Sam Power’s research while affiliated with University of Sussex and other places

What do modern election campaigns look like? According to the most recent accounts, they are data-driven operations in which extensive data are collected and targeted messages are deployed in efforts to maximize support. Whilst highlighting important new developments, in this article we argue that a focus on novel practices offers a distorted picture of modern campaigns. Presenting a unique analysis of over 22,720 separate items of expenditure made by political parties at the 2019 UK general election, we demonstrate that whilst there is some evidence of a ‘fourth’ era of campaigning, these novel practices do not define campaigns. Taking a more holistic approach that examines how campaign activities are blended and entwined, we offer unprecedented insight into the nature of modern campaigns, revealing variation in parties' campaign strategies. We also introduce a new dataset for those interested in party campaigns and call for others to pursue a more holistic analysis.

Digital election campaigning has undergone increased levels of scrutiny in recent years, with numerous calls for improved transparency. One key innovation has been the creation of online advertising archives offered by social media platforms such as Facebook, Google, and Snapchat. In this article, we compare what we know about digital campaigning in the United Kingdom from official election returns and Facebook and Google’s online advertising archives. We analyse whether both transparency sources provide agreed standards of completeness, consistency, accuracy, and accessibility. We find that – despite the United Kingdom having an effectively world-leading transparency regime – this is not the case. We therefore consider a number of potential reforms to increase knowledge of the workings of campaigns at the national level.

The business of running election campaigns is integrated into democratic practices in countries around the world, yet little attention has been paid to the organizations that profit from working with political parties, or to the accountability mechanisms that surround this industry. Whilst the Cambridge Analytica scandal helped to bring more attention to the problematic aspects of electoral business, there remain many urgent and yet unanswered questions about who these suppliers are, what role they play in politics, and whether current transparency disclosures are fit for purpose. This Report takes a deep dive investigation into the UK 2019 general election and offers a unique examination of the role of election suppliers in the UK. Scrutinizing the UK’s public electoral spending database, this Report advances our understanding of the nature of modern campaigns by revealing what services external suppliers are providing to parties in election campaigns.

Digital technology is becoming an increasingly familiar part of the landscape of party politics, but to date few scholars have directly considered methodological questions about how we study digital parties. In this chapter, we address this gap, asking: ‘how can digital parties be studied, and what barriers do researchers need to overcome?’ Drawing insights from a wide range of existing literature devoted to party scholarship, we consider available methods and reflect on how digital parties can be examined. Highlighting a current interest in their classification, as well as studies of their intentions, practices and implications, we consider the utility of diverse methodologies that can be implemented in this field. We also outline a range of challenges—from the rapid pace of change this field encompasses, the scale of the research which often needs to be undertaken and issues surrounding access and competency—and how these can be overcome.

A key question facing scholars of party politics is the journey engaged individuals take to becoming party members. We argue that the existing literature largely outlines one aspect – motivation. In this article, we present an alternative position: that a membership journey is only complete when a motivation, process and trigger are present. We outline this utilising a case study of the Green Party of England and Wales including previously confidential internal party documents, membership figures, elite interviews, focus group research and participant observation to provide a different means to understand membership fluctuations. We present these findings as an exploratory and inductive reinterpretation of existing debates. However, we also suggest that the findings are of interest not just in the case of the Green Party, nor the United Kingdom, but to all those who study party membership.

Since at least the 1980s, scholars have highlighted parties’ reliance on external actors, with Panebianco’s ‘electoral–professional’ party model spotlighting the increasing role of professionals in supporting party activities and campaigns. Over successive decades, our understanding of the role of external actors, and particularly consultants, has grown. As parties have begun to embrace digital tools and technologies, however, it has become apparent that our understanding of party organization does not reflect the array of actors who support party activities. In this article, we draw on extensive interview data from Australia and the United Kingdom to offer a new conceptual framework – that we call the ‘party-centred digital ecosystem’ – to highlight the functions that different types of external actor provide for parties. Introducing the classification of CLANS to describe these different actors, we discuss the significance of this trend, highlighting the potential for increasingly porous organizational boundaries as parties call on different types of external actor for support.

Political advertising on Facebook is the latest in a long line of developments in campaign practice, and is a tool that has been mobilised extensively in elections around the world. In this article, we explore what we know about Facebook advertising at elections and ask what existing data from the UK Electoral Commission can reveal about current usage. Highlighting the principles behind Facebook advertising, we argue that existing metrics offer little insight into current campaign trends—posing analytical, methodological and normative challenges for academics and electoral regulators alike. Moreover, we argue that these challenges strike at the heart of debates about democratic responsibility and the degree to which governments should cede responsibility to commercial actors who may have differing understandings of fundamental democratic norms.