This important new text brings together an outstanding group of international scholars to look at the current state of electoral politics around the world. Elements of the modern (or American) model of election campaigning have been adopted in many countries in recent years-including the use of mass media, the personalization of campaigns, use of public opinion polls, and a general professionalization of campaigns-and conditions would seem to favor the spread of that model. Contributors to this volume, from established democracies, new and restored democracies, and democracies facing destabilizing pressure, examine the extent to which electoral politics in their countries have been affected by the emergence of high-tech professional campaigns. Countries examined provide a cross-section of today's democracies, including the United States, Britain, Sweden, Germany, Russia, Poland, Spain, Israel, Italy, Argentina, and Venezuela. The work will be of interest to scholars and students alike in political communication, political parties and elections, and comparative politics.

Paolo Mancini, David L. Swanson

Tables
Series Foreword
Politics, Media and Modern Democracy: Introduction by Paolo Mancini and David L. Swanson
Campaign Innovations in Established Democracies with Stable Political Cultures
Politics, Media and Modern Democracy: The United States by Dan Nimmo
Modern Communications vs. Traditional Politics in Britain: Unstable Marriage of Convenience by Jay G. Blumler, Dennis Kavanagh, and T. J. Nossiter
The Modernization of Swedish Campaigns: Individualization, Professionalization and Medialization by Kent Asp and Peter Esaiasson
The "Americanization" of German Election Campaigns: Any Impact on the Voters? by Klaus Schoenbach
Campaign Innovations in New and Restored Democracies
Television, Campaigning and Elections in the Soviet Union and Post-Soviet Russia by Ellen Mickiewicz and Andrei Richter
Television and Elections in Post-1989 Poland: How Powerful Is the Medium? by Karol Jakubowicz
Political Communication and Electoral Campaigns in the Young Spanish Democracy by Juan I. Rospir
Campaign Innovations in Democracies Facing Potentially Destabilizing Pressures
American-Style Electioneering in Israel: Americanization versus Modernization by Dan Caspi
Patterns and Effects of Recent Changes in Electoral Campaigning in Italy by Gianpietro Mazzoleni
Secular Politics: The Modernization of Argentine Electioneering by Silvio R. Waisbord
Politics, Media and Modern Democracy: The Case of Venezuela by José Antonio Mayobre
Patterns of Modern Electoral Campaigning and Their Consequences by David L. Swanson and Paolo Mancini
Selected Bibliography
Index