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"Partisanship Among American and European Students: A Comparison"
by Dominic Wring
I have lectured on (mainly British) political communication to students from the UK, US, France and have also taught groups from Central and Eastern Europe. The sessions often take the form of me providing them with an overview of the political process, the major players, state of the news media and some of the recent events that have triggered significant debates at Westminster and in the wider country. A major focus is on the way the conduct of election campaigning in the UK has been transformed and I am profitably served by a range of good audio visual materials including posters from the beginning of the 20th Century and television clips from the 1950s onwards. Like any form of mass persuasion, the beauty of these media is that they were designed for a wide audience and hence whilst even some of the British students struggled to recognise former Prime Ministers (in one lecture I recall a visiting Czech identifying John Major amidst rows of seemingly non-plussed or perhaps just reluctant home students), it is still possible to demonstrate how advertising techniques have changed over time. And these kinds of clips always stimulate debate.
It is not easy to generalize from my experiences as my teaching of mainly non-British audiences has mainly consisted of annual guest lectures to an ongoing French degree class and a US University programme visiting the UK. From this there are a few things that are worth noting. The polarization of US politics has been self-evident in some of the comments made by American students when discussing developments in Washington and elsewhere. What is more there appears to be a preparedness by participants to admit support for the Republicans or Democrats and that this appears to coax other, perhaps less partisan class members to align themselves on one side or the other. This does not adversely impact on the lecture because the group members remain respectful of one another and, rather than focusing solely on contemporary electoral issues, the subsequent conversation can enliven the discussion and raise further issues and questions about comparative political communication.
I do not ask questions to ascertain any student's own political preferences; rather in the course of a session discussion of British politics—the electoral process, news media, spin, Iraq, etc.—this will inevitably lead to comparisons with the US situation and then some debate about the merits or not of Bush, Gore and Kerry (I've been teaching a visiting class from the US for about 6 years). By contrast it is striking how European students appear less willing to express partisan preferences. Rather there appears to be more of a general cynicism among the French and British about their leaders which reflects, to a certain extent (the extreme and mercifully still largely fringe right-wing apart) the degree of consensus that exists across the continent's political elites on a variety of issues. The students do, however, routinely demonstrate acumen in identifying potential leaders (French Socialist Segolene Royal for example) as well as ridiculing others (the former British Conservative William Hague).
It would be misleading to suggest that the American students greatly differ from their European counterparts. My home students strike me as being the least partisan or politically engaged but they are, like I suspect their US colleagues, quite aware of what spin doctors and focus groups are and knowledgeable as to their political influence and importance. This is of course to be hoped because they are interested in political communication but this understanding also relates to the proliferation of public relations in Britain and the perception that is plays an influential role, not least within the democratic process. Consequently Alastair Campbell, Blair's former spin doctor, is recognized as having a role analogous to that of Karl Rove as the leader's right-hand man. By contrast, the French students, equally well versed in the cynicism about politics, have largely not heard of spin or focus groups and this is obviously a reflection of the country's differing political culture where such activities have long flourished under Giscard, Mitterrand and Chirac but have largely remained secret from wider public view. Similarly, I recall having a discussion with a couple of Czech students who, on viewing films of Tony Blair, expressed dismay as to the manipulative qualities of the material. Perhaps mindful of the cult of leadership, they suggested such an approach would be counter-productive if attempted in their own country's elections.
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