Routledge International Handbook on Electoral Debates

<p>This <em>Handbook</em> is the first major work to comprehensively map state-of-the-art scholarship on electoral debates in comparative perspective. Leading scholars and practitioners from around the world introduce a core theoretical and conceptual framework to understand this phenomenon and point to promising directions for new research on the evolution of electoral debates and the practical considerations that different country-level experiences can offer. </p><p></p><p>Three indicators to help analyze electoral debates inform this <em>Handbook</em>: the level of experience of each country in the realization of electoral debates; geopolitical characteristics linked to political influence; and democratic stability and electoral competitiveness. Chapters with examples from the Americas Europe Africa and the Middle East Asia and Oceania add richness to the volume. Each chapter: </p><p></p><ul> <br><br><li>Traces local historical constitutive relationships between traditional forms of electoral debates and contexts of their emergence; </li> <br><br><li>Compares and critiques different perspectives regarding the function of debates on democracy; </li> <br><br><li>Probes discusses and evaluates recent and emergent theoretical resources related to campaign debates in light of a particular local experience; </li> <br><br><li>Explores and assesses new or neglected local approaches to electoral debates in a changing media landscape where television is no longer the dominant form of political communication; </li> <br><br><li>Provides a prospective analysis regarding the future challengers for electoral debates. </li> </ul><p></p><p>The<em> Routledge International Handbook on Electoral Debates</em> will set the agenda for scholarship on the political communication for years to come.</p>