- From
- 2004
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia - To
- c. 2006
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia - Summary
Program: DP
Project ID: DP0450924
Administering Organisation: The University of Melbourne
First year funded: 2004 (3 years funding total, 2004-2006)
Chief Investigaor: Dr. Michael Paul Crozier
Gamis ID: L57742
Other employed personnel: 2 part time research assistantsFrom "ARC Discovery Project grant: FINAL REPORT":
The project set out to investigate the contemporary professionalization of political communication using an empirical study of changes in Australian political communication practice. The key research objective was to generate a detailed analysis of how the professionalization of political communication is transforming representative democracy in network society. As the empirical research progressed there was a reconceptualization of the study that placed a new core focus on the shifts in underlying governance logics and how to characterize these shifts. The most significant finding of this is the characterization of the novel communication types of logics informing and driving current modes of governance as ‘recursive governance.’ The notion of recursive governance provides conceptual means both to grasp the ways that a communications imperative has become central to modern governing practices, and to understand why its has emerged in terms of systems functionality.
Details
Chief Investigator: Dr. Michael Paul Crozier
The preliminary stages of the project "Communicating power: Political consultants, symbolic production and media democracy" were carried out in 2003, under an Arts Faculty Grant. This was followed by three years of funding from an ARC Discovery Project grant, from 2004 to 2006.
From "E2 - Project description and background - Aims", in DraftSectE - the project was developed with the aim of investigating:
the professionalization of political communication in contemporary Australian politics with a specific focus on the role of political consultants and communication specialists. While there are analyses of political polling (Mills 1986), ministerial minders (Walter 1986), and non-bureaucratic policy advisors (Bakvis 1997), this will be the first detailed investigation that focuses specifically on political consultancy in Australia. Political consultants will be analysed as a subset of new ‘symbolic’ managers and mediators in a political system for which information is the key productive resource. The project will conceptualize and analyse symbolic production in contemporary political communication by profiling these symbolic producers and their activity, detailing what they produce and how they produce it. The project is thus concerned with an investigation of the frames of reference, repertoires, and new types of knowledge that inform and underpin the contemporary ascendancy of political consultancy.
The key research aims are:
* To identify and analyse the frames of reference and evaluative modes structuring the work of political consultants (including the generation of a taxonomy of campaign types deemed exemplary by leading practitioners).
* To develop research strategies capable of dealing with the recursive character of strategic reportage (i.e. how to circumvent the ‘spin’ of a cohort whose expertise is ‘spin’).
* To examine empirically the proposition that power now circulates through the ‘production of codes’ rather than societal institutions (i.e. the shift in societal coordination away from traditional technical-rational expertise—20th century disinterested ‘mandarins’(Weller 2001)—to communication expertise—‘symbolic’ mandarins.
* To investigate the conceptual challenges these trends pose for the contemporary theorization of representative democracy, its social bases and forms of governance.
From "E4 - Approach", in DraftSectE:
The purpose of this project is to uncover and explain the framing of political conduct in the resources and skills of political consultants. A number of differing strategies will be pursued and a variety of data sets generated. The types of data to be collected include:
* Semi-structured in-depth interviews with 15-20 key players in political consultancy in Australia—the core interview group. (Clients and educators in the field will also be interviewed for background purposes).
* Participant observation fieldwork in consulting firms operations and training sessions. (see Magda Pieczka’s research (2002) on public relations expertise in Britain).
* Practitioner-identified exemplary campaigns to form a review and taxonomy of campaign types that will be archived into a DVD compilation for research and teaching purposes.
In addition, communication courses at Australian tertiary institutions, and industry education programs will be reviewed with special attention to public affairs and political consultancy. This will be complemented by a review of handbooks, training literature and conference proceedings.
Due to Dr. Michael Crozier's findings in the course of the project, in particular during interviews, there was a change in conceptual focus during the project. As outlined in the ARC Final Report - Discovery-Project - (DP), Section C1: "The main conceptual change was to place greater emphasis on the shifts in underlying governance logics and how to characterize these shifts. This emerged out of the analysis of the interview program"; and in Section D2: "The most significant finding of the project is the characterization of the novel communication types of logics informing and driving current modes of governance as 'recursive governance.' This provides conceptual means both to grasp the ways that a communications imperative has become central to modern governing practices, and to understand why its has emerged in terms of systems functionality."
In a discussion between Dr. Crozier, Rachel Tropea and Michael Jones on 19 August 2009, this was explored further. The significant moment leading to this shift occurred in an interview with Geoff Alan. In talking about communications and policy advice, it was suggested that the role of communications had completely changed, and is now central to how a political party (or organisation) is managed and how policy is developed. Whereas, in the past, media communication was one part of a larger structure, it has become the centre. Therefore, this shift in focus was not just about a new set of techniques or practices - it reflected a whole new 'game', a move from communications as a 'one way' tool for broadcasting and informing people of policy to a feedback system and 'recursive governance' - ICT changes, multilateral communication and feedback loops as part of governance and policy formation.
The first major publication emerging from this new focus was "Recursive Governance: Contemporary Political Communication and Public Policy", in Political Communication, Vol. 24, No. 1, January-March 2007.
In terms of outputs more generally, the project has produced lead articles in two top-ten ISI journals (Political Communication and Policy & Politics). Five conference papers (three refereed, two fully written) at national and international conferences (APSA; IPSA; MPSA; OECD/Centre for Public Policy). A book manuscript is currently in preparation for submission to a major scholarly press. The project has produced new research opportunities on the changing logics of contemporary governance. On the one hand it has instigated an ongoing theoretical collaboration with Professor Henrik Bang (University of Copenhagen) on new modes of policy-politics. On the other hand it has initiated a new empirically driven collaborative project with University of Melbourne colleagues and industry partners on social economy (in a new ARC Linkage application).
Sources used to compile this entry: "ARC Final Report - Discovery-Project - (DP) - Communicating power: Political consultants, symbolic production and media democracy", and "DraftSectE", from Research Record Collection: Michael Crozier, Communicating power: Political consultants, symbolic production and media democracy, Room 437, Level 4, East Tower, John Medley Building, The University of Melbourne.
Prepared by: Michael Jones
Related Entries
Related People
Archival/Heritage Resources
Room 437, Level 4, East Tower, John Medley Building, The University of Melbourne
- Research Record Collection: Michael Crozier, Communicating power: Political consultants, symbolic production and media democracy; Private Hands [ Details... ].
Resources
Conference Papers
- Michael Crozier, 'Information flows: From models of politics-policy to modes of policy-politics', in Mid West Political Science Association, Chicago, Illinois, Mid West Political Science Association, USA, April 2008. [ Details... ]
- Michael Crozier, 'Contemporary political communication and public policy', in APSA Annual Conference, University of Adelaide, Australian Political Studies Association, Australia, October 2004. [ Details... ]
- Michael Crozier, 'Making Connections: Political communication and governance', in Governments and Communities in Partnership: From Theory to Practice, OECD/Centre for Public Policy Conference, University of Melbourne/Melbourne Park, Victoria, Australia, September 2006. [ Details... ]
- Michael Crozier and Adrian Little, 'Disagreeable democracy: Deliberation, conflict and communication in contemporary democratic practice', in APSA Annual Conference, Monash University, Australian Political Studies Association, Australia, September 2007. [ Details... ]
Journal Articles
- Michael Crozier, 'Recursive Governance: Contemporary political communication and public policy', Political Communication, vol. 24, no. 1, 2007, pp. 1-18. [ Details... ]
- Michael Crozier, 'Listening, Learning, Steering: New governance, communication and interactive policy formation', Policy and Politics, vol. 36, no. 1, 2008, pp. 3-19. [ Details... ]
Created: 3 September 2009