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11

The Professionalisation of Political

Communication: Democracy at Stake?

Cees Hamelink

As the preceding chapters demonstrate, communicative functions of political systems
have become increasingly the domain brief of professionals: the perception managers,
the spin-doctors, the pollsters, the consultants, the media trainers, the PR experts, and
the spin-doctors, the pollster, the consultants, the media trainers, the PR experts, and
the marketeers.

The key question for this chapter is what happens to the political process when these
functions are professionalised? And more in particular, what are the consequences of
these professionalisation processes for the democratic quality of the polity?

THE COMMUNICATIVE FUNCTIONS OF POLITICS
As Fared Zakaria writes: ‘We live in a democratic age’ (2004, p.13). Across the world the The Professionalisation of Political Communication: Democracy at Stake?
democratic arrangement is seen as the single most legitimate form of managing society’s
affairs. Communicative action is essential to the sustainable functioning of this
arrangement. As this communicative action becomes increasingly professionalised, the
inevitable question is whether this process improves the democratic quality of the polity.

There are different stakeholders in democratic political systems. These may be the
elected political representatives of the citizenry, the unelected holders of key
administrative offices, the lobbyists for special interests and the citizens at large. For all
of them communication may fulfil different functions:

n For the elected politicians the key functions of communication are to persuade
For the elected politicians the key functions of communication are to persuade
electorates to accept political decisions as legitimate; to persuade people to support
electorates to accept political decisions as legitimate; to persuade people to support 179