This thesis develops the Triangle Model, to offer a general framework through which the work of J&uuml / rgen Habermas could be better understood and assessed. Accordingly, it is argued that, it is possible to derive a triangle in Habermas&rsquo / s thought, formed by the concerns of publicness, communication, and democracy. Each corner of the triangle corresponds to a major concern and focus of Habermas&rsquo / s project chronologically. The Triangle Model provides an overview of continuities and discontinuities in Habermas&rsquo / s work. The main discontinuity found is between the first and the second corners of the triangle, namely between publicness and communication. It is argued that this rapture stems from an interpretive turn, composed of three points: the influence of Hegelian philosophy of human interaction, the concomitant criticism of Kantian foundationalism, and the incorporation of Arendt&rsquo / s communicative concept of power. This study also emphasises that there are points indicating continuity, or unity in Habermas&rsquo / s thought. First, an intersubjective theory of truth is employed in all three concerns or corners of the triangle. Second, in all these concerns, Habermas searches for an answer to the same question: &ldquo / how to produce legitimate norms&rdquo / . The principle of publicity and the authority of the better argument voiced in the first corner of the triangle -publicness-, the discourse ethics of the second corner, and the deliberative politics of the third corner are formulated and adapted by Habermas in order to find the ways of producing legitimate norms. In this context, it is argued that the deliberative politics is based on publicness and communication / or publicness and communication are indispensable for deliberative politics.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Carleton University, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 286-312). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

Zugl.: Erfurt, Universiẗat, Diss., 2008.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of North Texas, Dec., 2008. / Title from title page display. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of St Andrews, May 2010.

Opinion leaders are important political players who bridge the gap between the political elite and the general public. Traditionally opinion leaders use social pressure and social support via interpersonal communication to personally influence the opinions, attitudes and behaviours of their everyday associates (who make up the general public). However, in a hybrid media system opinion leaders have access to added channels which mean they can communicate with audiences beyond their everyday associates and/or engage in non-interpersonal interactions, potentially setting the stage for opinion leaders to become more influential since they can access more members of the general public. Conversely, since the ability of opinion leaders to influence others traditionally relies on strong social bonds, even if audiences are accessible for information transfer, the lack of social connection could mean influence does not flow. As such, opinion leaders' channel choice in a hybrid media system is potentially very important. To investigate the patterns of channel use as well as motivations for, and impacts of, channel choices by opinion leaders, a two phase mixed-methods study is employed. Phase one includes online social network analysis of the #CDNpoli (Canadian politics) hashtag on Twitter and an online survey. Phase two investigates the communication practices of 21 specific digitally enabled opinion leaders drawn from the #CDNpoli network. Two hour in-depth interviews are paired with visualizations of the participants trace data. Telephone interviews with associates (alters) of the primary interviewee were conducted (N=27). This design is therefore responsive to the multi-channel reality of a hybrid media system and improves upon large scale and single channel studies which are most common in this line of research. Now strategic and, at times, impersonal, a fundamental shift in how influence is derived challenges theories of social influence and information dissemination. Two types of strategic opinion leaders emerge: enthusiasts and champions. Their strategies contribute to a wider trend - a "just-in-time" informed citizenry - where those who do not opt in to receiving messages from the political elite only get information at the last possible minute, such as during a scandal or an election. Future research and communication strategy must be sensitive to the varied aims and tactics of digitally enabled opinion leaders as well as the subsequent inconsistent relationship between the uninformed and their political system.

M.A. / The use of the Internet and New Media is becoming increasingly relevant for 21st century politics, not only as a means of political campaigning but also as a platform used by the public to engage in political discussion, debate and opinion formation. As the field of study is relatively new, there has been much argument regarding the opportunities that New Media, such as the Social Media network Facebook, holds for political use. However, not enough research has been done to scrutinise the outcomes of truly utilising the platform. Furthermore, not enough research concerning the use of Social Media in the South African political sphere has been done. Thus, this study concentrates on how the public and the political parties are using Facebook. The research questions examine the nature of (a) political party (ANC and DA) and (b) public participation on the respective Facebook sites. It also enquires as to what benefits and challenges Social Media such as Facebook offer to political parties in South Africa. The study relies on a qualitative methodological orientation. Firstly, content analysis by means of thematic analysis was applied to all posts present on the Facebook pages of the ANC and the DA during the timeframe of 14-21 June 2010. The overall themes were World Cup 2010 and Youth Day, and their emergent sub-themes were explored in this context. Secondly, in-depth interviews were conducted with representatives from each political party who dealt with the Social Media output and monitoring of the party. It would appear that political parties are not capitalising on the full range of Social Media offerings and not promoting two-way communication. Instead they are merely using it as a monitoring tool or as a way to disseminate information. However, the research shows that the members of the public are utilising the Facebook site(s) to engage in discussion of a political nature as well as using the platform to connect with and reach individuals in new ways.

Au Bénin, l’avènement, en 1990, d’un régime libéral caractérisé par le pluralisme politique, la libre expression et l’organisation régulière d’élections disputées, s’est accompagné de l’émergence d’une communication politique concurrentielle. Cette thèse a essayé d’étudier de façon diachronique les pratiques de communication politique en tant qu’activité émergente, à travers notamment le processus qui a conduit à sa professionnalisation ou non, ses praticiens ainsi que les outils mobilisés par ces derniers. <p>Ainsi, l’analyse est partie des origines de la communication politique « moderne » qui remontent aux années 1945 pour montrer qu’à partir de 1990, elle a connu l’apparition, d’une part, de nouveaux acteurs distincts des journalistes qui en étaient les principaux praticiens, d’autre part, de nouveaux outils (la foisonnante presse écrite, les médias audiovisuels prolifiques et tout récemment Internet) mue la libéralisation du secteur de la presse. <p>L’analyse croisée des discours des praticiens recueillis par le biais d’entretiens semi-directifs, de leurs pratiques observées directement lors du scrutin présidentiel de mars 2011, et de la recherche documentaire a permis de comprendre et de décrire le processus de professionnalisation de cette activité émergente, d’identifier les communicants à travers leur profil et d’étudier les outils mobilisés ainsi que les dispositifs informels auxquels ont recouru les candidats dans le but de la mobilisation électorale. <p> / Doctorat en Information et communication / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

This study examines politics disadvantages used in competitive policy debate. Specifically, this research examines politics disadvantages for their role and relevance in deliberation, an important form of political communication. Deliberation is the means by which citizens can engage in discussions of salient policy issues, and make political judgments about policies. This study developed a grounded theory about the type of deliberation manifest in politics disadvantages. Pre-constructed politics disadvantages from websites such as PlanetDebate.com, Cross-X.com, as well as from summer policy debate workshops were analyzed to develop a grounded theory. Through the process of coding and theoretical memoing, categories of political communication emerged from the disadvantage shells. The theory indicated that politics disadvantages develop an acontextual, narrowly adversarial view of deliberation. This theory was juxtaposed against already established theories of deliberation to reveal that politics disadvantages show serious deficiencies in the ways in which deliberation is taught to policy debaters.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-25T20:20:12Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Katia Saisi.pdf: 1729599 bytes, checksum: 21a8058f40a8b461405965864c69d3f8 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-05-20 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This work aimed at discussing the relations between communication and politics in the current context of Latin America. For such purpose, we investigated the meanings movement of messages from and about the candidates to the Presidency of the Republic in three Latin American countries: Brazil (2010), Venezuela (2006), and Chile (2009/2010). Based on the television propaganda material and on the journalistic cover of the main printed vehicles in those countries, we tried to check the role of communication media as political discourse mediators, as well as the recurring political myths in presidential campaigns. To account for the complex Latin American realities, the adopted perspective was the comparative one, in order to understand both the internal heterogeneity and is external homogeneity. The results suggest both convergences and divergences, indicating a scenario in transformation, in which popular participation is placed as a growing value / Este trabalho teve como objetivo discutir as relações entre comunicação e política no atual contexto da América Latina. Para tanto, foram investigados o movimento de sentidos das mensagens dos e sobre os candidatos à Presidência da República em três países latinoamericanos: Brasil (2010), Venezuela (2006) e Chile (2009/2010). Com base no material de propaganda televisiva e na cobertura jornalística dos principais veículos impressos desses países, buscou-se verificar o papel dos meios de comunicação como mediadores do discurso político, bem como os mitos políticos recorrentes nas campanhas presidenciais. Para dar conta das complexas realidades latino-americanas, a perspectiva adotada foi a comparativa, de modo a se apreender tanto a heterogeneidade interna como sua homogeneidade externa. Os resultados apontam tanto para convergências como para divergências, indicando um cenário em transformação, em que a participação popular se coloca como um valor em ascensão