The American Presidential Election Model of Democracy or Flawed System? 11 June 2012 The British Library Conference Centre 96 Euston Road, London Harris,

The American Presidential ElectionModel of Democracy or Flawed

System?

 11 June 2012

The British Library Conference Centre96 Euston Road, London

Harris, Simenti-Phiri and Perrin 1

Are American-style of campaigns the model for other countries?: Malawi

and South AfricaPhil Harris, Easton Simenti-Phiri & David

Perrin, University of Chester,Parkgate Road, Chester CH1 4BJEmail: [email protected]

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Outline

• Definition of the term.• Aim of the Paper• Background to political

marketing and professionalisation of campaigns

• Methodology• Results• Conclusion

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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.

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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?

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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.Harris, Simenti-Phiri and Perrin 6

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

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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

AssemblyHarris, Simenti-Phiri and Perrin 8

Democratic People’s Party CampaignMutharika'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

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MCP President John Tembo arriving at rally venue

UDF Supporters gathering for a rally DPP supporters gathering for a rally

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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.

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SA Today• Population: around 50 million • Urban population: 58.8%• Life expectancy: 49 years& falling• Literacy rate:  82.4%• % of population living on <$2 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)

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Durban City in South AfricaHarris, Simenti-Phiri and Perrin 14

ANC’s message has been against apartheid, poverty and crime

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Access to buildings was based on race

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Mix of Third and first worlds

Cape Town: Women frying chicken for sale

Cape Town: Table mountain and Affluent suburb

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Beautiful scenery of the countryside

Country side

Robin Island prisonMandela’s room with personal artefacts

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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

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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

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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.

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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.

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Results and Discussion• SOUTH AFRICA ANC – In 1994, established ‘People’s 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 Obama’s and Mr Jacob Zuma’s humble backgrounds., presidential candidate was portrayed being

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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 Front’s advertising campaign was handled internally by Professor Pieter Mulder.

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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

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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 ralliesCanvassingDoor–to-door campaignsDonations/gifts/hand-outs

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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

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Video Links

• Malawi

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gs4JN6wY9e8&feature=player_embedded

• South Africa

• Zuma

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBc1n5HqXxs&feature=player_detailpage#t=3s Harris, Simenti-Phiri and Perrin 28