Practices for Political Communication & Ethics and Responsibilities
In Brand Command, Marland raises issues about ethics and the responsibilities of politicians in regard to democracy. According to scholar Jennifer Lees-Marshment, “in theory, marketing is a boon for democracy. It increases political elites’ concern for citizenry” (Marland, 2016, p.32). On the contrary, Eshuis and Klijn believe that branding can be negative for governance and democracy as it can “[distort] reality” and cause “anti-engagement, public manipulation, populism, and elitism” (Marland, 2016, p.366). Following the latter reasoning, Leitch’s use of populism would be somewhat unethical and hurtful to democracy as populists often“ [claim] to speak for ‘the people,’ they …show more content…
According to Marland, democracy is “founded on the idea that government rulers derive legitimate authority from the approval of the people whom they govern” (2016, p. 45). Similarly, the etymological meaning of the Greek words demos and kratos define democracy as the power of the people (Mouffe, 2016). Instead, Jürgen Habermas talks of democracy as intrinsically related to principles of freedom and equality (Mouffe, 2016). Furthermore, Western societies often talk of democracy as related to “the rule of law, the separation of powers and the defense of individual freedom” as well as to “equality and popular sovereignty” (Mouffe, 2016). Based on these various definitions, how does one assess the impact of a politician—in this case, Leitch—on democracy? One can think of two possible ways of gauging Dr. Leitch’s …show more content…
Indeed, according to Marland, “a democracy is only as strong as its ability to engage the electorate beyond the intelligentsia and the attentive public” (2016, p.358). By asking people to sign petitions as well as share, like, and comment on posts, Kellie Leitch can somewhat assess what her followers think of her proposals. Many have also spoken out about what they think of Canadian politics—and even Leitch herself— in the comments. For example, a comment on one of Dr. Leitch’s donation posts read: “How about that? A doctor talking dressing down ‘elites’ as though she wasn’t one herself. But yeah, her supporters are too brilliant to get she’s using them” (Leitch [@KellieLeitchMP], December 5 2016). On the other hand, in the comment section of one of Leitch’s live videos, a commenter named Jack Poulin wrote “Talk about electoral reform. Millions of us want this badly! Trudeau lied to us and reneged” (Leitch [@KellieLeitchMP], April 21 2017). Finally, Leitch also went to visit Manitoban cities to hear about their everyday struggles with immigration policies and even visited religious communities in Montreal to get a sense of their realities (Leitch [@KellieLeitchMP], April 23
In Brand Command, Marland raises issues about ethics and the responsibilities of politicians in regard to democracy. According to scholar Jennifer Lees-Marshment, “in theory, marketing is a boon for democracy. It increases political elites’ concern for citizenry” (Marland, 2016, p.32). On the contrary, Eshuis and Klijn believe that branding can be negative for governance and democracy as it can “[distort] reality” and cause “anti-engagement, public manipulation, populism, and elitism” (Marland, 2016, p.366). Following the latter reasoning, Leitch’s use of populism would be somewhat unethical and hurtful to democracy as populists often“ [claim] to speak for ‘the people,’ they …show more content…
According to Marland, democracy is “founded on the idea that government rulers derive legitimate authority from the approval of the people whom they govern” (2016, p. 45). Similarly, the etymological meaning of the Greek words demos and kratos define democracy as the power of the people (Mouffe, 2016). Instead, Jürgen Habermas talks of democracy as intrinsically related to principles of freedom and equality (Mouffe, 2016). Furthermore, Western societies often talk of democracy as related to “the rule of law, the separation of powers and the defense of individual freedom” as well as to “equality and popular sovereignty” (Mouffe, 2016). Based on these various definitions, how does one assess the impact of a politician—in this case, Leitch—on democracy? One can think of two possible ways of gauging Dr. Leitch’s …show more content…
Indeed, according to Marland, “a democracy is only as strong as its ability to engage the electorate beyond the intelligentsia and the attentive public” (2016, p.358). By asking people to sign petitions as well as share, like, and comment on posts, Kellie Leitch can somewhat assess what her followers think of her proposals. Many have also spoken out about what they think of Canadian politics—and even Leitch herself— in the comments. For example, a comment on one of Dr. Leitch’s donation posts read: “How about that? A doctor talking dressing down ‘elites’ as though she wasn’t one herself. But yeah, her supporters are too brilliant to get she’s using them” (Leitch [@KellieLeitchMP], December 5 2016). On the other hand, in the comment section of one of Leitch’s live videos, a commenter named Jack Poulin wrote “Talk about electoral reform. Millions of us want this badly! Trudeau lied to us and reneged” (Leitch [@KellieLeitchMP], April 21 2017). Finally, Leitch also went to visit Manitoban cities to hear about their everyday struggles with immigration policies and even visited religious communities in Montreal to get a sense of their realities (Leitch [@KellieLeitchMP], April 23