The general debate around political advertising on television has been that the political advertisements on television concentrate more on the images rather than the political issues and thus, create an electorate who is entertained by the catchy slogans and this hinders a well informed decision. The study investigates the rise of political advertising on television in South Africa and its implications for democracy. It is focused on the 2009 pre-elections and specifically on the political advertisements which appeared on national television during the pre-election period beginning from 30th March 2009 up until 20th April 2009. The study also examines the extent to which political advertisements on television commodify politics. Furthermore, it explores the themes covered in the political advertisements on television and the extent to which these political advertisements focus on the images than the themes. In addition, the study also looks into the underlying issues and complexities, such as regulation and funding and financing issues which are hidden from the public glare, accompanying the images and messages seen on television around election time. Qualitative methods are used and the study is both descriptive and explorative and as means of interpreting the data, thematic content analysis is used. The critical political economy of the media theory is employed as well as the democratic theories of the media, with a key focus on liberal democracy and deliberative democracy. Thus the findings showed that the political advertisements on television in South Africa were informative as they concentrated more on the themes than the images and, in many instances where the images were used it was mainly to support the message. However, the political advertisements had some emotional appeals which communicated emotions of sadness and despair as well as emotions of happiness and success. Character appeals were used at minimum and it was only three political parties which made use of their leaders with only one political party, out of the three, using their leader throughout the advertisement. The issue of commodity in politics was very prominent in the political advertisements on television thus it can be concluded that political advertising on television commodify politics to a large extent in the production and distribution process but to a minimum extent in the content. The implications of the rise of political advertising on television for democracy are twofold because they are both positive and negative. It is recommended that the regulations on political advertising on television be re-visited and reviewed. Thus, a prospective model for the regulation of political advertising on television is also illustrated in the study.

This thesis analyzes Jason Brennan's paper "The Right to a Competent Electorate," then critiques his argument in favor of restricting voting rights to those deemed competent. I consider the practical and ethical implications of testing for competence, then conclude, contrary to Brennan, that granting all citizens voting rights is more just than restricting the voting population.

In August, 2004, the Legislative Yuan in Taiwan passed landmark constitutional amendment proposals to cut the number of legislative seats in half, and adopt a "single-district, two-vote" system. In May, 2005, the parliamentary electorate system in Taiwan was officially changed from a single-nontransferable voting system (SNTV) to a single-member district parallel voting system. The new voting system was introduced in January, 2008. Under SNTV, the seats won in Kaohsiung County¡¥s legislator election were in proportion to the two political parties. However, the result of the first election after the electorate system changed showed a landslide victory of the KMT (Kuomingtang). The DPP (Democratic Progressive Party) should not have suffered such defeat in the election with the strength and power that their political factions have in Kaohsiung County. Many factors are for certain involved in winning or losing an election, and the focus of this thesis will be on the changes of political factions and how they can influent vote results. Under SNTV, the most influential and powerful political factions in Kaohsiung County were the Red Party, the White Party, and the Black Party. Under the new electoral system, however, as only one candidate will be elected, the political factions, as well as the candidates, have started changing their ways of thinking in terms of whom they should support. The candidates have been paying much more attention to the local political factions. Taking their own interests into consideration, the local political factions have also changed the way they intend to manipulate the vote results. The awakening of the local political factions indirectly made impacts on the result of the Seventh legislator election. In the future, the results of various elections may very well be influenced by the changes of the local political factions. To gain a clearer view of the changes of Kaohsiung County¡¥s political factions under the new voting system, the thesis will first describe the similarities and differences between SNTV and single-member district parallel voting system. It will then discuss the formation and development of Taiwan and Kaohsiung County¡¥s local political factions. The different electoral tactics of the KMT and the DPP under the two voting systems will then be analyzed, following by the examination of the voting results.

Thesis (doctoral)--Universität, Paderborn, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 178-194).

The function of the mass media in the democratic process is crucial to an informed public and vital to a democratic system. One primary role of the media is that of gatekeeper between political candidates and the public. The influence the media has on the electorate is heightened during the primary process of presidential elections and even more so in the pre-primary season when a large majority of potential voters have yet to form opinions of candidates. The effects of the media in the pre-primary season of politics play out in significant relationships where media coverage results in measurable increases in campaign contributions to the candidates included in this research, while the tone of content has no measurable influence. Although models that tested the ability to predict success in primaries failed to reach statistically significant levels, the raw data show high correlations between media coverage and candidate success.

The diploma thesis deals with the analysis of British party system and its special features, with the focus on the main political parties in Great Britain, their history, their development and the current position within the system. The thesis employs methods of analysis of specialized sources in the English language mainly. The aim of the first part is to provide theoretical knowledge to establish background for better understanding the rest of the thesis. The following part of the thesis deals with the main political parties in Great Britain, their development, programs and their current position in the system. The most important part of the thesis is the last one, which focuses on Liberal Democratic Party, its beginnings, development and puts emphasis on the two last elections in 2010 and 2015. There is an attempt to provide an opinion on what were the reasons of the election results depending on election program, electorate and other specifications.

<p>The prevalence of social media in political campaigns are changing the face of politics in the United States and abroad. The rapid pace at which this change is occurring demands inquiry into the previously unexplored area of unconventional political campaign messaging practices on social media. Investigation of Donald Trump’s use of tweets as rhetorical strategy in the discursive space of Twitter during the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign revealed a bypass of traditional media and its source verification processes. This circumventing of mainstream media channels facilitated Trump’s deployment of an unchecked ‘broken system’ narrative alleging government corruption</p> <p>and a rigged system. Trump’s tweet discourses tapped into existing feelings of disenfranchisement and disaffection felt by a self-identified politically marginalized segment of society. This study</p> <p>investigates how social media use in political campaigns can serve as a public sphere for contestation of social and political norms. An interdisciplinary theoretical frame comprised of Feenberg’s critical theory of technology, McLuhan’s media ecology, Fraser’s counterpublic spheres, and Iser’s implied reader offer new understandings about the power of anti-establishment discourses and a hybrid discursive space to destabilize governing institutions and redefine social and political identities. Study of Trump’s tweets as rhetorical strategy granted insights into the social and political capacity of alternative truth to undermine the political process. Further, it uncovered the power of social media to awaken and leverage existing political identities for personal political gain.</p>