- Docente: Sofia Ventura
- Credits: 8
- SSD: SPS/04
- Language: Italian
- Teaching Mode: Traditional lectures
- Campus: Bologna
- Corso: Second cycle degree programme (LM) in Media, Public and Corporate Communication (cod. 5703)
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from Sep 16, 2024 to Dec 18, 2024
Learning outcomes
The aim of the course is to analyse the different aspects of political leadership in contemporary democracies. At the end of the course students are supposed to be able to manage political science and political communication concepts and models in order to analyse the different case studies of government and party leaders in western democracies.
Course contents
The leadership
- Leadership and power
- The leader: diagnosis, solutions, mobilisation
- The leader’s skills: the leader and his team
- The leader and the followers: the charismatic leadership
- The leader and the followers: soft power and transformative leadership
- The leader: personality and style
The personalisation of politics
- The concept
- The causes of personalisation
Celebrity politics
- Electronic media and the public
- Celebrity politicians
Storytelling
- The power of stories
- The collective action problem
- The political marketing
- Empirical examples
Storytelling and Populism
- The concept of populism
- The narrative of populist leaders
- Empirical examples
Crisis communication: between coronavirus and war
- Crisis management e meaning-making
- Empirical examples
Readings/Bibliography
Mandatory readings:
- J. S. Nye, The Powers to Lead, New York, Oxford University Press, 2008.
- S. Ventura, I leader e le loro storie, Narrazione, comunicazione politica e crisi della democrazia, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2019.
- T. Aalberg, F. Esser, C. Reinemann, J. Stromback, C. De Vreese (eds) Populist Political Communication in Europe, Routledge, 2017, chapters: 1, 2, 9, 13, 14, 17, 23, 24.
- C. Ansell, A. Boin, e P. 't Hart, Political Leadership in Times of Crisis, The Oxford Handbook of Political Leadership, Oxford University Press, 2014.
Other mandatory readings for those not attending the course:
- D. Campus, Lo stile del leader, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2016, chapters 2,3,e 4.
- D. Campus, Celebrity Leadership. Quando i leader politici fanno le star, in «Comunicazione Politica», 2/2020.
Teaching methods
Teaching lessons and seminars.
Assessment methods
Written Exam:
Students who attend classes will have two hours to answer four questions on the topics covered in lectures and elaborated in the readings.
Students who do not attend classes will also have two hours to answer four questions based on the content of the readings.
For attending students, participation in the final seminar entitles them to a bonus of one point to be added to the final grade.
Teaching tools
Power point, illustration of audiovisual materials.
Office hours
See the website of Sofia Ventura