Students will become familiar with the literature and debate on the presidentialisation, mediatisation and personalisation of politics and will apply their knowledge to developments in their ´home country´.
Politics seems more and more concerned with the public and private lives and the ideas of politicians in leadership positions. Blair gave us Blairism, Reagan Reaganomics; Ed Miliband’s face did not fit; ‘alpha male’ Donald Trump groped women ‘like an octopus’; Bill Clinton lived a colourful extra-marital existence; the former French president François Mitterrand had a mistress throughout his period in office; and then there was Berlusconi! The media spotlight on leading politicians has appeared to elevate them above their party as well as exposing them to ruthless scrutiny regarding their capacity to lead.
Lecture/seminar themes
1. The Presidentialisation of Politics
Have leaders become more prominent and powerful at the expense of parties, policies and parliamentarians?
2. The Mediatisation of Politics
Do the media effectively determine the outcome of elections?
Voting Advice Applications; Candidate videos; web television
3. Presidentialisation at the Grassroots?
Are election campaigns in the constituencies becoming more candidate-centred?
Electoral system and party incentives to ‘individualise’ campaigns
‘Decentralised personalisation’
4. Online personalisation
Do (and how do) candidates seek a cyber-space ‘relationship’ with voters – intimacy at distance?
E-campaigning, online candidate biographies, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram
Lecture Schedule
January 17 Personalisation: Exploring a multi-dimensional concept
January 19 The structural factors underpinning personalisation
January 24 ‘Centralised personalisation’: the ‘Presidentialisation of Politics’ thesis
January 26 The ‘personal party’: Glistrup, Lange, Wilders and Berlusconi
January 31 The mediatisation of politics: From Talk Shows to VAAs
February 2 ‘Decentralised personalisation’: the ‘Individualisation’ of candidate campaigns
February 7 Online personalisation
February 9 Personalisation and the Quality of Democracy
Email registration essential by January 10, 2017
24.11.2016. Compulsory preceding studies: POLPOP02 Introduction to Political Science
Course Attendance and the following essay in English or Finnish:
‘Critically assess the evidence of a personalisation of politics’
Length 4-6 double-spaced A4 pages
Deadline Noon Thursday 23 February
Select Reading
Dowding, Keith (2013) ‘The Prime Ministerialisation of the British Prime Minister’ Parliamentary Affairs 66, 617-635
Webb, Paul & Poguntke, Thomas (2013) ‘The Presidentialisation of Politics Thesis Defended’ Parliamentary Affairs 66, 3, 646-654
Holtz-Bacha, Christina, Anna Ines Langer & Susanne Merkle (2014) ‘The personalisation of politics in comparative perspective: campaign coverage in Germany and the United Kingdom’ European Journal of Communication 29, 2, 153-170
Van Aelst, Peter, Tamir Sheafer & James Stanyer (2012) ‘The personalization of mediated political communication: A review of concepts, operationalizations and key findings’ Journalism 13, 2, 203-220
Salgado, Susana (2013) ‘Intimate Politics: Publicity, Privacy and the Personal Lives of Politicians in Media-Saturated Democracies’ European Journal of Communication 28, 6, 722-735
Strandberg, Kim & Tom Carlson (2016) ‘Expanding the Online Political Demos but Maintaining the Status Quo? Internet and Social Media Use by Finnish Voters Prior to Elections, 2003-15’ Scandinavian Political Studies (early view)
Compulsory preceding studies: POLPOP02 Introduction to Political Science (exchange students: equivalent studies at home university).