Page 67 - Comparing Political Communication Theories, Cases, and Challenge

P1: kic
0521828317c03.xml CY425/Esser 0521828317 June 2, 2004 23:23

Transnational Trends in Political Communication

are induced to support a particular candidate or party at election time.
It may be helpful to understand this change as a transition from a sa-
cred politics to a secular politics. Politics takes on some elements of the
“sacred” when it is an expression of community, with political leaders
and parties arising as expressions of the particular collective identity and
aspirations of their followers. Traditional political cleavages based on
class or region long found expression in political parties, as did great
mobilizing ideals such as social justice and individual freedom. When
citizens found their identity in collectives and regarded political parties
as vehicles for expressing the collectives’ values, claims, and aspirations,
party campaigns mobilized masses of voters in great crusades.
In the postindustrial era, sweeping social and economic changes have
erodedthetraditionalbasesofsupportforpoliticalparties.Inthetwenty-
first century, the fault lines that divide voters are more personal than
collective, constantly shifting and intersecting, giving rise to identities
that are unstable, complex, and fragmented. Voters are less likely to
see their identities as contained within and expressed through mem-
bership in a collectivity, and the political parties’ appeals to traditional
economic and social interests and ideals do not resonate with citizens’
new concerns about matters such as lifestyle issues and the environment
that have not been part of the political parties’ traditional portfolios of
issues. In the face of such issues, political institutions may seem less ef-
fective than new power centers that have emerged outside the political
system.
One such power center reflects corporate globalization. The integra-
tion of capital, information, and technology across national borders is
creatinginternationalcorporateinstitutionsandalliancesthatwieldeco-
nomic, political, and cultural power beyond the control of national in-
stitutions. Public protests directed against meetings of the World Trade
Organization (WTO), for example, make it clear that citizens in many
countries understand the growing strength and apparent autonomy of
these power centers.
A second power center consists of the growing number of nongovern-
mental organizations, both national and international, that offer citizens
vehicles for action on issues they care about and increasingly are given
voice in national and transnational policy forums.
A third power center consists of proliferating single-issue groups,
protest movements, and voluntary associations of all kinds that are
found in the advanced democracies. The United Kingdom, for example,
is described by Alderman (1999, 128) as having become “two nations

47