Page 239 - Comparing Political Communication Theories, Cases, and Challenge
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Political Campaign Communication
again on a large scale as in 1979 (cf. however Cayrol 1991; Schulz and
Blumler 1994; Scherer 1995). Difficulties seem to outweigh advantages
in this case. The advantages lie in the fact that the event takes place
simultaneously in all European Union (EU) member states. The cam-
paigns unfold at more or less thesametime,thuskeepingcertain external
conditions constant. Because of the fact that national members of the
European Parliament are elected and thus the campaign remains a na-
tional campaign instead of being transnational, the election allows for
comparing how the individual countries deal with the election.
In addition to the usual difficulties of international research cooper-
ations, the event itself posed problems. Findings from research on the
European Election can hardly be generalized for all electoral campaigns.
The European Election is usually regarded as an election of the “second
order,” which in turn influences the behavior of all actors. The electorate
is barely interested and their knowledge about issues and candidates is
very limited. The parties prefer to spend their money on elections where
power is at stake and thus conduct the European campaign with less
intensity, which is further supported by the fact that their candidates
are often unknown to the electorate. The media, respectively, also treat
the European Election as a matter of lesser importance. These peculiar-
ities are explained by the mostly symbolic relevance of the European
Parliament, which does not elect a government or a prime minister.
Comparative research on European Elections therefore cannot lead
to general conclusions about modern campaigns in general. Transna-
tional comparisons, however, can deliver findings about similarities and
differences at the macrolevel and about the influence of systemic vari-
ables such as, for instance, political culture or the media system, on
the political communication processes. At this level, for example, as Jay
Blumler points out in his summary of the 1979 European Election study,
there was not much support for a discretionary role of the media in the
sense of an autonomous function in society. Instead the study proved
the dependence of television on the political system.
While European Election studies build on the advantage of the event
in common and of governmental systems that are largely similar, dif-
ficulties increase in research that tries to compare national elections,
particularly when the United States are included. One study that stood
up to this challenge was a French-American joint venture published un-
der the title Mediated Politics in Two Cultures (Kaid et al. 1991b). This
project was conducted in 1988 when presidential elections were held
in both countries. The study, however, had to deal with the differences
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