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THE PROFESSIONALISATION OF POLITICAL COMMUNICATION IN EUROPE | 39

Practices in the field of political communication are clearly not distinct from practices in
other fields of public communication and persuasion. But, in respect of political parties,
it creates a momentum for change in order to meet the objectives of electoral victory.
Such change is undoubtedly implicated in what Andrew Wernick refers to as ‘the
competitive logic of electoralism’.As he has observed:

the transformation of electoral politics into a public relations game is a long-term
process which has had structural causes. Not only has this process been propelled, at
key moments, by the whole-scale borrowing of techniques from the sphere of
commercial marketing. It has also responded to long-term changes in the socio-
cultural character and composition of the electorate. In both these respects,
moreover, what has ultimately pushed it along is the competitive logic of
electoralism itself (1994,p.142; see also Mayhew,1997,Ch.7).

WHO ARE THE PROFESSIONALS?
It should be obvious from the above discussion that in respect of political and
campaign communication the professionals most commonly referred to are those
individuals employed by political parties for their specialist skills. These would be the
pollsters, political strategists, advertising experts and media experts whose tasks are to
provide political parties with the specific skills that might be required, particularly at
election times. Sabato defines political consultants as campaign professionals who are
‘engaged primarily in the provision of advice and services (such as polling, media
creation and production, and direct-mail fund raising) to candidates, their campaigns,
and other political committees’ (1981, p. 8; but see also Johnson, 2000). Plasser and
Plasser’s Global Consultancy Project, for example, focused on ‘political consultants and
leading party and campaign managers’(2002,p.8).

Depending on the nature of the political system and/or the nature of the marketplace
for such skills, such specialists might be employed for the duration of the campaign,
might be employed for longer, might be employed in an advisory capacity and/or as
volunteers.Where elections take place at regular intervals, as in the US, there is clearly a
job market for such individuals, and they can use their skills in local, state and federal
elections. Where elections of significance take place less frequently, it is likely that the The Professionalisation of Political Communication in Europe
pattern of employment will be different and there may be a greater propensity to
volunteer to work for the party rather than to be employed by it, or to be employed by
it for specific periods only.What role such specialists play within the political party may
also differ from one political system/party to another. They might just be ‘specialists’
offering their skills or they could come to ‘displace’, to use Scammell’s word, the
traditional party bureaucrats and so begin to alter the nature of the political party itself.

If, however, the process of professionalisation refers to more than specific individuals
with specialist skills, then it should also be possible to observe how political parties
themselves have undergone change. One recent example of this comes from Britain 41