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by reproaching the CDU with speaking ill of the country. The opportunity to distract
attention was delivered by heaven in form of the floods in East Germany at the end of
August, which worked to the advantage of the chancellor, who knew how to use the
situation. In order to hold onto the new popularity until Election Day, another topic had
to be pushed, which was found when the United States started to discuss openly a
possible attack on Iraq. By making clear that the German government did not support
the plan and would refuse any involvement in Iraq, the SPD successfully campaigned
on peace and Anti-Americanism.

Thus, the campaign in 2002 has demonstrated that – beyond personalisation – issues
do play a role.Parties and candidates can do a lot for setting their own agenda,and that
is what active communication management is for. However, for one player and his/her
issues there is always a challenger who may try to push another issue. In addition, there
are real life issues, for instance the economic situation, and there are unexpected issues
that have to be dealt with. So, if professionalisation is defined as the process by which
the conveyance of politics is adapted to the challenges of social and political change
and of changes in the media system, professionalisation is also the art of adapting to
more specific challenges that come up during a campaign and that cannot be planned
for.

This short overview, as well as the confrontation of the two most recent electoral
campaigns in Germany, shows that each campaign is different. There is not a steady
development of certain techniques and strategies. Instead, campaigns are shaped by
systemic and context factors that provide for variance across time and across countries.

CAMPAIGN MODE TAKING OVER DAY-TO-DAY POLITICAL COMMUNICATION?
While campaigns sharply bring to the fore the characteristics of strategic
The Professionalisation of Political Communication
communication and how this is targeted to the media with the help of experts, and
campaign mode is said to replace governing mode, day-to-day political communication
still follows somewhat different rules. Nevertheless, over the years, the tactics and
strategies that proved their worth in campaigning have been taken over and by now
are clearly visible in the communication efforts of parties and political institutions.This
is fostered by the fact that Germany is literally involved in a permanent campaign
because, at least on the Länder level, there is always an election coming up somewhere
that also has relevance for the national government. On the other hand, the German
political system, and federalism in particular that provides for a distinct decentralisation
of power,prevents campaign style from dominating regular political communication.

The 16 Länder are represented in the Federal Council (Bundesrat) that, in addition to
the Bundestag, is the second chamber on the national level that takes part in the
legislative process. More than 50% of the national laws cannot be passed without the
consent of a majority of the Federal Council. The Federal Council can have a different
majority from the Bundestag, meaning that the majority of the Federal Council
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