Book Description

There is increasing awareness of growing similarities in political marketing practices around the world. Global political marketing is a comprehensive analysis of why, how and with what affect parties use political marketing in a range of political systems - presidential, parliamentary, two and multi-party, and established and emerging democracies. Written by a team of 25 international expert authors, the volume explores the impact of systemic features such as the party and electoral system, analysing how parties use marketing through 14 detailed country studies. The book explores the notion that political marketing is used by parties to both sell and design political products, is by no means confined to the opposition, and that many opinions besides those of the voters are considered in product design, including ideological anchors, expert opinion and party members’ input. The authors also explore how other factors impact on political marketing effectiveness, such as the ability of governments to communicate delivery, stay in touch, the role of the media and party unity and culture. Finally the work discusses the democratic implications of market-oriented parties, highlighting the need for debate about the relationship between citizens and governments and the prospects for democracy in the 21st century. Including a practitioner perspective as well as rigorous academic analysis, this collection provides the first global comprehensive overview of how political parties market themselves, it will be of great interest to all scholars of political marketing, parties and elections and comparative politics.