Political Communication across the World: Methodological Issues Involved in International Comparisons Christina Holtz-Bacha, University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany, and Lynda Lee Kaid, University of Florida

Political communication refers to the communication sent out by or taking place among political actors: the messages of the political system and its individual parts to either the media or directly to the citizens and the politically relevant offerings of the media. A major part of research into political communication deals with election campaigns which present unique occasions for studying the strategies and effects of political communication. Because in elections the (re)distribution of power is at stake, insights into the mechanisms of communication processes during election campaigns is what usually most interests the political actors themselves. However, election campaigns are specific times of the political process and findings from respective studies do not necessarily apply to political communication in general.