We present a modified Deffuant-Weisbuch opinion dynamics model that integrates the influence of media campaigns on opinion. Media campaigns promote messages intended to inform and influence the opinions of the targeted audiences through factual and emotional appeals. Media campaigns take many forms: brand-specific advertisements, promotions, and sponsorships, political, religious, or social mes...

For those who still question the value of new media in public health campaigns, the election of Barack Obama as the 44 president of the United States can be instructive. Obama’s campaign strategy has been heralded for its impressive ability to reach, engage, and inspire supporters. The high level of public involvement was evident in the record numbers of people who volunteered, donated money, a...

A distinction in reasons and motives for choosing a particular political leader establishes the key difference between older and young democracy. The former is based on electoral history, while the latter is based on feelings and personal attitude. Besides, a comparatively abundant number of political figures (persons or parties and associations) is specific for young democracies. The problem o...

Elections have constituted important symbolic events throughout the course of democratization and continue to be one of the most extensively analysed features of Taiwan’s political landscape. 1 Contemporary elections are fiercely contested and often dramatic events, with high levels of citizen engagement. 2 Analyses of party and candidate behaviour during campaigns have also suggested that “Tai...

This paper presents a computational method, AnaDiP-2011, based on natural language processing (NLP) techniques for the interpretation of the political discourse in the print media. The application considers the 2009 presidential campaign in Romania. The concept behind this method is that the manner in which individuals speak and write, with the aim to deliver a certain image to the public, is a...

This paper presents a theory of political competition with campaign contributions and informative political advertising. Policy-motivated parties compete by selecting candidates and interest groups provide contributions to enhance the electoral prospects of like-minded candidates. Contributions are used to finance advertising campaigns that provide voters with information about candidates’ ideo...

This research study tested three different NLP technologies to analyze representative journalistic discourse used in the 2007 and 2012 presidential campaigns in France. The analysis focused on the discourse in relation to the candidate’s gender and/ or political party. Our findings suggest that using specific software to examine a journalistic corpus can reveal linguistic patterns and choices m...

Social media has invaded elections in Mexico. However, the power of citizens through the use of this platform is still unknown. Many citizens criticize political candidates using Twitter, others build networks and some others try to collaborate with candidates. This research is focused in understanding this kind of behavior, analyzing the case of the presidential candidate Enrique Peña Nieto (P...