Political consulting

Political consulting is a form of consulting that consists primarily of advising and assisting political campaigns. Although the most important role of political consultants is arguably the development and production of mass media (largely television, direct mail, and digital advertising), consultants advise campaigns on many other activities, ranging from opposition research and voter polling, to field strategy and get out the vote efforts.

United States president William McKinley's closest political adviser Mark Hanna is sometimes described as the first political consultant. Whitaker and Baxter established the first true political consulting firm, Campaigns, Inc.,^[1] which focused exclusively on political campaigns in California in the 1930s–1950s.^[2] However, political consulting blossomed with the increasing use of television advertising for campaign communications^[3] in the 1960s.^[4]

Joseph Napolitan was the first person to describe himself as a political consultant;^[5]The New York Times described him in a 1968 profile as "that newest American phenomenon, the professional campaign manager" and a "pioneering campaign consultant".^[6] In recent years, political consulting has become more commonplace throughout the world and has extended its reach to campaigns at all levels of government. Many consultants work not only for campaigns, but also for parties and political action committees, while some focus on public relations and research work. Many consultants also take up official positions inside governments while working for an officeholder of the ruling party.

Political consultants sometimes act as political strategists,^[7] a senior political consultant who promote the election of certain candidates or the interests of certain groups. This is achieved by planning campaign strategies, coordinating campaign staffers, and arranging events to publicize candidates or causes.

Political consultants act as public relations specialists, salespeople and managers. By using many forms of marketing-suitable media, including advertising and press releases, the general goal of political consultants is to make voters aware of their candidates' party platform.

As political consulting has expanded worldwide, journalists have noted the influence of political consulting on candidates, voters, presidents and governments of different nations.^[8] Well-known American political consultants such as James Carville, Frank Luntz, Joseph Napolitan and David H. Sayers,^[9] have traveled to other continents, acting as consultants on several political campaigns and advising heads of state. For example, Napolitan acted as a consultant of French President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, several Venezuelan presidents, and Costa Rica's Óscar Arias Sánchez,^[10] and Dick Morris"has consulted for candidates in other countries of the western hemisphere, including the campaigns of Fernando de la Rua for President of Argentina, Jorge Batlle for President of Uruguay, Vicente Fox for President of Mexico, and Raphael Trotman for President of Guyana."^[11]

كما قاد العديد من المستشارين السياسيين في أمريكا اللاتينية حملات سياسية خارج بلدانهم الأصلية. ^{[ 12 ]} ومن الأمثلة على ذلك المستشار السياسي البرازيلي جواو سانتانا ، الذي قاد في الوقت نفسه ثلاث حملات رئاسية ناجحة في أمريكا اللاتينية : دانيلو ميدينا في جمهورية الدومينيكان ، وهوجو تشافيز في فنزويلا ، وخوسيه إدواردو دوس سانتوس في أنغولا ، في القارة الأفريقية. ^{[ 13 ]} كما حظي الاستراتيجي السياسي الفنزويلي جيه جيه ريندون (المقيم في الولايات المتحدة ) ^{[ 14 ]} بتقدير دولي، حيث صُنِّف ضمن أفضل خمسة مستشارين بارزين في أمريكا اللاتينية من قِبَل مجلة "الحملات والانتخابات" الأمريكية ^{[ 15 ]} (النسخة اللاتينية) ^{[ 16 ]} ، وفاز بجائزة "فيكتوري" لعام 2014 ^{[ 17 ]} لعمله كاستراتيجي رئيسي في الحملات الرئاسية الناجحة لخوان مانويل سانتوس في كولومبيا (بما في ذلك حملة إعادة انتخابه عام 2014)، ^{[ 18 ]} وبورفيريو لوبو وخوان أورلاندو هيرنانديز في هندوراس ^{[ 19 ]} وإنريكي بينيا نييتو في المكسيك ، وغيرهم. وقد وصفته مجلة "فيجا " الإخبارية بأنه "قادر على تحديد نقاط ضعف الخصوم بدقة متناهية". وصفت صحيفة ميامي نيو تايمز ريندون بأنه " كارل روف أمريكا اللاتينية " . ^{[ 20 ]}

Notable political consultants are: David Plouffe, Steve Bannon, Kellyanne Conway, Lynton Crosby, Joel Benenson, Brad Parscale, Michael Spreng (Angela Merkel), Dominic Cummings, Anne Méaux, Michel von Tell, Alastair Campbell, Paul Manafort, Ivan Redondo, Michel Barnier, Philipp Maderthaner, Prashant Kishor.^{[21][22][23][24][25]}

Social media has dramatically changed the way in which modern political campaigns are run.^[32][33] With younger and more tech-savvy citizens entering into the voting population, social media are the platforms on which the politicians need to establish themselves and engage with the public. In years to come, social media is anticipated to overtake traditional media in terms of importance to political campaigns.^[34][35]

For example, in Australia 86% of Australians access the Internet, and with a 17,048,864 voting age population (according to IDEA),^[36] around 14,662,023 voting population has access to Internet, and 65% of them use social media, which means 9,530,314 Australian voters use social media (The 2013 Yellow™ Social Media Report found that among internet users 65% of Australians use social media, up from 62% last year).^[37]

The implication of this for political consulting is that social media are the channels through which an increasingly larger portion of the population receives political messages. As a consequence, unless a political consultant addresses the part of the electorate which can preferentially be reached through social media, the portion of the electorate which will be reached through traditional communication technologies will increasingly shrink in the future. For instance, social media is already the main source of information for 26% of young voters in Spain.^[38]

The American Association of Political Consultants is the major trade association for political consultants in the United States, with thousands of members. Like other professional organizations,^[39] it propagates a code of ethics and gives out awards. Similar organizations for political consultants exist for many other countries and regions.

• Campaign manager
• Campaigns & Elections, a trade magazine covering political consulting
• Just How Stupid Are We?
• Political campaign staff

• ساباتو، لاري ج. صعود المستشارين السياسيين . نيويورك: الكتب الأساسية، 1981. السادس عشر، 376 ص. رقم ISBN 0-465-07039-6
• فيسلاو، فريدريك. دليل المستشار السياسي 2013، رقم ISBN 978-91-979688-7-4