Page 26 - An Introduction to Political Communication Fifth Edition

Intro to Politics Communication (5th edn)-p.qxp 9/2/11 10:55 Page 5

POLITICS IN THE AGE OF MEDIATION
Political organisations

First, there are the political actors, narrowly defined: those individuals who
aspire, through organisational and institutional means, to influence the
decision-making process (see Figure 1.1). They may seek to do this by attain-
ing institutional political power, in government or constituent assemblies,
through which preferred policies can be implemented. If in opposition their
objectives will be to obstruct existing power-holders, and have them replaced
by alternatives.

Political parties
This category of political actor includes, most obviously, the established
political parties: aggregates of more or less like-minded individuals, who
come together within an agreed organisational and ideological structure to
pursue common goals. These goals will reflect the party’s underlying value
system, or ideology, such as the British Conservative Party’s adherence to
‘individual freedom’ and the supremacy of the market; or their Labour
opponents’ preference for ‘capitalism with a human face’ and the principles
of social justice and equality. In the US the Democrats have historically been
associated with relative liberalism in social policy, and an interventionist
approach to the economy, while the Republicans aspire to reduce state
involvement in all aspects of socio-economic life. In every democratic society,
similar distinctions exist.
Despite the ideological differences which may exist between political parties
in modern democracies they share a commitment to constitutional means of
advancing their objectives, attempting to convince a population as a whole of
their correctness, and putting their policies to the test of periodic elections.
Once mandated (or rejected, as the case may be) they agree to abide by the
constitutional rules of the political system in which they operate, respecting
the limitations it puts on their power to implement or oppose policy, until such
time as another electoral opportunity comes along.
For parties, clearly, the smooth functioning of the process described above
is dependent primarily on their ability to communicate with those who will
vote for and legitimise them. When, until relatively recently, voting rights in
capitalist countries were restricted to small elites of propertied, educated men,
it was enough for parties to use various forms of interpersonal communication,
such as public meetings and rallies, aided by newspaper coverage, to reach their
constituencies. But in an age of universal suffrage and a mass electorate parties
must use mass media. Chapters 6 and 7 examine the many communication
strategies and tactics which have been developed by political parties in
recognition of this fact. These include techniques which originated in the world
of corporate and business affairs, such as marketing – the science of ‘influ-
encing mass behaviour in competitive situations’ (Mauser, 1983, p. 5). Political

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