Political Science Essay: Canadian Election Campaigns Analysis

This essay examines the evolution of election campaigns in Canada, differentiating between pre-modern, modern, and post-modern approaches. The pre-modern campaigns, characterized by localized communities and limited reach, are exemplified by early Canadian elections. The essay then explores modern campaigns, which involve strategic coordination, specialized teams, and centralized control, using the 1878 federal election as an example. Finally, it analyzes post-modern campaigns, emphasizing localized and interactive communication, drawing on the principles of permanent campaigns. The essay concludes by highlighting the transformative changes in election campaigning throughout Canadian history, providing a detailed analysis of these three stages and their impact on the country's political landscape.

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Election campaigns
Student’s Details-

RUNNING HEAD: ELECTION CAMPAIGNS 1
Canadian Elections: Modern, Pre-modern and Post-Modern
Election Campaign
Canadian Elections are undertaken by the legislative bodies or the government in
several jurisdictions. These are held by the provincial, federal, territorial and municipal
government. Election campaigns have been revolutionized due to the political changes taking
place into the government (Stevens, et al., 2019). It involves three stages namely, modern,
pre-modern and post-modern campaigns that have the ability to transform election
campaigns. Here, the essay will discuss the characteristics of modern, pre-modern and post-
modern election campaign along with the examples drawn from the Canadian elections.
In the evolution of election campaigns, the pre-modern elections are the traditional
forms of campaign in which the elections are undertaken for the shorter time span and is
considered to be hoc national campaign that few political advisers (Scammell, 2015). This
can be understood from the example of historical campaign of Canada which defined from
18th century which has used the elected legislatures being established in the British and
French colonies of Upper and Lower Canada. At that time, the elections were personal and
was highly restricted to smaller segment of population and the election candidate were aware
of names of their supporters. This period was pre-modern in which there was lack of national
mediatisation being anchored by the localized communities.
Further, modern campaigns for election have been developed in the established
democracies giving rise to nationally coordinated strategic campaign. This involves the
contribution of party officials and volunteers who are specialized in the communication,
marketing and campaigning. Modern campaign can be understood from the example of first
modern campaign of Canada which is federal election campaign of 1878. The parties
involved in the campaign were of Liberal or Conservative. Moreover, this modern campaign
required careful planning along with the lengthy preparation having centralized control. It has
a campaign committee and a director that reports to the leader and along with this, specific
persons were appointed for fund-raising, advertising and travel arrangements (Elections
Canada, 2019). Additionally, Canada has Canadian Broadcasting corporation that is noted as
the influential institution taking care of the election campaigns.
In the evolution of the modern campaigns, post modern campaign is essential for the
future direction of the campaigns and is transformational to the traditional campaigning.

RUNNING HEAD: ELECTION CAMPAIGNS 2
Unlike others, post-modern takes into account the more localized and interactive form of
communication that facilitates the campaigning (Kos, 2016). For example, when Canada
entered the stage of post-modern, it has taken into account the principles of permanent
campaign that has involved the pre-writ advertisement and used the rigorous communication
and public relations and employs the tools and techniques on a continuous basis.
To conclude, it can be said that election campaigns are being revolutionized from the
history have changed the way making election campaigning being done in the country. Here,
the essay has discussed the modern, pre-modern and post-modern campaigning of the
elections which has been evolved from the history through the traditional to modern ways of
campaigning within the country. The essay has made the analysis of the examples drawn
from the Canadian political system.

RUNNING HEAD: ELECTION CAMPAIGNS 3
References
Elections Canada. (2019, November 12). A History of the Vote in Canada. Retrieved
December 11, 2019, from Elections Canada: https://www.elections.ca/content.aspx?
section=res&dir=his&document=chap2&lang=e
Kos, D. (2016). Comparative Analysis of the Political Management Dimensions of Local
Election Campaigns. Journal of Comparative Politics, 9(1), 75.
Scammell, M. (2015). Election campaign communication. The International Encyclopedia of
Political Communication, 1-10.
Stevens, B., Islam, M., de Geus, R., Goldberg, J., McAndrews, J., Mierke-Zatwarnicki, A., &
Rubenson, D. (2019). Local Candidate Effects in Canadian Elections. Canadian
Journal of Political Science/Revue canadienne de science politique, 52(1), 83-96.