Ulteriori informazioni
An old pro on political mischief in the United States gives us an overview of U.S. campaign tactics and ethics from eighteenth-century pamphleteers to campaign consultants and media wizards in the 1990s. Bruce Felknor analyzes negative campaigning today within the context of the evolution of our electoral system. He offers a candid report on the media's influence on politics and shows how political reforms from the Progressive Era to Watergate have often misfired. Students of government and communications, political consultants and professional politicians, and all readers who want to vote more intelligently will find this analysis incisive and the long-forgotten, little-known, and never-told chapters of political lore written in an engaging fashion.
This in-depth history of political mischief in American elections is told in three ways. First it examines the surrounding context of the electoral system and the shifting role of political parties as campaign consultants and media experts emerged. Next it examines and analyzes the basic elements of campaign defamation and deception and the problems of espionage and sabotage. Finally it considers political reform and concludes with reflections on the prospects of future reforms.
Sommario
Introduction
The Matrix of Political MischiefThe Nominating Process: Finding Someone to Run
The Election Campaign: Marketing Politics
Criticizing Opponents: Negative Campaigning
The Elements of Unfair CampaigningPersonal Vilification: The Classic Smear
The Ghoul Gambit: Putting the Other Side Beyond the Pale
Appeals to Bigotry: Religion, Race, Ethnic Background
The Many Uses of Distortion
Political Lies and Liars
Politics and Patriotism
Political Chicanery: Disrupting the MachineryEspionage and Sabotage
Buying and Stealing Votes
Mischief and Reform: Reform as MischiefWatergate: Mandate for Reform
A Result of Reform: Invincible Incumbents
Media Power and the Perception of Politics
Further Perspectives on Reform
Bibliography
Index
Info autore
BRUCE L. FELKNOR is a well-known expert on election practices, the author of
Dirty Politics, co-author of
Political Dynamiting, and editor of
The U.S. Government: How and Why It Works. He is the author of several other books and many articles on unfair electioneering. Felknor served as Executive Director of the Fair Campaign Practices Committee, Inc., from the mid-1950s to the 1960s and was Executive Editor for years of the
Encyclopedia Britannica.
