The American Presidential Election Model of Democracy or Flawed System?

1
The American Presidential ElectionModel of
Democracy or Flawed System? 

• 11 June 2012The British Library Conference
  Centre96 Euston Road, London

2
Are American-style of campaigns the model for
other countries? Malawi and South Africa
Phil Harris, Easton Simenti-Phiri David Perrin,
University of Chester, Parkgate Road, Chester CH1
4BJ Email P.harris_at_chester.ac.uk
3
Outline

• Definition of the term.
• Aim of the Paper
• Background to political marketing and
  professionalisation of campaigns
• Methodology
• Results
• Conclusion

4
Definition

• Americanisation or modernisation?
• Americanisation refers descriptively to
  particular types and elements of election
  campaigns and professional activities that were
  first developed in The US and are now applied and
  being adopted in various ways around the world
  (Swanson and Mancini, 1956 5-6)
• Also referred to as the modernisation process
  in which most of the functions lost by parties
  are taken over by the media.

5
Research Aims

• The aims of the study were
• To examine to what extent have campaigns in
  emerging democracies (Malawi and South Africa)
  been Americanised?
• To contribute to the development of knowledge and
  understanding of political marketing and
  professionalisation of campaigns in Africa and
  Southern Africa in particular?

6
Background to Political Marketing and Campaign
Professionalisation

• Kelley (1956) credited with the first use of the
  term political marketing.
• Political marketing literature largely USA and
  the UK.
• Few international comparative studies costs
• Costs
• Methodological challenges and collaborative
  partners
• Consistent research instrument.
• Stromback (2007) comprehensive definition of
  professionalisation of campaigns.
• Develop campaign index scoring tool additive
  tool
• First use in Swedish Elections Used in the
  current study about Malawi and South Africa.

7
Literature Themes

• Perception -
• Political marketing Kelley (1956)
• Professionalisation of campaigns Gibson and
  Rommele (2001) and Stromback (2007)
• Infrastructure of the country Sriramesh Vercic
  (2009)
• Media environment - Ibid
• Culture of the society (societal culture) - Ibid
• Forms and style of communication
• Political communication

8
Malawi- Key Events

• 1964 Independence from Britain.
• 1966 Malawi became a single-party state under
  MCP rule
• 1970 Dr Hastings Banda declared president for
  Life.
• 1993 Referendum to adopt multiparty democracy
• 1994 First multi-party elections held and
  Bakili Muluzi became president.
• 2004 Bingu elected president.
• 2009 Bingu re-elected.
• 6 Parties in the National Assembly

9
Democratic Peoples Party Campaign

• Mutharika's face appears on billboards in Malawi
• Malawi Elections 2009 Bingu billboard. The only
  big billboard in the country sitting president
  President Bingu wa Mutharika no other political
  party has a billboard

10
MCP President John Tembo arriving at rally venue
DPP supporters gathering for a rally
UDF Supporters gathering for a rally
11
(No Transcript)
12
South Africa Key Events

• 1970s - More than 3 million people forcibly
  resettled in black 'homelands'.
• 1976 - Soweto riots
• 1990 - ANC ban ended, Mandela released after 27
  years in prison.
• 1994 April - ANC wins first non-racial elections.
  Mandela becomes president
• 1999 Thabo Mbeki becomes President
• 2009 Jacob Zuma becomes president.
• 13 Parties in the National Assembly.

13
SA Today

• Population around 50 million
• Urban population 58.8
• Life expectancy 49 years falling
• Literacy rate  82.4
• of population living on lt2 a day 34.1
• Infant mortality rate (per 1,000 births) 54
• Mix of First and Third Worlds
• More women (12,722,622) than men (10,459,375)
  registered in 2009 elections.
• Voter turnout was 77.3(2009 general elections)

14
Durban City in South Africa
15
ANCs message has been against apartheid, poverty
and crime
16
Access to buildings was based on race
17
Mix of Third and first worlds
Cape Town Women frying chicken for sale
Cape Town Table mountain and Affluent suburb
18
Robin Island prison
Mandelas room with personal artefacts

• Country side

Beautiful scenery of the countryside
19
Methodology

• Exploratory study
• Epistemology Constructionism
• Theoretical Perspective Phenomenology
• Methodology Qualitative interviews
• Data Use of Primary (Semi-structured
  face-to-face-interviews for Malawi and Secondary
  sources e.g. publications for South Africa)
• - Self administered campaign Index
• Purposive sampling

20
Interviews

• 18 Politicians from the 6 political parties in
  Malawi
• - 6 Campaign Directors
• - 6 Directors of Research
• - 6 Publicity Secretaries
• August 2011 to January 2012
• Face-to-face semi- structured interviews
• Appropriate venues party offices and homes, and
  hotels.
• Self-administered campaign Index 19 variables.
• The Index had a scale of zero to 3 points for
  each item

21
Results and Discussion

• MALAWI
• UDF most professionalised party (30 out of 51)
• - Full points in - Campaign controlled opinion
  polling/ Use of external/ internal consultants in
  news management/ analysing public
  opinion/opposition research/own research/
  continuous campaign.
• DPP Second - scored 24 out of 51(won the
  general elections)
• Consultants to help with
  advertisement/ continuous campaign.
• AFORD Third (first party to advocate for
  multiparty democracy)
• MCP fourth (very conservative ideology
  driven/ regional base)
• MAFUNDE/MPP new entrants and limited budgets.

22
Results and Discussion

• DPP second in the rankings won the general
  elections
• Heavy campaign advertisements branded water,
  expensive cars, fighting buses, musicians/
  celebrities, bill boards, party cloth, t-shirts,
  posters, radio jingles and satires/ hand-outs
• MCP won the second seats regional voting
• UDF First party in Govt. at the dawn of
  multiparty politics in 1994 to 2004.
• The most professionalised did not win elections
• Term limit for their presidential candidate
• They partnered with a party with a dark
  historical past record
• Protest vote.

23
Results and Discussion

• SOUTH AFRICA
• ANC In 1994, established Peoples Forums
  (copied from Bill Clinton)
• Advised by Frank Greer and Stan Greenberg
  (Clinton advisers in 1992)
• Avoid negativity/stick to issues/ clear positive
  message/image.
• In 2008 in the run up to 2009 elections, Mbeki
  had emerged as the most popular South African
  politician on social networking website Facebook
  after Nelson Mandela.
• South African politicians emulating Barack Obama
  in using technology such as SMSes, e-mail and
  social networks.
• In 2009, the ANC hired the services of Ogilvy for
  their advertisements
• ANC drew parallels between Mr Obamas and Mr
  Jacob Zumas humble backgrounds., presidential
  candidate was portrayed being

24
Results and Conclusion

• SOUTH AFRICA
• NP In 1994 (ruling party) hired the services of
  Optimum Marketing Communications, a South African
  subsidiary of Saatchi and Saatchi of UK who were
  campaign advisers for Margaret Thatcher and the
  Conservative Party.
• DP In 1994, the Democratic Party account was
  handled by The Jupiter Drawing Room message
  with no blood in their hands
• IFP In 1994 , their campaign was set up by Mass
  Market Communication. Used withdrawal and
  re-entry tactic.
• FF - Freedom Fronts advertising campaign was
  handled internally by Professor Pieter Mulder.

25
Results and Discussion

• SOUTH AFRICA
• DA formed in 2000 as a merger of Democratic
  party (DP), Federal Alliance(FA) and New National
  Party (NNP)
• In 2008 re-launched as a party of government with
  new logo to symbolise diversity
• In 2009, became the official opposition winning
  16.7 of national vote and 67 seats in the
  National Assembly.
• Focus groups to direct target advertising/ rapid
  rebuttal response/ leadership image building
• Appeal to all voters as consumers
• Message non racialism and human rights
  protection

26
Conclusion

• Political communication has changed in both
  countries since 1994 in the direction of what is
  called Americanisation
• Expanded use of political marketing,
  professionalisation(experts) and
  media-centredness.
• Americanisation supplementing traditional
  practices
• Music and dance
• Public rallies
• Canvassing
• Doorto-door campaigns
• Donations/gifts/hand-outs

27
Conclusion

• Posters/t-shirts/ taxis still vital communication
  tool
• Radios/newspapers/ TV infrastructure challenges
• Social media (facebook/twitter/sms)
• Literacy and poverty affecting message spread.
• Culture deference/ opinion leadership affecting
  message delivery and uptake
• Tribalism/ Race
• THANK YOU

28
Video Links

• Malawi
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vgs4JN6wY9e8feature
  player_embedded
• South Africa
• Zuma
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vYBc1n5HqXxsfeature
  player_detailpaget3s