74722 - History of the Construction of Political Consensus

Learning outcomes

The course focuses on the interaction between politics and communication and it will analyze, with a comparative approach, the role of mass media in the consensus building process from the end of the 19th century to the present. At the end of the course, students are expected to: - have a clear framework of the history of mass media and political communication from the end of 19th century to the present time; - develop an in-depth knowledge of analytical tools to evaluate the influence of the media system on the consensus building process; analyze specific features that characterized the evolution of electoral campaigns during the 20th century and the transformations that they produced on the mechanisms of political legitimacy.

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Course contents

The course structure  is threefold:

1. The propaganda in authoritarian and totalitarian regimes (1917-1944)

-  Course presentation

- Mass society, media and consensus building in the 19th and 20th centuries: the press as «fourth estate»

- The First World War: between censorship and propaganda

- Cinema and truncheon: the consensus building during the fascist regime

- The cult of the leader  and the sacralization of politics in Nazi Germany

- Franco's Spain and Salazar's Portugal: Church, media and consensus building

- The propaganda in the Soviet regime from Lenin to Stalin

- The Thirties: radio and power in the US during F.D. Roosevelt "era"

- The Second World War: the «freedom voice» against totalitarian regimes

2. Political communication in democracies (1945-1990)

- Television, polls, advertising: the "Holy trinity" of the political communication

- The Fifties between radio and television: Eisenhower as  forerunner of television appearance

- 1960 Presidential elections in the US (Nixon vs Kennedy)

- The political shows "Tribune Politiche" comes in Italy

- General De Gaulle and the «telecracy» in France

- The political marketing in Great Britain during the Sixties and the Seventies

- The Eighties and the personalization of politics

- The «tele-politics» and the permanent electoral campaigns

3. Some case-study on leaders and electoral campaigns (1994-2013)

- Leader , media and personalization of politics in Europe during the 21st century

- French presidential elections in 2007 and 2012

- Mass media, European public opinion and euroscepticism (1990-2014)

- Italian electoral campaigns and leadership from 1994 to 2013

Readings/Bibliography

Monographic part* (*see "Assessment methods")

- C. Allen, Eisenhower and the Mass Media, Chapel Hill (N.C.), University of North Carolina Press, 1993.

- P.L. Ballini e M. Ridolfi (a cura di), Storia delle campagne elettorali in Italia, Milano, Bruno Mondadori, 2002.

- P.F. Boller, Presidential Campaigns. From George Washington to George W. Bush , Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2004.

- R. Brizzi, L'uomo dello schermo. De Gaulle e i media, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2010.

- C. Delporte, La France dans les yeux : une histoire de la communication politique de 1930 à aujourd'hui, Paris, Flammarion, 2007

- P. Musso, Sarkoberlusconismo: le due facce della rivoluzione conservatrice , Milano, Ponte alle Grazie, 2008

- E. Novelli, La turbo politica: sessant'anni di comunicazione politica e di scena pubblica in Italia: 1945-2005, Milano, BUR, 2006.

- M. Ridolfi (a cura di), Propaganda e comunicazione politica: storia e trasformazioni nell'età contemporanea, Milano, Bruno Mondadori, 2004.

Teaching methods

20 two hours classes

Official language: Italian

Assessment methods

Attending students:

The oral exam will assess students' knowledge on:

a)  All the course's topics

b) One book chosen within the bibliography (see "Readings-Bibliography")

Not Attending students:

The oral exam will assess students' knowledge on:

a) Two books chosen within the bibliography

b) A paper previously agreed with the professor (see "Readings-Bibliography")

Teaching tools

Powerpoint presentations

Office hours

See the website of Riccardo Brizzi