Dr Nicholas Anstead Tower 3, 7.01.F

This course is compulsory on the MSc in Politics and Communication. This course is not available as an outside option.

The focus of this module is the intersection between practical politics and academic research. The course is taught by a series of invited guest lecturers who are experts in the field of political campaigning for political parties and NGOs. It will connect with theory taught on other courses in the department and will enable students to see how theory is relevant and applied to the practice of modern political campaigns in the context of the changing nature of modern political communication,. It will examine core and general concepts in campaigning including political strategy and how it is developed; the shaping and measurement of public opinion; and the role of data targeting in modern campaign.

20 hours of lectures in the LT.

This formative coursework for this course is a reduced length version of the summative assessment (see below for further details):

A 500 word campaign memo advocating a specific strategy for a campaign of your choice (this might be for a candidate, a political party or a campaign / protest group).

A 1000 word academic reflection on the strategy memo, where you will justify and explain your strategic recommendations with reference to relevant academic research.

Campbell, A. 2007. The Blair years: extracts from the Alastair Campbell diaries. Knopf.Chadwick, A. 2013. The Hybrid Media System: Politics and Power. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Denton E. D. (Ed.) (2000) Political Communication Ethics: An Oxymoron?, Praeger Publishers;

Gould, P. (1998) The Unfinished Revolution: How the Modernisers Saved the Labour Party, Little Brown;

Issenberg, S. 2012. The Victory Lab: The Secret Science of Winning Campaigns. Crown.Kreiss, D. 2016. Prototype Politics: Technology-Intensive Campaigning and the Data of Democracy. Oxford University Press.

Negrine, R. (2006) The Political Communication Reader, Routledge;

Nielsen, R. K. 2012. Ground wars: Personalized communication in political campaigns. Princeton University Press.

Nimmo, D. D. (2001) Political persuaders: the techniques of modern election campaigns, Transaction Publishers;

Stanyer, J. (2007) Modern Political Communication, Polity;

Swanson, D. L. & Mancini, P. (1996) Politics, Media, and Modern Democracy An International Study of Innovations in Electoral Campaigning and Their Consequences, Greenwood;

Ross, T. 2015. Why the Tories Won. London: Biteback.

Trent, J. S. & Friedenberg, R. V. (2007) Political Campaign Communication: Principles and Practices - 6th edition, Rowman & Littlefield;

Essay (100%, 3000 words) in the ST.

This summative assessment for this course is a two-part piece of coursework.

1. A 1000 word campaign memo advocating a specific strategy for a campaign of your choice (this might be for a candidate, a political party or a campaign / protest group).

2. A 2000 word academic reflection on the strategy memo, where you will justify and explain your strategic recommendations with reference to relevant academic research.

NB. One additional requirement of the summative coursework is that is cannot be on the same example used in the formative coursework.

A guest-lecturer led course, with political communication practitioners talking about their experiences.

Students' comments

"I am very grateful for this class and the insider voice the lecturers provided. I am more confident about my future."