Dr Nicholas Anstead STC. S111

This course is available on the MSc in Politics and Communication. This course is not available as an outside option.

Modern campaigning politics. The practice of modern political campaigns based primarily on US and UK politics and elections since 1987. The focus is practical politics. The course is taught by a series of invited guest lecturers who are experts in the field of political campaigning for political parties and NGOs. It will connect with theory taught in the MSc programme's core courses concerning media influence, elections and voting behaviour and public opinion. It will enable students to see how theory is relevant and applied to the practice of modern political campaigns in the context of the changing nature of modern global politics, the politics of disengagement and identity. It will examine core and general concepts in campaigning including political strategy and how it is developed; 'political message', and the shaping of public opinion; and election campaigning and how successful campaigns are planned and implemented. The course will link campaign-relevant theory and practice through recent case histories of illustrative campaigns/political projects.

20 hours of seminars in the LT.

All students are expected to complete advance reading, prepare seminar presentations, and submit one essay of 1,500 words.

Denton E. D. (Ed.) (2000) Political Communication Ethics: An Oxymoron?, Praeger Publishers;

Gould, P. (1998) The Unfinished Revolution: How the Modernisers Saved the Labour Party, Little Brown;

Morris, D. (1998) Behind the Oval Office; Getting Re-elected Against All Odds, Renaissance Books;

Negrine, R. (2006) The Political Communication Reader, Routledge;

Nimmo, D. D. (2001) Political persuaders: the techniques of modern election campaigns, Transaction Publishers;

Norris, P. & Wlezien, C. (Eds) (2005) Britain Votes 2005, Oxford University Press;

O'Shaughnessy, N. G. & Henneberg, S. (2002) The Idea of Political Marketing, Greenwood; Sanders, K. (2009) Communicating Politics in the Twenty-First Century, Palgrave;

Stanyer, J. (2007) Modern Political Communication, Polity; Stephanopoulos, G. D. (2000) All Too Human, Back Bay Books;

Stockwell, S. (2005) Political Campaign Strategy: Doing Democracy in the 21st Century, Australian Scholarly;

Swanson, D. L. & Mancini, P. (1996) Politics, Media, and Modern Democracy An International Study of Innovations in Electoral Campaigning and Their Consequences, Greenwood;

Trent, J. S. & Friedenberg, R. V. (2007) Political Campaign Communication: Principles and Practices - 6th edition, Rowman & Littlefield;

Maarek, P. and G. Wolfsfeld (2003) Political communication in a new era: a cross-national perspective. London: Routledge.

Essay (100%, 3000 words) in the ST.

A guest-lecturer led course, with political communication practitioners talking about their experiences.

Students' comments

"I am very grateful for this class and the insider voice the lecturers provided. I am more confident about my future."