Page 94 - Comparing Political Communication Theories, Cases, and Challenge

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Hans J. Kleinsteuber

Political Culture and Political Communication
Aclassical object of comparative research is the analysis of political
culture, meaning studies on informal forms of behavior of the citizen
vis-` a-vis the political system and their (historically grown) differences.
The classic work “Civic Culture” compared specially obtained question-
naire results in five countries (the United States, the United Kingdom,
Germany, Italy, and Mexico) for this purpose. Its priorities lay on how
citizens see the state and how they communicate with it. It showed that in
the late 1950s Germany’s citizens were comparatively well-informed yet
notverypoliticallyactive;intheUnitedStatesitwastheotherwayaround
(Almond and Verba 1963). In more recent studies the whole range of
the variations of political communication is revealed, such as when dif-
ferent authors of a book (Paletz 1996) describe the parallel positions
of the media elite cross-nationally, aswell as the greatly differing local
characteristics: for instance how ethnic, tribal, and regional elements
influence Nigeria’s political communication (Olayiwola 1996); how the
effects of terror and political violence shape communication in Peru,
India, or South Africa; or how massively the mass media in South Korea
is still subject to manipulative political pressure (Kim and Lee 1996).
One study approaches the subject in a completely different manner,
by focusing on a comparison of political communication cultures. The
author provides an analysis of the “norms and communication roles that
govern the interaction between political spokespeople and journalists”
(Pfetsch 2001, 47). To gather data, the author carried out semistructured
interviews with journalists and politicans’ spokespeople from the United
States and Germany. The results showed clear differences: American
actors take on a much stronger professional role as journalists who
determine the interaction between the two sides, while in Germany
social norms dominate the situation, such as ethical and appropriate
behavior, openness, or dignity. In the United States the behavior of the
actors is more media-oriented and aims at a strategic orchestration of
communication, while in Germany the strong position of the political
parties(whichareprotectedbytheconstitution)allowsotherprioritiesto
emerge.

Political Advertising, Communication in Election
Campaigns, and the Hypothesis of Americanization
Acommon subject of comparative analysis is communication in
election campaigns. It seems sensible to study comparable objects in
the countries examined, for example television advertisement spots by

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