On June 27th and 28th 2014, the Center for Comparative Studies in Political and Public Communication (Ceccopop) headed by Philippe J. Maarek, convenes a 2 days conference in Paris:

“Political Communication for the 2014 European Parliamentary Elections:
which Europe for the Europeans?”

Since the beginning of the 21st Century, it clearly looks like the political communication during the European Parliament electoral campaigns has been less and less focused on “European” stakes, but rather on various national issues specific to each country of the European Union. This has been clearly established by the two previous books edited by Philippe J. Maarek for Ceccopop in France after the 2004 and 2009 previous European Parliament elections.

The context of the 2014 European Parliament political campaigns appears to very possibly increase the risk of similar bias for most of the European Union countries. With the present economic crisis, which has exposed the discrepancies between many countries of the “North” and those of the “South”, with the polemics about intra-European immigration from the new members of the Union towards the older ones, with the surge all around of populist political parties, attacking the influence of Brussels in their respective nations, or plainly surfing on today’s difficulties to contest the supremacy of the ruling parties, could it be that the 2014 campaign issues are going to be even further distracted from the European perspectives which should theoretically be dominant? Will European citizen cast their vote according to their lassitude about unsolved economical and political problems and therefore follow a rejection process which would endanger the viability of the next European Parliament composition? Will the use of Internet social networks substantially change the deal, or on the opposite increase the populist and nationalist tendencies already present in 2004 and 2009? Will the European Institutions communication be more visible than previously and change the deal?

As in 2004 and in 2009, the Center for Comparative Studies in Political and Public Communication will analyze the Political Communication of the 2014 European Parliament Elections right after they have happened, and these are some of the questions which will be addressed by European political communication specialists, scholars and professional from the field, at the Paris Conference on Political Communication which will take place on June 27th and 28th, 2014.

The conference is hosted by Philippe J. Maarek, Professor in Political Communication, former Chair of IPSA and of IAMCR Political Communication Research Groups, within the frame of the Center for Comparative Studies in Political and Public Communication (Ceccopop). It will be held in French and English.

Collegues interested in presenting a paper should send an application, before February 22nd to maarek@u-pec.fr. Proposals should include a 200-500 words abstracts and a 1 page vitae.

Ceccopop – www.ceccopop.eu