Dr Nick Anstead

This course is available on the MSc in Politics and Communication. This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit.

This course is highly recommended for MSc in Politics and Communication students.

This course is 'controlled access', meaning that there is a limit to the number of students who can be accepted. If the course is oversubscribed, offers will be made via a random ballot process, with priority given to students with the course listed on their Programme Regulations. Whilst we do our best to accommodate all requests, we cannot guarantee you a place on this course.

There are no pre-requisites for this course. Students should apply via LSE for You without submitting a statement.

Please do not email the teacher with personal expressions of interest as these are not required and do not influence who is offered a place.

The focus of this module is critical reflection on practical politics, drawing on both academic research and evidence directly from political practitioners. 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 on other courses in the department and will enable students to see how theory is relevant and applied to the practice of modern political campaigns in the context of the evolving nature of contemporary political communication,. It will examine core and general concepts in campaigning including political strategy and how it is developed; the shaping and measurement of public opinion; and the role of NGOs in shaping government policy.

15 hours of lectures and 5 hours of seminars in the AT.

To increase the geographic diversity of guest teacher sessions, a limited amount of this content may be delivered online.

This course includes a reading week in Week 6 of term.

This formative coursework for this course is a reduced length version of the summative assessment (see below for further details):

• A 500 word campaign memo advocating a specific strategy for a campaign of your choice (this might be for a candidate, a political party or a campaign / protest group).
• A 1000 word academic reflection on the strategy memo, where you will justify and explain your strategic recommendations with reference to relevant academic research.

Additionally, students will undertake two other pieces of formative work relevant to course content:

• A short (approximately. 200 words) midterm online exercise identifying a key variable which shapes campaigning practices in a particular comparative setting (e.g. electoral system, party system, political culture etc).
• A group end of term presentation where students will offer a campaign pitch for a particular political party / organisation.

Further details of this task will be given in the first lecture of term.

As this course is largely taught by guest lecturers, a limited number of readings are provided in advance. Instead, reading lists are generated after their lectures in response to the comments they make and questions posed by their arguments.

In terms of indicative reading, there are a variety of items that might be relevant. Classical political texts on the art of politics (e.g., Aristotle On Rhetroic, Machiavelli The Prince, or Weber, Politics as a Vocation) will offer interesting insights. More recently, students might like to consult political memoirs, biographies, and diaries to gain an understanding of how politicians themselves see political strategy.

For a broader overview of political communication literature, students can consult the indicative reading list of MC404, our core course about Political Communication.

Finally, students might like to listen to The Times How To Win an Election podcast, which is organised around a variety of practical political campaigning questions. The three guests on the podcast (Peter Mandelson, Danny Finkelstein and Polly McKenzie) have all spoken to students taking this course in the past. Available from: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/podcasts/how-to-win-an-election or your preferred podcast platform.

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

The summative assessment for this course is a two-part piece of coursework.

• A 1000 word campaign memo advocating a specific strategy for a campaign of your choice (this might be for a candidate, a political party or a campaign / protest group).
• A 2000 word academic reflection on the strategy memo, where you will justify and explain your strategic recommendations with reference to relevant academic research.

NB. One additional requirement of the summative coursework is that is cannot be on the same example used in the formative coursework.