Political Science 2211E Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Political Campaign, Narrowcasting, Negative Campaigning

• School: Western University
• Department: Political Science
• Course: Political Science 2211E
• Professor: Adam Harmes

Document Summary

Campaign strategy: triage and the concentration of resources. Central principle of campaign strategy: in a world of scarce resources and legislated spending limits, it is necessary to focus spending where it will do the most good. Political and military campaigns have a lot in common. Campaign: collective action project that seeks to coordinate the activities of people over a period of time to reach a predetermined objective. Political campaign: an attempt to mobilize a coalition of people to vote in support of a particular candidate or team of candidates. Military and political campaigns are similar in that they both demand great dedication and intense effort. Political campaigns rely on persuasion to mobilize supporters. The institutional setting: the arrangement of political institutions. Makes a big difference in the conduct of campaigns. Canadian national or provincial election requires dozens or hundreds of local campaigns geographically defined electoral districts. The electoral system: systems of proportional representation encourage parties to engage in.