POLITICS 345 : Political Marketing
Arts
2024 Semester Two (1245) (15 POINTS)
Course Prescription
Course Overview
Politics 345: Political Marketing 2024 will introduce students to election campaigns, voter engagement, government, and issue activism from a strategic perspective. It will examine the evolving relationship between political actors and voters. It will also examine how political candidates, parties, elected politicians, and interest groups utilise marketing and campaigning theories and concepts to achieve their electoral, policy, and societal goals.
The content of this course will be broken up into four modules:
- Module 1: The Political Marketplace will examine the evolving relationship between political candidates and voters. This will include examining the arguments underpinning political marketing as a sub-discipline of political science, competing theories of voter choice and political behaviour, as well as the ethical debates around treating voters like political consumers.
- Module 2: Election Campaigns Part 1 will examine core aspects of modern electioneering, including campaign strategies, political branding, political advertising, and media management. This module will also examine the growing role of party leaders in modern election campaigns.
- Module 3: Election Campaigns Part 2 will broaden the scope of modern campaigns examined. This will include exploring strategic efforts to increase voter turnout, the unique aspects of campaigning in the Māori electorates, how market research is utilised, and the effect of negative partisanship and polarisation on modern election campaigns.
- Module 4: Political Marketing Beyond Elections will examine several other strategic aspects of governance and issue activism. This will include examining delivery in government, the institutional challenges to delivering in government, as well as issue-specific campaigns and political activism.
Course Requirements
Capabilities Developed in this Course
| Capability 3: | Knowledge and Practice |
| Capability 4: | Critical Thinking |
| Capability 5: | Solution Seeking |
| Capability 6: | Communication |
| Capability 7: | Collaboration |
| Capability 8: | Ethics and Professionalism |
Learning Outcomes
- Understand and conceptualise the evolving relationship between political candidates, campaign professionals and voters in Aotearoa New Zealand and abroad. (Capability 3)
- Understand and analyse key aspects of modern democratic electioneering. (Capability 3)
- Understand and analyse the current issues and challenges facing democratic governments and the publics they represent. (Capability 3)
- Strengthen their research, analytical, problem-solving, and communication skills. (Capability 4, 5 and 6)
- Develop political and advisory skills valuable for both political and non-political careers. (Capability 6, 7 and 8)
Assessments
| Assessment Type | Percentage | Classification |
|---|---|---|
| Written Assignment: The Political Marketplace | 20% | Individual Coursework |
| Report 1: Election Campaign Review | 30% | Individual Coursework |
| Report 2A: Strategic Plan Proposal | 5% | Individual Coursework |
| Report 2B: Strategic Plan | 45% | Individual Coursework |
| 4 types | 100% |
Workload Expectations
This course is a standard 15 point course and students are expected to spend 10 hours per week involved in each 15 point course that they are enrolled in.
For this course, you can expect 2 hours of lectures and a 1 hour seminar, with the remaining 7 hours spent on reading and analysing course material as well as preparing for and writing assignments.
Delivery Mode
Campus Experience
This course is not available for delivery to students studying remotely outside Aotearoa New Zealand in 2024.
Lectures will be available as recordings. The seminars will not be recorded.
The activities for the course are scheduled as a standard weekly timetable.
Learning Resources
Course materials are made available in a learning and collaboration tool called Canvas which also includes reading lists and lecture recordings (where available).
Please remember that the recording of any class on a personal device requires the permission of the instructor.
Student Feedback
At the end of every semester students will be invited to give feedback on the course and teaching through a tool called SET or Qualtrics. The lecturers and course co-ordinators will consider all feedback and respond with summaries and actions.
Your feedback helps teachers to improve the course and its delivery for future students.
Class Representatives in each class can take feedback to the department and faculty staff-student consultative committees.
The content and assignments for POLITICS 345 have been revamped, mainly due to the course teacher changing.
Academic Integrity
The University of Auckland will not tolerate cheating, or assisting others to cheat, and views cheating in coursework as a serious academic offence. The work that a student submits for grading must be the student's own work, reflecting their learning. Where work from other sources is used, it must be properly acknowledged and referenced. This requirement also applies to sources on the internet. A student's assessed work may be reviewed for potential plagiarism or other forms of academic misconduct, using computerised detection mechanisms.
Class Representatives
Class representatives are students tasked with representing student issues to departments, faculties, and the wider university. If you have a complaint about this course, please contact your class rep who will know how to raise it in the right channels. See your departmental noticeboard for contact details for your class reps.
Inclusive Learning
All students are asked to discuss any impairment related requirements privately, face to face and/or in written form with the course coordinator, lecturer or tutor.
Student Disability Services also provides support for students with a wide range of impairments, both visible and invisible, to succeed and excel at the University. For more information and contact details, please visit the Student Disability Services’ website http://disability.auckland.ac.nz
Well-being always comes first
We all go through tough times during the semester, or see our friends struggling. There is lots of help out there - for more information, look at this Canvas page https://canvas.auckland.ac.nz/courses/33894, which has links to various support services in the University and the wider community.
Special Circumstances
If your ability to complete assessed coursework is affected by illness or other personal circumstances outside of your control, contact a member of teaching staff as soon as possible before the assessment is due.
If your personal circumstances significantly affect your performance, or preparation, for an exam or eligible written test, refer to the University’s aegrotat or compassionate consideration page https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/academic-information/exams-and-final-results/during-exams/aegrotat-and-compassionate-consideration.html.
This should be done as soon as possible and no later than seven days after the affected test or exam date.
Learning Continuity
In the event of an unexpected disruption, we undertake to maintain the continuity and standard of teaching and learning in all your courses throughout the year. If there are unexpected disruptions the University has contingency plans to ensure that access to your course continues and course assessment continues to meet the principles of the University’s assessment policy. Some adjustments may need to be made in emergencies. You will be kept fully informed by your course co-ordinator/director, and if disruption occurs you should refer to the university website for information about how to proceed.
Student Charter and Responsibilities
The Student Charter assumes and acknowledges that students are active participants in the learning process and that they have responsibilities to the institution and the international community of scholars. The University expects that students will act at all times in a way that demonstrates respect for the rights of other students and staff so that the learning environment is both safe and productive. For further information visit Student Charter https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/forms-policies-and-guidelines/student-policies-and-guidelines/student-charter.html.
Disclaimer
Elements of this outline may be subject to change. The latest information about the course will be available for enrolled students in Canvas.
In this course students may be asked to submit coursework assessments digitally. The University reserves the right to conduct scheduled tests and examinations for this course online or through the use of computers or other electronic devices. Where tests or examinations are conducted online remote invigilation arrangements may be used. In exceptional circumstances changes to elements of this course may be necessary at short notice. Students enrolled in this course will be informed of any such changes and the reasons for them, as soon as possible, through Canvas.