Sympathy for the Devil

2016 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-84
Author(s):  
Glen Smith

This study examines whether broadcast news reduces negativity toward political leaders by exposing partisans to opposing viewpoints. For analysis, both exposure to broadcast news and variation in media content are used to predict changes in feelings toward the candidates during the 2008 presidential election. The results suggest that increased exposure to broadcast news increased partisans’ favorability toward the out-party candidate. In addition, increased coverage of the candidates was followed by increased favorability among members of the opposing party. These results demonstrate the benefits of exposure to two-sided communications flows for the reduction of animosity between the political parties. Moreover, these results suggest that public negativity toward political leaders might be even worse if not for the large amount of overlap between the audiences for partisan and mainstream news outlets.

Author(s):  
Andrew Sanders

After Clinton’s second term in office ended, President George W Bush moved the Special Envoy to Northern Ireland to the State Department, but his Envoys, led by Richard Haass and Mitchell Reiss, were no less engaged in Northern Irish affairs as the political figures there sought to create a functional government at Stormont Parliament Buildings. A series of significant obstacles emerged, but the Northern Ireland Assembly finally formed in 2007 before Bush left office. He was succeeded by President Barack Obama who had little interest in Northern Ireland but Obama’s initial Secretary of State, former Senator Hillary Clinton, was well-versed in Northern Irish issues. This chapter also examines the role of Northern Ireland in the 2008 Democratic Primary contest and, to a lesser extent, the 2008 Presidential Election.


2019 ◽  
pp. 1222-1236
Author(s):  
Flaminia Saccà

In the last decade, Italy has gone through some deep changes in the political sphere. The fall of the Berlin Wall had forced political parties from opposite sides to re-organize themselves: their targets, ideologies and projects. At the same time, these historical events have been shortly followed by a major national bribe scandal that invested the main political leaders who had governed the Country for half a century. As a result, the last turn of the past Millennium has left a strongly politicized Country with no acknowledged leaders, no clear ideologies, no traditional, recognizable parties. It is in those years that Berlusconi's new venture gained votes and success. The fracture between political organizations, leaders and citizens though, became unhealable. The younger generations seemed to be the ones who suffered the most from political apathy or, worse, distrust. So we wanted to investigate who were the young politicians who, in these times of crises, had chosen politics as an important part of their lives. We have carried out two different surveys in different years and we found that political parties were changing deeply and radically. That their role in the political socialization of young political actors had become very thin. That candidates began to be chosen amongst the affluent few or, at least, amongst those whose personal fame and social/professional/family network would guarantee their party at least a dowry of votes that could make the difference in times of elections. But this method would not guarantee cohesion nor government stability.


2020 ◽  
pp. 146144482097239
Author(s):  
Antonio Pineda ◽  
Elena Bellido-Pérez ◽  
Ana I Barragán-Romero

The political use of social media is a well-established field of research. We perform a content analysis of the messages posted on Instagram—one of the fastest growing social networking sites—by the leaders of the four main political parties in Spain, with special emphasis on the interactive use of this platform and the functions played by the posts. The sample of Instagram posts includes a non-election period and a period of regional elections. The results point to a practically irrelevant use of interactive tools, and an emphasis on the self-promotion of leaders and their parties. Accordingly, the data show that Instagram is basically used by Spanish leaders as a supplement to their campaign efforts and strategic objectives. These findings are discussed and linked to broader theoretical issues such as the hypothesis of normalization and the use of the Internet for broadcasting.


First Monday ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Javier Bustos Díaz ◽  
Francisco Javier Ruiz del Olmo ◽  
Miguel Nazario Moreno Velasco

The regional elections in Catalonia held on 21 December 2017 received wide media coverage, far beyond Spanish media, due to separatist tension in that territory and was one of the main topics in most of the world’s media. Within this process social networks, especially Twitter, obtained crucial relevance given the interest aroused by the political leaders’ publications, since in those elections the debate transcended the usual ideological divisions of right and left and became a struggle between constitutionalists and separatists. This paper analyses the presence and influence of the main candidates of the Catalan political parties on Twitter. To achieve this, a mainly quantitative, mixed methodology based on big data was carried out where all the tweets issued by the candidates during the electoral campaign were analysed.


2006 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 6-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amal Jamal

This article describes the rise of a second generation of Arab political leaders in Israel as seen in the proliferation of explicitly Arab political parties (nationalist and Islamist) and Arab NGOs (secular and religious). While more representative of Israel's Arab community than the its predecessors, reflecting the community's growing national consciousness, the new leadership is also more fragmented. The author acknowledges Israel's active efforts to weaken the new leaders, but asserts that fragmentation has also resulted from continuing traditional structures, including extended family, a culture of notables manifested in the personalization of institutions, and patriarchy, particularly the political exclusion of women.


2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. p1
Author(s):  
Rantu Sarmah ◽  
Dr. Niranjan Mohapatra

This is an attempt to find out the role of social media in election campaigning in India with special reference to Assam. Democratic countries like United States of America, India the social media has become an integral part for political communications during election campaigning. This new way of campaigning during election plays an important role to attract voters. Social media has given a new platform such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Whatsapp, Youtube etc. to the political parties and the voters, these are becoming an easy tool for the political leaders to interact with their voters. Social media allows candidates to share, post, comments, and their views during election and making them more direct involvement to their voters. These new tools or platforms are appeared as new area for research. Firstly to find out the term of social media, secondly, general meaning of political campaigning, thirdly, uses of social media in Indian election campaigning with reference to Assam and lastly conclusions.


Significance Economic weakness plus popular resentment of an elite seen as corrupt creates potential for mass demonstrations by pro- and anti-EU factions. Russia's importance as an economic partner is waning but it retains substantial influence through sympathetic political parties. A presidential election this October will be coloured by the unresolved bank fraud scandal, which has created a gulf between the political establishment and the electorate. Impacts Mainstream politicians will be find it hard to shake off perceived links to corruption. Prominent figures, whether oligarchs or pro-Russian politicians, may therefore avoid standing as presidential candidates. Lack of systemic reforms is a constraint on Moldova's ability to engage with EU economies. Domestic turmoil makes the government less likely to challenge Transnistria, which will remain a conduit for Russian pressure.


1979 ◽  
Vol 14 (01) ◽  
pp. 18-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward R. Tufte

ALTHOUGH THE SYNCHRONIZATION OF ECONOMIC FLUCTUations with the electoral cycle often preoccupies political leaders, the real force of political influence on macroeconomic performance comes in the determination of economic priorities. Here the ideology and platform of the political party in power dominate. Just as the electoral calendar helps set the timing of policy, so the ideology of political leaders shapes the substance of economic policy.


Author(s):  
Mohammad Reyaz

At the peak of the 2014 election campaign, Delhi was dotted with posters like ‘Na Doori Na Khaai, Modi Hamara Bhai’ (neither difference nor gap, Modi is our brother). These posters announcing Narendra Modi as ‘our brother’, were put up by Maulana Suhaib Qasmi of Jamaat Ulema-e-Hind, aligned to the BJP. Several such groups of BJP’s Muslims worked to mobilize Muslim votes for the right-wing Hindutva party. Drawing upon field reporting, covering the 2014 elections, and interviews with some of the political leaders and stake-holders of these organizations (and their literature), this chapter examines three key issues: contradiction between BJP’s outreach programmes towards Muslims and their condemnation of similar initiatives by other political parties as ‘Muslim appeasement’; perception of Muslim identity among leaders engaging in such initiatives; and whether such outreach programs had any impact in drawing Muslim voters towards the BJP?


2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Radhika Kumar

Political communication sets the context for a conversation between the political leaders and masses. A productive strategy of political communication would be one that successfully mobilizes its recipients for the purpose at hand which could be for a protest or for electoral support. One such strategy of communication and mobilization typical to democratic politics in India is the ‘padayatra’, which while being traditional also has a spiritual lineage. The padayatra was effectively used by Mahatma Gandhi to rally together the masses during the freedom movement, and it continues to be a politically relevant strategy used not only for mobilization but also for partisan gains that capitalize on its imagery. Electoral padayatras provide an opportunity to the politician to interact with voters in a substantive manner, understand their weltanschauung and enable its achievement. The purpose of this article is to map the changing nature of the padayatra and its appropriation by political parties as a tool of political communication.


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