The Politics of Campaigning – Dimensions of Strategic Action

The study of campaigning activities has long been neglected in political science (Farrell 1996; Schmitt-Beck/Farrell 2002). The disregard of campaigning can be explained by the fact that it has long been taken for granted that campaigns only have minimal effects. More recent studies have challenged this ‘minimal effect’ view of campaign effects. Indeed, Iyengar and Simon (2000) maintain that campaigns do matter and can be pivotal. Similarly, several recent studies (Nadeau et al. 2001; Lachat/Sciarini 2002; Fournier et al. 2004 or Holbrook/McGlurg 2005) provide evidence for substantial and systematic campaign effects on citizens’ voting behaviour. Increasingly, campaigns are viewed as playing a key role for the information processing of the citizens, providing voters with the necessary information for making a choice in line with their preexisting preferences (Finkel 1993; Gelman/King 1993; Stimson 2004; Arceneaux 2005). However, the analysis of campaigns by political scientists has been focusing on the voters, while little attention has so far been paid to the campaign strategies of political actors. The field of campaigning has been left to political consultants and political marketing specialists. In this paper, we would like to make a contribution to the conceptualization of the campaign strategies of political actors.