Kampania wyborcza – uwagi politologa o genezie idei

Abstrakt

This paper presents an analysis of how the concept and the practice of electoral campaign has developed throughout the ages; since the times of the Athenian democracy until the contemporary democratic or authoritarian state. In his analytical study, the author focuses on the Athenian democracy, the Roman Republic, the Polish Nobility state and the contemporary representative democracy of the United States of America. The author makes a distinction between the election and the electoral campaign and specifies the factors that underlie the distinction. The election was well-known in the Classical and the Modern-Time periods, whereas the phenomenon of electoral campaign comes into view no sooner that the modern times, with the growth of mass political parties and mass press journalism. The text also specifies what the political (systemic) criteria must be met for the electoral campaign to take place. The difference between the propaganda-based political campaign and the electoral campaign is described and the latter concept is defined.