[Commlist] Call for book chapter contributions: (digital) political marketing in Africa

*CALL FOR BOOK CHAPTERS*

**

*(DIGITAL)**POLITICAL MARKETING IN AFRICA: MAPPING PRACTICES AND 
TRAJECTORIES.*

*Editors*

*Albert Chibuwe*(chibuwea /at/ staff.msu.ac.zw) <mailto:(chibuwea /at/ staff.msu.ac.zw)>

Department of Media Communication, Film and Theatre Arts, Midlands State 
University, Zimbabwe

*Allen Munoriyarwa*(amunoriyarwa /at/ wsu.ac.za) <mailto:(amunoriyarwa /at/ wsu.ac.za)>

Department of Marketing, Public Relations and Communication, Walter 
Sisulu University, South Africa and Department of Communication and 
Media, University of Johannesburg, South Africa. **

There is a general perception that politics necessitates political 
communication. In other words, regardless of whether a political system 
is a democracy or a dictatorship, it requires political communication. 
As Menon (2008) notes, even dictatorships utilise it to spruce up their 
images. Following on from the foregoing argument, it is arguable that 
the use of political communication implies the presence of a method of 
political communication. However, this fact notwithstanding, there is, 
in Africa, scant literature that interrogates the method of political 
communication which is political marketing. As scholars note, political 
marketing is the general method of political communication (see Maarek 
1995:28; Menon 2008).It involves the expansion of marketing concepts 
into politics in ways that can enable people to make sense of modern 
democratic practices (Henneberg 2004). Despite its well-advanced study 
in the West, there is not much work that has been done in Africa. In 
other words, political marketing in Africa is under-researched and 
under-theorised. Available literature tends to be restricted to Southern 
Africa and West Africa and seems to be dominantly from former British 
colonies. Emerging scholarship is mainly restricted to four countries 
namely Zimbabwe (Chibuwe 2013), South Africa (Kayode, Calitz and Cullen 
2015, Dabula 2017), Ghana (Mensah (ed) 2017), and Nigeria (Osuagwu 2008; 
Gbadeyan 2011).

The foregoing are the studies that have interrogated the deployment of 
marketing strategies in politics. Mensah (2017) provides the first 
foundational book on political marketing that solely focuses on Ghana. 
We expand on Mensah’s foundational work by interrogating political 
marketing practices and current trajectories by drawing on cases across 
the continent. Africa represents a unique political context of its own. 
Some countries such as South Africa are liberal democracies whilst 
others are military dictators, and yet others are led by civilian 
dictators. Others are authoritarian monarchies, while others are 
semi-authoritarian, or counterfeit democracies - regimes that maintain 
the practical pretensions of democracy (like periodic elections) and yet 
dissolve its substance. Yet, there is no work that has attempted to 
bring works focusing on the deployment of marketing strategies in 
politics or electoral campaigns from these various political systems 
scattered across the various African regions into one text and this is 
the intention of this book. This book seeks to bridge that gap. This is 
important considering the vast changes that have taken place in the 
field of political marketing. These include digital technologies like 
algorithms, filter bubbles and other digital platforms that have emerged 
and revolutionised political marketing. The book thus, among other 
things, seeks chapters that examine the deployment of marketing theory 
in politics and or political campaigns and the growing role and 
appropriation of AI technologies in political marketing in Africa.

This proposed book goes beyond existing works to interrogate the 
deployment of marketing insights/theory in political marketing. We seek 
to understand how marketing has been appropriated by politics; a process 
western scholars have dubbed the ‘professionalisation of politics’. The 
book will, among other things, interrogate: the proliferation of 
professional political marketing consultants in African politics; the 
(disruptive) nature of the advent of AI and citizen political 
consultants courtesy of the affordances of social and digital media 
technologies; the use of AI and citizen-generated political marketing 
campaigns. The book is also interested in submissions that deploy theory 
from the south to understand political marketing in the African 
contexts. We invite 300-500 wordsabstract submissions that focus on, but 
not limited to:

African Political Marketing or Political Marketing in Africa?

Product and Price in African Political Marketing

Place and Promotion in African Politics

Customer Loyalty: Does it matter in African Politics?

Political Public Relations in Africa

Political Advertising in Africa

Political Branding in Africa

Advocacy, Lobbying and Government Spinning

Public Opinion Polling in African Politics

Political Marketing and Public Diplomacy in Africa

Algorithms as a Political Marketing Tool

Opposition Research in African Politics

Muckraking and Fake News as Political Marketing Tools

Political Consultancy in African Politics

Political Marketing and Democracy in Africa

Political Marketing and Dictatorship in Africa

Permanent Campaign and African Politics

Celebrity -based political marketing in Africa.

AI and African Political Marketing

Social Media and African Political Marketing

Prospective contributors should email abstracts and short bios 
(topmarketinginafrica /at/ gmail.com) 
<mailto:(pmarketinginafrica /at/ gmail.com)>before or on 30 September 2024. The 
bio should indicate full-name, institutional affiliation, research 
interests and PhD status. Notification of abstract acceptance will be 
done on or before 15 October 2024. And full chapter submission should be 
on or before January 30 January 2025.

No payment from authors will be required.

**

The book will be published by*Lexington Publishers*(a division ofRowman 
and Littlefield).

**

*References*

Chibuwe, A. (2013).//A//research agenda for political advertising in 
Africa: The case of Zimbabwe./Global Media Journal African Edition/2013 
Vol. 7 (2): 116-139.

Dabula, N. (2017). The influence of political marketing using social 
media on trust, loyalty and voting intention of the youth of South 
Africa. Business & Social Science Journal, Volume 2 Issue 1, pp. 62-112.

Gbadeyan, R.A. (2011). Political Marketing Strategies and Democracy in 
Nigeria. Asian Journal of Business Management 3(1): 8-17.

Henneberg, S.C. (2004), Political Marketing and the Relationship 
Management Paradigm, University of Bath: Political Studies Association 
Hennenberg, S.C. (2004) Political Marketing Theory: Hendiadyoin or 
Oxymoron,http://www.bath.ac.uk/management/research/pdf/2004-01.pdf 
Accessed 05/02/2012 
<http://www.bath.ac.uk/management/research/pdf/2004-01.pdf%20Accessed%2005/02/2012>.

Mensah, K. (2017). Political Marketing Management in Ghana: A New 
Architecture. Cham: Palgrave MacMillan.

Osuagwu, L. Political marketing: conceptualisation, dimensions and 
research agenda. Marketing Intelligence & Planning Vol. 26 No. 7, pp. 
993-810.

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