Overview
- Presents new qualitative data about the production of campaigns, which is unmatched in the field
- Explores contemporary election campaign practices that have emerged in Australia and other democratic systems
- Applies an integrated approach through a deep and broad engagement with empirical research and theoretical debates
Part of the book series: Political Campaigning and Communication (PCC)
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Table of contents (10 chapters)
Keywords
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Reviews
“Glenn Kefford has dragged scholarship about party campaigning into the modern day, with a study that for the first time properly integrates the campaign elements of data, digital and field work. Kefford has interviewed scores of campaigners in three Australian political parties, while also undertaking participant observation of campaigning on the ground. He brings a sceptical and astute mindset to the task of appraising this data and constructing a new theoretical model of contemporary campaigning and its effect on party organisation; the result will be of benefit to scholars internationally.” (Dr Stephen Mills, University of Sydney, Australia, author of ‘The Professionals’ and ‘The New Machine Men’.)
“Kefford writes “To say that liberal democracy is in trouble is to state the bleeding obvious”. But are new forms of data-driven campaigning the answer? This compellingly written, ground-breaking book is underpinned by a treasure trove of original analyses: from participant observation in fieldwork campaigns, extensive interviews with party insiders, to public opinion data. But its answer is an emphatic ‘no’ – we are systematically shown that parties are clumsy at persuading voters and Australian voters remain sceptical of parties.” (Professor Ariadne Vromen, Sir John Bunting Chair of Public Administration, Australian National University, Australia, and author of Digital Citizenship and Political Engagement: The Challenge from Online Campaigning and Advocacy Organisations)
“Kefford offers the most extensive analysis of contemporary campaigning to date in the field through the lens of Australian political parties. Australia in particular offers a fascinating case study of campaign attempts at persuasion given compulsory voting – an animating question in the literature given public concern over the effects of digital micro-targeting. Kefford finds that campaigns are rarely effective at persuasion, but that data-driven practices are transforming the organizational structures and investments of parties, including blurring the distinction between party members and supporters. This is a fascinating and nuanced account of how data is powering digital and field campaigning, and how its effects might be less directly on voters and more on parties as organizations.” (Dr Daniel Kreiss, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, USA, author of ‘Prototype Politics: Technology Intensive Campaigning and the Data of Democracy’ and ‘Taking our country back: The crafting of networked politics from Howard Dean to Barack Obama’)
“How are political parties campaigning in Australia today? Presenting unparalleled insight into the activities of Australian parties, Glenn Kefford dives beneath the hype and sensationalised reporting of political campaigns to offer a detailed, and vitally important discussion of how parties actually work. Dispelling the myth of hyper-professionalised campaigns, Kefford outlines what it means to conduct data-driven campaigning, and shows the diversity of ways in which data is being used by parties today. Offering a vital conceptual contribution and unrivalled empirical insight into Australian parties, this book makes an important contribution to debates on political parties that will resonate far beyond Australia's shores.” (Dr Katharine Dommett, Senior Lecturer in the Public Understanding of Politics, University of Sheffield, United Kingdom, author of ‘The Re-imagined Party: Democracy, Change and the Public’)
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Political Parties and Campaigning in Australia
Book Subtitle: Data, Digital and Field
Authors: Glenn Kefford
Series Title: Political Campaigning and Communication
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-68234-7
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham
eBook Packages: Political Science and International Studies, Political Science and International Studies (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-68233-0Published: 16 February 2021
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-68236-1Published: 17 February 2022
eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-68234-7Published: 15 February 2021
Series ISSN: 2662-589X
Series E-ISSN: 2662-5903
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XVII, 217
Number of Illustrations: 1 b/w illustrations, 20 illustrations in colour