An Intercultural Comparison in Political Communication

As today´s world is becoming a global network through many different communication technologies, cultures are no longer seen as self-contained and influenced by media from outside, but as mediated, multiethnic and strongly differentiated environments - with life forms and lifestyles, which exist beyond localities.
Comparative political communication research deserves more attention because its specific methodical perspective enables the critical reflection of their own communication and thus to result in statements with far reaching validity.
An intercultural comparison promises to be beneficial in several aspects: Comparison will work as an antitode to naive universalism through avoiding the provincial assumption that the findings of communication sciences in their own country is simply applicable to other countries, too; comparison will enhance an understanding of one´s own society by contrasting familiar structures and routines to other systems, cultures as well as alternatives in thought and action; comparison can function as a systematic key to the discovery of general, in contrast to specific rules which will quantify the specific identity of political communication in the various systems. Only a border-transgressing perspective will facilitate the view for macro-societal powers and structures, which are taken as a matter of course within one´s own system and can only be verified from an outsider´s perspective, in a comparison.

Duration of Funding: 2003-2005

Applicants:
Dr. Frank Esser (Publizistik)
Dr. Jürgen R. Winkler (Politikwissenschaft)

Publications:

Esser, Frank/ Barbara Pfetsch (Hrsg.) (2004): One World Different News. Comparing Political Communications. Cambridge University Press.

Dies. (2003): Politische Kommunikation im internationalen Vergleich. Grundlagen, Anwendungen, Perspektiven. Wiesbaden.