明星八卦

Constituency level campaigning has become crucial to the electoral strategies of all the major parties in Britain, and a significant academic literature – initially regarded as ‘revisionist’ – has emerged. This work – now regarded as mainstream – has revealed many things including how campaigns have changed over time; how parties have responded to wider changes in society, the electorate, and within their own parties; and the degree to which parties are able to harness their resources effectively to fight elections. They have also informed discussions about power within parties – how far central party organisations are able to coordinate constituency party campaigns and how much is left to the grass-roots. And finally, they have furthered our understanding of how voters respond to cues from the parties, and the extent to which voters can be mobilized.

This study will examine constituency campaigning at the 2019 British General Election and will provide not only a continuation of a unique and valuable time series that began in 1992, but also a programme of innovation that furthers our understanding of the impact, role, and nature of campaigns in the modern political arena.

The study will seek to address four underlying research questions:

• What is the electoral impact of constituency campaigns?
• How have campaign techniques evolved?
• How are party campaign organisations evolving?
• What is the impact of constituency campaigns on different groups of electors?

Publications

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• (free access available via Google Books)
• Justin Fisher (2011) ‘Legal regulation and political activity at the local level in Britain’ in Ewing, Tham & Rowbottom (eds) The Funding of Political Parties. London: Routledge. pp. 110-23.
• Justin Fisher, David Cutts & Edward Fieldhouse (2011) ‘Constituency Campaigning in 2010’ in Wring, Mortimore & Atkinson (eds) Political Communication in Britain: TV Debates, the Media and the Election. Basingstoke: Palgrave. pp.198-217.
• Andrew Russell, David Denver, David Cutts, Edward Fieldhouse & Justin Fisher (2008) ‘Non-Party Activity in the 2005 UK General Election: “Promoting or Procuring Electoral Success”?’ in Farrell & Schmitt-Beck (eds) Non-Party Actors in Electoral Politics. Baden-Baden: Nomus. pp. 103-25.
• Justin Fisher, David Denver, Edward Fieldhouse, Andrew Russell & David Cutts (2007) ‘Constituency Campaigning in 2005: Ever More Centralization?’ in Wring, Green, Mortimore & Atkinson (eds) Political Communications: The British General Election of 2005. Basingstoke: Palgrave. pp. 79-92.
• David Denver, Gordon Hands, Justin Fisher & Iain McAllister (2002) ‘Constituency Campaigning in 2001: The Effectiveness of Targeting’ in Bartle, Mortimore & Atkinson (eds), Political Communications: The British General Election of 2001. London: Frank Cass, 2002. pp.159-80.