Das Modul "Strukturen und Steuerung der politischen Kommunikation" besteht aus 2 Hauptseminaren. Für das Hauptseminar, in dem die Hausarbeit geschrieben wird, gibt es 10 ECTS, für das andere Hauptseminar 5 ECTS. close

New media have increasingly gained in importance for voter mobilisation, political campaigning and election monitoring in recent years. This is not only the case in "Western" countries, such as Germany, Sweden or most prominently the US. New forms of political communication have also reached countries that usually escape comparative media research and are not considered as forerunners in the use of modern technology, such as Liberia, South Sudan or Timor-Leste. There, short messages are used to inform citizens about registration processes, interactive online maps are used to present the course of election processes and eventual irregularities to an international audience in a timely manner and informal networks of mobile users are established to ensure timely reporting of escalations across long distances. These are just a few examples for the creative use of new technologies in election processes in post-conflict countries - facing conflictive elections in a setting where citizens and officials have little experience in election processes and few financial resources available. In many of these countries, mass media is just (re-)establishing and only accessible in the urban areas. Newspapers are rarely available and radio programmes often do not even reach the rural areas. Billboards, flyers, t-shirts, stickers and personal campaigning have been the most prominent ways of political mobilisation and voter education in this setting for a long time. They are, however complemented or even replaced by new media, more interactive, up to date and cheaper in use in contemporary elections. The aim of this course is to portray a number of recent post-conflict elections with a special focus on the use of old and new media in voter education, political campaigning and election monitoring (the number of case studies will depend on the number of students in the course). Based on this assessment, a typology will be derived that can be used for the integration of further case studies. Selected cases of innovative use of new media will be described in depth to serve as examples for future election processes under challenging circumstances. Cooperation with ZIF (Center for International Peace Operation, preparing and delegating election observers) and NDI (National Democratic Institute, NGO active to strengthen democratic processes world wide) is intended. Course participants are encouraged to familiarise themselves with the current literature on political communication (especially the use of new media), the special challenges of post-conflict election processes and comparative case study research. Most relevant literature will be supplied. Course participants are required to prepare a short input focusing on one aspect of the relevant literature (10 minutes, summary of literature given) and one presentation and hand-out (alone or in groups) focusing on one post-conflict election process, portraying the use of old and new media in voter education, political campaigning and election monitoring (30 minutes presentation). Participants who need a "Hausarbeit" are encouraged to present their case study in depth with reference to the comparative perspective developed throughout the course. The course will be held as "Blockseminar". An introductory event will be used to present the outline of the course, introduce the topic and literature and select the case studies and groups (Friday, 6 SWS). A main venue will be used to present and discuss the case studies individually and in comparison (Friday and Saturday, 16 SWS). A summarizing event will focus on the comparison between the cases and lead to the development of a typology of media use in post-conflict election processes (Friday, 6 SWS). close