Theory - Political communication and EP-elections

Political communication is vital in politics since the representation of the popular political wills requires it. The process of performing political communication is considered as more important, especially during the ongoing political campaigns and election process when media in principle is devoting the higher level of coverage. The political communication includes different aspects which political actors such as political parties are using to communicate their arguments, values and messages to the voting population. This process can be performed by using political manifestos, publishing debate articles or using political advertising in the form of multimedia videos and posters. By such measures, the political actors are depending on performing political communication that can be considered as efficient to achieve successful results. For political parties, this is regarded as vital since political communication is influencing the voters’ decisions when it comes to making the electoral choice of party. In such terms, the political communication is influencing the outcomes of an electoral process, allocation of power and policymaking behaviour.

Studies of the political communication started during the early 1940's and have historically mostly focused on the single-country national level elections processes. Less focus has been devoted to election processes on local, regional or European level as well as comparisons between several states. In political communication research, the elections are therefore categorised in two groups: first and second-order (national elections) - FOE and SOE. Starting from this point of view is that all elections aimed towards national institutions such as national parliaments are considered to be part of the first-order national elections. This approach which in political science can also be described as sort of hierarchy where elections for national governance are considered as the most important, influential and demanding ones meaning that they are on the top of the ranking scale. However, at the same time, this approach in the research of political communication is also regarded as problematic. This is because the political communication is shaped and driven by different issues and factors at the different levels of governance.

A more appropriate way to conduct research about political communication during EP-elections would be to include the individual as well as organisational, institutional and systemic levels of analysis, and the linkages between the different levels of analysis. In practice, it means that the elections, which currently are considered as the second-order elections, need to be analysed more as well as explored on their own terms. The EP-elections are therefore frequently discussed to assess new approaches, gain better understanding and perform an analysis of the electoral process and its conceptual framework.

One part of this discourse is how much the EP-elections actually can be categorised as “European”. The EP-elections are in political science described as being based on hybrid character because they are both national and European at the same time. Elections are based on voters influencing power by voting for politicians who are going to perform their work in the same political body at the EU-level. In this sense, as well as most member states having the same election date, the EP-elections can be classed as European. The counterpart of this definition is the national character being based on national electoral regulations, and political communication were large parts of media are focusing on national issues during EP-elections despite the fact that the powers of the EP have increased significantly across time.

For this analytical approach for the EP-electoral process the institutional development of the EP has two vital aspects. One is that the theories and conclusions about political communication at the national level cannot be assumed to be appropriate for political communication during EP-election campaigns. The second aspect is that these election campaigns offer an excellent opportunity for cross-national and EU-wide comparative research. According to researchers as Lee Kaid, Maier and Strömbäck there are at least four reasons to expand research on political communication during election campaigns for the European Parliament.

Firstly, the EP-elections are important and have become even more important over time as the powers of the EP have expanded since implementation of the Lisbon Treaty and increased integration of the EU.

Secondly, they offer excellent opportunities to explore the linkages between the EU and the national character of these elections. This means that it is interesting to study how the national political parties are performing the political communication during the electoral process.

Thirdly, there is a need to expand cross-national and comparative research by studying the electoral process in different member states in order to explore similarities and differences.

And last, these elections allow the testing of theories initially developed in the context of national elections and national political communication in a multi-cultural context. 

In the next post, I will write about Reif and Schmitt’s Second-Order Elections (SEO) theory.