Political Communication syllabus (original) (raw)

This course provides a detailed overview of research on political communication and its role in informing, influencing, and legitimizing decisions is crucial to both domestic and international politics. By analyzing the relationship between political actors, communication channels, and the public, students will gain an understanding of the ways in which dominant ideologies shape communication strategies, an understanding of the ways in which communication strategies shape political public opinion. Students will evaluate the effects of political communication campaigns on people’s attitudes, opinions and systems of beliefs. Analyzing the actors, technologies, and forms of communication that together constitute public debate, the course focuses closely on the processes of political communication, with an eye to how the state, press, political parties, civil society organizations, social movements, campaigns, and the public interact to shape public life and produce political culture. It considers the social and technological contexts that shape the production, distribution, and reception of political communication. At the same time, the course situates political communication broadly to encompass the vast range of symbolic political expression, from political advertisements to protest events. This course sets itself off from those situated in mediated communication as it focuses on how politics shapes our identity, our relationships, and our communities, and highlights relational/interpersonal, rhetorical aspects of politics, and the role of engaged citizenship in political processes and deliberative democracy.