“Americanization of Political Campaigns”:
A Comparison of the Cases of Forza Italia
and Genç Parti (Young Party)
Hasan Bahadır Türk*
Abstract: Similar to political institutions and structures, political campaigns have also
undergone dramatic transformations. The Americanization of political campaigns, which
are characterized by certain peculiarities, such as the personalization of politics, weakening of party organizations, wide use of media channels in the political marketing process,
need for specialization, primacy of opinions over ideologies and conceptualization of citizens as policy consumers, is a by-product of these dramatic transformations. This paper
aims to compare Forza Italia and the Genç Parti through the Americanization of political
campaigns with special emphasis on the connection between the transformation of political campaigns and the crisis of representative democracy.
Key Words: Campaign, representation, media, democracy, political party.
INTRODUCTION
No argument on democracy can overlook the fact that modern democracy
necessarily refers to representative democracy. 1 As Katz emphasizes, analysis of
representation involves three questions: “Who are represented? Who is the representative? What is it that the representative does in representing the representative?” (Katz, 2006: 42). The answer to these questions may differ. Beginning with
the last of these three questions, according to one view, the mode of representation is the descriptive mirroring of demographic characteristics of the represented.
The represented in its broadest sense refers to demos, masses or different social
layers.2 At institutional level, the representatives are mainly parliaments and political
parties, representatives and leaders. The groundwork, which ensures the action of
representation and establishes the relation between the representative and the represented, is the election mechanism (Katz, 2006: 42-43). An important element in
the functioning of this mechanism is the political campaign. The political campaign is important groundwork for considering a number of issues, such as political culture, political system and parties, leader and mass communication as well.
The aim of this study, based on the concept of “Americanization of political cam*
Dr., Çankaya University Department of Political Science and International Relations
To Sartori, contemporary democracies are based on “(a) Limited majority rule, (b) The electoral process, (c) The delegation of political power via representation”. See: Sartori, 1993: 32.
2
In fact, the question of who the represented are is not blurred merely as a result of the crisis of representation. Demos is also highly vague with its mode in the concept of democracy. Sartori, based on
the words demos and populus, says there are at least six possible meanings of the “people": 1. everybody, 2. a great many, 3. the “lower class’, 4. an organic whole, 5. the absolute majority, 6. a limited
majority”. See: Sartori, 1993: 23.
1
TODAĐE’s Review of Public Administration, Volume 4 No 3 September 2010, p.61-79.
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paigns”, is to draw attention to the correlation of transformation undergone with
political campaigns with the state of crisis of representative democracy and to offer
a comparison of the cases of Forza Italia and Genç Parti (Genç Parti) in terms of
the “Americanization of political campaigns”. For this purpose, first the study will
look at “the crisis of representation”3 and the status of political parties. Then, the
basic components of the “Americanization of political campaigns” will be discussed
by examining the debates on media, political marketing and video-politics.
THE CRISIS OF REPRESENTATION AND THE STATUS OF POLITICAL PARTIES
The present state of crisis of representative democracy, which can simply defined as “an indirect democracy, in which the people do not themselves govern but
elect representatives, who govern them” (Sartori, 1993: 122), is the outcome of a
multi-dimensional process. The components of this multi-dimensional process are
as follows: “Political parties are no longer the representatives of specific social classes and the dividing line between right and left-wing politics has become less defined; with the development of media and communication methods, voting once
every few years is no longer considered adequate in terms of a contribution to politics, thus paving the way for participatory democracy; in welfare societies with developed middle classes, problems concerning daily life that have to be immediately
solved come to the fore front; the downsizing of the state in ideological and eco3
In the framework of this study, instead of concepts developed over different theoretical approaches,
such as “the crisis of parties, “legitimacy crisis” or “the governing crisis”, the concept of “the crisis of
representation” is used. The use of the concept of representation and the evolution of its meaning and
importance can be associated with the institutionalization process of politics. As Hanna Fenichel reminds us, “The Ancient Greeks had no corresponding word and representative institutions do not play
a significant/apparent role in their political life” see. Pitkin, 1969: 1; Pitkin, 1967: 2. From the 20th century to present day, representation-centered arguments have generally focused on the characteristics
of democracy. However, questions whether “the representative” is just an intermediary, or is a substitution of whom it represents, or refers to something different that it represents and may be “more”,
have always been debated see: Pitkin, 1969: 17. Therefore, it can be said that the issue of what is
generally called the crisis of representation is related not only with the mode of functioning of democracy or only classification problems, ambiguities incorporated in “demos”; but also with the deadlocks
arising from the concept of representation itself. In this context, Laclau argues that the function of the
representative is not merely limited to representing the will of those he or she represents, but also to
bring a value to this will in a framework different from its original one. To Laclau, “It is in the nature of
representation that the representative is not merely a passive agent, but has to add something to the
interests it represents. This addition, in turn, is reflected in the identity of those represented, which
changes as a result of the very process of representation. Thus, representation is a two-way process: a
movement from represented to representative and a correlative one from representative to the represented. The represented depends on the representative for the constitution of his or her own identity.”
See: Laclau, 2007: 179. It is also possible to consider the potential problems in the functioning of this
action as an “input” crisis pointing to a political loyalty and lack of trust by referring to “legitimacy crisis” in its Habermasian sense see: Habermas, 1975: 46. However, it has been believed that the concept of “the crisis of representation”, due to its nature and comprehensiveness that more directly refer
to “representative democracy” and the functioning of the process of the “institutionalization of politics
“ as a basic means of political campaigns will be more functional for the study in comparison to other
concepts. As Andeweg underlines, “distrust of the representative democratic system and distrust of
the governors are not totally independent of one another.” See. Andeweg, 2004: 145.
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nomic spheres: the increased expectations for greater role of the state in service
providing” (Yerasimos, 2001: 13).
Mass media is used as an effective means for the manipulation of the anger of
people against social-economic problems that become complicated with people’s
dissatisfaction and distrust towards the political system and its mechanisms. Moreover, today, mass media presents a picture in most countries that makes it difficult
for people to be informed of the existing problems in a sound manner. “The dominant media forms are quite large businesses; they are controlled by very wealthy
people or by managers who are subject to sharp constraints by owners and other
market-profit-oriented forces” (Chomsky - Herman, 2004: 64). This is a factor that
deepens the dynamics of the current crisis of representation. The reason is that as
Giovanni Sartori states, “representative democracy can be defined as an opinion
management that mirrors the feelings and thoughts of people. That is to say, people must simply have their own opinions for the existence and functioning of representative democracy” (Sartori, 2004: 53). However, it is no longer enough that
people have their own opinions.
We face a “paradoxical” situation in today’s political-social map marked by the
crisis of democracy. On the one hand, there is a broad consensus on the legitimacy of democracy as a form of government and its indispensability for the working
of political parties. However, on the other hand, in most democratic systems public
opinion’s discontent and distrust towards political parties has become highly apparent (Linz, 2002: 291). The political parties have fallen “victim” to their duty of
representing the interests of certain groups of society. The reason is that large
masses of society have got the feeling that they are not represented anymore. Political parties detach themselves from the masses and in the eyes of people, they
are institutions that strive to protect and implement their own organizational interests within the competitive environment of Parliament. This negative point of view
has led to the common view in public opinion that “parties are all the same”, as
Linz says (Linz, 2002: 298-299). The rise of interest groups in politics has become
another important factor that has caused the deepening of detachment between
political parties and people (Linz, 2002: 301).
As LaPalombara points out, today, the power of political parties tends to weaken and the party identification fades away in almost all over the world. In addition,
the legitimacy of parties is at stake. The “professionals” replace the traditional party
managers. There is a decline in voter turnout compared to the past. In a sense,
non-governmental organizations come out as the new rivals of political parties
(LaPalombara, 2007: 149). Of course political parties have not disappeared. However, their ability to represent and shape voters’ opinions and to mobilize masses
has largely eroded (Crotty, 2006: 501). Nevertheless, even though the common
view that political parties, which are among the sources of the crisis of representation, have become closed interest organizations in pursuit of their own benefits is
true to a large extent, “it would be wrong to say that political parties have turned into interest groups; parties still bear specific social representation relations. Howev-
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er, in the process of performing their intermediary function between the ‘base’ and
general public opinion and political device, they strip off being essential to be contingent” (Bora, 1994: 12). In fact, it can be said that being contingent is one of the
important components of the process of erosion of political parties.
To Piero Ignazi, two factors are instrumental in the erosion of political parties.
Looking at general tendency in organizational structure of parties, their organizational structure has weekend and the number of members of mass parties has reduced. This has resulted in the decline of party identification and party loyalty as
well higher voter volatility. Despite these prevalent tendencies, Ignazi asserts that
this process does not denote the erosion of political parties. The reason is that despite the importance of organizational factors such as the number of members and
party identification, not only these factors alone are inadequate to bring explanation to the decay of parties, but also they are not apparent enough to for laying
down the reasons for weakening in political parties (Ignazi, 1996: 550-551). What
makes the decay of political parties remarkable is the abrasion of their functions.
Even though they have different typologies4 in correlation with the crisis of representative democracy, parties are no longer capable of duly fulfilling their functions
mobilizing masses, “voicing the peoples’ will” and establishing policies (Ignazi,
1996: 553).
The factors such as the entrance of persons, who are not from traditional party
organizations, into the politics, thus turning the politics into a representation medium that expands from organizations towards persons, more reliance on charismatic leadership and the leader-centered political thought are the consequences of
the erosion of political parties in organizational and functional terms (Ignazi, 1996:
552). Another outcome of the process has been the strengthening of the two political attitudes nourished by this tendency, which in fact stand at two opposite poles.
4
The dispersion of political parties in its common sense can also be read over the differentiations in the
typology of political parties. The picture that appears by the major classifications of political parties,
such as Duverger’s cadre and mass parties (1954), Neumann’s parties of individual representation and
parties of democratic integration (1956), Kircheimer’s “catch-all party”, (1966), Panebianco’s “electoral-professional party” (988), Poguntke’s “the new politics parties” (1987) and Katz and Mair’s “The
Cartel Party” (1995), is meaningful in this respect. It can be said that electoral-professional parties or
catch-all parties that emerge with the decomposition of mass parties present a structure quite the opposite to that of Duverger’s mass parties and democratic (mass) parties that correspond to it. Electoral-professional parties, presenting a picture in contrast to the descriptive characteristics of the party
typologies of Duverger and Neuman, are interest-centered, election-oriented, organized parties with
weak ideological structures, where a number of professionals are decisive rather than central bureaucratic institutions. Likewise, Kirchheimer’s catch-all party can be translated as a highly opportunistic
vote-seeking party, a leader-centred party, a party tied to interest groups, or all of the above. The cartel party is a new type, defined by its relation to the state. Unable to rely on the loyalty of members
who have become more distant parties allot themselves larger and larger subventions and become
dependent on state subsidies for their support; they are loosely organized, and remote from their
members. Nevertheless, drawing a descriptive frame for these typologies that point to changes in the
organizational structure of political parties is outside the scope of this study. For a helpful resource
that discuses the characteristics of the political party typologies mentioned here, see: Wolinetz, 2002:
146-149.
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The extreme right movements and parties have taken advantage of this process
and the dynamics of the representative democracy that nourishes the process and,
has succeeded in making their anti-system status more appealing to voters. Meanwhile, in the leftist camp, the parties based on “new politics” (The New Politics
Party) have drawn attention by their criticisms towards bulky and closed structures
and bureaucratic positioning of mass parties, along with their flexible structures. To
Poguntke, the coiner of the concept of “The New Politics Party”, new politics parties have emerged as a result of the changing face of politics. The distinctive characteristics of these parties can be listed as follows: individualism, equal rights, participatory democracy, ecological concerns, unilateral disarmament, third world
emphasis, leftism. The themes of individualism and equal rights, while pointing to
alternative lifestyles and respect for sexual and ethnic minorities, lay emphasis on a
more decentralized functioning against the institutions that ensure the representation mechanism aimed at by the representative democracy.
There is an apparent difference between “new politics parties” generated by the
erosion process of political parties and extreme right-wing parties. “New politics
parties”, despite their flexibility and anti-hierarchical approach, are “collective”
structures that get strength from new social movements. However, in contrast, extreme left-wing parties are leader-oriented parties that get their power from their
leaders. Among these examples are Le Pen in France, Haider in Austria, Janmaat
in Netherlands and Glistrup in Denmark (Ignazi, 1996: 559). The future of political
parties is shaped by these two opposite tendencies and the struggle between them.
It can be said that another determining factor in shaping the future of political parties will be the mass media that has gained new dimensions in line with increasing
technological facilities. The reason is that the mass media has also played a role in
the erosion of political parties (Sartori, 2004: 87). Therefore, it can be said that this
role may expand to contribute to shaping the organizational and functional image
of political parties. For example, political parties, due to increased power and influence of the media, have turned their faces towards “celebrities” in order to catch
the attention of the masses (Semetko, 2006: 515). It can be expected that this attitude of parties will continue by expanding through the mass media. After all, this
will denote an increase in their inclination toward relying on personal images rather
than their organizational structures.
While politics gradually turns into “a closed field of expertise” in a political environment, where the crisis of representative democracy is determinant (Linz, 2002:
303), the ability of political parties to build a sense of social belonging diminishes.
In line with the weaknesses in the working of a liberal/representative democracy,
which is considered the right and just process of participating in government, the
process of blurring the divide between left-wing and right-wing clearly manifests itself. This process develops the increasing emphasis of “central” at ideological level.
The increased visibility of parties, which define themselves as center-right, centerleft or center itself can also be regarded as a pragmatic attitude against the crisis of
representation.
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The political meaning of center is the expression of the technicalization of politics, as the bearer of images such as “common sense, stability, reconciliation,
moderation, etc. Center is the resultant of all political wills that represent systemic
rationality. (...) Center is the haunt, where politics is filtered and converted into; it
represents this claim and promise” (Bora, 1994: 11). The reduction of politics
merely to an administrative occupation and its technical dimension, one of the dimensions constituting its essence, has been also accompanied by another process
that started in the 1980s and has gained pace towards the 2000s all over the
world. One of the prevailing tendencies of this process is the detachment of the
economy from politics. While the economy is separated from politics, the bond between society and politics is also abraded. From this viewpoint, those who consider
“established organization/ideology/program/cadre-oriented style of doing politics as
outdated political instruments remaining from the right-left polarization of the past
have inclined towards “an image/showcase/apromotion/campaign-oriented style
(Sancar, 2002: 72). From now on, the “new times” are the times, where politics
turns into an art of performance; leaders are presented as images that outshine
parties; citizens are reduced to political consumers. At this very point, campaigns,
which are the products of the political marketing process, should be considered in
view of the changed dimensions of media and citizenship.
FROM “CITIZEN” TO “POLITICAL CONSUMER”: MEDIA, POLITICAL MARKETING
AND VIDEO-POLITICS
As O’Shaughnessy emphasizes, political marketing 5 is a “hybrid concept”
(O’Shaughnessy, 1999: 725). In the most general sense, political marketing, which
recalls business management and economics literature on the one hand and
makes reference to the working of politics on the other, refers to the process of
how the political product will be offered to consumers. Political marketing, which is
the product of efforts for making a specific synthesis of strategies, works at two
levels. In structural terms, political marketing is built on the trinity of organization
and market. In political marketing, the product might be a leader, a candidate, a
political party or an ideology. In terms of political marketing, organization in its
most general sense refers to the resources to be used. To Ware, resources refer to
“in its oversimplified definition (...) money and manpower” (Ware, 1996: 296). The
market is a field open to competition where these resources are mobilized and the
political consumer (citizen) and the product meet. Political marketing along with its
5
Keeping in mind different approaches and models we meet in the evolution of political communication studies is significant in terms of the general framework of the argument. For a general and descriptive framework on this subject, see: Köker, 1998: 31-80. However, drawing a descriptive framework for the place of political marketing techniques in the political communication processes is outside the scope of this study. Nevertheless, it should be pointed out that the concept of “political marketing” in the meaning used here can be assumed as the extension of a “voter persuasion paradigm”
(Swanson-Nimmo, 1990: 9) that “sees the political campaign as the paradigmatic instance” of political communication, which is focused on public knowledge, beliefs and action on political matters, as
Swanson and Nimmo maintain. For a general evaluation and criticism of this approach, see: Swanson
- Nimmo, 1990: 7-45; Kaid, 1996: 443-458.
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structural characteristics also exhibits “process characteristics” that define, develop
and deliver value. Thus, political marketing progresses in three stages: values are
defined (product-related values to be defended and highlighted), values are developed (the process and means through which these values will be offered and developed) and values are presented. The prominent factors in this process are the
media, polls and market surveys (Butler - Collins, 1999: 57).
A general outlook of the framework above may recall another concept, propaganda. Propaganda is the conveyance of a particular thought to the masses mostly
by lies and deception, or the systematic attempt to shape perceptions/thoughts of
the masses. The inseparable elements of propaganda are “rhetoric, symbolism and
myth” (O’Shaughnessy, 2004: 65). These elements, which O’Shaughnessy calls
“an essential trinity”, have a producible nature. This production may either be inspired directly by a symbol, myth or rhetoric from the past, or the products are
mostly tailored to the purposes in line with the existing conditions (O’Shaughnessy,
2004: 94). The presentation of this trinity to the masses is from the top and is unilateral. In fact, the distinctive characteristic of propaganda is that it is “argumentbased exchange”. Propaganda addresses emotions and, while doing it, its strategy
does work over not dialogue, but monologue (O’Shaughnessy, 2004: 114).
Propaganda that works accompanied by an ideology and political marketing
sometimes gets closer to each another in this respect. However, there is an important point that distinguishes political marketing from propaganda. Political marketing is capable of offering values that might change in line with conditions that
change based on market surveys. The message may always change in terms of political marketing. Political marketing does not have concerns for being didactic. In
contrast, “propaganda is didactic”. As the political market or competitive environment exhibits a heterodox structure in ideological terms, ideology in political marketing is vague (O’Shaughnessy, 1999: 729). Political marketing lacks the hard,
stable ideological shell of propaganda.
Such a prominence of political marketing has also produced significant results
in terms of the use of resources, one of the structural characteristics of marketing
as well. Campaigns are critical means where the resource use is concretized. In
Mancini and Swanson’s words, campaigns “are critical periods in the lives of democracies” and play a crucial role in a number of important points from the selection of decision makers to shaping policy (Mancini - Swanson, 1999: 1). Campaigns are a central feature in the life of political parties, and certainly since the onset of representative democracy a party’s principal reason for existence (Farrell,
2006: 122) and refer to “organized efforts to inform, persuade, and mobilize” (Norris, 2002: 128). These efforts may not always be successful, no matter how extensively the resources of the party or the leader are used. The success of campaigns
depends on both the voters and conjuncture. The reason is that campaigns have a
contingent nature as well (Schmitt-Beck - Farrell, 2002: 188). Nevertheless, the vital importance of resources for political marketing, propaganda or campaigns
conducted in this context cannot be denied. Financial resources, i.e. money, in its
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most general and concrete sense, is the decisive power at times, where surveys,
image and media come into prominence to such extent for politics. Moreover,
nowadays in many countries, political campaigns are launched not a short time
ago, but long time ago, in accordance with the logic of marketing (Ware, 1996:
289). Now the candidates or parties who spend the most money (though not a
rule) obtain successful results - mostly accompanied by the efficient use of other
factors. For instance, Harry Wray reported that in 1994, the candidates who won
the election of the U.S. House of Representatives spent an average of $516,000
and the losers $239,000; the average expenses of losers and winners of the U.S.
Senate election ranged between $4,570,000 and $3,427,000 (Wray, 1999: 748).
The spirit of political marketing and campaigns becomes open to demonstration within an infinite flow6, where everything is coded as and in terms of money. In
this context, television has a critical importance. To Ware, what actually marks the
structural transformation of campaigns is the ever-increasing effect of television.
“television that merely serves as an election calendar in the 1950s” has later become a field, where leaders present their image to masses; explain their policies
and compete with each other (Ware, 1996: 289-290). The efficient use of television, the decisiveness of money, the war of images and the prominence of performance came to the forefront as the structural characteristics of political campaigns
especially those in the United States. However, after some time this style based on
the complicated togetherness of the mentioned elements has somehow begun to
become universalized. As Mancini and Swanson emphasize, campaigning in democracies around the world is becoming more and more “Americanized”. This
tendency manifests itself either in the direct adoption of campaign and marketing
strategies in the United States or their integration into local conditions in some way
(Mancini - Swanson, 1999: 4). If this is the case, what are the elements of the
“Americanization of campaigns”?
The first element of the “Americanization of Campaigns is the “personalization
of politics”. That is to say, today campaigns are mostly conducted as leaderfocused. In fact, what political marketing offers to voters is a leader rather than a
political party. This choice brings about the weakening of political parties “both at
symbolic level and in organizational terms”. The second factor is the “scientification of politics”. Politics is reduced to a technical field and campaigns are now
dominated by numerous practices ranging from focus group studies towards the
tendencies of target consumers (voters) to the employment of professional advisors; in Silvio Waisbord’s term, “campaign wizards” (Waisbord, 1999: 221) and the
6
This was the same for post-1980 Turkey. In that period, “the basic reference point in the political power structurings required by the existing class relations could be reduced to materialistic values, even in
its naked sense, to being a money owner. At this point, it is no longer possible to speak about the currentness of the capital nature of money. Besides, neither it can imply a specific accumulation. Particularly its latter characteristic strips money off his instrumentality and attributes it absolute causality.”
See: Ergur, 2002: 17. In fact, the prominence of “marketing” as an important process in every field is
related with this characteristic. Ergur underlines this point by stating, “a prevailed marketing ideology
is as comprehensive as to affect almost whole social action systematic”. See: Ergur, 2002: 18.
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efficient use of media (Farrell, 2006: 125).7 Another field, where his tendency is observed, is the increasing importance of public polls. Moreover, “these polls can also
be used for political manipulation” (Caspi, 1996: 182).8 Additionally, depending on
the increasing importance and the role of the media as well as the weakening ties
between citizens and political parties, “Americanized” compaigns are rather related
to the tendency of processing some ideas peculiar to specific conditions, than related to ideologies. Another element in the said process is that “citizens become
more like an audience”. Citizens are rather seen as an audience in the context of
these campaigns and their marketing activities. Hence, the notion of the active citizen, who is interested in how politics is done, leaves its place to a passive audience
interested in what politics offers (Mancini - Swanson, 1996: 15-16). As a matter of
fact, the prominence of political marketing to such an extent and the “Americanization of campaigns” are in a sense related with the reduction of politics to an advertisement activity. As Martin Mayer emphasizes, “publicity is built on three promoters: those who produce or market the products/brands and give the necessary
money (customers); the agencies that prepare advertising and determine the places of broadcasting; the media that conveys advertisement messages to consumers” (Mayer, 2004: 31).
In the process of the “Americanization” - in a sense “carnavalization” (Caspi,
1996: 182) - of political campaigns, the mass media assumes a critical status. Regarding the prevalence of many mainstream tendencies, such as the reinvention of
charisma and prominence of charismatic leadership, “the status of media as an autonomous power has produced significant results for modern politics” (ManciniSwanson, 1999: 11).While the instrumental status of the media has strengthened
in modern political balances, the media-politics relationship has become complicated. As early as in 1911, Michels evaluated the relation of the media and politics
as follows: “The press constitutes a potent instrument for the conquest, the preservation and the consolidation of power on the part of the leaders. The press is the
most suitable means of diffusing the fame of individual leaders among the masses,
for popularizing their names” (Michels, 1959: 130). Even though the press cannot
exert a direct influence as propagandist exercises over its audience, the written
press can be used with effect to influence public opinion by cultivating a “sensation” or making attacks upon their adversaries (Michels, 1959: 131). In the present
situation, the development of the media so as to cover electronic and visual media
and the increased capital mobility within the media sector has created an environment where the media is decisive on politics, and where it acts together with powerful political actors or political power.
7
Farrell says campaigns have been changing in terms of “4Ts”: technology, technics, technicians and
terrain, i.e. campaign environment. See. Farrell, 2006: 129.
8
Caspi defines the current status of polls in “Americanized” campaigns and doing politics by the term
“pollsification” that recalls falsification. See: Caspi, 1996: 182. Sartori also underlines the fabrication
of democratic credentials picked from the said surveys. See: Sartori, 2004: 60.
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In this very atmosphere, the “Americanization” of campaigns can be considered
along with the process of the increased decisiveness of the media on politics. Under normal conditions, the duty of an impartial media is to provide news and information on the political agenda (Jakupowicz, 1996: 129). However, the increased
decisiveness of politics in a “carnavalized” atmosphere, where performance comes
into prominence, may result in the manipulative attitude of the media in line with
its interests. As a matter of fact, “the media have an extremely limited capacity to
transmit a full and complete picture of the nearly limitless wealth of events that
comprise political reality, so they always have to pick and choose what they will feature and how they will present it” (Meyer, 2004: 61). This is the very problem. When
the media do not make the right choice, act biased and turn its unique transmitting function into a bias knowledge bombardment, citizens are harmed the most.
“The media’s tendency to weaken democracy’s legitimate practice of power lies in
its dynamics “shaping public opinion” This is the danger, which Thomas Meyer
points to with his concept of “media democracy. “The mediacracy thesis proposed
again by Meyer that expands the boundaries of the concept of “media democracy”
“claims that the media’s programming decisions cater almost exclusively to the political and cultural tastes of the broad mainstream of society, which, because they
are exactly mirrored in media fare, seems always to be confirmed and reinforced in
a self-validating hypothesis” (Meyer, 2004: 17). The efforts of political leaders or
parties, which have built themselves on the decisiveness of mass media, to reach
citizens allow the media to dangerously interfere in politics and to code the political
sphere in line with its personal interests. The political parties and leaders’ efforts to
exist through “being mediatic” contributes to the colonization process of politics by
the media system (Meyer, 2004: 72-73). As Meyer reminds us, in modern times
even though politics is “oriented to the “mass media” from the beginning, the
transformation of the direction, influence and depth of the “orientation” from being
a simple instrumentality to a “political production” exposes the whole political
sphere to media domination (Meyer, 2004: 77). The media open to merging and
monopolization gives priority to its self-interests and the requirements of the market while producing politics. During this process, in Meyer’s words, “critical faculties of the masses are paralyzed”. The reason is that people’s culture “is being revisualized under the influence of video technology, television and advertising”. Politics itself “tends to be politainment, a vivid, scintillating show” (Meyer, 2004: 79).
To Meyer, at his point, politics tends to be “a theater performance”, where the production of the images of leaders and parties is the main strategy as an “embodiment-based fake action”. The politics-media relationship transforms into a “theatretical approach’ via closely related, cross-referenced dimensions such as, “stagemanagement, embodiment, performance and perception”, resembling the structural and procedural characteristics of political marketing discussed above (Meyer,
2004: 79-83).
Another word corresponding to the thing that Meyer calls “politics as theatre” is
found in Sartori’s concept of “video-politics”. In the concept of “video politics”, the
term “video” proposed by Sartori does not refer to the image processing on band
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(videotape, videocassette, etc.), but to the Latin verb "videre" (I see) in accordance
with its etymology and to the “surface, on which images appear” in general and the
surface of the television device. Video-politics is a concept that describes the decisive effect of “video” on political processes (Sartori, 2004: 50). Video-politics is capable of shaping the thoughts and views of people. The televisual device, which
occupies the center in the video-politics process, not only determines the competition between parties and leaders, but also presents “the most seen” as the “most
believed and known authority”. In Sartori’s words, “the seen is perceived as real” in
the video-politics process (Sartori, 2004: 54). Television, as a means to offer “the
most visualized” as information, prevents people from obtaining knowledge (Sartori, 2004: 62) and personalizes politics by reducing it to images of leaders – just as
aimed by the logic of political campaigns and marketing methods (Sartori, 2004:
86). The strengthening tendency of personalization leads to the weakening of parties and gives prominence to “lightweight parties” (Sartori, 2004: 87). To Sartori,
the working of video-politics indicates not only leaders and politicians, but also the
masses become “video-addicted” and “demos is weakened” (Sartori, 2004: 89;
98). The weakening of the masses, the vanishing power of people are not independent of the reflex of video-politics to publicize popular culture figures’ – singers,
football players, movie stars, beautiful women - “opinions credited by a special
meaning or value” “based on their wrong testimony” (Sartori, 2004: 91).
Intensive political campaign processes, diversified mass media with its increasing activities and the rising power of video-politics, accompanied by the increased
role of Internet, have allowed leaders to reach more voters without the interference
of traditional party cadres or local party organizations. In this respect, technology
has provided leaders with the opportunity of building their own persona
(LaPalombara, 2007: 148). The created personas point to a change in the nature
of leaders and political parties; voters also change in the same way. The emphasis
laid on visuality has multiplied the internal problems of the representative democracy by adding another fake representation dimension. In a world where images are
determinant, the power of both parties/leaders and the masses have eroded. The
ground of the power struggle has become the ground of visuality. This ground can
be better understood by the comparison of Genç Parti, one of the most striking
cases of Turkish political life, and Forza Italia that can be deemed a highly outstanding case both for European and Italian political life. The said comparison will
be made based mostly on leader typology, campaign strategy and the rhetoric
used due to the lack of empirical materials, which makes the comparison of these
two parties difficult in respect of some basic aspects, mainly the voter base.
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TODAĐE’s Review of Public Administration
A COMPARISON BASED ON FORZA ITALIA AND GENÇ PARTI
Mazzoleni says a further indicator of the “Americanization of campaigns” is the
rise of Berlusconi’s own party. To Mazzoleni, Forza Italia’s political marketing tactics, weak organizational structure and the emphasis on leader’s charisma is a
product of the process of the “Americanization of political campaigns” (Mazzoleni,
1996: 200). It can be said that in this respect, Genç Parti corresponds to Forza Italia in Turkey. This obvious resemblance between Genç Parti and Forza Italia can be
examined from different aspects. Considering that one of the most distinctive
characteristics of the “Americanization of political campaigns” is leader/personfocused politics, it may be meaningful to point out the common points between
the leaders of these two political parties.
As to the common characteristics of the two leaders, it should be primarily underlined that both of them are businessmen. Both Berlusconi and Uzan are “selfcreated”, successful, powerful and ambitious men. Both leaders have made use of
the “self-made man” myth (Catano, 2000: 1)9 in various discussions during their
political life and have laid a special emphasis on their “businessman” identity.
Uzan’s Rumeli Holding and Berlusconi’s Fininvest are gigantic organizations described as financial empires in their countries. While presenting the success of their
holdings as a “live example” of their talent, they do not abstain from reminding
their voters of their power and services they have offered and using their financial
empires for building their own “persona”.10 There is a vital link between the parties
and corporations of these two leaders. The factor that renders Berlusconi and
Uzan’s businessman identity noteworthy is that they both have made the majority
of their investments in the media sector. Both leaders knew how to effectively use
the media power they possessed.11
Both Genç Parti and Forza Italia, while entering political life, attached special
importance to the phenomena of “campaign” and “media”. Forza Italia and Genç
Parti came to the forefront with their campaigns and their leaders actively using
their media power – a wide network built on television stations, magazines and
newspapers – throughout their campaigns. Cem Uzan, via his first private television
of Turkey, his radio stations, newspapers and magazines; Silvio Berlusconi, who
owns three of the four private national television channels in Italy, through these
stations, his newspapers, magazines, radio stations and his corporation Fininvest
9
Catano says perhaps the most wide-ranging, durable, and popular ale in Western culture is the myth
of the self-made man, and popular interest in such tales has underwritten a cottage industry in entrepreneurial autobiographies and non-fiction essays during the last two decades. For a study on Berlusconi’s emphasis on his successful businessman identity, see: Mancini, 1996: 118.
10
For the dimensions of this relationship, see: Statham, 1995; Mazzoleni, 1995, Mancini, 1996.
11
It is an interesting parallelism that Berlusconi, likeUzan, first made a name in the construction sector.
Both Berlusconi and Uzan would later enter the media sector. Berlusconi, whose nickname is “Sua
Emittenza”, is also the owner of newspapers like Il Giornale and magazines like Sorrisi e Canzoni.
Moreover, prestigious publishing houses, e.g. Arnoldo Mondadori, are under the control of Berlusconi.
See: Mazzoleni, 1995: 297.
“Americanization of Political Campaigns”: A Comparison of the Cases of Forza Italia and
The Genç Parti
73
that has a 65% of the television advertising market - are leaders of the political parties that act like a “customer-oriented commercial company”.
Genç Parti is successful to the extent that Forza Italia, which “has created its
own electorate” and “sees the electorate as political consumers” (emphasized by
the writer of the article), has succeeded in bringing product marketing logic into
the political field” (Statham, 1995: 91-92, 103). Forza Italia first identified “the
needs of the market and the consumer; then it chose the most suitable product for
meeting these needs”. Thus, Forza Italia’s strategy is “consumer-oriented marketing” (Mazzoleni, 1995: 311). In this respect, television advertisements, which Forza
Italia gives utmost importance, is equally important for Genç Parti. The two parties
entered politics via their leaders’ live personal speeches at first on television, then
by intensive publicity campaigns. Both Genç Parti and Forza Italia paid attention to
employing “celebrities” and “popular names” in their media organizations and political campaigns.
While popular celebrities extol the virtues of Forza Italia on mainstream talk
shows and other programs, such as the “Wheel of Fortune” game show broadcasted by Berlusconi’s television channel on the one hand, on Berlusconi’s channels, political commentators like Vittorio Sgarbi ve Giuliano Ferrara use their programs to promote Berlusconi and Forza Italia on the other hand (Statham, 1995:
96). This case is the same for Genç Parti. Especially in the times when Star TV was
owned by Uzan the propaganda of Genç Parti was made through popular names,
and commentators like Cevher Kantarcı and Taşkın Şenol acted like the spokesmen of Genç Parti in their programs. The concept of “televisual populism” coined
by Statham in order to describe Forza Italia’s approach to the trinity of campaigns,
the electorate and media (Statham, 1995: 91-99)12 can be applied to Genç Parti as
well.
The “Americanization of political campaigns” requires simple language, a rhetoric13 borrowed from daily life while speaking on subjects that can be deemed common ground of the masses. Accordingly, Forza Italia’s leader Berlusconi skillfully
used the language of the “person in the street” and soccer terminology (Statham,
12
In this context, Mazzoleni argues whether Forza Italia must be seen as a case of tendency that can be
called “democracy through media” or “videocracy”. See: Mazzoleni, 1995: 314-315.
13
To Aristotle, rhetoric falls into three divisions, determined by the three classes of listeners to speeches: “For of the three elements in speech-making -- speaker, subject, and person addressed -- it is the
last one, the hearer, that determines the speech’s end and object. The hearer must be either a judge,
with a decision to make about things past or future, or an observer. See: Aristoteles, 2006: 43. As
Köker emphasizes, contrary to Aristotle’s homogeneous society, “as the common “good” of the political community within the multi-centered and multi-layered relations appear merely as representative,
it gets difficult to think over the types of common speeches.” See: Köker, 1998: 84. The twentieth
century “public relationers’ “achievement in bringing the principles of goods sale bought from “the
economic market into political life, and transforming them into the publicity of the politician, who has
assumed the duties of speaking and marketing himself or herself to the public”, and the complex
structure and representation relations of modern society can be considered jointly with the efforts to
offer political rhetoric by synthesizing it with other types of rhetoric; thus, rendering the leader more
“listenable/watchable”. See: Köker, 1998: 101.
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TODAĐE’s Review of Public Administration
1995: 91). Uzan, likewise, paid particular attention to use the language of the person in the street in all his speeches. Even though Cem Uzan did not make reference to soccer terminology as often as Berlusconi, who also owns AC Milan, one of
the legendary clubs of world soccer,14 once, he was the owner of two football clubs
(Đstanbulspor and Adanaspor). He was known as a fan of Galatasaray and as a
matter of fact, his name came to the fore as the next president of Galatasaray
some time ago. He is also a leader, “who celebrates the achievements of the national football team at every occasion”. While Berlusconi attracts attention by using
football and nationalism, which he melts in the same pot, Uzan, likewise, talked
about the things, which we as a nation could achieve following the success of the
Turkish national team in the World Cup.15 As Semino and Masci states, instead of
possible name for party members and activists like Forzitaliani or Forzisti, Berlusconi rejected these potential names and ordered that party members and activists would be referred to as “Gli Azzuri” (the Blues) (Semino - Masci, 1996: 247). As
it is known, “Gli Azzuri” is the nickname of Italian national football team because of
the color of their shirt. The aim was to establish a connection between a national
value and the party. As a matter of fact, in the emblem of Forza Italia, the green
and red stripes in the Italian flag run horizontally on a blue background. Similarly,
Genç Parti chose its emblem by directly referring to the Turkish flag (two red crescents and a red star located between the crescents on a white background).
Another distinctive characteristic of the process of the “Americanization of political campaigns” involves the regular presentation of promises produced in relation
to the basic and daily problems of people. The resemblance between Forza Italia
and Genç Parti in this aspect is also striking. Silvio Berlusconi is known for his simplistic, unrealistic promises that annoy his political rivals. Cem Uzan’s promises
have exactly the same characteristics. While Berlusconi makes promises, that can
hardly be kept, such as “cuts in public spending without raising taxes” or “1 Million
Jobs”, (Statham, 1995: 91; Mazzoleni, 1995: 303); Cem Uzan persistently repeated
his promises, such as “the number of provinces will be raised to 250” and “Diesel
fuel price will be 1 YTL”, both in the pre-election processes of 3 November 2002
and 22 July 2007 general elections”.
Both Forza Italia and Genç Parti are extremely new parties in respect of their
first participation in general elections. Cem Uzan founded Genç Parti in November
2002, nearly three months before the general election, while Silvio Berlusconi
formed Forza Italia in March 1994 two months before the general election. The
basic emphasis of these two leaders, who entered the election with newly established parties, is their “non-political background”, i.e. “outside the system”. Ber14
Semino and Masci, who have made Forza Italia’s discourse analysis based on “football, Bible and
war” metaphors, rightly point out that even the name of the party is a slogan frequently cheered by
football fans. See: Semino - Masci, 1996: 246. It should be also noted that in addition to this slogan,
“Forza Azzuri” is a cheer, which is widely heard particularly in Italian national games.
15
Cem Uzan frequently used the theme of football in his speeches, which he made in the framework of
the 46th Anniversary of the Uzan Group that played an important role especially in the establishment
process of Genç Parti and that started two months before the party. See: Uzan, 2002a; 2002b, 2002c.
“Americanization of Political Campaigns”: A Comparison of the Cases of Forza Italia and
The Genç Parti
75
lusconi and Forza Italia, as “a new thing that comes from outside politics” (Mancini, 1996: 118), in this respect, recalls Uzan and Genç Parti. With his motivation, the
parties presented themselves to voters “as a new hope”. These “outsider” parties
were born in an environment of massive discontent marked by economic instability, ongoing political and administrative crises and structural changes.
While Uzan’s Genç Parti emerged in an election atmosphere determined by the
economic dire straits reaching a critical point due to February 2001, where Prime
Minister Ecevit’s severe health problems were continuously on the agenda and debates on the European Union were at their peak, Berlusconi’s Forza Italia emerged
in an environment marked by the public’s increasing discontent and distrust of politicians that became more apparent when corruption (including some politicians’
mafia links) and bribery scandals were uncovered in 1993, such as the Tangentopoli scandal, –which involved many politicians, including former Prime Ministers
Bettino Craxi and Giulio Andreotti (Mazzoleni, 1995: 293; Statham, 1995: 90). One
of the reasons that lay behind the success of Forza Italia and Genç Parti was the
said pessimistic political atmosphere into which they were born. Both parties and
leaders got involved in a political atmosphere marked by pessimism with their emphasis on optimism. Despite everything, optimism was the element that was underscored in the speeches of Berlusconi and Uzan. Both leaders underlined that
the existing unfavorable conditions can be overcome. It can be even said that the
names of the parties have been designed accordingly.
The name of Uzan’s party makes reference not only to its outside-the-system
status, but also to the “young” and “energetic” potential of itself and the country.
The name of Berlusconi’s party by itself is an invitation to take action, to move:
Forza Italia (Forward Italy!). The scarcity of “professional politicians” in the slates
and management teams of these parties, which highlight their being “untried”/”undirty” is another remarkable point that should be evaluated in this context. While the organizations and slates of Genç Parti are predominated by Rumeli
Hoding’s executives from different sectors, Forza Italia is composed of men and
women from “the media, celebrities and former soccer players” (Statham, 1995:
92). Cem Uzan also frequently made the emphasis of “being untried”, as mentioned again. For instance, Uzan, in one of his interviews published in the newspaper Vatan, said “On the 3rd of November, 42 percent of votes went to the two untried leaders: Tayyip Erdoğan and Cem Uzan. The old ones have been eliminated.
For the time being, the only leader, who has not been tried yet, is me” (Çetin,
2007).
After all, the comparison of the cases of Forza Italia and Genç Parti presents a
significant theoretical framework related to the concretization of the relationship
between financial resources and politics; the essentiality of reconsidering the connection between performance and politics; the likely success of a political program
based on the effective use of mass media; the extent, which the “untried leadersuccessful businessman” type can be influential within a convenient political oppor-
76
TODAĐE’s Review of Public Administration
tunity structure; the political/social impact, which the right political strategies and
campaign techniques accompanied by the convenient conditions may create.
CONCLUSION
Carl Schmitt, in his work, The Crisis of Parliamentary Democracy, which was
first published in 1923, argued that modern parlamentarism lost its moral and intellectual ground in the early 20th century. Factors, such as the politicians in pursuit
of their own interests, the deadlock of decision-making processes, the destruction
of the relationship between voters and representatives because of e proportional
representation and the list system and the failure of the principle of representation,
have distracted parliaments from their primary function, i.e. public negotiation in
the sense of the clash of opposites that contributes to the emergence of the right
political will (Schmitt, 2006: 11).
This state of crisis, which Schmitt pointed out at the beginning of the last century, has deepened more than it has ever been before in today’s world, where the
idea of “the end of ideologies” is intensively discussed. His crisis marked by the
structural and functional transformation of political parties, the rise of new social
movements, the discontent of the masses of political processes and institutions,
the power of the media that increases beyond social imaginations has rapidly
transformed the politics of modern times into a field of sole technical performance.
In this framework, the “Americanization of political campaigns” cannot be evaluated independent of the state of crisis undergone by the political institutions and
structures of modern times. Undoubtedly, the reduction of politics, which is part of
the process of the “Americanization of political campaigns”, to an exclusively technical field, a series of technical procedures; making use of a wide variety of experts
in shaping the political field and reaching the electorate; or the prominence of a
leader-focused approach can be considered neither unique nor entirely new factors. Nevertheless, the process of the “Americanization of political campaigns”
brings these factors already inherited from representative democracy under the
spotlight as it has never done before. Particularly the decisiveness of images on the
political sphere, thus, the emphasis lain on the images of leaders and the dominance of a mode of making policy that Sartori calls video-politics – which has also
been discussed in this study - are the points that should be deliberated particularly
in terms of the process in particular. In this respect, Forza Italia and Genç Parti can
be considered suitable cases for considering these points.
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