Conclusion

Abstract

In this chapter, the authors sum up the main findings of the book and compare the development of campaigning and campaign communication in four respective regions: the Baltics, Central Europe, the Balkans, and Eastern Europe. They focus mainly on the regional context which influences the whole political and party system (thus the ‘quality’ of campaigns as well) and discuss the main trends in campaigning and the specifics of the discussed regions. It is not surprising that one of their conclusions is that the ‘quality’ of election campaigns goes up together with the quality of democracy. If a state or society faces unsettled issues and conflicts, it must deal with them, and there is little space for the evolution of communication tools and techniques. In many states, we can identify an abrupt professionalisation of campaigning. During the 1990s, parties and candidates used help from foreign political consultants due to the lack of domestic consultants, and electoral campaigns trailed the experience of Western democracies. Today, we can see this gap has disappeared or at least diminished. Of course, this is not the case of states with (frozen) conflicts from the 1990s and/or later.