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THE PROFESSIONALISATION OF POLITICAL COMMUNICATION IN EUROPE | 35

(e.g. television, the internet) or the use of experts per se. It comes about because they
believe that by reforming themselves they will improve their chances of persuading
and mobilising voters, for example. It is this larger question that needs to be addressed
and one can address this by coming to the topic from writings on the development of
political parties (or the governmental apparatus), rather than from writings on
communication,and specifically electoral communication,per se.

POLITICAL PARTIES AS ORGANISATIONS: ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE AS
PROFESSIONALISATION
At the beginning of the twentieth century, Max Weber explored the changing nature of
political parties through, in part, his analysis of processes of bureaucratisation. The
modern forms of political party organisation, he argued,‘are the children of democracy,
of mass franchise, of the necessity to woo and organise the masses, and develop unity
of direction and the strictest discipline’ (Weber, quoted in Mair, 1998, p. 34). Although
the objective of ‘wooing and organizing the masses’ may be no different in the
contemporary era, political parties are forced to approach their tasks in different, and
more ‘modern’, ways. This would include not only using contemporary communication
technologies and campaigning practices but also those who are skilled in their use.

In this sense, the appointment of permanent officials and technical experts –
professionalisation as either ‘specialisation’ or ‘displacement’ (Scammell, 1998) – is part
of a process that takes place in the cycle of organisations. Critically, these changes are
not specific to technological developments (new media of communications), or
improved knowledge (about polling, say), though these are clearly factors that are a
force for bringing in those with technical skills. Changes come about as organisations
seek to adapt to their environment, be it an election defeat, the need to woo voters, the
need to target voters, to collect information on supporters, new communication
technologies, new practices and ideas, or whatever. This would, in its own way, be true
of governments who may also seek to make changes in their organisational structure to
meet specific as well as generalised aims.

Mastropaolo uses Weber’s ideas to develop a more thorough analysis of the
contemporary state of political parties in which a professionalisation of politics takes The Professionalisation of Political Communication in Europe
place along two separate lines of development: on the one hand, there is the
continuing need to administer or run the party, whilst on the other, there is a need to
mobilise the party and its supporters (Mastropaolo, 1986). In the former case, the party
bureaucrat is charged with assuring the continuation of the party organisation, and the
professional politician progressively assumes duties in the administration of public
affairs. But the task of mobilising the party leads to the creation of a new breed of
political professionals who are principally charged with the use of the means of mass
communication. Obviously, roles can overlap but the ‘new’ professionals direct their
energies towards connecting politics with the public or citizenry. And the more
independent the media, the greater the dependence of the political party on 37