31671 - Leadership and Political Communication

Academic Year 2017/2018

  • Docente: Sofia Ventura
  • Credits: 8
  • SSD: SPS/04
  • Language: Italian
  • Teaching Mode: Traditional lectures
  • Campus: Forli
  • Corso: Second cycle degree programme (LM) in Mass media and politics (cod. 8051)

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

1) Leadership: the concept, types and styles of leadership.

2) Leadership in contemporary democracies.

3) Political communication in "audience democracy"

4) How leaders communicate: empirical examples

5) The "tale" of politics and its problems.

 

Readings/Bibliography

Mandatory readings:

1) J. S. Nye, The Powers to Lead, New York, Oxford University Press, 2008.

2) S. Ventura, cap. 1, I leader e le loro storie, in Il racconto del capo. Sarkozy e Berlusconi, Bari-Roma, Laterza, 2012, pp. 3-35

3) L. Van Zoonen, Entertaining the citizen. When politics and popular culture converge. Rowman & Littlefield publishers, Lanham, 2005.

4) C. Salmon, Storytelling: Bewitching the Modern Mind, Verso, 2010, Introduction, chapters 1,2,5, Conclusions.

Other readings:
1) D. Campus, Antipolitics in Power: Populist Language as a Tool for Government, Hampton Press, 2010.

2) D. Campus, Lo stile del leader, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2016.

3) G. Mazzoleni, A, Sfardini, Politica Pop. Da "Porta a porta" a l' "Isola dei famosi", Bologna, Il Mulino, 2009.

4) S. Ventura, Renzi & Co. Il racconto dell'era nuova, Soveria Mannelli, Rubbettino, 2015.

5) C. Salmon, La cérémonie cannibale. De la performance politique, Paris, Fayard, 2013.

Other readings will be suggested in class

Students not attending the lessons must to contact the professor.

Teaching methods

Teaching  lessons and seminars.

Assessment methods

All students will be evaluated on the basis  of a written work (60%) in class at the end of the course and of the participation at the seminars (40%) during the course.  

Teaching tools

Power point, illustration of audiovisual materials.

Office hours

See the website of Sofia Ventura