democracies significantly advances our understanding of citizen attitudes and behavior in election settings.

This volume pulls together key documents--statutes, court decisions, FEC advisory opinions, draft legislation--and scholarly articles that are essential references for any informed discussion of campaign finance reform. Each chapter includes a set of reprinted materials preceded by an explanation of the relevant issues by the editors. Topics include the history of federal statutes on campaign finance; major Supreme Court decisions; the constitutional contours of the current debate; a roadmap to the present rules of the game; political action committees; national parties; hard and soft money; express and issue advocacy; enforcing campaign finance law; and recent innovations and proposals. The volume is designed to help reformers and interested citizens understand how current campaign finance practices have evolved from previous decisions made by legislative, judicial, and executive bodies and what might be entailed in moving the system in a desired direction. Each of the editors has extensive practical experience in the field of campaign finance.

This book aims to further the research in the fields of social media and political communication by moving beyond the hype and avoiding the most eye-catching and spectacular cases. It looks at stable democracies without current political turmoil, small countries as well as large continents, and minor political parties as well as major ones. Investigating emerging practices in the United States, Europe, and Australia, both on national and local levels, enables us to grasp contemporary tendencies across different regions and countries. The book provides empirical insights into the diverse uses of different social media for political communication in different societies. Contributors look at the ways in which novel arenas connect with other channels for political communication, and how politicians as well as citizens in general use social media services. Presenting state-of-the-art methodological approaches, drawing on a combination of qualitative and quantitative analyses, the book brings together an interdisciplinary group of researchers in order to address emerging practices of the mediation of politics, campaign communication, and issues of citizenship and democracy as expressed on social media platforms. This book was originally published as a special issue of Information, Communication & Society.

From Afghanistan to Zimbabwe the world has witnessed a rising tide of contentious elections ending in heated partisan debates, court challenges, street protests, and legitimacy challenges. In some cases, disputes have been settled peacefully through legal appeals and electoral reforms. In the worst cases, however, disputes have triggered bloodshed or government downfalls and military coups. Contentious elections are characterized by major challenges, with different degrees of severity, to the legitimacy of electoral actors, procedures, or outcomes. Despite growing concern, until recently little research has studied this phenomenon. The theory unfolded in this volume suggests that problems of electoral malpractice erode confidence in electoral authorities, spur peaceful protests demonstrating against the outcome, and, in the most severe cases, lead to outbreaks of conflict and violence. Understanding this process is of vital concern for domestic reformers and the international community, as well as attracting a growing new research agenda. The editors, from the Electoral Integrity Project, bring together scholars considering a range of fresh evidence- analyzing public opinion surveys of confidence in elections and voter turnout within specific countries, as well as expert perceptions of the existence of peaceful electoral demonstrations, and survey and aggregate data monitoring outbreaks of electoral violence. The book provides insights invaluable for studies in democracy and democratization, comparative politics, comparative elections, peace and conflict studies, comparative sociology, international development, comparative public opinion, political behavior, political institutions, and public policy.

When it comes to elections, campaigns matter. And despite the ever-increasing role of volunteers and amateurs, modern American political campaigns are a professional affair. Understanding how they are run and how campaign strategies are set requires an in-depth analysis of what political consultants do, from opposition research to public opinion polling and from directing media strategies to mobilzing voters--with fundraising a priority at all stages. At all levels of the electoral arena, modern, sophisticated campaigns cannot hope to be effective without the guiding disciplines of professional consultants. This thoroughly updated edition of Dennis W. Johnson's classic text, originally titled No Place for Amateurs, highlights the growing importance of social media, targeting and analytics, Super PACs and dark money in a post-Citizens United world.

The Politics and Crisis Management of Animal Health Security addresses the 2001 foot and mouth epidemic in the United Kingdom - one of, if not the, most significant crises ever to face the UK farming industry. Underpinned by interviews with politicians and bureaucrats and with significant primary documentary analysis the book shows that the crisis was a critical juncture in how disease outbreaks have been planned and managed ever since. The author explores how this event affected policy and governance arrangements for managing subsequent disease-induced threats (such as avian influenza and bovine TB) and concludes by considering the 'temporality' of lesson learning by the UK government including the current and future challenges associated with managing incongruent risks (e.g., flood protection, swine flu and Ebola). This book provides students of public policy and administration with a significant illustration of how key concepts and analytical lenses from public policy can be applied to the study of the contours of practical policy change.

Our federal campaign finance system is in a state of disarray. The current regulatory scheme is not curbing, and may be abetting, the enormous increase in campaign contributions and expenditures. The enormous influence of major campaign donors on the process of government is a growing cause of national concern. The Special Commission of The Association of the Bar of the City of New York has spent the past two years studying the current system and developing a blueprint for reform. Composed of members with diverse political views and extensive legal and government experience, the Commission takes a fresh look at how to limit the undue influence of private money in federal elections. The result is a highly readable report that tells how the current system, established in the wake of the Watergate scandal, is being manipulated by monied special interests, and how the system can be reformed. The report addresses: how to develop a level playing field for candidates; how to limit the amount of money flowing into campaigns while allowing candidates to mount effective races; how to curb the use of soft money and issue advocacy while preserving the role of political parties; and how to structure a system that will restore public confidence in government. This account is must reading on an issue that is moving to the center of the national stage.

From Afghanistan to Zimbabwe the world has witnessed a rising tide of contentious elections ending in heated partisan debates, court challenges, street protests, and legitimacy challenges. In some cases, disputes have been settled peacefully through legal appeals and electoral reforms. In the worst cases, however, disputes have triggered bloodshed or government downfalls and military coups. Contentious elections are characterized by major challenges, with different degrees of severity, to the legitimacy of electoral actors, procedures, or outcomes. Despite growing concern, until recently little research has studied this phenomenon. The theory unfolded in this volume suggests that problems of electoral malpractice erode confidence in electoral authorities, spur peaceful protests demonstrating against the outcome, and, in the most severe cases, lead to outbreaks of conflict and violence. Understanding this process is of vital concern for domestic reformers and the international community, as well as attracting a growing new research agenda. The editors, from the Electoral Integrity Project, bring together scholars considering a range of fresh evidence- analyzing public opinion surveys of confidence in elections and voter turnout within specific countries, as well as expert perceptions of the existence of peaceful electoral demonstrations, and survey and aggregate data monitoring outbreaks of electoral violence. The book provides insights invaluable for studies in democracy and democratization, comparative politics, comparative elections, peace and conflict studies, comparative sociology, international development, comparative public opinion, political behavior, political institutions, and public policy.

This volume explores the way governments endeavoured to build and maintain public support for the war in Afghanistan, combining new insights on the effects of strategic narratives with an exhaustive series of case studies. In contemporary wars, with public opinion impacting heavily on outcomes, strategic narratives provide a grid for interpreting the why, what and how of the conflict. This book asks how public support for the deployment of military troops to Afghanistan was garnered, sustained or lost in thirteen contributing nations. Public attitudes in the US, Canada, Australia and Europe towards the use of military force were greatly shaped by the cohesiveness and content of the strategic narratives employed by national policy-makers. Assessing the ability of countries to craft a successful strategic narrative, the book addresses the following key areas: 1) how governments employ strategic narratives to gain public support; 2) how strategic narratives develop during the course of the conflict; 3) how these narratives are disseminated, framed and perceived through various media outlets; 4) how domestic audiences respond to strategic narratives; 5) how this interplay is conditioned by both events on the ground, in Afghanistan, and by structural elements of the domestic political systems. This book will be of much interest to students of international intervention, foreign policy, political communication, international security, strategic studies and IR in general.

It is widely assumed that a competitive political environment of public distrust and critical media forces political parties to manage communications and reputations strategically, but is this really true? Comprehensive control of communications in a fast-moving political and media setting isoften upset by events outside the communicator's control, taking over the news agenda andchanging the political narrative. Based on interviews with leading communicators and journalists, this book explores the tensions between a planned, strategic communications approach and a reactive, tactical one. The interviewees, who over the past 15 years have been instrumental in presenting and shaping the public persona of party leaders and Prime Ministers, include, amongst others, William Hague, Ian Duncan-Smith, Michael Howard, David Cameron, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.It draws a unique picture of how political reputations are managed and, ultimately, confirms the discrepancy between what political communications management is thought to be, and how communications practitioners actually operate. This book empirically reviews political communications practice in order to analyse to what degree reality matches the concepts of strategic communications management. This will be essential reading for researchers, educators and advanced students in public relations, communications studies and marketing.

Documentary filmmaking is one of the most vibrant areas of media activity in the Chinese world, with many independent filmmakers producing documentaries that deal with a range of sensitive socio-political problems, bringing to their work a strongly ethical approach. This book identifies notable similarities and crucial differences between new Chinese-language documentaries in mainland China and Taiwan. It outlines how documentary filmmaking has developed, contrasts independent documentaries with dominant official state productions, considers how independent documentary filmmakers go about their work, including the work of exhibiting their films and connecting with audiences, and discusses the content of their documentaries, showing how the filmmakers portray a wide range of subject matter regarding places and people, and how they deal with particular issues including the underprivileged, migrants and women in an ethical way. Throughout the book demonstrates how successful Chinese-language independent documentary filmmaking is, with many appearances at international film festivals and a growing number of award-winning titles.

Political Marketing in the United States explores how politicians and parties utilize marketing concepts and tools, providing an up-to-date and broad overview of how marketing permeates U.S. politics. The volume focuses on current and recent elections and leaders, and covers a range of topics, including market research, marketing parties and volunteers, strategy and branding, communications, delivery, and marketing in government. The main themes and objectives of the book are to cover: New and emerging trends in political marketing practice Analysis of a broad range of political marketing aspects Empirical examples as well as useful theoretical frameworks Discussion of state/local level as well as presidential politics This is the first comprehensive treatment of the subject available and captures the field as it is rapidly growing. It is a must-read for students and scholars of political parties, political communication, applied politics, and elections.

Technological, cultural and economic forces are transforming political communication, posing challenges and opportunities for politicians and media organisations, while at the same time many governments and civil society express concerns about the extent and nature of political empowerment and civic engagement. This book offers an international perspective on current thinking and practice about civic and audience empowerment, focusing on the ways and means through which media can empower or dis-empower citizens as audiences. It features theoretical and empirical chapters that draw specific attention to a reappraisal of the theories, methods and issues that inform our understanding of citizens and audiences in contemporary politics. The authors address the following questions: How much and what sorts of civic and audience empowerment are most desirable, and how does this differ cross-nationally? How do citizens relate to private and public spaces? How do citizens function in online, networked, liminal and alternative spaces? How do audiences of 'non-political' media spaces relate their experiences to politics? How are political parties and movements utilising audiences as co-creators of political communication and what are the consequences for democracy? With examples from the UK, USA, Holland, France, Germany, The Middle East, South Africa and Mexico, this innovative volume will be of interest to students and scholars of political science, marketing, journalism, cultural studies, public relations, media and international relations.

This book examines how renewed forms of artistic activism were developed in the wake of the neoliberal repression since the 1980s. The volume shows the diverse ways in which artists have sought to confront systemic crises around the globe, searching for new and enduring forms of building communities and reimagining the political horizon. The authors engage in a dialogue with these artistic efforts and their histories - in particular the earlier artistic activism that was developed during the civil rights era in the 1960s and 70s - providing valuable historical insight and new conceptual reflection on the future of aesthetic resilience. This book will be of interest to scholars in contemporary art, history of art, film and literary studies, protest movements, and social movements.

Combining historical and policy study with empirical research from a qualitative study of regional elites this book offers an original and timely insight into the progress of devolution of governance in England. With particular interest in how governments have tried and continue to engage English people in sub-national democratic processes while dealing with the realities of governance it uses in-depth interviews with key figures from three English regions to get the 'inside view' of how these processes are seen by the regional and local political, administrative, business and voluntary sector elites who have to make policies work in practice. Tracing the development of decentralisation policies through regional policies up to and including the general election in 2010 and the radical shift away from regionalism to localism by the new Coalition Government thereafter the authors look in detail at some of the key policies of the incumbent Coalition Government such as City Regions and Localism and their implementation. Finally they consider the implications of the existing situation and speculate on possible issues for the future.

What is symbolic representation? Since Hanna Pitkin's seminal The Concept of Representation, the symbolic has been the least studied dimension of political representation. Innovatively adopting a discursive approach, this book - the first full-length treatment of symbolic representation - focuses on gender issues to tackle important questions such as: What are women and men symbols of, and how is gender constructed in policy discourse? It studies what functions symbolic representation fulfils in the construction of gender, what social roles get legitimized in policy discourse, and how this affects power constellations, ultimately revealing much about the relation between symbolic, descriptive, and substantive representation. Emanuela Lombardo and Petra Meier draw on theories of symbolic representation and gender, as well as rich primary material about political debates on labour and care issues, partnership and reproductive rights, gender violence, and quotas. Using this original data, the authors show that reconsidering symbolic representation from a discursive perspective makes explicit issues of (in)equality embedded within particular constructions, as well as their consequences for political representation and gender equality. This important exploration raises relevant new questions regarding the representation of gender that form valuable contributions to the fields of political science, political theory, sociology, and gender studies.

On December 10, 2010, on stage in Oslo City Hall, an empty chair sat before more than one thousand people, holding only the medal and diploma of the year's Nobel Peace Prize winner. A larger-than-life photo of a smiling Liu Xiaobo hung in the background. This striking image is now known throughout the world. But who is Liu Xiaobo? For the first time, this biography by renowned Chinese author and close friend Yu Jie offers a first-hand look into the man behind the empty chair. Dissident, prisoner, poet, scholar, Liu was compelled by intolerable circumstances to embark on a campaign of intellectual dissent, becoming in the course of his journey a leading human rights activist and one of the most important political figures in modern history. In the quarter century since the Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989, Liu has been unable to lead a normal life. In this first authorized biography, Yu traces an extraordinary man's odyssey, from growing up in the northeast and Inner Mongolia during the Cultural Revolution, through his meteoric rise in Beijing's intellectual circles and his pivotal role in the Tiananmen protests and subsequent imprisonments, to the founding of the controversial Independent Chinese PEN and groundbreaking Charter 08, his poignant relationship with wife Liu Xia, and winning the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize. It is also a love story between two poets who, though separated by three hundred miles and eleven years behind bars, are united in their persistence to speak truth to power, inspiring countless others.

The 'Arab spring', the Spanish indignados, the Greek aganaktismenoi and the Occupy Wall Street movement all share a number of distinctive traits; they made extensive use of social networking and were committed to the direct democratic participation of all as they co-ordinated and conducted their actions. Leaderless and self-organized, they were socially and ideologically heterogeneous, dismissing fixed agendas or ideologies. Still, the assembled multitudes that animated these mobilizations often claimed to speak in the name of 'the people', and they aspired to empowered forms of egalitarian self-government in common. Similar features have marked collective resistances from the Zapatistas and the Seattle protests onwards, giving rise to theoretical and practical debates over the importance of these ideological and political forms. By engaging with the controversy between the autonomous, biopolitical 'multitude' of Hardt and Negri and the arguments in favour of the hegemony of 'the people' advanced by J. Ranciere, E. Laclau, C. Mouffe and S. Zizek the central aim of this book is to discuss these instances of collective mobilization, to probe the innovative practices and ideas they have developed and to debate their potential to reinvigorate democracy whilst seeking something better than 'disaster capitalism'.

Too often, existing literature has conflated the discourses that enabled the 'War on Terror', ignoring the contextual specificities of the states that make up the 'Coalition of the Willing'. Australia's 'war on terror' Discourse fills this gap by providing a full and sustained critical analysis of Australian foreign policy discourse along with the theoretical synthesis for a specific model of critical discourse analysis of the subject. The language of then Prime Minister Howard is the primary focus of the book but attention is also paid to the language of key ministers, political opponents and other prominent actors. The voices of those who challenged the dominant discourse are also considered to shed light on the ways in which discourses can be destabilised. Kathleen Gleeson shows how Howard successfully invoked narratives of identity and sovereignty that resonated with his audience and promoted his reworked narrative of Australia whilst facing dissent from many actors who voiced their opposition most successfully when they capitalised on inconsistencies within the discourse.

'Influence' is a slippery concept, yet one of tremendous relevance for those wishing to understand global politics. From debates on the changing sources of power in the international system, through to analyses of its value as an alternative to the active use of force as a policy instrument, influence has become a recurrent theme in discussions of international relations and foreign policy. In order to provide a better understanding of the multifaceted and shifting nature of influence, this volume looks at how the British government employed various forms of pressure and persuasion to achieve its goals across the twentieth century. By focusing on Britain - a global actor with great power objectives but declining physical means - the collection provides a wide range of case studies to assess how influence was brought to bear on a wide array of non-western cultures and societies. It furthermore allows for an assessment of just how effective - or ineffective - British efforts were at influencing non-Western targets over a hundred years of operations. By shedding important light on the efficacy of British efforts to sustain and advance its interests in the twentieth century, the volume will be of interest not only to historians, but to anyone interested in contemporary problems surrounding the operation of influence as a foreign policy tool.

According to the Duvergerian theories, in the long run, only viable parties are expected to stand for elections. Non-viable parties should join a pre-electoral coalition with another party or withdraw from competition entirely. Why then do non-viable political parties throughout the world systematically continue presenting candidates? This book responds to this evident but unanswered question to create a general theory about deviations from the Duvergerian equilibrium. The author argues that, far from being just a random or irrational decision, the choice of political parties to present candidates when they do not expect to achieve representation can be explained by the overlap of electoral arenas, that generate opportunities for viable parties to present candidates where they are non-viable. In sum, political parties will take advantage of their viability in an arena to present candidacies in other arenas where they do not have chances to become viable. The building of this new theory on electoral contamination allows the construction of a new and more encompassing conceptual framework through which to make sense of what, until now, has been understood as disparate phenomena and contributes to a better understanding of political parties' strategic behaviour.

Voting hides a familiar puzzle. Many people take the trouble to vote even though each voter's prospect of deciding the election is nearly nil. Russians vote even when pervasive electoral fraud virtually eliminates even that slim chance. The right to vote has commonly been won by protesters who risked death or injury even though any one protester could have stayed home without lessening the protest's chance of success. Could people vote or protest because they stop considering their own chances and start to think about an identity shared with others? If what they hear or read affects political identity, a shift in political discourse might not just evoke protests and voting but also make the minority that has imposed the dictator's will suddenly lose heart. During the Soviet Union's final years the cues that set communist discourse apart from standard Russian sharply dwindled. A similar convergence of political discourse with local language has preceded expansion of the right to vote in many states around the globe. Richard D. Anderson, Jr., presents a groundbreaking theory of what language use does to politics.

Michael Paul Rogin's scholarship profoundly altered the scope, content, and disposition of political theory. He reconstituted the field by opening it to an array of texts, performances, and methods previously considered beyond the purview of the discipline. His work addressed the relationship between dimensions of politics typically split apart - institutional power and cultural forms, material interests and symbolic meanings, class projects and identity politics, the public and the private. Rogin's scholarship enlarges our sense of the borders and genres defining political theory as a field and enriches our capacity to think critically and creatively about the political. The editors have focused on three categories of substantive innovation: Demonology and Countersubversion Rogin used the concepts "countersubversive tradition" and "political demonology" to theorize how constitutive exclusions and charged images of otherness generated imagined national community. He exposed not only the dynamics of suppressing and delegitimizing political opposition, but also how politics itself is devalued and displaced. The Psychic Life of Liberal Society Rogin addressed the essential contradiction in liberalism as both an ideology and a regime - how a polity professing equality, liberty, and pluralist toleration engages in genocide, slavery, and imperial war. Political Mediation: Institutions and Culture Rogin demonstrated how cultural forms - pervasive myths, literary and cinematic works - mediate political life, and how political institutions mediate cultural energies and aspirations.