European Journal of

Communication
http://ejc.sagepub.com/

La Communication politique
Sheila Perry
European Journal of Communication 2012 27: 208
DOI: 10.1177/0267323112441291

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208 European Journal of Communication 27(2)

previous discussions or outline a future research agenda. The latter might have been
particularly worthwhile in relation to current debates around mediatization/media life
(Deuze, 2011; Livingstone, 2009).
Of course, there are many ways to approach such a topic, and Mihelj has done an
excellent job in synthesizing what is an extremely diverse literature in such a clear and
accessible manner. However, I did wonder whether the first (theoretical) part might have
been better complemented by a series of extended case studies (say, for argument’s sake,
India, Yugoslavia, China, USA and Brazil) that could be used to both interrogate the
analytical framework being put forward and develop some of the subsequent discussions
around conflict reporting, gender and so on in a more coherent manner.
These thoughts aside, Mihelj should be congratulated for not only challenging some
of the most tired clichés around nationalism, globalization and the role of the media but,
above all, providing an analytical framework that offers a useful starting point for further
research into this topic.

References
Abu-Lughod L (2005) Dramas of Nationhood: The Politics of Television in Egypt, Chicago, IL:
University of Chicago Press.
Deuze M (2011) Media life Media, Culture and Society 33(1): 137–148.
Livingstone S (2009) On the mediation of everything. Journal of Communication 59(1): 1–18.
Madianou M (2005) Mediating the Nation: News, Audiences and the Politics of Identity. London:
UCL Press/Routledge.
Spohn W (2001) Eisenstadt on civilizations and multiple modernity. European Journal of Social
Theory 4(4): 499–508.
Triandafyllidou A et al. (2009) The European Public Sphere and the Media: Europe in Crisis.
Basingstoke: Palgrave.

Jacques Gerstlé
La Communication politique, Armand Colin: Paris, 2008; 255 pp.: €20.23

Reviewed by: Sheila Perry, University of Nottingham, UK

This is the second edition of Gerstlé’s work, originally published in 2004 under the same
title. It is largely the same in form and content, but updated to include discussions of the
2007 French presidential election and use of the Internet.
The book is divided into two parts, the first essentially theoretical and the second
consisting of analyses of electoral campaigns and political communication in non-
electoral periods. However, the separation of theory and practice is not as sharp as this
structure suggests: discussion of theories of political communication is illustrated with
examples, and the second part applies the analytical tools explored to specific case stud-
ies. Indeed, a central characteristic of Gerstlé’s approach is to view political communica-
tion as perennial and ubiquitous, intrinsic to politics and an integral part of strategic
positioning – and not as mere form or embellishment.
To argue this point, the first part of the book considers what Gerstlé refers to as four
competing conceptions of political communication. The first of these he

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Book reviews 209

calls ‘instrumental’ (pp. 12–13) because of the focus on the technological means at the
disposal of modern politicians: modern mass media, opinion polls and marketing tech-
niques. Gerstlé sees this as reductionist, considering only the means of communication
which needs to be viewed holistically. The second he calls an ‘ecumenical’ conception
(pp. 13–14). This sees political communication as a three-way exchange between politi-
cians, media and public, which Gerstlé criticizes for insufficient attention to varying
levels of power and legitimacy of the different actors. To this he prefers a third notion:
communication as competitive (p. 14), in which various actors compete to create and
impose meaning. Finally, the fourth concept is that of participatory democracy, an idea
which Gerstlé embraces, as evident in the closing lines of the book, where – a little opti-
mistically, perhaps? – he appears to assimilate this to authentic, rationalized deliberation
in counterpoint to the simulacra and competition for dominance of other forms of politi-
cal communication (p. 227). Having presented these four conceptions, Gerstlé argues
that the error of these approaches lies in considering communication separately from
politics, whereas in fact the tryptic ‘publicization, politicization and polarization’ show
that they are consubstantial (pp. 15–19).
To the four ways of conceiving of political communication correspond four approaches
to studying it: the behaviourist approach (pp. 28–31), the structural-functionalist
approach (pp. 31–32), the interactionist approach (pp. 32–34) and the dialogic approach
(pp. 35–37). Through this categorization, Gerstlé succeeds in presenting an overview of
the history of political communications research which goes beyond a mere chronologi-
cal account to provide a critique of the merits of each type of study and ways in which
they overlap or diverge. Here, and indeed throughout the text, Gerstlé draws on his
extensive, in-depth knowledge not only of the main authors in the field in France, or even
– the next port of call for French academics – the United States, but also of leading spe-
cialists from Britain, Germany, the Scandinavian countries and elsewhere. For, if it is
more common for French researchers to be familiar with work from outside their borders
than for the converse to be true (linguistic hegemony of English oblige!), Gerstlé is one
of the leaders in France for his international expertise. He is also a master of interdisci-
plinarity, drawing on the works of anthropologists, sociologists, linguisticians and dis-
course analysts, political scientists and media historians, to name but some of the
disciplines which inform this work.
The target reader of such a book is clearly the French scholar, since it brings to bear
the literature from the English and French speaking worlds to phenomena which prevail
in France (with occasional incursions into American, British or Scandinavian politics by
way of comparison). The text is peppered with English expressions, such as ‘spin con-
trol’ or ‘kite flying’, which are explained to the French readership. However, in its syn-
thesis of the main theories and approaches which have gained currency on the international
scene, and its incisive appraisal of them to develop a holistic approach to the study of
political communication, it deserves to be read by any specialist in the field.
In line with this international approach the development of modern political commu-
nication in France – marketing, opinion polls, advertising and the financing of electoral
campaigns – is compared and contrasted with practices elsewhere to bring out the closely
regulated nature of the French communications environment, with its official periods of
campaigning (pp. 66–70) and its attempts to cap electoral spending (pp. 71–77), though

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210 European Journal of Communication 27(2)

there is little on ways in which these regulations are bypassed or even flouted. The author
shows how phenomena which are often seen as American imports into the French scene
have their own precedents and are adapted and incorporated into French political institu-
tions. For the study of French electoral periods, the book focuses primarily, though not
exclusively, on the presidential elections of 1988 and 2007, to illustrate the strategic
interdependence of candidates (in line with the competitive model), the structural and
intertextual elements of any campaign and the impact of so-called ‘background’ news
(a subject which Gerstlé has gone on to examine in greater depth in his more recent work
on Nicolas Sarkozy and news on the economy [Gerstlé and François, 2011]). He also
goes on to discuss the political impact of a campaign after the election, examining ques-
tions such as issue salience, the impact of memory and the knowledge gap.
For the discussion of political communication in non-electoral periods, Gerstlé
focuses on national executives, enabling him to make comparisons with both presidential
and parliamentary regimes, including a short section on ‘divided government’ in the US
and its particular French manifestation in periods of ‘cohabitation’, when the presidents
of the two nations find themselves in competition with a hostile legislative body for the
allegiance of public opinion. A final sections deals with the public, not as receivers of
messages (discussed in Part 1), but as actors in a decentralized communications environ-
ment via the Internet and social networking. In conclusion, Gerstlé identifies three major
characteristics of modern political communication: the greater impact of media reporting
and evaluation of a politician than his or her own image-building; the importance of
cognitive short-cuts, by association of ideas and images, in the public’s evaluation of
politicians; and third, the absolute necessity for coherence between all aspects of a can-
didate’s communication and behaviour if he or she is to gain political credibility.
This overview is necessarily brief and cannot do justice to the richness of Gerstlé’s
text. If the synopsis above reads rather like a list, this is because there is an attempt on the
part of the author to leave no stone unturned in his presentation and analysis of both the
production and impact of political communication, and even he uses the term ‘inventory’
on one occasion (p. 180). He is interested primarily in the mechanisms at work, and this
is true not only of the initial section which focuses on political communication as an
object of study, but also of the second part which examines the contemporary French
scene: throughout, the focus is the processes of communication, while the events and
actors (who won which election, for example), remain subordinate. This is manifest in the
index, where one can find ‘Capital politique’ (political capital), but not, for example,
Chirac. Nevertheless, although this is not its prime purpose, the book can serve as a useful
source for interesting facts and figures as they relate to Chirac or other prominent French
politicians, the elections cited above, French media consumption and the rules of the
game. As a study of political communication as intrinsic to politics, this is a classic, and it
is no surprise that this new edition has been published, with its updated examples.

Reference
Gerstlé J and François A (2011) Médiatisation de l’économie et fabrication de la popularité du
président français (2007–2010). Revue française de science politique 61: 249–281.

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