Media and the Presidentialization of Parliamentary Elections

Download or read book Media and the Presidentialization of Parliamentary Elections written by Anthony Mughan and published by Springer. This book was released on 2000-10-10 with total page 179 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In theory, parliamentary elections are a contest between political parties whose leaders do not have a separate identity from their party in the public eye. This case study of Britain shows that this theory no longer holds; the dynamics of parliamentary elections have become more 'presidential' in the sense that the leaders of the major parties now figure more prominently on both media coverage of the campaign and in the party that voters choose at the polls. The implications for our understanding of parliamentary democracy are discussed.